This is a sponsored post in collaboration with National Holidays.
A 5am start is something that should never happen… unless you are going on holiday, that is! Lucky for us that’s exactly why our alarm was going off at that (ungodly) hour. But, nevertheless, I was excited to embark on a Showtime London Weekend Itinerary with National Holidays. Despite the early wake up call, once we arrived at the Coach Station, everything else was taken care of.
Outfit Coat MaxMara (or similar) | T-Shirt Levis at ASOS | Jeans M&S | Trainers VANS
After driving around Leeds at the mercy of all their godforsaken roadworks and one way systems we finally got parked up at the NCP Car Park that is slap bang next to the Coach Station, meaning we could park the car, grab the suitcase and whizz on down to the National Holidays coach that was about to take us down to London. We met our fabulous driver, Andy, who gladly checked us in and put our bags on to the coach. We already had reserved seats which meant there wasn’t a huge scramble to get on the coach and get the best seats. I was a little worried that I was further back on the coach and can often suffer from travel sickness but I stocked up on Kwells (thanks to a lovely recommendation from Beverley at Pack Your Passport!) and we were sat near the bathroom so I could look out the big window above it to keep my mind occupied. We just needed to sit back and relax in our comfy chairs and enjoy the ride (and our drivers cheesy yet hilarious jokes.)
After a few hours on the road we took a little pit stop at some services to stretch our legs and grab some brekkie since at 6am we couldn’t stomach anything other than a strong coffee to wake us up. We had just under an hour to wander about and have enough time to grab a flat white and a bacon sandwich from Starbucks! After that it was time to get back on the coach and it was at this point Andy handed us our tickets to see Mamma Mia (and yes I may have squealed and sung every single Abba song from their back catalogue for the rest of the journey – I imagine that’s why Mr C thanked his lucky stars that he could plug his earphones in and use the USB chargers on the coach and watch Netflix for a little longer – whilst drowning me out. Andy was super helpful with advising the best times to get to each of the theatres as there were 3 different shows that people were going to see as it was a mixed trip. Our show didn’t start till 3pm so we didn’t have to arrive until 2.30pm.
YAY! We arrived in the big smoke just before lunch time which was a lot earlier than I was expecting! I had had visions we would only have half an hour to explore before heading to the show. The coach pulled up not too far away from where we were going to see Mamma Mia which meant we didn’t have to grab a cab and we could just potter around Covent Garden for a few hours and grab a bite to eat before the show. As we wandered on to Covent Garden I could see Mr C’s puzzled look on his face, I must add he’s never been to London before so this alone was a brand new experience for him, he turned to me and asked “where are the gardens?” Well, without sounding too mean… I HOWLED. My poor husband hadn’t realised that I’d just taken him to the place where Chanel & Burberry lined the pavements rather than tulips and magnolias. He definitely felt a little duped.
We decided we desperately needed to grab a bite to eat before we headed over to the Novello Theatre where Mamma Mia is, and after wandering around for what felt like a lifetime choosing what to eat we fell in to Honest Burger. It was rammed, which is always a good sign when somewhere busy so we climbed up the steep stairs, plonked ourselves down after exploring and ordered two juicy burgers, fried and onion rings because travelling can do that to your appetite!
After eating an incredibly scrumptious meal (bar the onion rings – they were nasty!) we had a short walk to the theatre where we queued for about 5 minutes. The theatre were doing thorough bag checks so surprisingly we didn’t queue for as long as we thought we would. The excitement waiting to go in was palpable and it was great to see lots of ages getting giddy to go in!
And so the show begins, the highlight of the trip. We had fab seats, right in the middle of the Grand Circle which was perfect for seeing the whole cast and stage. The staging itself was pretty simple but worked perfectly well for its “Greek Inspired” backdrop. With a few cast changes such as Sophie, Donna and Rosie (three main characters if you aren’t au fait with Mamma Mia!) were subbed – but I would have never known the difference, in fact it’s almost as if they play those characters day in, day out! I couldn’t imagine anyone else playing them. “Sophie” had a lovely, naïve charm about her, “Donna” reminded me of Eleanor Waldorf (looks wise) from Gossip Girl and the lady who played “Rosie” was just incredibly funny and had perfect comedic timing!
Thoroughly “super troupered” and “dancing queened” out – the encore left me in an incredible mood and as much as Mr C held back I could tell he had in fact, enjoyed himself during Mamma Mia.
We arranged with our coach driver that we wouldn’t join them on the coach back to the hotel, the Hyatt at London Heathrow, but instead we were going to do a bit more sightseeing independently and we would make our own way back later on that evening because there was a cool set of independent bars and brewery we wanted to check out over in Hackney so we used City Mapper to make our way on the London underground (another first time experience for Mr C!)
