Tag Archives: England

Rock of Cashel castle on a hill in Ireland

A Trip to England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales:
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The Milestone Hotel, London

WOW Moment: A Surprise Pastry Class and Picnic in London

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The best trips are packed with unique, memorable experiences that you couldn’t have anticipated or that turned out even better than what they sounded like in your itinerary. That’s the magic we all hope for when we travel, and it’s the magic that Wendy’s recommended travel specialists have up their sleeves—it’s part of the reason she names them to her list of the world’s best trip designers in the first place.

To thank all of you loyal users of Wendy’s WOW trip-planning system, we launched a reward program a while back: Wendy’s WOW Moments. Readers who’ve used our trip-request forms to contact one of our Trusted Travel Experts, and who have contributed reviews of those trips afterward, receive a complimentary gift from Wendy herself on their third trip. And we’re not talking fruit baskets or late checkouts. We’re talking about a personalized insider-access experience, hand-picked to suit your itinerary and arranged by the Trusted Travel Expert. Read eligibility requirements and program details here.

This loyalty program is now in full swing, and the first WendyPerrin.com traveler to earn a WOW Moment got to experience it on a trip to London. We wanted to find out from the traveler how this first-ever WOW Moment went, so we spoke to her by telephone to get the scoop.

family picnic in Hyde Park London

Paula da Rosa and her family enjoyed a picnic in Hyde Park. Photo: Celebrated Experiences

The travelers:

Paula da Rosa, her husband John, and her three children live in Vancouver, and as Paula told us over the phone, they are not big travelers. “We keep things pretty tight between Vancouver and Whistler. We ski,” she said. But this summer, her husband had a sabbatical and the family wanted to plan a special trip for their eight weeks off. They started with time in Hawaii (planned by Jay Johnson), followed by a villa rental in France (planned by Annie Flogaus) and then London, where they used to live. The London portion is where we provided their WOW Moment, working with Jonathan Epstein, one of Wendy’s Trusted Travel Experts for England.

The WOW Moment:

For the WOW Moment, Jonathan arranged a special afternoon at London’s Milestone Hotel, where the grown-ups would try their hands at the art of Sabrage and sip Champagne, and the kids would dive into the art of pastry decoration. The family of five was then whisked away to a luxurious picnic in Hyde Park, with the Champagne they had sabered, the macarons and cupcakes they had adorned, and a cornucopia of other treats.

kids pastry class London

The kids got to decorate pastries while the grown-ups got to sip Champagne. Photo: Celebrated Experiences

The traveler’s review:

“Did the experience meet my expectations? It was expertly executed, it was super smooth,” Paula reported back to us over the phone. “It was definitely more than I thought it was going to be. I guess I was hoping it wasn’t going to be super cheesy, you know what I mean? We just don’t do cheesy. We’re not the family in Disneyland with the ears—that’s just not us.”

“When we arrived and there was a whole line of staff to greet us—the hotel manager through the pastry chef through the young woman who led it all, and she was quite exceptional—I did have what I like to call a ‘Canadian moment’, where I thought, ‘Really? All this fuss just for us?’ We sort of looked at each other thinking we should be sharing some of this bounty.’ [Paula laughs] It was very, very memorable, that’s for sure.”

“We go into a conservatory within the hotel and they were giving us history about the hotel and location, which was interesting, and they had John sabre a bottle of Champagne. That was pretty funny. [Laughs] He put on this cape and hat, and we both looked at each other and thought we were stepping into cheesy, but it was for the fun of it.”

The Conservatory restaurant at the Milestone Hotel, London

The Conservatory restaurant at the Milestone Hotel, London

Afterward, Paula and John enjoyed some of the Champagne they’d opened while the kids were taken to the Oratory dining room to decorate macarons and cupcakes. “That was very nice, because the five of us had been traveling together for weeks at that point, so it was lovely for mom and dad to have a minute to be husband and wife,” she says. “And it was nice for the kids to meet the pastry chef, and have the lady who was organizing it snap pictures.”

When tea was announced a short while later, Paula says she expected to be walked right into the next room. “But they said, ‘Oh no, we’ll do it outside.’” Packing up baskets of tea treats plus the kids’ macarons and John’s Champagne, the staff led the family across the street to Hyde Park, where they’d already set up a picnic site. “We sat back and enjoyed the afternoon,” Paula recalls. “When we finished, we called over, and they came over and packed it all up, and then as parting gifts they gave us gift bags of teddy bears and things from the hotel and had made a framed photo of our family, and then we were driven back to our hotel.”

