Before heading to Accra, Ghana to settle in for an extended stay, we decided to detour to Europe for a little worldschooling in London. The city is extremely expensive for our family budget, so we didn’t plan to stay for long. We packed in more tourist stuff than we normally do because we don’t have plans to return any time soon, and overall, we had a great experience.

We lost some time in London due to our jet lag for the first two days. I can never decide whether it’s better to wake the kids up early to help them adjust to the new time zone or let them sleep to be fully rested while also wasting a good chunk of the day. I opted for letting them sleep because there’s no point in trying to drag sleepy irritable children around town, but this is part of why I like to stay in one location for a long time rather than popping in and out of different cities. If we’d been in London longer, sleeping in for a few days wouldn’t have been a big deal.

What we did while worldschooling in London

A few highlights of our time in London include:

The Victoria and Albert Museum is the world’s largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts, and design. The museum is free, but we paid extra to visit Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature, a temporary special exhibit.

We headed to The British Museum to see a caryatid from the Erechtheion and the Rosetta Stone, but unfortunately, we saw neither. The missing caryatid that we desperately hoped to see (Read pp. 196-197 of my book for details on why this mattered to my family) was in a room that’s currently under construction, and the Rosetta Stone was off display in anticipation of being moved to a special hieroglyphs exhibit that opened days after our visit. I work hard to help my children build a relationship with special things that they’ll see in museums ahead of time, so not being able to visit our two main artifacts was a disappointing blow, but we made the most of our time there anyway.

Being able to enter all of the London museums for free was a real treat for our family of six, and the Natural History Museum was another stop on our list. This was my least favorite museum of the bunch, but the kids enjoyed it.

We didn’t take a tour of either, but we saw the outside of Buckingham Palace and visited the gift shop and grounds of Kensington Palace while strolling through Hyde Park.

One of our “framily” members (one of my best friends) happened to be in London at the same time, and she came over to watch our kids while Scott and I enjoyed a night out. That was a special gift, and I’m so appreciative. We got to walk around town and have tapas at a little pub called The Captain Cook. A couple of days later, I met Kristen for an evening tea at an eclectic cafe.

Who we saw while worldschooling in London

Aside from sightseeing, I got to connect with two special friends that some of you may recognize. I enjoyed a long lunch at Balans Soho No. 60 (The roasted cauliflower was amazing!) with Leah Boden author of The Modern Miss Mason while my husband took the kids on an adventure. We’ve developed a long-distance friendship through our work and meeting her in person was just as special as I thought it would be. You can hear my past interviews on The Modern Miss Mason podcast here and here.

While I was with Leah, my husband took the kids to see the Thames River, Big Ben, and the London Eye. Afterwards, I met them at Piccadilly Circus for gelato and people-watching.

My family also had the sweet opportunity to spend time with my friend Alberta Stevens from Homegrown Sonshine and her wonderful children. We met for tea and cupcakes (Of course!) at the cutest little café, and everyone immediately hit it off. Alberta and I have often said that our children would get along so well, and we were right. They clicked immediately, and spent the entire time talking and laughing while bonding over their shared interest in drawing. We all had so much fun, and it seemed like we’d known each other forever. Read about my interview with Alberta here and listen to our podcast episode here.

Where we stayed

While in London, we stayed in a small three-bedroom apartment east of the Thames, and west of Chelsea. There was a closer tube station nearby, but we wanted to leave from the Hammersmith Underground station, so we always took a quick bus that dropped us off right at that station.

Logistics are especially important when traveling with younger kids, and I didn’t want to tire out my little guy before we even got near where we were headed. My six-year-old required occasional breaks and would remind us to slow down when we were walking too quickly. I also had to keep small snacks on hand to refuel him throughout the day. He always did his best, and I loved having him with us.

Check out a video tour of our London Airbnb below. To give you an idea of the lodging costs in the area, this unit was moderately priced for London, but at $300 per night (after fees) it was on the very high end of what we’ve ever paid to stay anywhere. I know that some people consider it tacky to share pricing for things, but I’ve always longed to understand the finances of worldschooling, and others rarely share details. I want to be completely open so others can learn (and maybe even show me how to do more for less!).

We enjoyed our time while worldschooling in London, but we were eager to move on the Paris! Stick around to find out about our time there, and follow me on Instagram @heritagemomblog to keep up with our travels and more.