Accidental Encounters With The Extinction Rebellion: Our Easter 2019 London Trip

You may be familiar here at The World of Kitsch with the little jaunts my son and I take over to London at least once a year, on my super-duper budgeting as featured in this previous blog post. I book Ryanair flights about six weeks out, and get a return trip to London for the pair of us all in for under £50, then I book an Easyhotel room for under £50, which means the bare bones of the overnight getaway costs less than a hundred for us both. 

The Easyhotel cheapest rooms that I book are basically a bed in a room the size of a bathroom, but we’ve stayed in their locations all over the city and each one has always been clean, safe, and we’ve found it satisfactory. When you are staying somewhere like London, when you are out the whole day and you really do only use the hotel for sleep, not to hang out in, somewhere like Easyhotel does the job.  

Anyway, back to our trip this past week. I wasn’t really going to blog about it, as we didn’t do that much this time. We hadn’t made many plans, we’ve done most of the major tourist attractions for families on our previous visits, and on top of that, my health isn’t so great right now, so we had to pace ourselves. So we took it as a shopping holiday, and we also had School of Rock booked to go see at the Gillian Lynne Theatre the evening of our stay. Click any image below to enlarge.

Sunday night as we were packing at home before we left, my Dad phoned me, warning me that there were some crazy protests organised in the city for the next day, Monday, while we were there. Oxford Circus, Piccadilly, all the places we would be to shop, Hamleys of course, our first stop! I wasn’t too worried as I hadn’t seen anything online myself, I mostly thought it was probably something Dad had seen in The Daily Mail that would come to nothing...

...2pm Monday we emerge from Oxford Circus tube station and the first thing I thing is, “wtf, is it Pride?” because number one, I see a giant hot pink boat, number two, there’s pumping rave music, and number three, there’s a man dressed as a centaur.

Looking at the Extinction Rebellion website, they closed Oxford Circus at around 11am, so we must have stumbled upon things near the beginning of what’s turning out to be a week long protest, so far. They’ve blocked bridges all over the city, roads, superglued themselves to trains and there have been hundreds of arrests. We were quite lucky that we were not disrupted by any of the protests the days we were there, and it was quite a sight to see Oxford Circus closed to traffic with hippies swarming all over dancing and doing yoga.

As for our trip, we enjoyed School of Rock, explored the Tower of London and Tower Bridge (one thing we hadn’t gotten around to visiting), and shopped Covent Garden and Spitalfields Markets.  We had some great crêpes at Crêpe Affair and shopped for snazzy sunglasses.

Hoping to fit in a return trip in the summer, but would love some new places to visit next time we are there. Quirky cafes or unusual shops. We’ve visited all the major tourist attractions but are there any hidden gems? We have the cat cafe on the list for next year, as it’s over 12s only. 

Let me know on Instagram if you have any suggestions for us! 

Family Friendly London #3 Ryanair Return Flights Belfast-Gatwick For Two Under £50 TOTAL, Plus a Chelsea & Kensington Hotel Stay for £45 a Night in EasyHotel

Our trip this week to London for an overnight was the third time I've been able to take Smix over for an adventure. I couldn't do it without Ryanair, so I thought I might share the wealth (of knowledge) and tell you how to get a flight from Belfast International to London Gatwick for the same price you would pay for the bus up to the airport from The Great Victoria Bus Station. 

The three trips we've taken, I always book the same flights. Out of Belfast International at 11am (means you don't have to get up at dawn), then home on the return flight the night after, departing from Gatwick at 9.45pm (means you have all day in London, catch a train to the airport after the tea time rush is over).  

On all three trips I've never paid more than £50 for the flights. Total. For us both. That's both ways. This time I managed to get all four tickets, including booking fees, seat choices etc for £39.16 (see pic left, cause I wouldn't believe it unless I saw it either). You can see, two flights each, including our seat choice onboard. 