“This was nowhere near what we were expecting. But I had been thinking in the back of my mind, Wouldn’t it be neat to have a picnic? So this wasn’t that far off from something we would do—but it felt very posh.” Then she adds with a laugh, “But I think I might start doing that.”

The traveler’s review of the WOW trip-planning system:

Paula had heard about Wendy Perrin through a friend and checked out our website. “I thought it looked straightforward and easy to deal with,” she says. “And the people I chatted with—it all seemed pretty tight. And someone else does the planning.” That appealed to her greatly, she says: “I don’t have that expertise, and I don’t want to spend the time building that expertise. I’d rather just hand it over to someone else who does know—and that worked well because it’s not just booking a flight, it’s booking different places.” Thinking back to before she found WendyPerrin.com, Paula laughs and says, “We were trying to plan what to do with eight weeks, and almost needed a divorce lawyer, because we had to work though a lot of stuff, prioritizing people’s wants and needs, and working through a lot of logistics, with three children.”

“People asked me why didn’t you just use VRBO. I don’t want to land and be surprised, and if there is a surprise, I want someone else to deal with it. This wasn’t meant to be cost-effective. We don’t get sabbaticals often, so I didn’t want to get into a situation of I took a less expensive route and then I’m paying for it on my holiday.”

 

Wendy Wants To Amp Up Your Trip!

On every third qualifying trip, Wendy will add to your itinerary a surprise WOW Moment. A WOW Moment is an exclusive insider experience that helps make a trip extraordinary. Each WOW Moment is totally different. They vary depending on a huge range of factors, including the country you’re headed to, the timing of your trip, logistics, availability, and more. You can read a sampling of the more over-the-top WOW Moments (those most conducive to editorial coverage) here. Learn which trips qualify, and how the process works, here: Wendy Wants To Amp Up Your Trip!

A rib ride on the Thames River is a fun way to see waterfront sights such as the London Eye.

Do’s and Don’ts for Your Trip to London

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Note from Wendy:  I’m just back from a trip to London with teen and tween boys, and out of 12 days’ worth of family-friendly activities—including a cricket match, the Science Museum, the H.M.S. Belfast, and Kensington Gardens—these are the experiences that my 14-year-old son, Charlie, enjoyed most, as well as those he feels are overrated.  Here, Charlie tells it in his words:

My mom took me to London over the summer and it ended up being an amazing experience. However, there were some times when I just wanted to leave whatever it was that we were doing. So, in this article, I will be sharing do’s and don’ts for London: where to go right away, and what to hold off on.

 

DO take a rib ride on the Thames.

This ride was both simply thrilling and thrillingly simple, as all it is is a high-speed boat ride. Your kids will love it, and you will probably love it too. It’s basically a tour of London, just much faster. With James Bond music playing, you feel like you’re in a movie. In addition, it isn’t too much of a bumpy ride, and I highly doubt that someone would feel sick after. I recommend getting there early so you can grab one of the front-row seats.

Thames Rib

I recommend sitting in the front row on the London rib ride.

 

DON’T prioritize the London Eye.

Everyone traveling to London has this on their agenda. But this really wouldn’t be too bad a thing to miss. The views aren’t as great as you’d think, and it’s sometimes hard to see because you’re packed in a cell with 25 others. There is also a very long line to get tickets; however, there is a big playground for the kids right next to it. You should still go here, but don’t overhype it or make it a priority to the other sights you’d like to see. If you have time, go for it.

The views from the London Eye are good, but you get better views from other places in London.

The views from the London Eye are good, but you get better views from other places in London.

 

DO pay a visit to the Churchill War Rooms.

This place surely exceeded my expectations. It is an exhibit about how Britain was run during the war and Winston Churchill’s life. They had a humongous interactive computer that had a timeline of world history during Churchill’s life. I spent a long time there. They only take groups of 5 or 7 at a time, so try to come when it first opens in the morning.

At the Churchill War Rooms you see the World War 2 bunker that shows how Britain was run during the war.

At the Churchill War Rooms you see the World War 2 bunker that shows how Britain was run during the war.

They have a humongous interactive computer that displays a visual timeline of world history during Churchill’s life.

They have a humongous interactive computer that displays a visual timeline of world history during Churchill’s life.

 

DON’T randomly visit the inside of Tower Bridge.

