Khloe's 13th Birthday Trip to London
Zac and I wanted to do something special for Khloe as she officially became a teenager this month. It's a big deal! Fortune smiled upon us when Vibe invited us on her trip to London. She was planning a trip with her youngest son, Arthur, to go visit the Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio Tour over Easter Break from school and she thought Khloe and I might want to join. Of course, we did!
Vibe and I met over wine one Saturday to plan it out. We had to buy plane tickets, figure out transportation, find a place to stay, and pre-book our studio tour and tickets to the theater production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. It was more expensive than we had originally sketched out in our heads, so we cut costs where we could and made our peace with the rest.
(Zac and the boys were invited to join, but Kaden and Harrison didn't really care about the Harry Potter aspect of the trip, and even though Zac had a nice time when we went to London on our honeymoon, he didn't really feel the need to spend money to go back.)
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Sunday
Khloe and I woke before the sun. (An early flight was one of the ways we cut costs.) We had packed the night before, cramming as much as we could into our backpacks because we were only allowed a single piece of carry-on luggage that fit under the seats (a stipulation of our cheap(er) economy tickets).
Vibe's oldest son kindly agreed to drive us to the airport to shave some travel time off our commute, and he picked us up promptly at 04:55. We had no trouble checking in or getting through passport control, although I did learn that as Americans with American passports living in Denmark, we have to present both our passports and our work/resident Visas in tandem when we go through the checkpoints. Thankfully, I was prepared.
The agents at security kindly hand-inspected Khloe's Instax film so it didn't have to go through the x-ray machine, but they accidentally gave it to the wrong person on the other side and she walked off with it thinking it was the film from her bag. We straightened it out though, and we were on our way!
We bought 7-day Oyster cards at the airport kiosk so we could use the Underground as much as we wanted during our trip without worrying about re-loading them every day, and we took the Elizabeth line all the way to Paddington Station near our hotel.
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| via hotels.com because I didn't take a photo of the hotel, I guess |
The hotel was pretty charming from the exterior, but our rooms weren't ready so early in the morning. The staff let us leave our backpacks and we set off for some food and some sightseeing!
We found a place to eat near the hotel that looked like a charming little Italian cafe. We picked out our lunch pastas on a menu outside while we waited for a table, but when we got into the restaurant, they were still just serving breakfast (even though it was after 11:00). We had to shift gears in our minds and replace our pasta orders with British breakfast foods. Khloe had a very traditional British breakfast, complete with beans and bacon that isn't bacon, but she ate every bit of it and then some!
After brunch(?), our first stop was King's Cross Station. For any Harry Potter fan, you will recognize King's Cross as the station where Hogwarts students gather at the start of each school year to board the Hogwarts Express train to school. They run through the brick wall between Platforms 9 and 10 to access Platform 9 3/4, unknown to muggles (non-magic folks).
The wait at the platform was about an hour, but we killed time by confirming which house Arthur belongs to (Gryffindor) and talking about why Khloe was a Hufflepuff. (For those unfamiliar with Harry Potter, students in their first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are sorted by the magical Sorting Hat into one of four houses, where they will remain throughout their tenure at the school.)
They staff at the platform have become very militant, so we spent about half our time in line being shouted at by a guy in a reflective vest drunk on power ("Move up! Move up! MOVE UP! Fill in the corners! Close the gap! All the way up! Fill in those CORNERS!"), and then the kids were shouted at to "Look here! Eyes on me!" as they tried to have fun posing with the cart. Of course, this is a money-making operation above all else via the sale of souvenir photos, but they do allow parents to take photos with their phones. Unfortunately, the scarf-flipper guy refuses to get out of your photo or flip the scarf unless you are looking at the professional camera. We didn't cave though. We just accepted that the scarf-flipper would have to be cropped out of our photos and that the scarf would be pulled taught in most of our photos instead of flying behind our kids.
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| She's off to Hogwarts! |
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| A little duel on the way through the wall |
We enjoyed watching the kids have fun, and it was cool for them to get to explore King's Cross and St. Pancras Stations. In the Harry Potter movies, they film the facade of St. Pancras as the exterior of King's Cross, so St. Pancras was also on our self-guided tour list.
For the remainder of our day, we chose to take the Underground to the Greenwich/Cutty Sark area and explore. We were looking for the Prime Meridian, but as we wandered, we stopped at an antique market and an iconic red phone booth, and we wandered through the Greenwich market. (I didn't get a pic there because we lost Arthur briefly, but it was incredible and it would've been easy to spend a ton of money there.)
I saw that we had just missed the Prime Meridian and we went back to search for it. I'm glad we did, because we got to walk through the campus of the Old Royal Naval College. The buildings were lovely!
