London Long Layover

Sometimes travel doesn’t go as planned. I want to say something inspiring here about how life’s upsets teach us who we are, but I am not that person. Yes, travel isn’t always glamorous and pretty, but sometimes you have to admit that you are a little mad that an airline cut several hours off your trip. It isn’t just a learning experience, it sucks. I hope this side-by-side London Long layover gives you a few ideas on how to spend your time, whether it’s an afternoon or longer. (There are double the recommendations as a usual itinerary in this post.)

I was so excited about my first trip outside of Heathrow. I had packed our London long layover full of plans, including a bucket list restaurant, a museum that brought to life some of my favorite exhibits, and celebrating more birthdays. However, Air Canada had different plans for my time. Canceling a bucket list reservation in the middle of the night in the Montreal Air Canada lounge had us gutted.

I really want to thank the staff at the Montreal Air Canada Lounge for staying late for us when the rest of the airport was closed.

At least Canada has a passenger bill of rights, and even though we had to push back at their refund center a couple of times, we got over $600 back for the inconvenience. How do you find out if you are owed money, if your flight is delayed, or if it is canceled?

The (not so long) layover

What brought us to London was stop two of seven on a birthday tour that spans four countries and four birthdays. The first stop on the tour was to celebrate my birthday in Montreal. Get that guide here. Stop two, in London, was a milestone birthday for the best man in our wedding.

My expected time in London would have been one day, landing at 10:00 a.m. and leaving the following day at 1:00 p.m.—approximately 23 hours from airport to airport. I was excited to have so many summer daylight hours to spend in the city.

The Plan & What Actually Happened

The Plan	What actually happened
6/05/2024 10:20 PM–Depart Montreal for LHR, arrive the following day	6/06/2024 1:50 am–Depart Montreal for LHR
6/06/2024 10:01 am–land at London Heathrow the following day.
Get our luggage and experience an arrival lounge for the first time, noting all of my likes and dislikes for a future travel post.
1:00 PM–Lunch at St. John—Smithfield, which has been on my foodie bucket list ever since Anthony Bourdain talked about it in a long-ago episode of Parts Unknown. He called it the restaurant of his dreams.  A recent pop-up of St. John at Chi Spacca in Los Angeles made me hungry for more of the dishes at one of the restaurants that highlights British classics, while also changing the perspective on British cuisine. Their take on the Welsh rarebit had been calling my name ever since.

Getting to London City Centre

Although there are signs everywhere for the Heathrow Express, I strongly recommend taking the new addition to London public transit, the Elizabeth Line. It is cheaper and gets you farther into the city. This allowed us to only take one train, unlike a journey on the Heathrow Express, where we would have had to transfer to a second train to get to Farringdon Station. 

Selections from The Pie Room at Holbourn

3:00 PM–Check in to our Hotel Hyatt Black Friars. (I loved the hotel and it is super convenient. Do you want to stay here? CONTACT ME.)	1:39 PM–Land at London Heathrow. Take the Elizabeth line into London. The only sightseeing we were able to do was a mad dash through the barrister area, past the longest-running church in England (in the photo), and high-end shopping streets.
3:15 PM.–Head to the Victoria & Albert Museum (aka The V&A) to check out the over 150-year-old museum that brought the David Bowie Is… exhibition to the world. It has been a great museum for fashion, pop culture, and contemporary art. An exhibition of photographs from Elton John’s personal archive was on view during our trip.
	3:30 PM–Since we missed our lunch, we headed to another restaurant on our list, the Pie Room at Holborn. This women-helmed restaurant is located in the beautiful and historic Rosewood London*. Although the Pie Room had an event there that afternoon, we were able to enjoy some of the offerings in the Holborn Dining Room.  We started with the rabbit terrine and ended with the Chicken, chestnut mushroom, leek fondue, and tarragon pie, with its flaky and buttery crust. I am still thinking about it. Seriously, it has the best pie crust out there.* I can get you perks here.

Back to regularly scheduled programming

Here is where we were back on schedule. We met our friend M for his birthday for a drink at the Nickle Bar, an expansive bar in The Ned hotel filled with the post-law school/office crowd. We couldn’t get a seat, learning that, like Los Angeles, Thursday is the new Friday.