You should only go to the exhibition inside Tower Bridge if the drawbridge is scheduled to go up. We got lucky and got there 15 minutes before the drawbridge lift. We watched the bridge draw from the glass bottom floors at the top, when it really might have been better to watch from the wings at bridge level. But I only did one, so I can’t tell you which is best. Besides that, there isn’t really too much to see inside the bridge. It’s a worthy destination, but only if you get to see it in action.

Tower Bridge as seen from the H.M.S. Belfast.

Tower Bridge as seen from the H.M.S. Belfast.

From one of the bridge’s glass-bottomed floors we watched the drawbridge lift.

From one of the bridge’s glass-bottomed floors we watched the drawbridge lift.

 

DO climb St. Paul’s Cathedral.

The view from the top of St. Paul’s is phenomenal, undoubtedly better than that from the London Eye. But instead of a line to get there, there was a climb. And some climb it was. To get just to the second floor, there is what seems like a never-ending spiral to the top. But when you get to the fourth floor, you get the great payoff of going outside and feeling the breeze on your hair, the entire city of London in front of you. This is why I feel that St. Paul’s does the London Eye’s job better. There are even a lot of seniors making the climb for the top, which I thought was great. If you truly can’t make it, I would recommend just going up to the third floor, as the view isn’t that different and you aren’t forced to keep moving like you are at the top.

The view from the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

The view from the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

These are the stairs you climb to get to the top of the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral.

These are the stairs you climb to get to the top of the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral.

 

DO take some time at the British Museum.

The name is misleading because nothing in this museum is British. Kept here are all of the artifacts and spoils of war that the British have won, stolen, or recovered. You will find things in this museum from every country, including mainly ancient Rome, China, Greece, and Egypt, as well as Mesopotamia, Babylonia, and Assyria. You can also find things from the Americas, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Your kids would have very likely learned about some of this stuff in school, so they can tie what they’ve learned to what they’re seeing in person. No one will come out of this museum unsatisfied or unimpressed.

An Egyptian mummy in the British Museum.

An Egyptian mummy in the British Museum.

 

DO hire a Blue Badge guide for a day or two.

Without our guide, Sean, there would be many more things I would’ve wanted to skip. Our guide had insight on nearly everything in the city, he made the Tower of London come alive, and in Stonehenge we would have been lost without him. If you asked him a random question about London, his answer would never be “I don’t know.” We only had him for two days in London, but the amount of things we were able to see with him in that span was exceptional. I recommend hiring one, even if just for a day, as you won’t need one for an entire week. Try making it on the first day because your guide will have insight on what to do for the remainder of your stay. [Note from Wendy: We hired an exceptionally kid-friendly guide—one who can’t be hired via the Blue Badge site—through Jonathan Epstein, an England specialist on my WOW List of local fixers.) 

In the Tower of London our guide, Sean Moran, showed us “graffiti” carved by prisoners centuries ago.

In the Tower of London, Sean showed us “graffiti” carved by prisoners centuries ago.

 

DON’T wait in a crowd to see the changing of the guard.

Some people will get to Buckingham Palace two hours before the changing of the guard starts to get a prime spot. If this is truly something you want to do, I won’t stop you. However, our guide knew where to go and got us a spot just outside the gate to the Wellington Barracks about 10 minutes before the change started. What’s more is that here, the guards walk right by your face, maybe three feet away. You also get to see the band playing before they start. Make sure you snag a spot in time on the sidewalk and hold your ground. Some people will go onto the cobblestones that they force you off of when the guards start and try to stand in front of you. Kindly ask them to move.

Here’s the band marching out of Wellington Barracks toward Buckingham Palace. My mom and brother and I all videotaped it.

Here’s the band marching out of Wellington Barracks toward Buckingham Palace. My mom and brother and I all videotaped it.

 

DO spend some time at Borough Market.

Borough Market has been in business for more than 1,000 years. Schedule lunch there for one day, whether you have a bite in one of the restaurants or sample the many booths. There is some very interesting food there. The closest stand to where we ate sold ice cream from goats. Saturday is rush hour there, so if you want something less hectic, aim for a weekday.

Our guide Sean taught me the geography of London during Roman times over lunch at Borough Market.

Our guide Sean taught me the geography of London during Roman times over lunch at Borough Market.

 

DON’T bring your wallet to Harrods.

