It all started when I got Taylor Swift’s new CD, Fearless… okay maybe that’s too far back, but for the record, Taylor would have been my top artist on Spotify Wrapped since 2008 if I had Spotify back then. Anyway, this story actually starts just after I attended the Arlington Night 1 show of the Eras Tour by myself in standing-room-only about as high up and far away from the stage as I could possibly be. It was magical - for sure - but I wanted a redo of sorts.

This not-quite-ideal Eras Tour experience led me to the idea of packaging the Eras Tour with my dream United Kingdom vacation. Let’s fast-forward to the dilemma…

This trip needed to be affordable. I was waitlisted to buy tickets directly, so I assumed I would be paying a ridiculous amount for resale tickets. This meant the rest of the trip had to be spending-savvy. Not only that, but my parents decided to join me, and they tend to detest all things overpriced more than I do (which is saying something).

So with that backstory in hand, I’m going to walk you through my method for booking my dream UK vacation! If you want to learn more about my more vacation planning method, you can check that out here! Anywho, here were my steps for planning my Eras/UK trip…

1. BASIC RESEARCH

First, I did some research and learned about Twickets, a UK company for event ticket resale at face value with just a nominal fee. I got two tickets for my mom and me. Miracle of all miracles! The total… about $900 each. 🫢 I know, yikes. They were VIP and the only option, so we splurged. But at least they weren’t way over face value! So now I had the anchor of the trip, tickets to the Eras Tour, Edinburgh Night 2.

Next, I looked at hotel prices and airfare to determine where in the UK we’d be and when. It was clear that minimizing nights in Edinburgh would be the most affordable option… the Taylor Swift effect had jacked up prices. I also wanted the Eras Tour to be the finale of our trip, so I decided to start in London, use that as a home base for a day trip, then end in Edinburgh.

2. LOCK IN FLIGHTS

This is where things get weird. Long story short, I work for an airline, so my parents and I can fly standby for free. HOWEVER, I wished in hindsight we had just paid for confirmed seats because of some of the amazing deals on Norse Atlantic Airways. We got return tickets from London Gatwick to Miami for about $300 each including fees, meals, and bags. And it was a super great flight. Unheard of!

PRO TIP: For my future trips to anywhere in or around Europe I will be looking at Norse first and building my trip around when they have lower prices.

We decided to fly out of London Gatwick even though we were really ending the trip in Edinburgh because Norse prices were so good and the train between London and Edinburgh was pretty reasonable (and beautiful!).

So now that I’d figured out flights, we needed to figure out where we would stay throughout the trip.

3. BOOK FULLY REFUNDABLE HOTEL OPTIONS

You don’t HAVE to book multiple hotels, but if you’re booking far enough in advance (which I highly recommend) you might want to keep your options open. Just don’t forget to cancel the ones you’re not going to keep! (I know, duh, but I did mess this up on this trip. Oops!)

My main focus for the hotels was a combo of great location, clean/comfy, and good value. When I book hotels, I love using southwesthotels.com so I can get Southwest Rapid Rewards points. It’s basically just Booking.com, so you could use them directly if you prefer.

When I’m searching their site, I use the filters pretty heavily. I always start by dragging the budget per night to my price range, usually aiming for $120-$200 a night depending on the location. Next I ALWAYS select the free cancellation option. It might cost a little more per night, but it’s worth it for the flexibility. I also often select air conditioning, no prepayment, and a review score of very good: 8+. It really just depends on where I’m going and what the norm is in that area.

For London, I ended up booking the Zedwell in Picadilly Circus for about $300 a night for 5 nights. So the total per person for 5 nights in London was $500. Not bad for London! Keep in mind we had to fit three adults, so my typical $200 limit didn’t quite apply. The Zedwell hotel is in a super central area and had pretty good reviews. It also had air conditioning which isn’t a given in the UK. The price was great, but here was the catch… the Zedwell philosophy is all about minimalism. This meant we didn’t have a window, a TV, a closet, or even side tables. But staying there was plenty comfortable and cut our hotel cost in half. Worth it!

For Edinburgh, I had a harder time because of the Taylor Swift effect. Because I booked so early though, I was able to get a pretty good deal considering the Eras Tour timing. We ended up booking the ibis Edinburgh Centre Royal Mile - Hunter Square for about $430 a night for three nights. So the total per person for three nights was also $430. Yes, this price was crazy, but it was a relatively good deal considering, of course, the Taylor Swift effect. It was a great location with amazing customer service. The rooms were nice, but nothing fancy. I would 100% stay here again, and I’d probably get a significantly better price considering it wouldn’t be Eras weekend.

4. Figure out Intra-Trip Transportation

Figuring out how to connect the dots for this trip was actually super easy. The UK, and London especially, have public transportation figured out. The first thing I settled on was a train (as opposed to a flight) from London to Edinburgh. Sure, I wanted to feel like Harry Potter going to Hogwarts, but I also loved the price I found with Lumo. I also loved the idea of seeing some English and Scottish countryside along the way (and it did not disappoint!) The company called LNER has many more options, but Lumo had better prices (not to mention a glowing review from an Irish friend we made).

Another idea we had, a special request from my dad actually, was to take some time to see the Cotswolds and/or historic universities near London. I found a company called Rabbies (named for the Scottish poet, Robert Burns) with great reviews for a quick little London-based day trip to see a few areas in the Cotswolds and Oxford for about $120 each. Normally I would try to DIY this type of thing by pre-watching a historical docuseries for context and using public transport, but the Cotswolds isn’t so easy to reach, so we splurged a little here. In hindsight, I would have skipped the Cotswolds and just DIY’d a full Oxford day, but that’s just personal preference.

5. Fill the Days!

Next was arguably the most fun part of the planning process - brainstorming and LOOSELY planning out what we wanted to do during our trip. We built the scaffolding; now it was time to create the masterpiece! At this point I was ravenous for any and all content that could help tip me off to the best things to do and see. (If you’re planning early enough, you can let this phase continue for months if it’s still fun for you like it is for me.)

Early on, I got some input from my parents. Mom wanted to get fun coffees, bop around, shop a little, soak in the vibes (my words, not hers). Dad wanted to check out the Cotswolds, a University, and the Tower of London. He tends to be more into historical sites. And we all wanted to eat yummy food.

So that said, instead of boring you with all the details, I’m just going to list all of the things we did or ate that I’d recommend to a friend in order of how much I still think about them. :)

Edinburgh Recs

1. Vietnam House Cafe

2. Maker’s Mash

3. Princess Street Garden

4. The Royal Mile Bagpipers

5. Edinburgh Castle

6. The Milkman Coffee

London Recs

1. Dishoom

2. Hagan Coffee

3. Frozen the Musical (Magical Mondays)

4. Fortnum and Mason

5. Bond Street (Old and New)

6. Houses of Parliament/Big Ben/Westminster Abbey

7. Afternoon Tea at the Wolsely

8. Tower of London

9. Borough Market

And that wraps it up!

Once we set off to London, we used all of the planning and prep I did as a loose plan but kept it flexible and did what we really wanted to do. The key for us was not to overdo it (especially because I got sick mid-trip). I loved that we rarely had to do research or look up things to do or places to eat during the trip. Having done most of that research ahead of time made it really easy, especially for me as the trip planner.

Looking back on that trip, I think it was probably top three if not maybe even my number one favorite “big trip” ever. It was the perfect mix of all of my favorite things with Taylor Swift as the grand finale. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed learning about my UK trip! And if you learn anything from me, I hope it’s that if you’ve been dreaming of a certain trip or vacation, you just go for it. Plan that trip!