(Side note: I heard Neil deGrasse Tyson talk about why we drop a ball at New Year's Eve once, and it has ties to maritime timekeeping and the calculation of longitude at sea, so it was kind of fun to find the Prime Meridian and see the big ball up on the hill at the Naval College. You can watch the whole video here if you have a spare 15 minutes, or you can put it on 1.5x speed and do it in 10 minutes.)
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| Khloe at the Old Royal Naval College |
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| Maritime flag banners |
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| Hanging out at 0° longitude! |
Our plan for the day had hinged on the fact that we could take a lovely boat ride down the Thames River using our Oyster cards because there were boats that are part of the Underground system, but after waiting in line, they told us our 7-day Oyster cards couldn't get us on the boat. We went up to the dock and asked for help, they sold us tickets for the boat, we waited in line again, and then they told us that we couldn't board the boats with those tickets either. Vibe went back and forth with them and they decided to just let us get on, so I guess it worked out even if we never got the right tickets. We rode the boat from the Tower Bridge to the Westminster Bridge, and I pointed out Harry Potter filming locations (whether we could see them or not) along the way for the kids.
When we got off the boat, we headed for the Westminster Underground station, but we stopped for a quick pic of Khloe in front of a double-decker bus and Big Ben before continuing.
We found a local place to eat some fish and chips (Arthur's request) and had a lovely, quiet dinner after a full day.
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| Cheers! |
We hit up a grocery store to get snacks for the hotel rooms, rounded up our luggage, and checked into our hotel rooms. Khloe and I had a terrible view (a small weird square of space surrounded by white concrete walls), but our room was a sufficient home base. Vibe and Arthur had a smaller room but a better view.
Monday
Vibe found a place called Harrison's Coffee, so of course we had breakfast there. It turned out to be an excellent choice. It was Chilean, and I had an amazing flat white coffee with the most delicious bowl of scrambled eggs and chorizo. YUM. Khloe had a her first chai latte that wasn't made from a powder with some mashed avocado and Chilean bread. She was very happy with her choice.
We had purchased tickets to tour the Tower of London and arrived just in time to catch the first Yeoman's tour of the day. Unfortunately, the crowd for the tour was really big, and it was difficult to hear her speaking since she was unaided by a microphone or bullhorn or anything. We gave up on the tour after about three stops. The information was very interesting and she was a good speaker, but it was too hard to hear.
We finished the tour on our own, stopping to read things now and then and wandering in and out of different spaces and areas. My favorite find was the tower ravens!
We were able to tour the Crown Jewels as well, though you aren't allowed to take photos in that area. I think we were all a little surprised that there is a new crown made for each successive ruler instead of having one crown that is passed down. Vibe and I agreed it seemed like a misuse of resources, but what do we know?
We saw the quarters where the yeoman live, the chapel, the White Tower (built as a symbol of power in like the 11th century and now housing the royal armories), and displays dedicated to showcasing the torture equipment from days of yore.
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| St. John's Chapel |
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| The Tower dragon |
The dragon constructed in the White Tower represents power, but the items it is constructed from represent the 10 different institutions the Tower has served over the years: royal mint, royal armory, royal menagerie, prison, storehouse, royal residence, etc.
We were pretty exhausted after the Tower of London tour on the heels of our busy Sunday adventures, so we found a place to eat, marveled at the Tower Bridge, took some more touristy pics, and retired early.
Tuesday
Oh boy. Warner Bros. Studios Harry Potter tour day. How am I even going to choose which photos to include here? We took like 500.
We boarded a bus that drove us about an hour outside of London to the Warner Bros. Studio lot. The bus driver gave us our tickets, we walked through an entrance pathway lined with giant models of famous wands, we picked up our souvenir passports to get stamped along the way, and we were off!
The first part of the experience is a kind of mandatory group introduction. There is a movie theater-style portion where you watch Rupert Grint, Daniel Radcliffe, and Emma Watson (Ron, Harry, and Hermione from the films) talk to you about the making of the movies and the people involved and growing up on the set, and a part where you stand in a group surrounded by moving portraits that tell you how great the experience is going to be and what you can and can't do.
After all this, the doors to the great hall are revealed, and two lucky people get to open them for the rest of the tour group. Since it was Khloe's birthday and another girl's birthday, they got to open the doors together. It was so great!
