For the past three years hubby and I have been going to London for our annual vacation. In 2017 we went for the first time and totally loved it! We go to eat all yummy food items that we miss from Pakistan. In 2018 we went there for our babymoon on the hunt for mangoes from Pakistan. So worth it! In 2019 we wanted to take twins there for their first international trip. Little did I know I was going to be pregnant when I took the twins to London. I passed this gate by Hyde Park crossing I had to take the following picture. I took my first bump picture there in 2018 and obviously; had to take it with this current baby bump as well.
We booked a 10 pm flight out of Detroit direct to London. Figured as we board twins will sleep and we’ll be set. Sadly; things did not work out that way. They got over tired and were extremely tired and cranky as we boarded the flight. The first hour they did nothing but cry. I felt so bad for the passengers around us. Eventually an hour into the flight they fell asleep and slept till an hour before landing. We got through customs, got our baggage and checked into our hotel smoothly with the twins. They were in awe of their new environment and tired. Usually when I land late mornings to fight the jetlag, I take a quick shower and go out walking to fight the jetlag. With the twins I knew that was not a possibility. I unpacked while they played around and then gave them a quick shower. After packing and shower all four of us took a nice 3-hour nap. It felt refreshing! We felt ready to start the vacation!
I had a whole list of things that I wanted to go and show twins. Did not get to do everything but most of it I did. Learned the hard way with kids that it’s about seeing what kids like doing and go with the flow. Which is hard for this type A personality. I think my favorite part of this trip was our midnight KFC parties. We would order KFC on uber eats every night at 11 pm after showering and changing into our pjs. Every night we would try and hope the twins would sleep before the yummy KFC would arrive; so, we can eat in peace. Sadly, that never happened. We always ended up sharing our KFC with the twins and then sleep.
Right next to the hotel was Hyde Park having its annual Winter Wonderland. We ended up there every day at some point. To eat the yummy street food and to see the lights. There was this little vintage car ride that we put the twins on. It was their first solo carnival ride! Mikaal was sleeping when we got there as usual. We put Musa in it first. He loved it from the second the ride started and did not want to come out. Mikaal woke up as Musa’s ride ended and we put Mikaal in it along with Musa. Mikaal was a little hesitant at first but then loved it. I was in awe there were kids older than the twins who refused to go on it. Here I was struggling to get my twins off this ride.
On my list was the Natural History Museum and the Victoria Albert Museum. I figured if we get to one of them, I would be happy. We ended up going to both! At the Natural History Museum Mikaal slept the entire time we were there. Musa loved it especially the dinosaur exhibit. There was an animatronics dinosaur there super real. A lot of kids were a little scare but not my Musa. He was yelling back at this T-Rex. I have a cartoon for a son!
As I mentioned earlier, I love going to London for food. One of my favorites things to eat when I go is Cornetto ice cream cone. It is like a drumstick but in my opinion much better! There is a vendor that sells Cornetto by the lake in Hyde park. I love eating my ice cream there and watch the swans. This time I had to buy two cornettos in a span of 1 hour as I had to share them with the twin that was awake while I made my purchase. As much as I hate sharing ice cream, I am glad to share it with my babies!
No trip to London is complete without a visit to see the queen. We must have made at least three trips to the Buckingham palace. As each time we went there Mikaal would fall asleep as we got there. Finally, on the last day we made it there with both babies wide awake, and a down pour about to happen. Quickly took them out of their stroller to take a few pictures waving to the Queen (who was not in the palace at the time).
I think I was able to accomplish maybe 60 percent of my list for what I wanted to do in London. I think that was also as dear hubby went along with my eccentricity. It is a lesson learned for my next trip with the babies do have a list of things you want to see potentially. But must go with what the babies want to do. There were places I thought we would just skim through but ended up spending hours as the twins had so much fun. Learn to live in the moment as dear hubby says. Difficult for me to do (Type A personality) but working on it for our next adventure!
The Winging it Mama! 