Harrods was probably one of the most overrated places we visited. There’s not a lot to really see that you can’t see anywhere else. If you can drop in for a visit, go for it, but don’t prioritize it over something else. On top of that, the prices are marked up way too far. There was a toy there that in Hamley’s—which is definitely a place not to miss if you have kids—cost £3 for 2. In Harrods, the same exact toy cost £15 for 1, which is a 900% markup from Hamley’s. As for the food halls, there are 2 places within 10 minutes of our house that have better sushi than what we tried. However, if you buy anything at Harrods, the food is the way to go.

My mom and brother ordering sushi in the food halls at Harrods.

My mom and brother ordering sushi in the food halls at Harrods.

At Hamley’s, testing out the toy that ends up grossly overpriced at Harrods.

At Hamley’s, testing out the toy that ends up grossly overpriced at Harrods.

 

DO spend an evening at Covent Garden.

Come here with no plans but maybe a dinner reservation, and you’ll leave happy. There are lots of shops and restaurants to spend your time in, but the best part was the performances in the square. I saw this pantomime starting his act while I was waiting for my brother and mom to get out of a shop, and we all ended up watching his show until the end, laughing the whole time. Spend an evening here and it won’t go wrong.

A Charlie Chaplin impersonator at Covent Garden.

A Charlie Chaplin impersonator at Covent Garden.

At the end of the show he gave a hug to his sidekick plucked from the audience.

At the end of the show he gave a hug to his sidekick plucked from the audience.

 

Photos by Timothy Baker

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Ferrari 458, a modded Range Rover

How and Where to Spot Supercars in London

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Ferrari 458, a modded Range Rover
Spotted on Sloane Street: A Mercedes Gullwing in front of a Ferrari 458 and a modded Range Rover
The Dorchester hotel's parking lot
The Dorchester hotel's parking lot on a Monday morning in August
The Dorchester parking lot
The Dorchester parking lot
Lamborghini, a Mercedes, a Porsche, a Rolls-Royce
Right to left: a Lamborghini, a Mercedes, a Porsche, a Rolls-Royce....
Ferrari 458 wrapped in chrome blue
A Ferrari 458 wrapped in chrome blue, at the Dorchester
concierge at The Dorchester
Me and Stuart, the extremely nice and knowledgeable concierge at The Dorchester
The Dorchester
Me and more new friends at The Dorchester
carbon-fiber Pagani Huayra, Lamborghini Aventador
A carbon-fiber Pagani Huayra (right) and a Lamborghini Aventador (left) outside 45 Park Lane, next to The Dorchester
modded Mercedes G-Wagens
3 modded Mercedes G-Wagens outside 45 Park Lane
Lamborghinis and three Rolls-Royces
Two Lamborghinis and three Rolls-Royces at The Dorchester
Rolls-Royce
A Rolls-Royce with a stainless steel hood and modded headlights, at The Dorchester
Lamborghini Aventador
A Lamborghini Aventador on Piccadilly Circus
Lamborghinis, Buckingham Palace
Two Lamborghinis in front of Buckingham Palace
crystal-encrusted Mercedes
A crystal-encrusted Mercedes in Sloane Square
McLaren P1 in Notting Hill
A McLaren P1 in Notting Hill. I was speechless.
Ferrari F12 Berlinetta Coupe
Here's a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta Coupe with the coolest wrap job I have ever seen in real life.
Ferrari F12
That same Ferrari F12 as viewed from the front
rare Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat
A rare Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat with a KSA license plate
Aston Martin, Piccadilly Street
A DB9 Aston Martin on Piccadilly Street
Maybach 62 Zeppelin just off Sloane Street.
A Maybach 62 Zeppelin just off Sloane Street
Brabus Mercedes
A crazy-nice Brabus Mercedes
Ferrari F12 Berlinetta Coupe
A Ferrari F12 Berlinetta Coupe with a modded hood
Lamborghini Gallardo
A Lamborghini Gallardo with a rare type of back window
McLaren 750LT
A McLaren 750LT at the McLaren dealership on Knightsbridge Road
BMW M6
A modded BMW M6
Pagani Zonda
A Pagani Zonda, extremely rare and fast
Porsche 918 Spyder
A Porsche 918 Spyder, the only electric supercar
Rolls-Royce Wraith
A rare Rolls-Royce Wraith
Ford GT in Notting Hill
A very loud Ford GT in Notting Hill
British-made TVR sportscar
British-made TVR sportscar, with super-interesting exhaust pipes
Lamborghini Aventador interior
Lamborghini Aventador interior
Pagani Huayra interior
Pagani Huayra interior

 