(Guess who can get you perks at The Ned? If you guessed me, you are right. I can also make sure you get reservations at the restaurants and bars there when you stay.)

Dinner at Coq d’Argent

This classic French restaurant at the top of the 1 Poultry Building has almost 360-degree views of London, the Gherkin looming in the distance. If it were warmer, I would have loved to sit out on the patio with its feeling of being a garden up in the sky,

Coq d’Argent has a very reasonable set menu with two courses for 35 GBP and three courses for 40 GBP. We did the three and got a good sample of what was on offer. I had the heirloom tomato salad, duck with a crispy potato pave (pictured), and the chocolate fondant, with its pistachio gelato. (Like I wasn’t going to get enough in Italy.)

This is where jet lag started to hit me, and I really didn’t want it to. 

Lyan-ess

This is a super innovative bar at the bottom of Sea Containers, a modern hotel overlooking the Thames. It has won tons of awards and has award-winning bartenders. While we were there, we experienced the 3.0 Cookbook with its reflective silver cover. (A selection of drinks in the photo above.)

I regret only being able to have one drink when there were so many on the menu that were singing to me, but at this point in my jetlag journey, I felt like my body was somewhere lost over the Atlantic.

Follow them on Instagram to see what they are up to and their current menu. 

Day Two

Although I had every intention of getting up early and visiting the oldest food hall in London, the Borough Market, established in 1756, I was just too exhausted from travel. 

10:30 am

We checked out of the Hyatt Blackfriars and grabbed a coffee in their super loungy lobby.

11:00 am

Our last stop in London was to catch the Thameslink to London Gatwick, which was conveniently across the street. It was a stress-free journey to the airport, and I learned that the Thameslink goes to Brighton. Next time, I will see another friend. 

On my bucket list for next time

I will make reservations for these places as soon as I book my next trip to London.

1. St. John–I would book this in honor of the lunch I couldn’t do. (See above on why I think this place is important.)

2. High Tea at Swan–The Swan is next to the historic Globe Theatre and has Shakespeare-themed high teas. The teas are whimsical and innovative. Sometimes a twist on the theme–like what if the play was set in the wild west, what would the menu be like? Figuring out variations on the theme while overlooking the Thames seems like a great afternoon to me. Vegetarian and Vegan options are readily available.

3. Victoria & Albert Museum(V&A)—Although I have never been to the V&A, this museum has brought to life some of my favorite exhibitions. David Bowie Is….one of the greatest exhibits I have ever witnessed. The exhibition flow, the sheer breadth of materials, and the chance to see his personal life was mind-blowing. The V&A also launches many of the touring fashion and music exhibits.

4. Stay at Sea Containers—I loved my stay at Blackfriars, but after wandering the lobby and ground floor of the Sea Containers, I really wanted to see what the rooms looked like. Plus, there is a great bar and it is walking distance to the Tate. Having a drink on the rooftop of the Tate is also on the bucket list.

I hope London Long Layover helps add some ideas for when you are in the city from convenient airport transportation to the best pie crust in the world and outside-the-box cocktails. I loved the area we were in, close to several iconic London spots. If you need someone to curate your trip to London, hit me up. I’ve already done it for a Los Angeles family. Read below.

Note: When this family was in London, there were warnings of terrorist attacks during the Pride celebration weekend. I don’t encourage all people to register their trips with the United States government. At this time in 2024, the STEP (United States Safe Traveler Program) was a way to quickly access the United States Embassy in London in case of terrorist attacks, both notifying the U.S. Embassy that citizens were in the country and U.S. travelers where the closest embassy was in case they needed it.

These are the things I consider when you plan your trip with me.

Mentioned in this post

Add these to your London travel Google Map for future explorations.

1. St. John Smithfield
2. Hyatt Regency London Black Friars
3. The Victoria & Albert Museum (aka the V&A)
4. The Pieroom
5. The Nickel Bar
6. The Tate Modern
7. Borough Market
8. Coq d’Argent
9. Lyan-ess
10. Sea Containers