Getting there is half the fun: London with kids

Battersea Children's Zoo: not an actual transport experience

I was a little nervous about going to London with the kids. Okay, I was a lot nervous. When we went to Edinburgh, Audrey was sick half the time, so I was hoping at least we'd all be healthy for London.

Well, we lucked out. Everyone was healthy.  And we all had a good time in London, too, starting with 5.5 hours on the train traveling down from Dundee.  The kids were surprisingly entertained by the smallest things - C (2.5 years) pretend-punched probably 50 tickets, and A (5.5 years) made paperclip necklaces for everyone.  They went to the toilet (exciting, going when the train is going...) and walked to the FoodBar car and back.

When we got to London, we did do some adult things (like go to the British Museum) and some kid things (the Battersea Children's Zoo) and some in-between (taking a Thames Cruise, going to the Angela Lansbury Film Festival showing of Bedknobs and Broomsticks).  But I think the kids had the best time getting from place to place.  Taking the Underground (train) and the Docklands Light Railway to the film (and stopping to play in a lovely park on the way).  Walking down to the British Museum from the Kings Cross area. Taking the Underground again and walking across a very windy bridge to Battersea Park. Taking a taxi to Westminster Pier to catch the boat for the cruise, and of course cruising (we thought it was going to be too windy, but it turned out to be fine, we even sat on the top deck). And I almost forgot one of the kids' highlights (because I wasn't there - my parents watched the kids while Paul and I nipped down to Somerset House to see a small collection of Impressionists) - the London Transport Museum.  Where else can your 5 year old drive a double-decker bus while the 2 year old pilots a taxi? They loved it, and didn't want to leave, even to meet up with mom and dad.

For the whole trip, they didn't seem to care too much about the destination, they just wanted to travel.  We don't have a subway in Dundee, or a river to cruise down.  Who cares that there are 8 million objects in the British Museum? They just wanted to ride the train and play in the park.  Kind of like home, but with a bit more adventure.  Isn't that what traveling is all about?