Photos by Doug Baker and Timothy Baker

Hi. I’m Doug and I’m 12 years old. My mom just took me to London, and one of my favorite activities was spotting supercars. The craziest car I saw was a rainbow-diamond-encrusted Mini Cooper inside Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, but there were other rare supercars driving around London all the time. I saw a Mercedes plated with gold and black Swarovski crystals on Sloane Street, and a gray W Motors Lykan HyperSport in Knightsbridge. It was one of four ever made! If you want to see cars like this too when you go to London, here’s my advice:

  • Go in summertime. That’s when all the wealthy Middle Easterners come to town for cooler weather and they ship their supercars from home.
  • Go to The Dorchester hotel’s parking lot. Stuart, a concierge at the Dorchester, told me that if I wanted to see the most and best cars, I should come in the morning before 11 a.m. That’s when the cars’ owners are sleeping, so their cars are parked. Don’t go after noon because that’s when they’re driving the cars. If you have questions about the cars, the concierge can answer them. (The concierges were super-nice even though we weren’t staying at the hotel.) The streets and other fancy hotels near The Dorchester can have nice cars too.
  • The best time to see the cars driving around is after 5 p.m. and late at night. The best places to see them are Knightsbridge, Mayfair, and Notting Hill, and especially on Sloane Street and Brompton Road. They are on the streets around fancy department stores like Harrods and Fortnum & Mason because many of the car owners shop there so you can see their cars.
  • Go to supercar dealerships like Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, and Lotus. The Lotus dealership in Piccadilly Circus actually has no Lotuses in it, but you’ll see Lotuses driving past it. The McLaren dealership is near the Mandarin Oriental Hotel at the Knightsbridge Tube stop. The employees were friendly and nice both times I went in.
  • When you photograph the cars, don’t forget to photograph their license plates. You’ll see license plates from Abu Dhabi, Dubai, KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE. Some have both English and Arabic numbers.

Tips for photographing cars

  1. Always have your camera ready.
  2. Take the bus. Sit at the front row of the top of the double-decker bus.
  3. Listen for the cars. Sometimes we heard them coming before we saw them.
  4. Look inside to see what the interior looks like.
  5. Never spend too much time on one car. A cooler car might come by.

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Queen Elizabeth at the Royal Ascot horse races

How to Hang Out with Royalty When You Travel to England: A WOW Experience

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British royalty fever has been running rampant ever since there was British royalty. But these days, all the fuss over marriages and babies has made monarchy-watching even more of an international hobby.

Of course, there’s more to the monarchy than just cute kids, hats, and weddings, and if you’re traveling to England, you can actually have the opportunity to be part of royal traditions yourself. As you’d expect, you need to know someone to make this happen. Lucky you—you do. When you arrange a trip through a Trusted Travel Expert on Wendy’s WOW List, you get access to insider activities and private events. (Such special access is one of the factors that earns a trip designer a spot on The WOW List in the first place.)

In this series of articles on “WOW Experiences,” we spotlight the special experiences you can look forward to when you book a trip via a WOW List expert. Below, see what Jane McCrum, one of Wendy’s Trusted Travel Experts for the United Kingdom, can make happen. If you’ve taken a trip arranged by Jane, please add your review to help other travelers.

The What: Hanging out with the British Royal family.

The Where and When: In and around London from late May through early July.

The WOW:  Every year back-to-back royal ceremonies and events are held in late spring and early summer all over the British capital, starting with the Chelsea Flower Show and wrapping up with the Henley Royal Regatta. Anyone can attend the events, but tickets often sell out quickly, and general admission tends to be for sections far from the action. Enter Jane McCrum, your ticket to British high society. Jane can arrange for V.I.P. access to all the events, including the Royal Ascot horse races and Trooping the Colour—the royal spectacle to beat all spectacles, part military parade and part elaborate birthday party for the Queen.

hats at the royal ascot horse races in england

Looking down towards well dressed spectators at Royal Ascot, held at York Racecourse in 2005, York, York, England. Photo: Visit Britain

Slightly lesser known, but full of pageantry all its own, is the Order of the Garter Ceremony, held at Windsor Castle every June. There, thanks to Jane’s connections, from front-row seats you’ll see much of the royal family (including the Queen herself), dressed in their full regalia (black-velvet capes, white-feathered hats), in a trumpet-led procession. You might even get the chance, before the ceremony, to have a terrifically entertaining lunch with one of the Knights of the Military who lives on the grounds of Windsor Castle. (There are just 13 Knights of the Military, all appointed by the Queen, and all of them live in a row of 16th-century homes just opposite the castle.) If you weren’t caught up in royal mania before, you certainly will be after spending an afternoon amid the pageantry and being treated to first-hand accounts of life in the royal realm.

