Over the past several years, we’ve been asked for recommendations by people who are heading to London (or the UK in general), and while we are ALWAYS happy to answer your specific questions — seriously, email or Tweet us! — it seemed like it might be useful for us to have a standalone page for easy reference. We are certainly not experts, but Heather grew up in England, and between the two of us, we’ve visited a fair amount. Please feel free to use the comments to add your own tips and must-dos (or must-eats), but otherwise: Here’s our best advice.
Stuff to See:
First, a point of logistics: For all of the major London sights, check online to see if you can buy timed entry tickets early — or even if you just get a discount for pre-purchasing online, or if it lets you skip a line. Some of them also offer discounts for multiple specific sights, so if you happen to want to see several of them, double check what’s on offer and see if you can get a package deal. We’d tend to go to the source — the actual site’s web page, rather than any kind of tour company, and thus that’s what we’ve mostly linked to here.
Now, to the good stuff! Don’t shy away from the Classic Touristy Things, especially if you’ve never been before: The Tower, Tower Bridge, walking past Big Ben on your way somewhere else, etc. All the famous London stuff is definitely iconic for a reason — well, Piccadilly Circus is really just a giant roundabout, but whatever — and you are a tourist, so… play tourist! Plus, you know you want to see the Crown Jewels! The Tower has a few crowns on display as part of its regular tours, but all the really recognizable ones are in the special area. If you go to the Tower, get there early and do the jewels first so that you don’t spend the rest of your day in line.
Tip for kids: The London Transport Museum is usually a hit, with plenty of play areas. The ticket, at least as of last time Heather was there, was good for free re-entry for up to a year. Meaning, if you go early in your trip, and your kids love it, and then they TOTALLY max out on sightseeing and are pills near the end of your stay, you can just take them back THERE for free and enjoy a seat and some free WiFi yourself.
If you’re going to be in town while Buckingham Palace is open, definitely take the tour of its state rooms, because just getting to be in the palace is rad. It’s open for ten weeks in the summer, and then selected times the rest of the year; we went in January. If you can book it, the “Exclusive Guided Tour” is GREAT — it’s super small, and ends with Champagne. We were the last people out of the palace when we took the tour, and the tour guide, who was great, literally escorted us out the front gate, which was a very cool experience. (Warning: It’s much more expensive than the usual tours, which we’re sure are also super — the reason we took the fancier one was because it was the only one available when we were going to be there, and we were on a deadline for The Royal We, so we had to get in there and ask questions!) In the summer, you can also tour the gardens.
Kensington Palace houses exhibits about Victoria and Albert, William and Mary, and George I, in addition to its semi-permanent fashion exhibit, which you WILL enjoy. It’s easily reachable by Tube and by foot, and you can frolic around Kensington Gardens in the hope that the royal nanny might drift past with a pram or two or three. The Gardens are fab regardless, and the new-ish sunken one devoted to Diana — where Harry and Meghan announced their engagement — is gorgeous. Last time we were there, we saw the royal helicopter take off. And land. BOTH.
Westminster Abbey is beautiful, of course, and it’s so neat to see all the people buried there (and how many of them are buried, conveniently, near someone they loathe.) They’ve opened a new bit that they, like, discovered behind a closet or something recently, and we are ENRAGED! that it wasn’t open when we were last there in May 2018. Go see a masterwork of engineering!
The National Portrait Gallery is a tremendously great museum that we go to basically every time we’re in town. It has Kate’s hideous portrait, and the great one of Wills and Harry. (Kate’s has been “out” for various reasons every time we’ve gone, which is sort of hilarious.) The bar at the NPG has a GORGEOUS view over Trafalgar Square, so if you decide to pop by for a visit, see about making a res there — it’s pretty tiny, so don’t count on being able to just walk in.
Sir John Soane’s Museum is tiny and weird and wonderful and old. (It’s also where Bex works in The Royal We.)
