Day 2 : May 25th, 2017

The flight was long, but it was worth it because we were so happy when we landed at the Gatwick Airport near London. It was a dream come true. We took a train to get to Heathrow Airport, in London. It was awesome to get a first look of the surroundings of the place. From Heathrow, we took the bus to our hostel, the Smart Camden Inn Hostel, a great place for young foreign travellers. A weird thing we notices when we came in the bathroom was the two taps instead of just one. Either the water was freezing or way to hot! We learned how to "dance" between the two, just like British people.

Instead of paying every time we had to take the bus to travel around the city, we decided to buy an Oyster card, which allowed us to use this transport for free throughout our trip. Since we were really jet lagged, but we didn't want to mess up our sleep for the night, so we went to Hyde Park to relax and enjoy the London air. On our way to the park, we made a stop at Porky's BBQ Camden and tried out their "Homeburger" with the sweet potatoe fries. It was amazing! After our afternoon in nature, we took the bus to the O2 Arena, an impressive place. Before the exciting Ariana Grande concert we were attending, we ate at Antico's, a nice little restaurant close to our destination. The pasta was excellent!

Coming out of the Arena, we were so exhausted from our long day, but still on the adrenaline rush of the concert! It was a breathtaking experience, there were a lot of people from all around the world and Ariana Grande is such a great live singer and performer. We recommend it to everyone!

The expenses of the day:

• Hostel (breakfast included): $194
• Oyster Card: $55
• Train (roundtrip): $131,34
• Lunch (Porky's BBQ): $25,78
• Dinner (Antico): $26,76
• Ariana Grande concert (2 tickets): $142,51
• Total: $575,39

Day 3 : May 26th, 2017

It was the third day of our trip and yet, we still could not believe that we were in London et we were still amazed by the city! After eating our breakfast at the hotel, we had planned to go the British Museum, famous for its artefacts from all around the world based on our research. We had a wonderful time there! We saw unique objects and beautiful works of art! Walking through this huge museum made us hungry, so not far from there, we found a nice little cafe, set up by two local Highbury students named: "Highbury Arts Club". We tried their "Avocado Salmon" on their brunch menu and we would recommend it!

After our incredible visit at the gallery, we hap to stop for dinner before our next concert. We chose to go the "Gem", a Turc restaurant. We ate "Balik", which is grilled fish of the day with tartare sauce. That night, we had tickets for an Irish rock band, "The Coronas". The show took place in a live music and club venue called: "The Garage". A new concept for us that we really enjoyed! The ambiance was crazy and we really discovered some talented artists from a band that we didn't know of! The music was loud and they played rock songs non-stop. We thought it was a great experience!

The expenses of the day:

• Science museum: FREE
• Lunch (Highbury Arts Club): $20,09
• Dinner (Gem): $20,09
• 2 tickets for The Coronas: $117,13
• Total: $157,31

Day 4 : May 27th, 2017

After our loud rock concert of the previous night, getting up was hard. What woke us up was some guy snoring really loud, since we were in a youth hostel, sleeping close to people we didn't know. But that didn't stop us from starting our day on the right foot, because we knew that we were about to go the London science museum! Something that we were both looking forward to! Once again, we took the bus to get there and we were impressed by the size of the building and it's huge white columns. There were so many things to see, so many things to touch and discover. We didn't know where to start! We had a lot of fun that day and we experienced a lot of things, from visiting galleries to being in an actual simulator. 3 galleries, 2 exhibitions and 1 simulator later, we had to eat. For lunch, we couldn't resist the temptation, so we went to the Kensington Creperie that we had noticed on our way in the morning. We both ate their Italian crepe and we were not disappointed. After the excellent meal we had, we decided that we didn't had enough science for one day, so we went back at the museum for the afternoon and explored other parts.

On our fourth day, we had tickets to go see Iron Maiden, a heavy metal british group. And yet we thought "The Coronas" were loud and playing hard rock. We were definitely not ready for that group. Even though it was different, we surprisingly kind of liked it, but not as much as the people around us who were much more fans of metal music than us. Before going to the concert, we stopped at Nando's, famous for it's chicken! It was fast and good!

The expenses of the day:

• Science museum: FREE
• Lunch: $26,4
• Dinner: $24,42
• 2 tickets for Iron Maiden: $301,03
• Total: $351,85

Day 5 : May 28th, 2017

That day, we overslept a little, because of the exhausting night we had, at the heavy metal concert. We ate a little bit at the hostel, but we had planned to go to Bill's Baker Street Restaurant. Those fish finger sandwiches were simply delicious! Then, we went tot he famous Madame Tussauds museum. We were really excited about it, because it was both our second time there! It was fun to see and take pictures with our favourite celebrities that close, even though they weren't real. We spent all afternoon there. For dinner, we ate at a great Italian Restaurant named: "Bellaitalia". After that, we were all set to go see Nathan Carter!

