Bestie Weekend in London & Paris

What tired eyes? We are READY

“You’re going WHERE for like…4 days?” – Most people when I told them my plans for the weekend. On a Wednesday in late January I snuck out of work (ok, I had permission to leave) to head to the airport. I flew from Atlanta to Orlando to meet one of my best friends and catch an overnight flight across the pond. Sitting excited in the airport in Atlanta, I tried to get some work done for one of our virtual fitness groups. In case anyone hasn’t had this happen before – it’s SUPER awkward when you accidentally airdrop an image you made to a stranger while trying to click to airdrop to your own computer. I had no idea who received my beautiful “healthy snacks” image, but I did know everyone around me was looking at their phones while simultaneously eating cheeseburgers. Awkwardddddd. Do not show the fact that you’re the owner of ‘Vanesa’s iPhone’is all I could think to myself.

The guilty airport airdrop photo

I knew my grab and go in the Orlando airport would be cutting it close, but for the second time in my life I found myself sprinting through an airport. Luckily, I was able to drop my carry-on with my friend at our gate then went to grab my checked bag and recheck it with the airline we were flying into London (long story, but made the flights WAY cheap). Danielle grabbed us salads for dinner just before boarding started and off we went. We ate after boarding and getting settled, watched pieces of movies, and tried to catch a bit of sleep (turbulence made sure we didn’t get TOO comfortable).

Next thing we knew we were waking up in London. Danielle had never been to London before and I was super excited to see the sights again and show her some of my favs, even if I loved them 12 long years prior. London was the first place my feet touched international ground 12 years ago and I hadn’t stopped having international (or domestic) adventures since. We grabbed the train from Gatwick to Victoria station and walked about 10-15 minutes to our hotel. We stayed at the Grange Wellington Hotel and it was excellent. Easy walk to multiple Underground stations, a comfortable room, and a fitness center (perks as I was just starting a new workout program)! We freshened up and went to start exploring.

We took our obligatory phone booth photos (with me yelling, “Do NOT open the door Danielle! You’ll regret it!”), ate some street falafel, and hopped our way to Westminster. We walked around Westminster Abbey, Parliament Square, and revered in Big Ben covered in scaffolding for renovation (insert “well sh*t” here, as well as another excuse to return). We strolled past Winston Churchill, a few others, some HUGE squirrels, and into St. James’ Park. We grabbed tea and coffee for the walk to Buckingham Palace. We admired the palace, its gates, and all of the detail. We took the Underground a few stations and walked across Tower Bridge as the sun set.

We hopped back to the hotel for some down time before dinner. I snuck in a workout in the fitness center of the hotel and we decided, “we NEEEEED Indian food for dinner”. We went to Carnaby and walked around until we found a restaurant with little to no wait (because obviously we procrastinated and commuted and were now starving). We ordered food and fancy cocktails. We took an Uber back to the hotel and settled on red wine and face masks instead of a night out. We covered a lot of ground for having less than 12 hours in London, but we had to catch a train to Paris bright and early so off to bed we went.

The Eurostar from London to Paris is quick and easy. It’s a smooth, comfortable ride that is 100% worth it. We arrived in Paris around 10:15 Friday morning and head to our hotel. We stayed at Hotel Le Cardinal, an adorable hotel with a great staff that is located within a quick stroll to Moulin Rouge (let’s be real, I KNEW Danielle would want to do this when I booked the hotel) and a metro station. When traveling to Paris as a tourist, be SURE to grab a multiple day metro pass. Also, learn from me and do not lose that pesky tiny ticket. I love the Metropolitan system in Paris and it felt great to be back in a city I fell in love with years before. There were a ton of things on my must-see list, and quite a few on me see-again list – so off we went! We wanted to grab a SANDEMANs tour that met a few hours later but also didn’t want to waste time, so we decided to head to Montmartre and the Sacre-Coeur before meeting up with the tour group.

If you have never done a Sandeman’s Free Walking Tour, I HIGHLY recommend it! I have NEVER had a boring tour guide and have always learned a ton. We did these 12 years ago while backpacking in Europe and I’ve recommended them ever since. The guides are fun and the tours are FREE – the guides work from tips only, but you can easily tip well and still feel like you got an amazing tour for an amazing deal. The Paris tour hits so many of the amazing highlights of the city while giving you awesome historical background. Do not go to Paris without doing this tour! Notre Dame, Louvre, and Arc de Triomphe – all the best sights! After the tour, we continued exploring and head to the Champs-Élysées and then on to the Eiffel Tower around sunset. Don’t forget to watch it sparkle! Since it was winter in Europe, the sun was setting early and we were able to make it to dinner and then back to the hotel for some down time before hitting up the show at Moulin Rouge (far different than we expected, but an experience nonetheless).

The next morning, we ventured out to what was one of the random/weird/hilarious/awesome reasons I decided Danie and I should go to Paris – DISNEYLAND PARIS! With Danie being Disney-obsessed and me only ever going to Disney WITH Danie, this was a bit of a no-brainer. We grabbed our winter Minnie Mouse hats and our hand warmers and took the train from the city to Marne-la-Vallée, where the park is (about a 40-minute train ride from the city). Disney in Europe in the winter was frigid but still great and full of smiles (although most of ours were covered by our scarves all day to keep warm).

Top: Orlando, sometime between 5-10 years ago Bottom: January 2019 in Paris

We spent all day Saturday and Disney, which left Sunday to explore more of Paris on our own. I highly recommend doing a tour near the beginning of your travel within another city so you can make notes on things you want to explore further or must go back to.

We allowed ourselves to sleep in a bit Sunday and then went to a delectable gluten free restaurant for brunch (NO GLU). After brunch we spent a few hours around and inside the Louvre, admiring art and creating memes, duh. We went back to Notre Dame to go inside, explored Le Marais, and may or may not have ordered dinner from our hotel bed via Uber Eats (I will say, I’d highly recommend Distrito Francés if you’re craving Mexican while in Paris – the food was wonderful!)

Monday morning was our much dreaded, extra super long travel day back to the states. We left Paris for London (a little time-consuming and detailed, but made our flights cheaper by hundreds of dollars) via train, then head to Gatwick to catch our fight back to Orlando. We got lucky and our flight was far from crowded, so we each got an entire ROW to ourselves. We forced ourselves to stay awake (for the most part) and may or may not have had a “treat yo’self” flight back with copious amounts of wine, champagne, and Lindt truffles. The perfect ending to a crazy girl’s weekend in London & Paris, if I do say so myself.

xo

don't stop exploring.