After a few stops on the underground and overground we made it to Hackney. Home to the Experiment – the old Pressure Drop Brewery that has teamed up with my husbands favourite craft beer creators, Verdant. He’d been dying to visit so he could try some new IPA’s that he sometimes struggles to order online from the Cornwall Brewery! IPA’s aren’t really my thing but I managed to find a tasty sour fruit beer by Pressure Drop that made sure I didn’t go thirsty. We ordered pizza’s from the spot next door (which just happened to be the home to the Breaking Bad cocktail experience – it looked epic!) It was my first time trying a vegan pizza, and we were pleasantly surprised – the olives sure made it tasty! The great thing about London is that there’s always someone interesting within a few feet and we got talking to a great group of people which helped while away a couple of hours before we decided to head back on the train to the hotel.
The hour long night train on the Piccadilly line. I wish this hour could have provided more other than feeling like we had just descended in to the depths of hell (why is it so hot down there?)
Finding the hotel was easy, we hopped off the tube at London Heathrow Airport (the journey only cost us just over £7 each!), we hopped on the free bus that goes around the airport hotels and arrived at the swanky, 4 star Hyatt Hotel. Whilst the hotel was slightly out of the centre of London, it was certainly made up for by the standard of the accommodation. We grabbed a bottle of diet coke and some water before heading up to our room. Our coach driver, Andy had kindly put our suitcases behind the reception desk so we didn’t have to lug them around with us all evening! How nice was that? When we got to the room we both fell in to the beds – after an early start and a busy day we were more than thankful for a king sized bed and we quickly dozed off!
Ah, a much more respectable wakeup call and boy did we feel nice and refreshed after sleeping in those big, comfy beds at the Hyatt! With a quick hop, skip and jump in to the shower we got ready in breakneck speed to head down to the very satisfying full and continental brekkies on offer at the hotel! Toast, bacon and beans with a coffee were going to be my fuel for another day of sightseeing around the capital.
Checked out and boarded the coach, Andy set to driving us back in to Central London so we could enjoy some more time in London but this time we were dropped off near Buckingham Palace so we could explore the other side of the city. And boy did we manage to pack in a heck of a lot of sightseeing!
When we finally arrived back in London (there was a little bit of traffic) we made sure we walked round the Buckingham Palace Wall, right to the front so we could see it in the flesh. The last time I stood outside it was when I was about 4 years old! Back then it seemed a lot bigger, either that or I am now a giant because it wasn’t as big as I was expecting it to be. But, of course we had to get a quick photo in front of it before walking through St James’ Park to get to the Westminster Area & Trafalgar Square.
After trying to grant James’ one wish of seeing Big Ben I had a complete lapse in judgement and forgot that he was in fact covered up with scaffolding whilst restoration work takes place on the tower. As I looked around thinking “I’m sure it was here last time I came.” The big, tall building covered in metal beams gave it away that in fact it was there, just not on show, so we trundled off to Trafalgar Square to see the big iron Lions and pretty fountains – again, another spot I remember to have been a lot bigger, but a must-do London sightseeing spot!
We hopped on a tube to get to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge because it’s another landmark that you need to tick off your list! It was at this point the rain started to pour and we had no umbrellas to keep us dry so we took refuge in a café and grabbed two flat whites, and stared at the Shard whilst trying to dry off before heading back to where we got dropped off!
After a morning of whistle-stop sightseeing we headed back over to the Westminster area, had a little sneak peak of Westminster Abbey whilst the bells chimed and decided we really must find somewhere to eat before we headed back home and luckily we fell upon a Shake Shack – a trip to London isn’t complete without those jalepeno, cheese topped crinkle fries is it? Two burgers, two fries and milkshake later we were waddling back to the coach!
Once we were all accounted for, our coach driver Andy set to driving us all the way back up North. With only one stop in Wakefield and ours in Leeds it wasn’t going to be such a horrible journey. We hit a little bit of Sunday evening traffic and had another stop halfway through our journey so we could once again, stretch our legs and grab a drink for the onward journey!
As we pulled in to Leeds Bus station we looked at our watches and realised we had made pretty good time what with the stop at the Service Station and in Wakefield. As we thanked our driver for the fab trip (even passed on a cheeky Instagram follow) and grabbed our bags, it was time to head back home in the car!
Arrived home after a perfect weekend of exploring on our own terms, singing along to an award winning musical and eating amazing food and drinking lots of craft ales – our hearts were well and truly full. My only question was, when can we do it again?
Bee
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*Our trip was provided to us free of charge, all our thoughts and opinions are our own.