The show was different from the other ones, but just as good! Nathan Carter is a country singer, really at ease on the stage, so it was fun to watch. We heard new songs, because we didn't really know the artist, but we're still listening to them right now. They really stuck in our heads! Overall it was a great show with a good ambiance.

The expenses for the day:

• Lunch: $33
• Madame Tussauds (for two): $97,06
• Dinner: $29,85
• 2 tickets for Nathan Carter: $105,84
• Total: $265,75

Day 6: May 29th, 2017

On our sixth day, we woke up, excited, because we were finally going to do the hop on and off tour of the beautiful city of London! We saw many things such as the impressive Tower of London, the pretty big London Eye (that we wish we could've went on), the majestic and historical Westminster Abbey, the famous and breath-taking London Bridge and many more important and historical places. We took a ton of pictures and had a lot of fun "hoping" on and off of the bus to visit the monuments and attractions we dreamed of seeing while planning our trip! We also met a lot of locals and got to chat a little with them. A lot of them had the "Cockney" accent, but others had the "Estuary accent" which ressembles more to "General American". While on our tour, we stopped quickly at the Localesouthbank and ate a Margherita pizza. Later that day, the little trip being over, we went to eat London's traditional meal. The restaurant was called "Poppies Fish and Chips" in Camden. The fish and chips there are a very popular meal, because historically, fish was easily available and relatively cheap among the working class. So, we had to try them! We both agreed that it was the best Fish and chips that we ever ate in our entire life!

That night, we went to see Erasure in concert at Sheperd's Bush Empire. We knew some of the songs from this 80's band, so we could actually sing along to some of the songs. Our favourite was definitely: "A little Respect"! The show was amazing and very energetic. We loved it!

The expenses of the day:

• Hop and off bus tour: $95,76
• Lunch (Localesouthbank): $29,08
• Dinner (Poppies Fish and Chips): $42,16
• 2 tickets for Erasure: $132,47
• Total: $299,47

Day 7: May 30th, 2017

On our seventh day, we woke up, excited like two kids in a candy store, because we were going to the Sea Life London aquarium. We quickly ate our breakfast at the hostel and hoped on a bus to our destination for the day. We were impressed by the size of the place and all the sea life creatures that we saw! We had access to access to fish tanks containing sharks, octopuses and rainbow coloured fishes. No wonder it is one of London's biggest and most popular aquarium! We got to try this crazy shark walk where we got to walk on a glass window over moving sharks. They even have an area devoted to Nemo. What a day! For lunch, since we didn't feel like sushi, we decided to go for Italian, once again. We went to Cucina for a taste of their hearthy lasagna. We went back to the aquarium after lunch, because there were so many things to see!

Before our next concert, we went to Woody Grill for a light chicken dinner. We didn't know "The Kills", but we liked their garage-rock style of music. Singers Alison Mosshart and guitarist Jamie Hince make a really good duo! It's nice to discover new bands like them.

The expenses for the day:

• Lunch (Cucina): $ 33,67
• Dinner (Woody Grill): $20,37
• Sea life London aquarium: $62,92
• Total: $120,96

Day 8: May 31th, 2017

We wanted to make this day magical, so we went to visit Harry Potter's world at Warner Brothers Studio tour. It was like re-living the books and the movies all over again. Since we are both big fans, we are even bigger fans now! We got to experience the technology and special effects behind the scenes. Then, we ate at The Enterprise, not far away from there.

For dinner, we made a stop at Wahaca, a nice restaurant which serves amazing food at a great price! That night, we had 2 tickets for "Kiss". Needless to say that their show was really intense and loud. We still managed to have a lot of fun and by the end of the concert, we loved their sound. Next time we go see them live, we'll be sure to wear earplugs.

Expenses for the day:

• Warner Brothers Harry Potter tour:$230,92
• Lunch (The Enterprise): $39,53
• Dinner (Wahaca): $25,72
• 2 tickets for Kiss: $146,24
• Total: $442,41

Day 9: June 1st, 2017

We had just started to get used to the London beat and it was already our last day. We saved the best for last. Shopping and Shawn Mendes, what a combination! We went window shopping in Leicester Square to take in the new British fashion trends. At the same time, we got to get some fresh air and exercice. For lunch, we ate at Iguanas and tried their Quinoa Ensalada, which is very healthy! We went back to the hostel to get ready for our last concert. Right before the show, we stopped by Wahaca to grab some enchiladas .Needless to say that were in a hurry to get to the concert!

It was nice to see a fellow Canadian! We loved his songs, his concert, what an amazing night we will never forget!

The expenses for the day:

• Lunch: $27,45
• Dinner: $32,63
• 2 tickets for Shawn Mendes: $110,84
• Total: $170,92

Day 10: June 2nd, 2017

Goodbye, London! We had an amazing trip and we really liked our experience in the city where we dreamed of going. We took the bus, the train and the plane to get back home, just like we did to get there. We will cherish all of the wonderful memories from this trip!

Money left: 121,31$

Total of the money spent: 3,878.69$