Queen Elizabeth II at the Garter Ceremony with Lord Chamberlain in 1976, Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England, UK. Photo: Visit Britain

Queen Elizabeth II at the Garter Ceremony with Lord Chamberlain in 1976, Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England, UK. Photo: Visit Britain

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

A selection of pastries at one of London's best markets

The 5 Best Street Markets in London

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This article originally ran on Luxe City Guides

 

By Chloe Jessica Payne

The Big Smoke is big on street markets, with hundreds of stalls criss-crossing the city selling everything from blooms to burgers to faffy bric-a-brac. And sure, heavyweights like Borough, Portobello and Camden have their charms, but if you want to avoid the fanny-packed hordes, we suggest you pack an appetite and pootle along to these…

Heavens to Betsy! Is that the sun you see peeping through the perennial blanket of clouds?! Well there’s no happier way to pass a sunny Sunday morning than by wandering through the historic Columbia Road Flower Market in London’s East End. You might not think much of a posy of flowers, but Columbia Road is about much more than just bouquets, Babs. Going like spit since 1869, the now up-and-coming area is dotted with gourmet stores, indie boutiques and lovely cafes – a rarity in a city that seems to be gripped in the throes of chainstore-itis. And after that (if you’ve still got some wind in your whistle), why not give the nearby, style-packed LUXE London Shoreditch itinerary a whirl?

Columbia Road Flower Market, Columbia Rd, E2, Tower Hamlets, London

The Columbia Road Flower Market

The Columbia Road Flower Market. Photo courtesy LUXE City Guides.

Let’s make this clear from the outset: we love Borough Market – and have yet to find a finer chorizo burger – but unless you want to spend a morning milling around with the world and his wife, venture one stop further on the Jubilee Line to Bermondsey, where only Londoners-in-the-know go. Here be Maltby Street Market, peddling all manner of tum-rumbling fare every Saturday and Sunday, with highlights including mead, fresh-steamed mussels, award-winning brownies, antique bits n’ bobs, handmade soaps, and take-home gourmet goodies.

Maltby Street Market, Maltby St, SE1, Bermondsey, London

Street market food, London

Some of the best food in London can be found at street markets. Photo courtesy LUXE City Guides.

London is a vast city to navigate, however, so depending on where you’re based, it’s a smart idea to check out the umbrella farmers market website which will guide you to your nearest organic food odyssey. Our particular faves include southern belle Oval, sleb-spotter Marylebone and the darling little Pimlico (the latter two feature in the LUXE London shopping itins too, natch). And so, off to the market you go!

London Farmers Markets, lfm.org.uk

More from Luxe City Guides

LUXE London guide
8 of Tokyo’s Top Fine Diners
Gin Lover’s Tour of the World
5 Stunning Spa Sanctuaries in Asia
Shopping on Rome’s Via dell’Oca

 

Be a smarter traveler: Follow Wendy Perrin on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Shakespeare400: One More Reason You Should Be in the U.K. This Spring

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When William Shakespeare shuffled off this mortal coil at the age of 52, his body was lowered into the grave without a lot of fanfare. By then he had retired to his home in Stratford-upon-Avon, and his London public, wowed by Richard Burbage’s portrayal of Hamlet, paid little attention to the playwright’s passing—an oversight that puzzles Shakespeare scholars to this day. This year marks the quatercentenary of the great man’s death, and his countrymen are honoring him with a fitting yearlong celebration. The Shakespeare400 festival involves a consortium of leading arts and cultural organizations coordinated by King’s College London, and it will take place all over England, with events concentrated in London and Stratford-upon-Avon. To suss out what’s happening, you need to do some research (always the case with Shakespeare).

Our handy Shakespeare 2016 toolkit, below, will guide you to the treasure (be prepared to make some hard choices!) and help you plan your trip.

What to Do and Where to Find It

Shakespeare400.org

This events calendar lists dozens upon dozens of Shakespeare-related performances in London and other parts of England. They range from Forced Entertainment’s “Table Top Shakespeare” (the complete works performed by six actors and a cast of household objects—Pericles is a light bulb, Hamlet a bottle of ink; March 1–6) to the London Philharmonic’s “Shakespeare400 Anniversary Gala Concert” with readings by Simon Callow (April 15).

