Planning a Weekend Trip to London

If you are a regular follower of my blog or social media accounts, you'll know that we live in Northern Ireland. I keep seeing other bloggers and Instagrammers posting about their "staycations" or short UK breaks and it's something that I really want to make sure we do in the near future. Our children are a little bit older now so we do have the option of going as a family or just as a couple's break.

I am visiting Glasgow briefly in March for an overnight stay and would love to do a proper kids holiday like Legoland Windsor with the children while they're still young enough to enjoy that. The very top of my UK bucket list though, is London. I last visited London with my family around 12 years ago when I was 15! I feel like I was completely different person then, I was a child, and now I'm a woman with my own family. I just know that a busy city like London will have changed a lot in that time and I would love to experience it now that the introduction of Instagram and social media has put a lot of places on my radar.

I've compiled a little list of 'must do's' if Chris and I get our London weekend away!

Find somewhere nice for brunch
I am a proper foodie and I'm always thinking about my next meal. Masterchef: The Professionals is one of my favourite TV shows, in fact, any cooking show with a celebrity chef featured. I know a lot of fabulous Michelin starred or very highly rated restaurants are situated in the city of London so I would definitely be hoping to discover the best brunch in London - it has to be brunch too because it's a well known fact that brunch is infinitely better than breakfast or lunch!

Visit the National History Museum
I know this might seem very nerdy but it would definitely be the first port of call for both myself and Chris. On our first date nine years ago, we spent it at a local museum followed by a browse in Waterstones! There is so much on offer to see that appeals to both our interests and I know given half the chance, we'd never leave!

Visit Camden Market
Last time I was in London, I could have spent the entire trip just hanging around Camden. It is completely my scene from the bars to the shops and food. We are massively into that sort of music scene that you'd find in that area and I have never and will never grow out of my "alternative phase".

See a West End show
Okay, this one is probably more my type of thing than Chris's but I truly think I could convince him, depending on the show! It's something I've always wanted to do and I don't think you can visit London without catching a show. It's an activity that you can sit and relax at and take in the wonderful talent of these actors.



Visit the London Dungeon
I am a bit of a scaredy cat and can barely sit through a horror movie without a pillow covering my face but if I'm making Chris go to a West End show, you better believe he won't let us leave London without visiting the London Dungeon. I do like the idea of the recreation of historical events but darkness and loud noises will terrify me. It sounds like a wonderful experience though and definitely appeals to that darker side!

My readers will know that I love entering online competitions and I definitely want to try and incorporate these into my trip planning, so entering for days out in the area when I know I will be there will definitely be something that I'll try to do.  

What would be top of your London itinerary?

This is a collaborative post.

Choosing Lanzarote for a Family Holiday at Christmas

My parents are the type of people who do not like cold and dreary weather. We live in Northern Ireland so 95% of our year is cold and dreary. They used to take myself and my sister on family holidays a lot, either just in the summer or both in summer and over Christmas to avoid the freezing temperatures of a Northern Irish winter.

I know a lot of people might not like the idea of going away over Christmas time, especially if you have children, but as a child who holidayed over Christmas, it is wonderful. One place that I especially loved was Lanzarote. I visited as an adult, aged 19, with my parents and my then 9 year old sister so we did a lot of family friendly activities whilst we were there.

We stayed in Costa Teguise and obviously you can't expect the weather to be as warm as it would be during the middle of summer, but we had days where it was 21 or 22 degrees - so much better than being at home and you could definitely tan yourself. I came home with sunburn! It is quite a breezy place too, depending on where you stay but I loved that it wasn't so hot that you couldn't handle it.

Whilst being away over Christmas, you still want to feel like it's Christmas. At the time of staying, my sister still believed in Santa so my parents had told her that Santa would leave a few small things in our apartment but because Santa knew where she lived, the rest would be left at home. Children accept stuff like that and it's totally believable. You don't lose the magic of Christmas. In the main lobby of our accommodation, they had a Christmas tree and other decorations and on the streets they had Christmas lights on the lampposts, just like at home. Lots of shops and restaurants were also decorated so it was easy to still feel festive.

I love going away and seeing the sights but my favourite thing is trying local cuisine. It's so easy to find little cafés and restaurants that only do local dishes with not a cheeseburger or chicken curry in sight, but Christmas Day is different. Of course you want a big turkey dinner, even in 22 degree heat, and we stumbled upon a little Irish bar that served Christmas Dinner - hooray!

There is a multitude of things to do as a family such as visiting the local aquarium or Sunday markets to visiting the Aquapark Water Park. It's a lovely place to go to do the touristy thing but also not miss out on the magic of Christmas Day. Who doesn't want to spend Christmas evening watching the sun go down on the beach?

Have you ever holidayed abroad over Christmas?

(This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Holiday Gems.)