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Please check my itinerary!

My 17 yr old daughter and myself are traveling to London from the US. It's our first time and I know late December is not optimal it's the only time in the next few years that works for us so we're just going to go and enjoy Christmas. I've read a lot here about keeping a loose schedule so I've tried to do that so that we can add in things as we like, but have booked some things in advance ,or will be asap based on feedback here.

Thurs Dec 18 - arrive at Heathrow in the early a.m., take National Express to Birmingham. Check into hotel and take a quick nap, head to Birmingham Rep to see Sherlock Holmes and the 12 days of Christmas.

Friday Dec 19 - take a.m. train to London, drop bags at hotel. Make our way to National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery. In the evening see Playboy of the Western World at National Theatre.

Saturday Dec 20 - Visit Westminster Abbey, then make our way to Houses of Parliament for tour. In the afternoon/early evening head to the V & A East Storehouse to see David Bowie exhibit

Sunday Dec 21 - Imperial War Museum. 5:30 Panto (Cinderella) at the Hackney Theatre

Monday Dec 22 - Tower of London. Evensong at St. Pauls

Tuesday Dec 23- Open, will either do Churchill War Rooms, British Library, Tate Britain, or the V&E Bowie exhibit. Possibly head down to Richmond. Evening seeing Mark Gatiss' production of A Christmas Carol.

Wed Dec 24 - Carols at Royal Albert Hall, then a Christmas eve dinner at a pub, most likely.

Christmas Day - walk, relax, visit Hyde park, walk, enjoy a nice Lebonese or Indian meal.

Boxing Day - head to Belgium on the Eurostar.
Thank you for reading and providing any feedback!

Posted by
404 posts

That first day sounds really tough — going all the way to Birmingham just for one show that night. And then giving yourself another travel day and hotel change the next morning. The conventional wisdom (with which I agree) is that it’s best not to try to schedule an evening event on arrival day in Europe. Try to stay active all day and go to bed early. DO NOT try a “short nap” and then getting up again for the evening. That just doesn’t work.
There’s so much amazing theater and other stuff to do in London (much of which your itinerary contemplates on other nights), is the one in Birmingham really worth all that effort?
The British Library is well worth visiting but it doesn’t take long to see, you definitely can see at least one other major site that day.

Posted by
305 posts

Your trip sounds lovely! But if you don't know how you deal with jetlag, I would take it easy on the first couple of days. I have not always taken this advice myself, but I will admit that it has been tough.

Posted by
2 posts

Ok, we're switching the trip to Birmingham to Monday, will do Evensong Thursday evening, Tower of London on Tuesday. Should all work out. I know the Birmingham trips seems crazy, but it's part of the trip that my daughter is really excited for. She loves the comedian John Kearns and he's appeearing in the play. So that's why we're doing this crazy thing!