Shakespearesglobe.com

Shakespeare’s Globe, a major participant in Shakespeare400, has mounted an ambitious yearlong program of special events called 1616: A Momentous Year. The theater is marking the playwright’s birthday weekend with the return of its around-the-world Hamlet, now entering the final weeks of a two-year, 180,000-mile, 196-country tour, and The Complete Walk, a 2.5-mile outdoor pop-up cinema along the Thames. The 37 screens, one for each play, will show scenes from Hamlet filmed in Denmark, Antony and Cleopatra in Egypt, Romeo and Juliet in Verona, and so on (April 23–24).

Royal Shakespeare Company

The website of the Royal Shakespeare Company describes a dazzling yearlong program of performances, lectures, and behind-the-scenes tours of its Stratford-upon-Avon complex. Start by viewing the season trailer.

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

This nonprofit org cares for the five homes and gardens directly linked to Shakespeare and his family. Its website lists upcoming events, gives online access to the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare-related material accessible to the public, and hosts a video tour of the five homes. Birthday events in Stratford-upon-Avon include a jazz procession staged by the New Orleans Shakespeare festival and a hip-hop performance of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets by New York rap artist Devon Glover (April 24).

Shakespeare’s England

What to see and do in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick, Kenilworth, Royal Leamington Spa, and the surrounding areas.

 

Where to Stay

For hotels in Stratford-upon-Avon, Jonathan Epstein, one of Wendy’s Trusted Travel Experts for England, recommends The Arden, which is right across the street from the RSC; for a more countryside experience, he recommends staying in the Northern Cotswolds at a property such as Buckland Manor, Dormy House, or Cotswold House. In London, where Jonathan has special relationships with an array of four- and five-star hotels, he particularly recommends the historic Carriage Rooms at The Stafford for Shakespeare fans. Breakfast at many hotels is included when you book through Jonathan, as well as complimentary cream tea at The Arden, a guaranteed upgrade at Dormy House, and other perks.

If you’d prefer to spread out in an apartment, consider family-friendly South Kensington, especially if you’re traveling with children. The neighborhood is close to Kensington Gardens, the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum. Kensington is also well connected on the Tube and buses so that you can easily reach all the Shakespeare400 spots quickly and easily. (Go to Ask Wendy for a recommendation for a London apartment specialist.)

 

For Special Access

Jane McCrum, another of Wendy’s Trusted Travel Experts for England, can arrange a complete itinerary that includes unadvertised V.I.P. activities such as visits to private libraries to view original folios of Shakespeare’s works.

 

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

The infinity pool at the back of the ship.

Viking Star: The Ship That Downton Abbey Built

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Viking Ocean Cruise line isn’t for everyone. But it doesn’t want to be. At a press conference last week—held aboard the two-month-old Viking Star in her home port of Bergen, Norway—the company’s chairman and one of its founders, Torstein Hagen, said that his ocean liners, like his fleet of wildly successful European river ships, are meant to appeal to travelers much like him: older (55-plus), intellectually curious, interested in the world, and somewhat demanding.

“If they [cruise passengers] want to be in the sun, get drunk, or hang out in casinos, then they’re in the wrong place,” said Hagen. Viking Cruises are for the “thinking man,” he added, “not the drinking man.” The focus will be on the destination first, rather than the ship, he announced, pointing out that their sailings, which are currently in the Baltics and the Mediterranean, will allow for much longer port visits than the competition. In other words, Torstein Hagen is bringing river cruises to oceans.

Setting sail on the Viking Star. Photo from Viking Cruises.

The Viking Star at its christening ceremony, May 2015. Photo from Viking Cruises.

I boarded the Viking Star, the company’s first ocean-going vessel, in London (Greenwich, technically) and sailed it up to Bergen (long-ago settlement of the ancient Vikings, appropriately enough), on one of the last legs of her 50-day maiden voyage from Istanbul to Stockholm.  She carries 930 passengers, making it one of the smaller big ships around.  (By comparison, Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas, which debuted around the same time, carries more than 4,000 passengers). Two sister ships, the Viking Sea and Viking Sky, are scheduled to roll out of the shipyard in spring 2016 and winter 2017, respectively. Hagen says he’s planning on ten ships in total over the next several years. Ambitious, yes, especially when you consider that Viking is the first ocean cruise line to launch with newly built ships in 17 years, since Disney went to sea, in 1998. Ordinarily, that’d be big news in itself, but what really has travel industry insiders abuzz is that Hagen is looking to revolutionize ocean cruises much the same way he did with river cruises—by giving sophisticated travelers a sophisticated cruise at a reasonable price.

