In Fall of 2022, Brooklyn and Max went on their first international trip. How did we decide on London for our first overseas stop? Well, the decision was made for us. Our Denver Broncos were playing at Wembley Stadium and that was an experience we just couldn’t pass up.

Once we decided that we were crossing the pond, we knew we had to come up with an agenda. My sister and brother-in-law joined us for the trip, so I started a Google Sheet that we could all collaborate on to ensure everyone’s must-dos made the cut. Here is a template that we used. I’d been to London once before, so I had some ideas in mind, but bringing the kiddos was a different ball game!

Things to consider:
1. You want to get over jet lag as soon as possible. The day we landed, we made sure to plan engaging activities for the kids to ensure they would stay awake until bed time. Do not take a long nap on this first day – if you do, it’ll just prolong your jet lag and throw off your sleep schedule for multiple days.

2. When choosing a hotel, we opted for one that was very near a large train station. Because of our small kids and the extensive amount of walking on the trip, we wanted to ensure easy access to most locations.

3. Come up with a list of must-dos and check to see if any of them are date specific. Place those on the schedule first and then place the more flexible activities in the gaps.

4. Keep your kids interests in mind when planning your days. If you’re visiting somewhere historic (read: boring), then maybe plan for an afternoon at the park, or a stop at a treat shop. Mixing up the less thrilling activities with the fun stuff will ensure they remain engaged for the entire trip.

5. Purchasing tickets and getting reservations ahead of time will save you time and stress while on your trip. We purchased all of our train tickets, admission tickets, and made dinner reservations about a month beforehand. (We didn’t purchase London Underground ahead of time, just used the tap function on our credit cards for easy access there)

6. Allow yourself flexible time. Our kiddos are not always predictable and being tied to a schedule can sometimes cause undo stress. This flexible time also allows you to explore the city more organically. Find cool hole in the wall joints, stop and have a picnic in a park, take the Tube to a random stop and just get out and see what you find!

7. We are classic over-packers. When leaving London for Edinburgh we consolidated our needs into a single bag and left the other suitcase behind in London (we were returning there before our flight home). If you are switching hotels during your trip, planning your packing by day instead of by person can be extremely helpful.

8. We have Verizon Wireless and were able to use the international plan for $10/day. If you’d prefer not to spend the extra money on cell service, wifi is readily available all over the city. If you decide to go the wifi route, I’d recommend making sure any tickets or purchase confirmations you have are downloaded to ensure you’re able to access them in case wifi is not available.

9. While tipping is not as customary in the UK as it is in the US, small gratuities (~10%) are accepted and often times expected. We ordered some British Pounds from our local bank ahead of our trip to make sure we had some cash on hand for those instances. Otherwise, we used our credit card for most purchases. You can alert your bank ahead of time to let them know the countries you are traveling to to avoid any issues with your card.

10. Find ways to get your kids excited about the trip ahead of time. We hyped up the long train rides so that those became events in themselves. We also allowed tablet time during the 4 hour ride and long dinners, so the kids got to pick out some movies to look forward to. For the Leyton Orient soccer (football) game (match) that we attended, we bought our kids team scarves to wear to the game and had them meet the mascots to get them into it.

To see our agenda, take a look at part 2 of this post!

Cheers!