This past week my parents flew across the ocean to come visit. Because they only planned for 10 days, we had to be realistic with where we could go and what we could accomplish in such a short time. In just a few days of traveling, I’ve seen so much!

The traveling began in Salisbury to visit Stonehenge. While it was just a circle of rocks, it was an amazing sight. I felt like it was looking at a picture, like it wasn’t real life. It wouldn’t be a true family trip without missing a bus or two, but luckily the bus we missed comes every hour so we caught a later bus to go to Old Serum. It was the old grounds of a fort. You could see the Salisbury Cathedral from Old Serum, so that was our next stop. Massive does not even begin to describe the Cathedral! It was amazing, I just can’t imagine building it. We found a free tour in there and learned some really interesting things, like that it is built on an area that basically means it’s floating on water. 

The next stop was Bath. It is a really small area, but it was absolutely beautiful. We went into another abbey. We also visited the Roman Baths, which are basically natural hot tubs. But the catch is that these were a series of baths, about the size of 2 pools put together. There are multiple rooms to this grand building.

Finally we went to London. Although I have gone there a few times already, I got the full tourist experience this time. On Friday night we went to see a show. To preface this, I will say that I used to be OBSESSED with the movie ‘Matilda.’ I would watch it a few times a week and still not tire of it. So, it was only fitting to see the musical in London. While I was a bit skeptical about how they could turn it into a musical, the songs were fun and catchy, and the show overall was great.

Saturday consisted of walking 10 miles all over the city on free walking tours. We saw all the main attractions along with alleys, pubs, and houses that I would never have even known to look for. We also visited Kensington Gardens. I have concluded that someday I will live there. Ok so not really, but a girl can dream right? The only disappointment of the weekend was that Tower Bridge was not lit.

Finally on Sunday, we met up with family of my relatives (confusing but it makes sense). We got to hear their stories of living in London as well as many other hilarious stories. I got to ride in a car! We started with a little shopping in Covent Gardens and then it was off to The Tower of London. It was probably one of my favorite sports in London — like its own little village. The Crown Jewels were incredible! I can’t even begin to imagine being able to wear a diamond as big as a small cookie! There was such an interesting history to the tower, as with all the sights we got to see.

It’s been a great long weekend full of adventures, laughs, and quite a bit of running to make it to the public transportation on time! I think my parents really enjoy it here. Perhaps convincing them to take a family vacation back here in the future won’t be so difficult after all!

Location: United Kingdom