The Wintergarden and tea salon.

The Wintergarden and tea salon. Photo from Viking Cruises.

We have Lord and Lady Grantham to thank. Viking River Cruises has been around since 1997, but it wasn’t until 2011, when the company became the one-and-only sponsor of PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre and its breakout hit, Downton Abbey—by strokes of luck and genius—that the cruise line shifted into rapid expansion mode. “We realized that the people who watch Masterpiece Theatre are our kind of passengers,” said Richard Marnell, Viking’s Senior Vice President of Marketing. Viking had been chugging along with some 20 fairly standard river ships up until then, but after millions of Downton Abbey fans were exposed to the Viking ads, bookings soared, and the company sped up construction of its “longships,” a roomier, sleeker, and more modern take on the old river-ship model. Since 2012, Viking has built more than 40 new longships, establishing itself as the biggest player in the field, by far.

Capitalizing on the high demand for their river cruises, Hagen and his team plunged into the ocean-cruise market, applying their same winning formula to the new venture. Along with more time in ports, they offer a more streamlined approach to cruising (no onboard casinos, no sushi bars, no rock walls). They also offer remarkable value: The base cruise fare includes one shore excursion in every port, as well as wine, beer, and soft drinks with meals, and WiFi access. All passengers also have access to the (very nice) onboard spa, and if you’re in one of the higher cruise categories, you get complimentary dry cleaning and laundry. What might cost you hundreds of dollars extra per day on most other cruise lines is essentially free on Viking.

Norwegian-style waffles, fluffier than Swedish ones, are up for grabs morning and afternoon in the little Norwegian deli on deck 7.

Norwegian-style waffles, fluffier than Swedish ones, are up for grabs morning and afternoon in the little Norwegian deli on deck 7.

Despite the fact that Hagen is careful not to bill his ships as luxury vessels (“You will just disappoint people,” he said), the onboard experience is hardly bare bones. The Viking Star has only outside staterooms, all with balconies, and the décor throughout is so refreshingly modern that I found myself constantly (window) shopping for furniture—something I never thought I’d do on a cruise ship. A fabulously curated selection of books are found in every nook and cranny, many tied to the destinations, others about great explorers throughout history.

Then there are the delightful Scandinavian-themed touches, in keeping with Torstein Hagen’s Norwegian heritage.  A Norwegian deli serves three kinds of herring, gravlax on rye bread, and traditional apple and almond cakes. The artwork displayed throughout the ship is almost predominately Norwegian, including an Edvard Munch lithograph. The onboard spa, which impressed even the most jaded cruise-ship connoisseurs, staffs only Swedish masseuses, offers a “luxury beard treatment,” and has an onboard snow room, to be visited in between sauna sessions in true Nordic tradition. The owner’s suite, which is up for grabs on most sailings, has its own sauna, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the sea.

The onboard spa, which all passengers are free to use without paying an additional fee. Along with a heated pool and whirlpool, the spa also has saunas, plunge pools, and a snow room.

The onboard spa, which all passengers are free to use without paying an additional fee. Along with a heated pool and whirlpool, the spa also has saunas, plunge pools, and a snow room. The treatments, which costa extra and are typically pricey, have a Scandinavian theme (Swedish massages only!). Photo from Viking Cruises.

Not everything onboard was so innovative. Muzak plays not-too-softly on the otherwise pleasant pool deck, and the nighttime entertainment was less Scandinavian than good-old-American-cruise-ship cliché—the “Rat Pack Revisited” cabaret show and a Broadway-style Mamma Mia medley may have been designed for the older demographic, but passengers of all ages seemed bored stiff. Luckily, at the Explorer’s Lounge—a beautiful space at the front of the ship, with cozy faux-fur pelts on the sofas and the night sky’s constellations lit up on the ceiling after dark—you can sip on Aquavit until the wee hours. The Viking Star may not be for everyone—kids under 16 aren’t allowed, for one thing, and it isn’t small enough to sail into the off-the-beaten-path ports that 200-passenger ships can access—but for a high-quality, high-value cruise with some wonderfully idiosyncratic elements, it seems hard to beat.

*Disclosure: Viking Cruises provided me with a six-night stay free of charge. In keeping with WendyPerrin.com standard practice, there was no request for or expectation of coverage on Viking Cruises’ part, nor was anything promised on ours. You can read the signed agreement between WendyPerrin.com and Viking Cruises here.