A Girls Weekend in London Itinerary + packing list

Last month I spent the weekend in London with some girlfriends and it was a dream (and not just because I was still 100% newborn state sleep deprived). I wrote up our itinerary and linked my packing list a few weeks ago and am finally sharing today! I didn’t pack my computer or my camera on this trip so everything here is an iphone shot.

Last weekend I crashed the HBS girl’s weekend in London (remember the Paris’ weekend we planned last year?) and it was JUST what I needed. I’m not nursing so I left baby Westley at home with Ben snd spent three nights sleeping 7-8 hours straight for the first time in months. London is always fun, but the weekend was so much more filling than I expected. I knew I needed some physical respite from these 2.5 hour increments of sleep I’ve been surviving on but I didn’t realize how socially refreshing a full weekend of adult conversation would be.

The itinerary for this trip was focused around spending time with people and doing things we wouldn’t likely do in London with our husbands. Most of us had been to the city before so we weren’t trying to pack in all the major tourist sites.

The highlight of the trip for me (besides talking to non-toddlers all day) was, hands down, high tea at Sketch. It was the perfect thing to do on a girls trip to London, in part, because Ben would not have enjoyed it nearly as much as the girls who I went with did. We ate delicious bite sized food in an opulent pink room, seated on pink velour chairs, served by a man in a pink suit. I sampled a handful of their herbal teas and they were all quite good…but nothing beats the truffle grilled cheese tea sandwich. It might have been the best thing I ate the entire weekend.

I’ve included our itinerary and my packing list below (along with a few things I wish I’d had with me).

A day in London with baby Lincoln & Ben in 2016

Christmastime in London with Ben in 2018

Last year’s girls trip to Paris in 2018

Girls Weekend in London Itinerary:

Friday:

Fly in.
I headed straight to the airbnb and met up with everyone in time to change into pajamas and chat before bed BUT the rest of the group was split between driving through the Cottswalds (think Pride and Prejudice) and spending the day in London shopping in Notting Hill, eating yummy food, and seeing a play.

Saturday:

9:00 am head to TKTS in the West End to grab tickets for a show that evening. We grabbed croissants and smoothies on our way to the tube.
10:45 Meet for our “Fat Tires” biking tour of London
2:30 Finish up our tour and walk to Borough Market for an early dinner (got the grilled cheese from Kappacasein Dairy and it was SO good…we also bought some specialty chocolate bars to snack on during the show later that night)
5:00 catch the first half of Evensong at St. Pauls Cathedral
6:00 walk through a few exhibits at the Tate Modern
7:00 head to the West End for Matilda
10:30 Grab mcflurries and french fries on our way back to the flat (99 pence for a large mcflurry! and 1.39 for a large fry!)

Sunday:

10:30 church near Hyde Park
light brunch afterwards (I can’t remember where)
Walk to Victoria and Albert Museum (to take in the fashion exhibit and stare at the Raphael Cartoons for awhile)
2:30 Sky Garden reservation at Fenchurch Restaurant
Churchhill War Rooms (we missed this because we didn’t realize the last entrance is at 5pm but I’ve done this before and it is WORTH a visit).
Stroll through the parks
Macaroons at Lauderee (stop in Cath Kidson right across the street!)
Thai takeout back at the flat

Monday:

Sleep in
A little window shopping on Oxford street
12:30 High Tea at Sketch
3:30 A little more shopping before heading back to pick up our bags and head to the airport

Girl’s Weekend in London Packing List:

Shoes:

I wish I’d had

Coats:

white teddy coat (similar here)
short black puffer coat (water resistant and kept me dry and warm without an umbrella – updated style from the same brand here)

Sweaters/ Tops:

Boxy black tee (I’ve been living in this)
chunky black sweater
white fuzzy mock neck sweater
pink sweater

Bottoms:

favorite black leggings (bought these for our girls trip last year and they’re the best leggings I’ve ever worn)
raw hem jeans
dark wash crop jeans (I searched far and wide for a good dark wash high-rise crop and have been super happy with these)

Dress:

turtleneck sweater dress (softest thing ever! from the lounge section at Anthropologie and under $100)

Accessories:

If I were doing it again I’d skip the sweater dress and just have worn my nice dark wash jeans on Sunday. I would have also had a good umbrella and some rain boots.