Journey around the world - London, England (Day 3-5)

We decided to go with the hop-on-hop-off tour in London and found it to be very easy and enjoyable. We were able to see a lot of attractions in a relatively short amount of time and with a minimal amount of effort. When I say minimal amount of effort I am referring to the effort involved in planning because the bus takes you to all the major tourist attractions and back to where you started. There is still a good amount of walking involved. There really is a lot to see here, we did the 2 day tour and found we didn’t have enough time to see everything we wanted to see (full disclosure: we also slept in pretty late both days and also have a 45 minute commute to central London). Here’s a few tips we have gathered on our first few days here:

1. “Brown sauce” is HP sauce and it is really good on breakfast sandwiches.
2. “Take away” (to go) meals cost substantially less than dining in. Many restaurants will advertise their “take away” prices out front.
3. Pay attention to when the bus routes stop and also what time attractions are open until.
4. As long as you have “tap” on your credit/bank card you can use it on any of the public transit systems.
5. They have free wifi in many shops and on public transit systems.

We learned a couple fun facts on this tour, one being that Charles Darwin received an honourable burial in the Westminster Abbey. Very progressive really, that the man who disproved religion is now buried in one of the world’s most famed churches. Another fun fact is that Florence Nightingale was not only the first person to open a nursing school but she was also a brilliant statistician known for inventing the pie chart. (I love pie chart...and pie!)

In two days we were able to visit the London Eye, Big Ben and the House of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, National Gallery, Westminster Abbey and Tower of London. Unfortunately, Big Ben and the House of Parliament were under construction and will be for the duration of our visit.

For more on travel tips, savings tips, financial literacy, beginner's guide to crypto or to follow us on our journey around the world check out our blog http://boardinghappiness.net/.