Guide to London, England

London was my first international destination I ever visited and I've been back several times since to explore new things to do. It's a great first city to explore if you are new to traveling, especially as an America since they speak English and it's relatively easy to navigate. Below are my suggestions of things as well as a few things on my bucket list for my next visit!

Big Ben

Big Ben is one of London's most iconic landmarks. Its four faced clock is a bell tower, standing over 300 ft tall, where the name actually comes from the bell inside. The bells chime on the hour as well as every 15 minutes and you can climb the stairs to the top, though I'd suggest wearing your walking shoes as it's quiet the task!

Buckingham Palace

From Big Ben, you can take about a mile long walk over to Buckingham Palace to take in the changing of the guards. The gardens around the palace are beautiful kept, so enjoy some fresh air.

The London Eye

After several visits to London, I finally decided to take a trip around The London Eye. While it may be a touristy attraction, I thought it was super cool to see the city from the sky! You can purchase tickets ahead of time, or wait in line to ride. The farris wheel moves super slowly so you can get a full view of the city in each of the pods. Each pod holds roughly 20 people and takes about an hour to go all the way around. We lucked out with a beautiful, sunny day and I was pleased to find that the pods were air conditioned to stay cool!

Borough Market

One of my favorite things to do in London is explore the amazing food at Borough Market. There are so many vendors serving up the best food for you to walk around and pick what speaks to you. My favorites included the smoked pork sandwich from The Black Pig, the piping hot fish n chips from FISH!, the creme brûlée donut from Bread Ahead, and the most amazing chocolate covered strawberries I've ever had. Other notable mentions include the seafood paella, mushroom risotto and the mac n cheese, but we simply didn't have enough room to keep going.

I feel it's necessary to go back to the chocolate covered strawberries for a second. This truly may have been the best thing I ate my whole trip. DO NOT skip it - even if the lines look long - they move incredible fast and the workers have it down to a science. Grab a bunch of napkins because the strawberries are wildly juicy and the chocolate is melty and delicious! So good we made a second trip back to have them again!

As I mentioned previously, I was 34 weeks pregnant on our trip abroad so my mobility was limited. Below are a few other things I would have liked to do while there that I just didnt have the energy to do this trip!

• Churchill War Rooms

• Brigits Afternoon Tea Bus

• Crown Jewels

• Visit the Tower Bridge

• Harrods Shopping Spree

• Jumping On/Off Double Decker Bus

Food wise I highly suggest the Indian food scene, which is plentiful across the city. Dishoom is fantastic and is what got my husband hooked on the cuisine! There are several locations around London. Before dinner grab drinks at Swift in Soho - an awesome cocktail bar which has an upstairs and downstairs bar. Upstairs is for walks in while downstairs is reservation only! Their menu surely has something for everyone, however, the whiskey lovers are in luck with an extensive list of over 300 options to choose from!

Wimbledon

Last up is the Classic Championships at Wimbledon. I am an avid tennis fan, but even if you arent, this is a must do if you are in London in July. The tournament takes place the first two weeks of the month and is such an elite event - like The Master's of Europe. Similar to Augusta National, tickets to the grounds can be hard to come by, but there is an option to stand in line and "queue up". If you are an American Express cardholder you have access to buy tickets to an exclusive ticketing experience called The Treehouse, which go on sale about a year prior to the event.

Some of the perks to The Treehouse are private access and premium seating, Michelin Star food pairings, unlimited alcohol and mocktails (which was perfect for me during our trip as I was expecting!), a cigar bar, makeup and hair touch ups and every pregnant lady's dream - a refreshing foot stream to cool off and relax! Overall, this was such an incredible day with delicious food options, limited crowds and great seats for spectating!

*If you are thinking about becoming an American Express Cardholder, use my link HERE to earn additional points!