The Tate Modern is of course fascinating if that’s your jam, and the deck at the top has a spectacular view. (It’s also insanely Instagrammable if that matters to you, and it’s okay if it does!) The last few times we’ve been there, the special exhibits have been super — when we were over for Harry and Meghan’s wedding, we saw a great Picasso exhibit, and they recently had The Clock. Right now, they have a Jenny Holzer exhibit! You can get there by foot over the Millennium Bridge, too, making it an easy link to St. Paul’s Cathedral (and puts you right near Shakespeare’s Globe too). Speaking of…
St. Paul’s Cathedral is huge and special. You can trot up to the whispering gallery and hear something uttered by someone halfway across the dome from you, or climb all the way up for views, or just mill around the bottom and imagine how it felt for Diana to wrangle that gown up and down that aisle. The steps outside are great for lounging with an ice cream while you figure out where to go next, and there’s a good gastropub — The Paternoster — in Paternoster Square nearby, where during nice weather they also set out ping-pong tables and deck chairs, and a huge chess board, and for two glorious weeks, a giant TV showing Wimbledon.
- Tip for kids, which is true of anywhere actually: Many of these buildings have specialized audio tours for kids; the St. Paul’s one, for example, uses a touch screen and breaks the church into zones, includes a little scavenger hunt, and most importantly for Heather’s children, tells you all about the times it burned down and/or was bombed.
The Design Museum recently moved to new digs in South Kensington and it is REALLY neat. It’s also small, so you don’t need too much time to see all of it. Bonus: It’s right next to Holland Park, which is lovely, AND it’s got a good gift shop.
The V&A: The V&A is Jessica’s favorite museum in maybe the entire world. It’s always got a great special exhibit — this summer, it’s the Dior exhibit, which is apparently totally sold out other than day-of, rush tickets. Regardless, it is full of STUFF! Art, tapestries, cake stands, china, plaster replicas of art that’s actually in other museums, a newly redesigned jewelry wing that is FAB — so much GOOD STUFF. It also has a HUGE gift shop. (We love a good gift shop. London does them right.) Most of the special exhibits like the Dior have separate entrance fees and also timed entry, so you have to plan in advance a bit or be willing to wait in line. It’s also right next to the Natural History Museum, which is a stunning building. (And is famously where Kate once wore some good shoes.)
Apsley House is another museum that’s full of STUFF. It was the Duke of Wellington’s place, and so it’s just a collection of… well, like we said, Fancy Stuff. (We have a tendency to just go places and look at stuff. Stuff is natural, stuff is good; not everybody loves it but everybody sho-oooould. (Thank you, George Michael.)
The Churchill War Rooms are FANTASTIC. They are the bunker where Churchill and a variety of folks sat underground and dealt with World War II and they have been left they LITERALLY AS THEY WERE when the war ended. Like, sugar packets on the desk. It’s awesome and fascinating; We cannot recommend this one enough. You can buy tickets in advance.
Imperial War Museum: This is slightly more off-the-beaten-path, but well worth it — it’s a fabulous museum covering all manner of conflicts, with standing and special exhibits, and of course some aircraft. Heather only made it through WWI and WWII with her kids, but that alone was great. We believe it’s free, but it’s run by the same folks who do the Churchill War Rooms, so check to see if a visit gets you anything off the price of the War Rooms ticket?
The Shard: An alternative to the London Eye for sweeping city views, further down the bank — so, not as much Big Ben and Parliament, but lots of Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, and St. Paul’s, and a lot of the crazy modern buildings. (We went during sunset, and could JUST see the Eye, but not the rest. Just something to bear in mind. That didn’t bother us, but you know. We are trying to be an Informative Caption.)
For kids, near The Shard on the South Bank: The Golden Hinde is a replica of Sir Francis Drake’s ship that circumnavigated the globe. You can just turn up and walk around — it’s like five pounds to get in, so also among the cheaper attractions, and the guides are all in costume (and character, I think). Tube: London Bridge.
The London Eye is also fun, but as with anything, spring for the ticket that gives you a timed entry because otherwise you’ll spend all day waiting. (There is also a park where Heather’s kids ended up playing at to kill some energy afterwards, and a nice long walk back to the Tube.) You can also spring for a Champagne experience. (Note: The Shard also does have a bar. We remember having Champagne; that may have been included with our particular ticket, but it’s THERE. Listen, we just want those of you who love Champagne to HAVE IT.) If you do this one, you can walk over Westminster Bridge (at Parliament) or Waterloo Bridge, or take the Tube to Waterloo, which puts you on the right side of the Thames. Then walk there along the river past The Southbank Centre; that place has art galleries (the Hayward), and eateries and often street food and festivals and entertainers, which can make the walk fun for kids (spring/summer it’s the Underbelly Festival, which is super family-friendly). Also, the National Poetry Library!
The South Bank in general is hopping, actually, so embrace the chance to be on that side of the river.
