Sights and Sounds of London

A group of Brownell travel advisors have just returned from 4 days of travel in London, England! Read all about their travels below:

Day 1: After an early morning arrival of 7:00AM, we were met by Lewis Day Chauffer for our private transfer to our home for the next 4 nights, The Milestone Hotel. With a quick freshen up and light breakfast and introduction, we made our way through “The Tube”, aka – the London Underground Train, to the Hop-On/Hop-Off site seeing bus. It was a great way to glean an overview for the city.

Following our orientation tour of London on the big red bus, we met back at The Milestone for afternoon tea and champagne. We had a quick site inspection where we learned and saw that every room in The Milestone is completely different – i.e. set up, décor, size, color, etc.

Here we are having afternoon tea and champagne!:
For dinner, we were hosted at The Chesterfield Mayfair, another jewel in the Red Carnation Hotel Collection. We did a walk through of the hotel before enjoying our fabulous dinner with Oliver Raggett, General Manager of the property. We then crashed at our hotel to get some rest before all there was to see the next day!

Day 2: Our day began with another early breakfast at The Milestone Hotel, followed by an intense day of sight seeing- beginning with a walk across the street to Kensington Palace then over to Sir John Soane’s Museum. We walked to The Montague, another of the Red Carnation Hotel Collection, for a site inspection and a fabulous lunch hosted by Dirk Crokaert, the General Manager.

Here is one of our group, Rene Steele, in front of Kensington Palace:

With full stomachs, we made our way to the British Museum where we saw the Babylon Exhibit and were lucky enough to have a private introduction by the Curator, Dr. Jonathan Taylor. We then went to the Victoria & Albert Museum and toured the “Magnificence of the Tsars” exhibit that housed traditional outfits from women’s nightgowns to evening gowns, and even robes of the royal family.

By the time we had completed our museum sights, it was time for cocktails! We were invited to The Egerton House Hotel to enjoy authentic “Martinis by Antonio” who is a LEGEND in London. He makes his martinis SO full and sets it down in front of you and makes you take your first few sips with no hands. After martinis & hors d’oeurves we had a site inspection then all headed off to the Tower of London for an exclusive viewing of the Ceremony of the Keys, arranged by Susie Noteworthy of The Noteworthy Group.

Day 3: To begin yet another whirlwind day, we had breakfast at The Milestone before going to The Cabinet War Rooms. This is where Sir Winston Churchill and his cabinet met during World War II. This underground bunker was the government's home and meeting space for several months during World War II. It was incredible to see! We were given a private tour by the executive director and were taken behind the glass in several rooms including the main meeting room where we took a group photo.

After making our way through the interactive Churchill museum at The Cabinet War Rooms, we took a quick walk next door to watch The Changing of the Guards at the Horse Guards.

We took a lovely walk through St. James' Park, with a brief look at the Guard's Chapel as we made our way to The Ruben’s and 41 for site inspections and lunch at the B Bar where we dined on authentic South African Cuisine. Yum!

After lunch, we headed to the London Eye. As if we weren’t convinced that London was one of the most beautiful cities, we boarded our own private capsule on The London Eye for a birds eye view of the city. From there, we made our way to The House of Parliament for a private tour with one of the queen’s body guards. We saw both the House of Lords and the House of Commons and learned about the history of this form of government.

We concluded our evening with a lovely final dinner at The Milestone Hotel, and we were surprised by a special visit to the Royal Albert Opera House to see the famous opera Carmen!

Day 4: A day of intense site inspections began with breakfast at The Goring with David Morgan-Hewitt, then on to The Stafford Hotel, The Ritz London, The Capital/Levin, Royal Hide Park and The Collingham Apartments.

Here are advisors Clayton Trotter and Rene Steele with David Morgan at The Goring:

That afternoon we were free to explore the city on our own. We all went in different directions to take in the last hours in the city.

It was a whirlwind trip, but we all learned a ton and had a blast seeing so much of London!

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