How the hell do I manage that? Patience. Like I said this isn't a one-off, this is the third time I've booked these flights for under £50 total.

Say I want to book the first week in August, I start checking for low fares around May, but it's not always true that the earlier you book, the cheaper it will be. I check every couple of days for the dates I'm looking for, then usually five or six weeks before the date, a flight will start to show £13.99 and £16.99 seats for the route I want to catch. This time I booked on 23rd June, for flights on 8th & 9th August.

You may be thinking even £13.99 each person , times two journeys is well over £50, but even if you pick a £13.99 seat it will be less than that once you enter the age of the child who is flying. So technically if it's two adults flying it will be about £56, but for one adult and one child it's under £45 total, altogether, usually.

So, travel by air this time cost under £40, but there are other costs to take into consideration. We drive up to Belfast International, and we sort of have to when our home bound flight gets in around midnight. I book the car parking ahead of time, usually just the week before, and choose Park and Fly. There's a bus every 3 minutes to the terminal, and it even runs in the wee small hours.

For The two full days, from 8.30am on day one, until 11.59pm on day two, the parking usually costs on average £17. There's no fussing around if you arrive in a hurry either. The entrance barrier of the car park scans your registration and you drive on in. Same deal on exit, so no having to queue to pay or find an attendant at midnight in a giant car park. 

Also you might save a couple of pounds if you do a quick Google for a current active % off voucher code for Park & Fly. Always worth checking, even £1.75 off means more pennies for Krispy Kreme when your train gets into London Victoria... and speaking of trains.... 

So we've gotten into Gatwick Airport, next you've got to think about how to get into the city. If you aren't smart about this, you'll literally end up paying more than you've paid to fly there. 

The most obvious choice is the Gatwick Express. Straight into London Victoria in 30 minutes, no stops in between. 

Now I will give you my advice on how we do this part, but I'm not 100% sure this is exactly for certain the cheapest way to do things. You read that booking online in advance is always the cheapest way, but we don't do that, so I may not be giving you the best advice here, but I'll share anyway. 

You'll get a little shuttle bus from the plane to Gatwick Arrivals. Once you are in the building you'll pass through the baggage reclaim, then exit into an open area with restaurants & shops. As soon as you get into that large lounge, turn straight to your left, almost turning back on yourself and you'll see a train ticket desk. There's usually three desks open, and no real queue to speak of. You'll want to ask for a ticket that gets you into the city, and back tomorrow, but also works as your run around Underground ticket for both days.  

For that I end up paying around £34 total. A child's ticket is only £2 a day, as they are free on The Underground, but the ticket will also get their journey into the city from Gatwick covered. 

This fare is for any Southern train, but NOT the Gatwick Express. These trains can take 90 minutes to get into the city. However, we accidentally got onto the Express for the London bound journey this time, after sprinting to catch what we thought was just the next train leaving for London Victoria. When we got to the destination they simply charged me a £4.20 upgrade on passing through the barriers to exit.

Again I'm not an expert on this part of the travel, but EVERY time we've taken the return train journey they've just told us to get on the next Gatwick Express even with our basic ticket.  So I'm not totally sure how it works, but be prepared to pay a surcharge if you do get on the wrong train.

P.S. Watch out for the amazing retro futuristic 'Fifty Pence Building' out on your right as you head into the city. It's the Noble Lowndes Tower at the East Croydon Station, designed by Richard Seifert in 1970.

So what about accommodation? Well, we always stay in the Easyhotel, Earls Court. I've stayed here six times now, three times with Smix. I did a full blog post about the hotel last summer, and this trip I paid £45 for a room with a window for the one night. It's a ten minute walk from the nearest Underground Station and has never let me down. 

You stay right in the heart of the city and can walk to the Natural History Museum and Science Museum in about 30 minutes. If you watch Made in Chelsea like I do, it's a good dander to take in the above ground scenery if you choose one journey to skip the tube for. 

