Ad - We were recently invited on a coach trip to London and Hyde Park Winter Wonderland with travel company Family Outings North East.
This post is mainly a quick run through of what we got up to, the coach travel itself and the hotel. You can find more detailed posts about each attraction on the blog.
We drove from Sunderland to Hartlepool for the pick up at 6.20am, if you are unsure on where to leave your car we just rang the Council who advised us that this time of the year they don't charge for parking so we left our car overnight at Lynn street parking and it was fine. We have previously parked here on other coach trips with Family Outings NE and had no issues.
The Coach arrived on time and Lynsey was waiting to greet us and give us our seat numbers. I have to say that she was superb the whole journey, nothing was ever too much for her and she was constantly checking in on the guests to make sure they were ok. Our driver was Shawn who was also fantastic and kept us all safe and stuck to arrival times.
We made two other stops to pick people up and then we were on our way. We only hit traffic once which wasn't too bad and we did have to stop for 45 minutes at a services. Surprisingly on a Saturday this close to Christmas, I didn't think the traffic was that bad at all in London. Once we arrived in London at our drop of point, Park Lane, we headed off to enjoy the bustling city in its festive glory. This is what we got up to on our first day..
⭐ The British Museum - Free Entry
⭐ OuterNet - Free
⭐ Christmas lights on Oxford Street and Covent Garden (ridiculous the amount of people) so we jumped in a taxi to Leadenhall market and the had a wander around the area and found some food.
⭐ We ended our night with an Illuminated boat tour with Uber, which I highly recommend
We jumped in an uber to the hotel as the Tube station we needed was closed.
The Hotel
We stayed at The Holiday Inn express - London Excel
We couldn't fault the hotel, staff were all lovely the room was large enough with a double sofa bed and double bed. The room was spotless and very comfortable. The bathroom was pretty big but didn't have a bath it did have a walk in shower. No wardrobes but was no issue for us as we only stayed one night.
We had a window on the front and could see planes taking off, trains and even swans flying along the river. Breakfast is included in all stays and it was lovely. There was a choice of typical full English breakfast foods, cereal, yoghurt, fruit, toast and pastries. The only issue we had was the hot chocolate machine had ran out of chocolate.
We would definitely stay again in the future.
Day Two
We were let back on the coach for 9.20am and we set off for Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. The coach managed to park on Park Lane so it stayed there all day which meant the coach was open early for those who needed to get back and rest. Which I did as I hurt my foot pretty badly ( Still recovering as I type this) (Nothing to do with the company it was my own silly fault for wearing new boots!)
This is what we got up to
⭐ Winter Wonderland
⭐ Walk through Hyde Park
⭐ Natural History Museum
⭐ We got lost in Harrods
⭐ Back to the coach
We left slightly early as everyone had come back to the coach for 4.15pm and we set off. Again we had to stop for a 45 minute break which I think was around Sheffield. We were then given arrival times for drop off and we were actually 20 minutes early! The whole journey was great.
On The Coach
Seats are comfortable, they recline and all have seatbelts with trays that you can use and a charging dock, although our side of the bus wasn't working at all. Not an issue for me as I always carry a huge battery pack anyway. Toilet on the bus, small but more than useable.
Hot and cold drink service on board - Tea, Coffee, cans of pop, bottled water. On our coach there were also some Brownies available which were delicious. Kids can get an activity pack to keep them busy for a while and there are also movies that are played for most of the journey. With it being close to Christmas our coach was decorated which was lovely.
Very comfortable trip, we all had loads of fun and met some new friends. 100% recommend Family Outings North East.
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