The tour had several different elements to it: costumes, props, wigs, concept art, animatronics, special effects, digital effects, set reconstructions, green screen opportunities, and so much more. You really had to rush through to see everything in the amount of time allotted for the bus tour, and even then, there was no opportunity to stop and listen to or read everything, so you really had to pick and choose where you delayed. We spent too much time on the beginning of the tour, and when we reached the cafe that was supposed to be the halfway point, we had already spent more than half of our time! We also wanted Khloe to be able to shop for a wand at the end and to get some fun candy to take home to the boys, so we felt a little rushed, but we made it within 5 minutes of our meet-back-at-the-bus deadline, so I think we did a good job.
Costumes and Wigs
Notable Set Pieces
Bits of iconic props and background pieces were also scattered throughout the different areas. Khloe loved everything, but especially the Tri-Wizard Cup and the Philosopher's Stone. I don't even know what my favorite things were. I was just kind of in awe the whole time about the effort and detail that went into every single thing in the movies.
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Mechanics and Special Effects
There were demonstrations of how they made the cake float in the Dursley's kitchen when Dobby was trying to keep Harry from going back to Hogwarts, the trunk that unpacks itself, the flying motorbikes, and so much more. They showed the light costume worn by the dog to help create Harry's patronus, the descending of the spiders in the Forbidden Forest, the pyrotechnics used to create chaos during the O.W.L.s, and the dragon in Gringotts.
We both liked seeing the animatronics room. We learned a few cool things in there before we had to move on. To be honest, I didn't think I would care too much about the different effects, but the mechanics stuff was so interesting, and I wish we had gotten some more time in that area.
Full sets!
Every now and then, we came to a full recreation of a studio set. There was so much within each one to look at, and of course you can't step onto the sets because they are roped off. Everyone wants to look and you can't spend too much time hogging the view, but it was very fun to feel like you were in one of the movies looking in.
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| The Dursley home |
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| The Burrow dining area |
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| The Gryffindor common room |
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| Dumbledore's office |
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| Hagrid's hut |
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| Potions class |
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| Gringotts wizard bank |
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| Coach on the Hogwarts Express |
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| More Potions class because it was rad |
I thought the Potions classroom was phenomenal and if I could have chosen to enter one of the sets, that one would have been it for sure. Khloe just marveled at everything and she had such a good time. There were even a bunch of interactive set pieces (or semi-interactive), so we tried to take advantage of those.
We also stood in line for the green screen but you couldn't take pictures there. Khloe and I got our pictures on an Azkaban wanted poster, and she got to try her hand and flying a broomstick all over London and Hogwarts. We bought a couple of the pictures just for the memories, but I have some severe criticisms about the poses they put people in based on basic physics knowledge. I mean, no one is gonna be sitting upright on a broom flying at like 35 MPH. Make them lean forward! (Khloe and I had some discussions before it was her turn.) I feel that if they invested in a large fan to blow the subject's hair and robes back a little bit, it would improve the experience and thus, increase photo sales. But whatever, Warner Bros., whatever.
It was just a really great tour and it was totally worth the money. It was super easy to have the bus transport us there and back, but it did really limit our time (I mean, we entered at like 10:15 and had to meet back at the bus at 14:40, so I don't mean to make it sound like we only had an hour or something, but it just wasn't long enough for full appreciations), so maybe if I were to go again, I'd try to find a way to go all day long!
Since we drank no water for about 5 hours, we were parched and hungry when we got back on the bus. Khloe chose pizza for dinner and I found a place near Victoria station where we could eat a good Neapolitan style pizza, but Arthur got a bad earache, so he and Vibe went back to the hotel while Khloe and I pressed on. We passed a Shake Shack on the way and she thought that sounded good, too, but we stuck with our original plan and we are so glad we did!
We ended up at Pizza Pilgrim, and it was freaking amazing. We have been missing true Neapolitan style pizza in Denmark. It must exist in Copenhagen, but so far, even at Little Brother, we haven't found like the most delicious one. It might be in London.
Fresh dough, fresh ingredients, incredible crust, Certified B Corp restaurant...ugh. What's not to love? It was amazing and I highly recommend it if you're in London at some point in your life.
I had promised Khloe gelato afterward, but the food was so satisfying that I didn't want to ruin it. Also, it was raining pretty good out and I didn't want to eat gelato in the rain, but she looked bummed when I suggested we skip it, so I ducked into the gelato place next door and we ate our cones while we walked to the Underground station.
Back at the hotel, we laid in bed scrolling, watching FRIENDS, and eating our delicious candy from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. It was a super good day.
Wednesday
As if our trip hadn't been amazing enough, we still had our tickets for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child! We didn't have to go until 14:00 though, so we needed something to do beforehand. Arthur had been talking about wanting to watch his first horror movie but Vibe had been worried that he might be too scared. I mentioned The London Dungeon Tour (Zac and I had done it back in 2015), where you walk through several historical settings with props and actors describing the dark and horrific parts of London's past and lore - Jack the Ripper, torture methods, executions, unfair court trials, plague doctors, Sweeney Todd, public hangings, etc. Vibe thought that would be a good intro to horror for Arthur, he was definitely on board, and Khloe thought it sounded fun, too.