Out of Town:
Hampton Court: This is an absurdly easy 45-minute train ride from London, leaving from Waterloo Station. Hampton Court is the terminus, so you can’t miss it, and the palace is about a five-minute straight shot over a bridge from the station (again, you cannot go wrong)(well, you could, but it would require some effort). We spent five hours here; the palace tour itself isn’t terribly long, but the gardens are a treat, we had dynamite cheese-and-Branston pickle sandwiches (and Roast Ox crisps) at the cafe, and the gardens are WELL worth a wander. The Duchess of Cambridge recently opened a big expansion thereof, and also: HEDGE MAZE. Also we roasted actual meat on a spit in the kitchen.
- Note for kids: That special play area Kate opened in 2016 is really fun.
Windsor Castle: This is another easy train ride from London, and you MUST GO. It’s worth it. Windsor dates back to William the Conqueror and is the oldest working castle in existence, as well as the home to St. George’s Chapel, aka the final resting place of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, and George VI and the Queen Mum and Princess Margaret (they’re together). It’s about 45 minutes to Windsor and Eton Central from Paddington with a change at Slough (that station is so tiny that you will not be confused by this). There’s a direct train that leaves from Waterloo, but it’s longer AND puts you out at Eton. Although it’s fun to enter Windsor by crossing the bridge, as Wills and Harry and their ilk would have, we prefer coming out of the station parade and having the castle just be right there. And also, check before you go and try to pre-book the kitchen tour, which is a timed entry, if they’re doing it (it’s not always an option). It’s fascinating and will walk you through some of the parts they discovered when clearing and repairing the fire damage. They are going to renovate that part of the castle soon to include a cafe, though, so I don’t know what effect that’ll have on the kitchen tour. Your castle entry ticket automatically includes the Chapel and the dollhouse.
- Note: The gift shops on the Windsor Castle grounds all have slightly different selections of things, so if you see something you must have, don’t necessarily think, “Oh, I’ll grab that later,” because the shop that you stumble on next might be more limited.
The Harry Potter Tour at WB Studios in Leavesden: We didn’t do this. We didn’t have time! But we’ve directed people there, and heard it’s fantastic and thorough and immersive. They JUST opened a Gringotts Wizarding Bank portion, and have a Dark Arts exhibit slated for around Halloween time. You can get yourself there — by train and then a shuttlebus that I’m told you cannot be confused by — or go with a tour company. It’s timed entry, but apparently once you’re in, they don’t hustle you out; you can stay as long as you like.
Holyroodhouse: Edinburgh is about a four and a half hour train trip from London, via King’s Cross Station, and is itself an eminently walkable city. (It’s also a VERY scenic train ride if you enjoy staring out a window on a train like you’re in a movie about people having Romantical Issues, which we are.) Holyrood is the opposite end of the Royal Mile from Edinburgh castle; we caught an early train and were at Holyroodhouse by 1:45 p.m. It’s very interesting and has the quainter feel of Kensington Palace. We ate a really nice tea here, too. (We always come back from the UK just full of tea.)
The Royal Yacht Britannia: This is a cab ride from wherever you might be staying in Edinburgh, but a brief one. (We had a little trouble getting one back, but it ended up okay — while walking toward the Holiday Inn, which we knew would help us call one, a cab passed by and dropped someone off.) There is also a tea room here. It’s cool to see that the floating palace wasn’t as opulent as the ones on the ground, although it’s still enormous.
Lodging
The last few times we’ve been to the UK, we’ve stayed at AirBnBs/VRBOs/HomeAway — since we are always on working trips, we need space to spread out and write, and these are more economical for the two of us than two hotel rooms, and have way more square footage than if we shared a room. Our big tip is to try to stay somewhere near to a Tube station, just to make getting around easier, although we ended up taking a lot of buses last time because that system is so easy to navigate now.
We usually look in South Kensington and Earl’s Court, but have also branched out and stayed near St. Paul’s off the big square, and in one off the Strand right across from the Royal Courts of Justice (Tube station: Temple), which we thought was going to be a totally random crazy area and then it turned out to have a lot of useful eateries and a pub downstairs that made its own alcoholic ginger beer. That might’ve been our favorite, honestly.
