Emerson Goes to London
Emerson goes to London!
Below is the full London itinerary I put together after we left Paris.
Day 4:
On our 4th day we took the train from Paris to London. I pre-purchased these seats and chose the “standard premier” section so we’d have a little more space with Emerson. I think this was the middle option in terms of pricing. They actually served us a small lunch with wine during the 2 hour ride and girlie slept most of the way in her stroller. The train is really easy to take between cities and countries but it can be chaotic as you have your luggage, baby, stroller and so many people to maneuver with and around. I accidentally left my purse on the train and remembered before we left the train station. After some quick talking to the staff by Mike, they located it and we made our way to a place in the building that people go to who lose things. I had my purse back in less than 5 minutes. Mike and I joked that we should have left all of our bags as it was so easy and fast to get reunited with my bag. But that could have been bad…
Once in London, we checked in at The Mayfair Townhouse, a great recommendation by my travel-agent friend! The hotel had a pack-n-play set up with a mini diaper pail, fox hooded bath towel and toiletry bag.
The Mayfair neighborhood is precious and London felt so charming and walkable. It was definitely faster to walk rather than Uber because of traffic. Our lunch was planned at Gymkhana. It was close to the hotel and a recommendation by many! They do not allow children under 16 for dinner so it was a must-do for lunch. Indian food is big in London and everything was spectacular. Girlie ended up falling asleep in my lap which I loved as she doesn’t do that ever at home!
Our favorite dish was the Chicken Butter Masala with the Garlic Naan. The Masala Margarita was also amazing. We would have done the tasting menu but you had to be there by 1:45pm and we were a tad late.
After lunch, we walked to Harrods which is just phenomenal. It is 6 or 7 stories of just the best department store you could imagine. Their Christmas Village had just opened and was bustling. From the toy and kids clothing to the champagne bars and food hall, Harrods is one-of-a-kind. I could have spent an entire day there!
That night, our only plan was to eat at Dandy Bar, the bar in our hotel. It was nice to not have any real plans after a travel day and it gave girlie a “normal” night’s sleep. London is only 5 hours ahead of Lexington (Paris was 6) so it was even easier to get her a longer night of sleep.
Day 5:
We had no set plan this morning/afternoon so we walked all around with Emerson until our reservation at Sketch for tea. You may have seen their bathrooms on social media as they are very memorable. I had been to Sketch before but not their tea room and wanted to experience it with Emerson. The whole room is decorated in a pretty yellow and there was a live string trio of ladies playing popular songs. The whole vibe is elegant and feminine and everyone was so sweet to Emerson. This was the one time I thought girlie would sleep in the booth (we had a big section) but she was not feeling it. We ended up taking the last 2 tea courses to-go and finished our site seeing with a napping baby. It gets dark pretty early so seeing all of the streets and stores with the lights and decorations was awesome. We also ended up taking the tube a few places (London’s subway) and it was so easy. You don’t even have to buy a ticket, you just Apple Pay from your phone!
While the sitter service in Paris is also in London, I asked the hotel concierge first and they work with a different company but I was never told the name. That sitter was also great and with a later dinner, girlie was already down for the night when she arrived. They did request you pay in cash so we had our pounds ready.
Isabel was recommended to me and after looking online, I reserved Mike and I bar seats with her cousin who lives in London. We always used to sit at bars before Emerson and I thought that would be fun to do again. The bar is in the center of the dining room and it was such a vibe! The food was outstanding. We had planned to visit their basement lounge called the Dragon Room but it was unfortunately booked for a private event. But next time, it will be a must-do for us!
Day 6:
We had no set plans again except for a dinner reservation on our last night. Mike’s cousin that lives in London walked us through a few neighborhoods that were decorated for Christmas and so cute. We had breakfast at the inidna place Dishoom and it was so good! By mid-afternoon we made our way to another section of town where Amie Wine Studio is located. A local friend lives in London and opened this wine bar after creating the wine brand with her husband. We did the tasting menu and it was all so good. It was nap time for Emerson and after a quick stroll in the courtyard outside, she was asleep and Mike and I finished our tasting inside and got to see Abbie, who opened it!
We strolled to Daphne’s for an early dinner and it was decked out with garland and ornaments. Every place we went was bustling so I definitely recommend reservations wherever they take them. The hotels can assist as they have relationships with places and can get reservations that may not be available normally. This happened to us at LouLou in Paris so I was glad I asked the hotel to help secure it!
(Travel) Day 7:
I had seen some New York City influencers use Blacklane and used a code to get a discount on a car to take us from the hotel to Heathrow. It was a lovely clean car and driver. There was not a carseat (cannot remember if I asked or just forgot) but I wore her in my Artopoppe carrier and belted us in together. Laws are a bit lax/different in other countries, and while not ideal, we made it work for the 30 minutes commute. Girlie even fell asleep on the way.
Every airplane is different but most have bassinet options for babies under 25 pounds in the bulkhead seats. I had booked those seats on purpose hoping to secure a sky cot. You have to call after you book your seats and they mark the request on your reservation. I was told to then ask at the gate as they are first come first serve and only 2 per flight (at least I read that for Delta). When we checked at the gate, they said it was already assigned to us so that was great! After take-off, they hooked it up and you can see how she fit in it. I am not sure how a 25 pound baby would fit in there but it worked for Emerson.
The flight was 9.5 hours and I figured that would be 2-3 naps as this was not to be overnight for us and the time change. I had to just ignore thinking about germs on the bassinet as she was trying to pull all the pieces into her mouth. But she took 2 great naps, about an hour and 15 minutes for both. We played, looked at the TVs, had a blow out, changed clothes 3 times and made it to Atlanta.
The most annoying part was legit just waiting 3 hours in the Atlanta airport for the flight to Lexington. Emerson took a few cat naps and was overall happy at each wake up but I knew she was going to be exhausted by the time we took off. She preferred facing out in the carrier and looking at everything at the airport over being in the stroller at that point.
While we have been supplementing with formula since our Nantucket trip, I was holding on to nursing (my body has just slowed down supply a lot in the last month) her for this trip and it was worth it for the Atlanta flight home. She needed to comfort nurse to get to sleep and that in and of itself was worth it. Overall, she probably had 2 extra feedings this travel day as she was awake longer and woken up more. But it worked!
We landed at 9:15 and got girlie in bed by 10:15 and she slept all night until I woke her at 8ish the next morning. She did seem tired and ready for naps after about an hour of being awake all the next day so I let her do slightly longer naps all day but not longer than 2 hours per Moms On Call. We ended up skipping cat nap and putting her to bed about 6:30am and waking at 7am the following day. I feel like we are already back on schedule.
This trip made us even more comfortable traveling with Emerson especially with such big timezone changes. I honestly feel like the commitment to the Moms On Call schedule at home is the reason she goes with the flow on-the-go and traveled so well. We focused on the feeds, didn’t worry as much about the naps and everything else worked itself out better than I could have imagined.
For now, our next trip with Emerson will be to Boca Grande & Gasparilla Inn in February!
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