We weren't allowed to take pics in The London Dungeon Tour, so suffice it to say that the kids had fun, Arthur was not too scared, and I was sentenced to hang for stealing a horse and a barrel of beer, then using that horse to run over a 92-year-old grandmother. It would've been life in prison rather than public gallows, but the beer theft was apparently a serious crime.
This is a good time to maybe discuss the panic I feel when someone asks me where I'm from. This has only happened a couple of times and I can't exactly remember the previous scenarios, but I always freak out internally and hesitate before I answer. If I'm in another country and someone asks that, technically, I came from Denmark and I am living in Denmark, but by birth, I am from the U.S. So I never really know what to say because I don't know the intent of their question, ya know? I try to say, "I'm from the United States but am currently living in Denmark," but sometimes, there's not enough time. If I just say, "The U.S.," it gives the impression I still live there and am visiting. If I say, "Denmark," I feel serious imposter syndrome. I can't win.
On this day, I was selected to walk up and be on trial in The London Dungeon Tour. The judge asked my name, I said, "Lindsey," and he said, "Lindsey, where are you from?" I paused and said, "Denmark." Then he read my crimes and we all had a good laugh and I stepped down while he picked on a little boy for a bit. Finally, he called up another woman in our group and when she said she was from the U.S., he just closed the book and yelled, "GUILTY!" Suffice it to say, I was happy I had said Denmark in this instance rather than the U.S., because even though I know it was all in fun, it was MORE fun to be on trial than to be instantly guilty.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is performed in four acts and split into two parts with a 2-hour intermission. This means you can see Part 1 one night and Part 2 another night, or you can go to dinner in between the two parts. We did that.
It was at the Palace Theater in London and we had seats in the upper balcony (another money-saving choice). The view wasn't too bad though, and we only had to lean forward if the action was at the very front of the stage.
I don't think either of us were prepared for how magical it was going to be! There were so many instances of magic and special effects in the performance, we couldn't even figure out how they accomplished some of them! I won't include spoilers or character names or anything like that in case someone still hasn't read the play or seen it and still wants to, but it was really a nice production.
At the big intermission, we left and got Shake Shack (we had passed one on our way to the theater from the station and I suggested it for dinner so Khloe would get to try it). It was just outside of Chinatown, so we detoured through the walking street to look at all the lanterns and stuff.
We looked at some Harry Potter shops along the way to kill more time, picked up some Reese's eggs for Zac at an American candy store, and made our way back to the theater and our seats.
The second part was just as good as the first, and we were so glad we went.
The Palace Theater was a nice venue, too. There wasn't much leg room and the seats were quite steep (be careful if you get dizzy!), but they provided binoculars at the seats you could unlock for 1 pound, you could bring in your own drinks and snacks, and they had plenty of bathrooms for everyone.
Thursday
Our last day in London...for a while. :)
It was a beautiful morning, so we packed our things, had some bagels, checked out of our rooms, and walked to Hyde Park. We were excited to see the famous Hyde Park, complete with Marble Arch and Speaker's Corner, but when we got there, we were a little underwhelmed. Without foliage on the trees, there was a lot of noise from the road, the Marble Arch was encased in scaffolding and plastic for renovation, and Speaker's Corner was more like a bench and a snack stand on the sidewalk.
Khloe looked at the cute dogs and took pictures of some beautiful geese (ducks?) we had never seen before, and Arthur tried his best to get a squirrel to come to him.
It started raining pretty aggressively then, so we walked to a department store to use the bathroom and dry out for a minute, and then we began a quest to find a specific phone booth, supposedly outside of King's Cross Station, where you could call the Ministry of Magic and get a special message.
We didn't find the phone booth and we got miserably drenched.
We did see something across the street that looked like it MIGHT be a phone booth, but when we got over there, well, there was no way we were touching the phone to see if it was the magic one. It seemed not magic.
And that was that! We picked up our bags, headed to the airport, and headed back home to Denmark.
Khloe came home with two new wands, lots of candy, a Hufflepuff headband, an interactive Marauder's Map, photo souvenirs, a Deathly Hallows necklace, her own personalized acceptance letter to Hogwarts, and tons of excellent memories. Happy 13th birthday, Khloe Bug!
Thanks for taking me along via the blog. Happy 13th Huffelpuff. It's said that a child will remember more of what you do than what you say, and boy will Khloe remember that trip with her mom and buddy.
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