So that's the basics of a trip to London.

Next time I will share my secrets for cheap attractions & eating out in Central London, plus our visit to Kidzania- a must-visit if you are visiting with children- we'd never been anywhere like it! 

Last tip- if your kid loves planes like Smix does, hang around to be one of the last to get off the aircraft and you can ask the crew nicely could they see the cockpit (thanks to Clare from Vintage Rocks for this tip). I think it made Smix's trip! 

Stay in the Streets of 'Made in Chelsea', London, From £15 a Night. Hostel Prices Without the Hostel Horrors, My Go-To Booking, EasyHotel Earl's Court.

I like a bargain & the less you pay for a hotel when you visit a big city like London, the more money you have to spend on the important things when you get there. Like shiny, fluffy stuff from Skinny Dip London, or Build a Bears dressed like Beefeaters who play 'The Whip' when you squeeze their paw. 

So whilst I don't mind forgoing luxury during the lights-out part of the trip, I do like to be somewhere clean, safe and reliable. This means hosteling isn't really suitable. I'm always travelling with Smix who is nine now, and I don't want to have to share a room or bathroom with strangers in a city miles away from anyone I know. 

Thats why when we visited last August, we stayed in the Earl's Court Easy Hotel. That would be my fourth or fifth stay in an EasyHotel in London, I have also stayed in the South Kensington one, which is only about a mile's walk from this one.

Prices for rooms start at £15 and personally I've never had to pay more than £45 any time I've stayed. Like with booking an EasyJet flight, you can use the EasyHotel site to tailor the room to your needs, as well as watch for flash sales, bargain deals booking a long time in advance, or indeed last minute.

Again similar to the philosophy of the airline, you pay for the add ons of what you need, which builds a package visit tailored exactly to your needs. 

Rooms are small, which allows the prices to be lower than most London city centre hotels. I find with a London jaunt you really only use the hotel to crash at and sleep, you don't hang out or eat there, so a room with a bed & mini bathroom is spot on. 

Rooms are small, standard & twin. The small has barely any room to stand about, it's a little like a capsule hotel but with more space. This is what I always stay in when I'm travelling to London alone. Rooms have either one double bed, or two singles in them. 

Another choice you can make is whether you need a window or not. If you are happy enough with no window, you can pay less to stay in one of the central rooms. 

Every room has its own mini-bathroom. It's a complete wet room, with a curtain to pull round to shower. You get one fresh towel, should you need more or want it washed during your stay, that will cost extra. Also if you are staying more than one night and want your bedding changed, again, ask for that add on. If you want to travel without toiletries, there is a pump dispenser at each shower with a shampoo/shower gel you can use. 

All rooms have heating & air-con, which is free of charge, and there is the option to add-on wifi access or the tv in your room. I counted three plugs in our room, which is always important to know when   you've gadgets to charge overnight.

There isn't a wardrobe, but there is storage space under the bed frame, and on the wall to hang coats & bags. 

Early check in, or late check out, will cost you £15, but times are very reasonable anyway. 

There isn't a breakfast restaurant in the hotel, but you are located in a beautiful area of the city and your walk from Earl's Court Underground Station to the hotel passes dozens of places you can get coffee, breakfast, croissants, whatever you might feel like when you get hungry. I'm pretty sure each hotel has a basic vending machine in the reception, as well as all your tourist attraction leaflets and maps on hand.

We had a lovely stay and a quiet night's sleep. I would recommend staying with EasyHotel to anyone thinking of visiting the city, and if you aren't going to London then there are other cities with Easyhotels there too. 

The next morning we strolled the 15 minute walk to the Natural History Museum. The hotel location is really superb for tourists, with Harrods just another short dander as way.

Don't forget to visit the Tardis outside the Earl's Court Underground Station if you have Doctor Who fans in your family! 

To keep up to date and be alerted to room sale bargains, follow EasyHotel on Twitter, or Facebook.