In London:
Cheval Three Quays: Real talk: This place is expensive. It’s a Treat. Yo. Self. situation .This is a newer apartment-hotel with stocked kitchenettes (including food, like bread and milk and butter and coffee and cheese). It’s….REALLY NICE. We stayed here when we were on our 2016 trip with Visit Britain for Her Majesty’s 90th birthday, and they picked up the tab, but trust me: If we could swing staying here all the time, we would. It’s one of the nicest hotels we’ve EVER been to, and there was a confusion with our reservation when we arrived exhausted from the airport and it ended with them putting us in THE PENTHOUSE OMG. (This was the view from our room. LOOK AT THIS VIEW.) There is also a bakery, a Pret-a-Manger, and a Starbucks right outside. These things are important. It’s also right next door to the Tower of London, in case you want to visit/toss someone in.
Cheval Thorney Court: We also stayed at this one on Visit Britain’s dime and time, and it’s lovely. It has a more quaint, residential feel — it’s not all modern and only one of the bedrooms in our suite had air conditioning, for example — and the location is great, opposite Kensington Gardens and the Palace and walkable for all the Kensington shenanigans you might get up to. We could see KP from our window.
St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel London: First of all, you should know that this is where the Spice Girls filmed the video for “Wannabe.” (It’s also in Harry Potter; it is a spectacular Victorian building). And when we checked in, our room had a trio of chocolate-creme eclairs whose frosting was etched with the image of the Houses of Parliament. (Our room also overlooked the train station, which was neat.) It’s FAB. There is also an apartment in the clock tower that you can let via VRBO!
In Edinburgh:
The Balmoral: This was also courtesy of Visit Britain, and it’s a GLORIOUS place to stay. It’s right across the bridge from the Royal Mile, and blessed with two good restaurants (we went to the less expensive of the two) and a gorgeous tea room. It’s also right near a strip of bars and pubs (Rose Street) and shopping (George Street), which made for a really pleasant amble around the city after-hours. Also: Room service gave Jessica literally the best toast she’s ever eaten. We need to go back to Edinburgh! We were only there for a couple of days and it was not enough.
We’ve only been to Edinburgh the one time, so … that’s all we have.
Tours
We love a good guided tour as a way to get your bearings, to be honest. We highly recommend audio guides, as noted elsewhere.
Brit Movie Tours: They do all KINDS of them; ours was a general sampling of movie locations, but our guide was off to do the Made in Chelsea one after he left us. And there is one tour that’s ALL Sherlock. They also do a Downton tour (our guide told us that he’s there so often for that one that they’ve [jokingly][maybe] offered him a cottage on the grounds).
Rabbie’s Trail Burners: We took one of these in Scotland. These tours leave from a cafe right next to The Balmoral; they run tours to Loch Ness and Loch Lomand and the like, as well as the one we took to St. Andrews and the fishing villages and Falkland Palace. (That’s where they shot Outlander, in the early scenes with Claire and Frank.)
Places We’ve Eaten and Drank Things
Let us open by saying: Don’t run away from pubs. The old chestnut that food in Britain is terrible is SO outdated and ridiculous. Many pubs specialize in different styles of cuisine, some are gastro pubs, some are Michelin-starred restaurants, and some, yes, serve pies in puff pastry and fish and chips and sandwiches that are really quite delicious. Do not shy away from ducking into a pub and checking out the menu, and in fact, that is often the ideal and low-stress way to go.
In Edinburgh:
The Guildford Arms: This is a gorgeous pub en route to Rose Street from The Balmoral in Edinburgh. We had great sandwiches there. Also beer. And SANDWICHES.
The Witchery at the Castle. If we ever have an event to throw in Scotland, we would throw it there. It’s AMAZING. All of Edinburgh feels slightly haunted, and this certainly counts. It’s gorgeous and special.
Hadrian’s, which is a brasserie at The Balmoral. There is also a Michelin-starred restaurant there. And you’d think it’d be daunting to be The One That Doesn’t Have The Fancy Michelin Star, and yet Hadrian’s takes as much care as if they do. It was utterly delicious.
In London:
London has loads and LOADS of places to eat, and it’s forever changing, so these are not going to be necessarily the most au courant recommendations, nor is this at all exhaustive, but these have been VERY reliable for us when we’ve visited and it’s nice to have some options in your back pocket if it all falls apart/you cannot deal with figuring out how to get into The Big Thing At The Moment after seven hours of walking through palaces. Restaurant recommendations change so swiftly that I definitely suggest you take a squizz through Eater London before you go, and consider this list more of a Hey, This Will Work Out Just Swell! list and less of a OMG DARLING LONDON’S HOTTEST EATERY IS list.
