To the Tower

Whilst it's great to be spontaneous, a little forward planning or forethought is what's required if we are to save ourselves some money (and perhaps time too in the long run).  A day trip to London this half term put this to the test.  My planning helped - but it could have been better!

Our inspiration came from reading Paddington at the Tower by Michael Bond (purchased for 60p from a charity shop, naturally!).  My little girl was very keen to see the "Queen's jewellery" and the ravens and I was keen to see how little I could spend.

Rather than pay £30.35 admission fees on the day, I bought the tickets online the night before for £27.  If my research had been a little more thorough, I could have found out about offers such as South West Trains' 2 for 1 which would have got us both in for just £20.90.  Unfortunately, I only found out about this one when I got to the railway station.  I paid £10.50 for travel cards to cover our journeys by train, tube and bus as these work out much cheaper than paying for each journey individually and allow for spontaneity.

Well Hello!  King Henry VIII's armour

Food and drink costs also sap the budget so I packed a snack, soft drink and sandwich (not marmalade!) lunch for us both, using things we already had in the cupboards.  It was a cold day but luckily it didn't rain so we were able to sit on a bench to eat.  An improvement would have been to also take a flask of coffee for me.

The exit from the Crown Jewels takes you, surprise, surprise, straight into the gift shop.  I held my nerve, letting my little girl look at the wide range of barbie-pink souvenirs but did not bow to pressure to buy! Not even a postcard was bought.  This is a new me!

So next time the backpack will be prepped with all refreshments and all ticket options will be explored.  I'd give myself a "B-, could do better" I think!

Got any tips for keeping down the costs of sightseeing day trips?