Hello readers if you are a regular reader you will know by now I am originally from London and twice a year I return to London for a few days to visit family and friends. We usually go during the school holidays and at Christmas time. We decided to stay longer this time as we have not had a holiday for a few years now we thought we could turn this trip in to a mini holiday. London is not a cheap place to visit let me tell you but if you are from the area and in the know and are fortunate enough to have family you can stay with as I do it does not have to cost the earth. We went on a Tuesday and came home on a Saturday getting the train there and back. I paid for mine and the munchkins train fares and Lee paid for his own train fare. Lee and I took it in turns to pay for activities and any eating out we did except on one occasion when my brother treated us all to a day out. My brother is fortunate enough to have a well paid job he works very hard for his money as a hood carrying labourer in central London and I am very proud of the fact that all of my family has a strong work ethic when so many in London seem to enjoy the perks of being unemployed anyway I digress.
We arrived in London early evening and were met by my brother who was having the eldest 2 boys overnight (he has a step son who is autistic and its nice for A to have someone the same age to play with). My brother had taken the Wednesday off work so that we could all do something together. Once my brother had the 2 eldest boys he made his way home and we made our way to my dads house on the bus. We spent Tuesday evening having a good old catch up with dad and remembering a dear friend who had passed away the week before. B (the friend who has passed away) had been a friend of the family for 35 years and I had known him my whole life. He was a lovely man who would do anything for anyone and his passing was very unexpected. His wife and children as well a few of his closest friends all joined together that Tuesday evening to remember him and although the evening was tinged with sadness there was also lots of laughs remembering the antics he had gotten up to through out his life. Dad also treated us all to a pizza take away that evening.
On Wednesday a large group of us got together to take all the children bowling myself, Lee, Brad, Ben, Brandon, My brother, His partner, My brothers step son A, My sister Leanne, An old school friend of mine D her partner J who also happens to be an old school friend and her 3 children. It was a very large group but a lot of fun catching up with everyone. My brother insisted on paying for our bowling and our lunch as a treat as he does not get to see us very often so that was free. We had 2 games and I won one of them :) yay go me lol. After bowling we went to the arcades as each of the boys had been given £5 from my nan, £5 from my dad and £5 from my sister so they had £15 each to play with. Whilst they were playing my sister and I had a couple of games of pool something I have not done for years. A tad expensive at £1.50 a game but I paid for one game and Leanne paid for the other and we were playing for about an hour so not to bad really. The good thing about going in a large group is there are lots of adults to keep an eye on the kids so it was nice to have a little one on one time with my brother and sister. We took it in turns to buy drinks and I think I spent a total of around £20 doing this. We said our goodbyes after a thoroughly enjoyable day and made our way back to my sisters by bus. I made us tea at my sisters that night and Lee spent about £15 on groceries to last us our visit. We spent the evening playing bowling on my sisters Wii as if we hadn't had enough bowling for the day lol.
On Thursday we took the children to the urban farm for the day it cost me a total of £40 for the 5 of us and included entry, 2 bags of feed for the animals, and a wrist band each for the youngest 2 munchkins to use the inflatables and fair rides as much as they liked all day. The urban farm is a lovely little place I often visited as a child. It has expanded a little over the years now incorporating inflatables, fair rides, and animal show and tells where you can hold, touch, and feed the animals. They have such a wide variety of animals we saw goats, sheep, pigs, chickens, ponies, guniea pigs, rabbits, turtles, geese, chipmunks, peacocks, lizards, snakes, and spiders to name a few. Lee treated us to lunch there as I had paid the entry fee and we feasted on jacket potatoes and ham and cheese toasties. The boys also got to watch the animal show where they were able to hold and learn about lizards, snakes, spiders, and scorpions. I spent the entire time outside shaking and crying like a baby due to a major phobia of snakes but my dad told me the boys really enjoyed it. After another eventful day we made our way back to my sisters where I made tea for us all and we spent the evening watching TV (something we don't do much at home).
On Friday we decided to take the boys to Heathrow airport to watch the airplanes. As a child my nan would often take us up to the queens building where they had a viewing area with telescopes, a little café, and a small gift shop. Imagine my horror to find they had done away with it all. When we got there it had been changed in to your bog standard terminal. So much for my idea for a fun frugal day out. We decided to make our way to my mums instead but not before stopping off at McDonalds for lunch first. I spent a little under £20 to feed the 5 of us and Lee bought ice creams for the boys for afters. We then made our way to my mums and spent a few hours catching up with my mum, my brother Karl, and my mums neighbour R who is also godmother to all 3 of my boys. We had homemade cake made by R and lots of giggles before dropping the eldest 2 boys off with my brother and making our way over to my dads for the evening. Dad treated us to KFC that night and we had another evening of catching up before a much needed early night.
On Saturday my dad hosted a small birthday party for one of his friends D. My brother came over with his partner and step son as well as a few other friends I have not seen for quite some time. It was nice to be able to chat and enjoy a nice spread before having to leave and make our way home. We finally got home around 9pm and were all completely shattered.
We had a wonderful time but we have eaten out enough to last a life time and are looking forward to lots of good home cooked meals again and a much slower pace of life (everyone seems to be in such a hurry in London).
Have you had a holiday this year or maybe just a few days away somewhere? I would love to hear how you deal with holidays on a budget. I will be back later with pictures from our trip and my out of pocket expenses for our trip to London.
Much Love
Claire xx xx xx
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