The Duck and Rice is a fun spot in SoHo that the Guardian called “a Chinese food gastopub” (accurate) and also “a jewel.” We ended up on their mailing list, and it’s quite funny.
The Booking Office is one of the restaurants in the St. Pancras Renaissance (get the club sandwich) (or the burger) (also some wine), and it’s actually VERY reliable and the space is beautiful, plus you get a lot of good interesting people-watching because it abuts the trains coming and going.
The Goring has a very posh and excellent dining room — we were there, of course, because it’s the hotel where Kate stayed the night before her wedding, and if you are reading this website, it’s possible you would also go there for that reason. We BELIEVE they sometimes also do tours of the Royal Suite? Don’t quote me on that. Also, the bar there looks FANTASTIC, although we only stuck our heads in. But who doesn’t love a good hotel bar?
Bumpkin is a mini-chain of brasseries (I think there are two, but the other is in Stratford) and we’ve only been to the South Kensington one, but it’s cozy and delightful and very reliable. (Wills and Kate hosted a holiday party here once, if you care about that kind of trivia and we know you do.) (It’s also owned by one of the Ladies of London, a show Jessica desperately misses, if you care about THAT, and you might.)
Dishoom: There are several of these, but we’ve only been to the one in Kensington and it’s GORGEOUS inside. This is very popular Indian food and it’s HARD to get in, so plan ahead. (The Kensington one is right next to Harrods.) We ended up nabbing a res for something like 5:30 or 5:45, after which they’re either booked or only take walk-ins, so we used it as pre-theatre.
The Churchill Arms: This is a famously gorgeous old pub in Kensington on Kensington Church Street. We’ve actually not eaten there, but it’s one that often gets Instagrammed and why not use this one as an excuse to note that London is crawling with pubs and they’re generally a reliable place to pop in for a pint and something fried?
Masala Zone: Yes, this is chain restaurant (like, a fairly nice one, not like Chipotle; London is good about We Have Six Different Versions of This Restaurant And They’re All Good), but it’s reliable AF and it’s always packed to the gills. We LOVE hitting up Masala Zone whenever we’re in London. (We usually go to the one in Soho, and per their website, they’re very excited about having re-done it.)
The Paternoster: As noted up near St. Paul’s, we dined like kings at this gastropub on an alley off Paternoster Square. Heather may have had a whole platter that included TWO different kinds of Scotch egg.
Ottolenghi: We went. We weren’t blown away (despite owning and loving all its assorted cookbooks). We might try it again? Our waiter was having an admitted TERRIBLE DAY, but we also thought the food was only okay? Shrug.
Finally, let us not lie: We eat a lot of Pret-a-Manger in London. It has free WiFi! Sometimes you just want a sandwich and to check your email! You cannot go Full Restaurant for every meal!
In Windsor:
Was renaming a pub after Prince Harry gimmicky? Yes. But the food was actually aces, and we ate at a great pub just over the bridge in Eton as well called The George Inn. The Prince Harry is impossible to miss: It’s right next to the Guildhall, which is itself next to the castle (and is where Chaz and Camz had their civil wedding ceremony) and very central to town. The other is directly over the bridge, across from a burger place called Flaming Cow. Have we ONLY ever eaten in pubs in Windsor? This is correct.
For teas:
Sketch London has a creative high tea that’s delicious, and it’s right next door to Liberty (which is also well worth a visit). Their bathrooms are INSANE. A must-see. (This is also in The Royal We.)
The Dorchester is also in The Royal We, and it’s a lovely, lovely example of a Posh Classic Hotel Tea. (Their china is gorgeous, and the service is — as you’d hope at a hotel of this caliber — glorious. Extremely friendly to two random Americans.) We visited on our research trip in 2014; at the moment, some people are boycotting hotels owned by the Sultan of Brunei due to Brunei’s horrific anti-gay laws, while others feel that doing so only punishes the employees of said hotels, especially given that the Sultan’s personal wealth means a boycott is not likely to affect change the way, say, large scale protests might. This is a sticky wicket, and it’s hard to say if or when it will be resolved, but we leave it to your discretion.
