Welcome to the first post of 2020! I know I am slightly late in wishing a Happy New Year but better late than never. In this post, I head back into 2019 to recap my weekend in London trip.

So, first, I have been a bit M.I.A following the Christmas period. After a busy December of crafting manically for Christmas, I decided to take a little break away from here and the socials. But, now I am back and trying to get back into the swing of things. I originally planned for this post to be done and put up around the New Year time, but as with all well-intentioned plans I didn’t, so here was are a week later. I am not a big one for new year resolutions but a goal of mine (always) is to try a be a bit more organised; so let’s see if that happens in 2020!

To start off the new year I thought I would go back to the end of November / start of December and show you what I got up to on a weekend in London. I’ve also included a little travel vlog from my time here if you also want to check it out.

A weekend in London

For my friend’s birthday (way back in April) I and another friend bought her tickets to see Magic Mike Live in London. From this, we all decided that a weekend in London was much needed, and with it being close to Christmas perfect for checking out a few winter markets including Winter wonderland. This was my fourth visit to the Big Smoke; so the usual tourist stuff had already been done. This was a weekend for the girls to catch up and enjoy some festive festivities.

Where we stayed:

We originally booked an apartment, however, this was cancelled by the host so we ended up staying in a lovely hotel The Lancaster. This was a perfect base for us, as it is quite central in London, with a 15-20 minute walk away from Leicester Square. This hotel is located on Bedford Place; which has an abundance (5) of other hotels within the Grange Hotels range. It is a great little base for exploring London if you are ever in the city.

The rooms are dated but in a kind of grand/vintage way. Think of old Georgian properties transferred into hotel rooms. High ceilings and large windows. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of the room but it was a fab base for us. You were also provided with toiletries in the bathroom, and the shower was pretty powerful too.

Magic Mike Live:

Let’s start with the reason why we were in London for the weekend (our first night / Friday night). Magic Mike Live! If you didn’t know, Magic Mike Live is a type of dance show based on Channing Tatum’s film (and life), Magic Mike. Basically a male strip show, but not your average tacky show. Full of choreography, a bit of a story and interaction with the audience. This is a perfect girls weekend show to go see. I was a bit sceptical that I wasn’t going to enjoy it and thought it was going to be really cringy, but it totally wasn’t! It was also the perfect cure for my stinker of a cold too!

The show is in The Hippodrome Casino in Leicester Square, and it is slightly surreal walking through the casino to the stage area. You are shown to your seats by some very handsome waiters, who make you feel comfortable and bring over your chosen drinks. Initially, we thought they were dancers in disguise, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case 🙁 The show dancers certainly make up for it. The compère of the show Samantha, really adds a bit extra to the whole performance too, bringing a bit of humour and woman empowerent to it.
Not a bad way to start our weekend, celebrate a Friday night and belated birthday!

Check out my video below for a few snippets from the live show!

Winter Wonderland:

Another place we visited on our weekend in London was Winter Wonderland. Filling Hyde Park, Winter Wonderland is a massive Christmas market. Spilt into various themed sections to really get you into the festive spirit. There is an abundance of rides and attractions, as well as some ticketed events to really enjoy your visit.

We decided to go on Saturday evening (day 2 of our weekend) and the place was heaving! Getting to the place was quite traumatic too, with the tube being absolutely packed. But, we made it in one piece and enjoyed our visit there. You can’t visit a Christmas market without sampling some mulled cider and feasting on a German sausage!

We had also pre-bought tickets to the Winter Wonderland comedy club, which featured two great British comedians Emmanuel Sonubi as the compere and Milton Jones as the headline act. A perfect way to end our night at Winter Wonderland. If you ever visit in the future I would highly recommend buying tickets to the comedy club. The last time we visited London we went to The Secret Comedy Club, which is another great place for a night of comedy, at quite cheap prices too. There is also the chance of watching a celebrity comedian too, as ‘secret celebrity guest’.

A Weekend in London Exploring:

In between watching Magic Mike Live and visiting Winter Wonderland, we did a little bit of exploring in London. Covent garden felt very Christmasy, with a massive Christmas tree in the middle. Tiffany’s & Co, also had a bit of a magical winter wonderland going on too.
Leicester Square also got in on the Christmas market action, with a small market selling various Christmas nick-nacks and snacks.

Like I said at the start of this post, this was my fourth visit to London, therefore we didn’t do the typical exploring of the usual tourist places.

On Friday night we explored a few bars before heading to Magic Mike Live. Slug and Lettuce in Leicester Square was the first stop, with a few cocktails and a bite to eat. We then made our way to the W Hotel Perception Bar. Luckily you don’t have to be a guest of the hotel to use this, and what a treat it is. Very stylish with the price tags to match, but well worth it to say you have had a drink in the hotel.

Other than that, it was quite a chilled weekend away and a great catch up with the girls! Back to reality come Sunday, with the train ride back to Leeds being the only event really.

Have you visited London at Christmas time?

If you enjoyed this post, then you may enjoy a few more of Uk travel adventures. Check out North Wales Travel Vlog, Lake District Travel Vlog, and High-End Beachside House.

A Weekend in London Vlog:

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