72 Hours Of Christmas In London

Spending Christmas in London is one of the most beautiful experiences you’d ever witness. The streets are lit up with the most beautiful of lights and the city is buzzing with people moving around even past midnight.

The journey to London began on the Virgin Atlantic ‘Lady Bird’. Flying upper class is a luxury everyone needs to experience; we had three-course meals available, compact space for the flight and the best of service from the flight crew.

We touched in London late in the day.

After deplaning, we had a slow drive from Heathrow to the Radisson Blu Edwardian on Mercer Street, which is situated in the middle of Seven Dials and offered a beautiful view of Christmas lights from my bedroom. This followed with a feast for dinner at the Monmouth Kitchen in the Radisson Blu Edwardian.

Day One

The day began with a wonderful breakfast experience at the Monmouth Kitchen, which is complimentary at the Radisson Blu Edwardian this Christmas. This followed with a trip to a masterclass with Eric Lanlard of Cake Boy at Battersea Reach. We made three recipes from Lanlard’s book Afternoon Tea. Thereafter, we had afternoon tea and being British while at it.
The next place on our itinerary was the Lyric Theatre – a West End Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue – where we saw Thriller Live.

The theatre was almost a 15-minute drive because of traffic but would have been about a 10-minute walk. Seeing Thriller Live was indescribable: it was an immersive Michael Jackson experience.

We ended Day One at a Patara Fine Thai Cuisine. It was interesting getting there as we used Google Map to navigate our way. The trick to having dinner as a group is trying out one of every category on the menu and having a field day having different savoury experiences on your plate.

Day Two
As total tourists in London, we headed bright and early to the British Museum, where we went through the BP exhibition – I am Ashurbanipal. Being immersed in the history of Assyria in the way they curated the exhibition was insightful and shed more light on the immense research, time and fund put into preserving history and culture.

Right after this, we stopped by at the boutique space of Miller Harris on Monmouth Street for perfume profiling. It was a delightful afternoon experiencing every scent, eating chocolate and drinking champagne.

The next bit on the itinerary was a Covent Garden walking tour which I was unprepared for. It was an interesting walk of about three hours and filled with so much history. For me, places like Trafalgar Square, Oxford Circuit and Soho stood out.

We took a much-needed break after the walk and went out later that night for some Mexican food.

Day Three
The better part of this day was spent trying to be a part of the Big Bus Tours. For a visiting Nigerian, navigating around London can be a hassle without a tour guide. So, make sure you are properly guided and have the ultimate tourist attraction of seeing London from the Big Bus.

We then navigated our way to shop on Oxford Street and hurried back to the hotel to catch our flight back home.

There was a little bit of nostalgia leaving London with the Christmas cheer, but that was dissipated when we arrived at the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse driveway. Our luggage and boarding passes were taken care off with no hassle. We made our way up to the Clubhouse which has a great ambience and an amazing selection of cocktail and food.