Pret-a-Portea at The Berkeley, which was not in their usual tea room due to some ongoing renovations when we were there, was a GREAT example of a lively, nontraditional tea. (The bar at the Berkeley is also stunning. As we noted, we LOVE a hotel bar.) When we went, it was themed to the Queen’s iconic hats and handbags, in honor of her birthday. As we type this, it is celebrating the Dior exhibit at the V&A. VERY charming.
Other Bits and Bobs
You probably want to go to Harrods, even just to see the Food Hall. (We also find Harrods to be a very convenient place to dash in and use the ladies room if we’re in the neighborhood.)
Hamleys is the famous giant toy store. IT IS A ZOO. You will probably want to murder. Heather and her husband didn’t even tell the kids it existed until the last day of their trip. We would say avoid at all costs, but if your kids have been good and are losing sightseeing steam, it can be a useful way to keep them afloat. ALSO, it often has Lego Royal Family members hanging out waving at the escalators — last we went, it was a scene from Kate’s and William’s wedding, and they also had a giant Lego QEII on a throne.
ALERT: Boden has an actual brick-and-mortar store. Three of them in fact. We didn’t make it there (WOE); one is in a Westfield Mall in Shepherd’s Bush, and one is in Chelsea, and the other one is… somewhere else. Anyway, that was helpful, but if you want to pop in…
Do check out the theatre while you’re in London: The TKTS booth is in Leicester Square, and there are other low-priced windows along the street from the Tube station into the main square. We always recommend seeing something as unique as possible, with the caveat that you might live somewhere that doesn’t have any of the mainstays, in which case go nuts with whatever. But we paid dirt-cheap fees to see “The Comedy about a Bank Robbery,” which was a very British and supremely clever (and cleverly staged) comedy in a tiny tiny theater underground near the Piccadilly Circus station. Best money we ever spent.
- Note for kids: There is a big Lego store right next to the TKTS booth, so if you’re traveling as a family, one of you can hold the line while the other lets the kids go ogle the toys. Or, be warned and avoid this at all costs, depending on your situation.
Logistics:
Definitely plan on doing a lot of walking and use the glories of public transportation in London if you can — traffic seems like it’s worse every time we go. We took two cabs, total, the last time we were there. (We were very fortunate when we were in Windsor for the Harry/Meghan wedding that a family friend could ferry us about a bit; if you don’t get a rental car and don’t want to roam the countryside that way, keep your day trips to places like Oxford, Hampton Court, and Windsor, where you can do it all on foot.) Both the Tube and London’s buses are really really easy, and the bus is good for getting the lay of the land in a way that the Tube is not. Double-decker buses are as fun as you’d like, because the perspective is so cockamamie that you do constantly worry you’re going to run over everyone.
Buses are so easy, in fact, that when you’ve arrived in the city from the Heathrow Express (or the Gatwick equivalent), which we recommend in favor of the Tube from the airport, consider having Google Maps find you a bus route rather than a Tube route to wherever you’re staying. Hoisting your suitcases onto a bus is more pleasant than going down all those escalators, and then up a few, and down another one, and then oftentimes a bunch of stairs because there is no escalator or elevator. In other words: If you don’t have an easy, Amazing Race-y carry-on luggage situation, the Tube is a giant-ass pain coming from the airport. (Seriously, Heathrow Express is great, but honestly once you get to Paddington, get the hell out and get a cab or a bus.)
If you’re cheap with data — Heather is (and it’s Heather typing at the moment; I OWN IT) — lots of attractions have Free WiFi, so always check when you duck in somewhere. For getting around, you can map out everything on your phone from your Airbnb — or wherever you are with WiFi — and screenshot the directions, if you need to be that specific. That way you don’t need to keep logging on and using the GPS.
You can do roaming plans with your carrier; Heather bought a SIM card at the airport and swapped it out, so that she had a UK cell phone number and a set amount of data, but Jessica just adds the International plan to her AT&T for the month she’s going to be out of town and then cancels it when she gets back, and both of these work just fine and neither of us have ever accidentally run up $1000 mobile bill. (Heather also keeps an old iPhone around and will put the SIM cards in that, so that she’s not compromising her actual phone.)
Finally, if you can afford it, we HIGHLY recommend Global Entry (which is the international version of TSA Pre-Check; if you get Global Entry, Pre-Check comes with it). When we got back from London the last time, we got through customs at LAX in ten minutes TOTAL.
Brexit: Will it affect any of this? We have no idea, and nobody else does, either!
Have an amazing trip! Say hello to the Queen for us.
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