A Week in Europe: London and Paris

In the Summer of 2022, my friend and I each packed one bag and journeyed to Europe. Our dream since high school was to travel to Europe- home of the magical world of Harry Potter and the esteemed white tent from The Great British Baking Show.

This was the first time we traveled without our families out of the country; now we can say that before we turned 20, we've traveled London, Oxford, and Paris with a college student's budget. In total (including food, round trip flights, day trips' costs, overnight stays, and reservations) we each spent less than $1500 on this 9-day trip.

From the Big Ben to the Eiffel Tower, we were able to make the most of our trip in a relatively short period- with as little cost as possible.

Booking Flights and Planning Day Trips

We created a laid-back itinerary for our Europe trip to wander freely going by the flow. However, for the big things - flights/day trips, stays- we planned months in advance before the prices increased. StudentUniverse, Google Flights, and Skyscanner are great for finding cheaper tickets with discounts for students or card members. Using inspiration and recommendations from other blogs and Pinterest, we stayed within our small (college student) budgets whilst enjoying our experience abroad.

We didn't want to stay in London for a week without at least attempting to explore other towns/European cities: Oxford, Surrey, and Paris. We took the Express train to Oxford, a college town known for its history, gothic architecture, and quaint shops. We took a three-day trip to Paris via Eurostar before returning to England for our flight home. Since our flight back to NYC was at an airport in Surrey, a town southeast of the city, we decided to book a one-night stay in the town. We were able to unwind and take a break from nonstop travel with a spa day and afternoon tea package at a hotel.

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Where Royalty Lives: London City

We mostly explored the City of London via walking, trying to avoid spending money on commute. (At the end we walked a total of 30k steps every day for the 7 days we were in London and Paris). I always prefer walking (or biking), especially when I'm traveling; it's a great way to explore the local life, meet people, and find 'hidden' spots away from crowded tourist areas. If we were traveling long distances, we took the Circle aka the Tube, similar to other cities' public transportation system. But of course, we couldn't travel to London and NOT visit iconic tourist sites. We stayed in the Westminster Borough a block away from Kensington Park, making it easy for us to quickly fill our three days with a lot of walking, sightseeing, and exploring different neighborhoods including:

Paddington Station

• Kensington Park / Hyde Park

• Westminster Palace

• Soho

• Leadenhall Market

• Tower Bridge

• Borough Hall Market

• Covent Garden

• Neal's Yard

• The Regent's Park

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City of Lights: Paris

Oui! Paris was a last-minute, spur-of-the-moment idea that we planned on top of our London trip. We booked our 3-hour train trip from London to Paris with Eurostar, and our overnight stays with Airbnb. As we did in London, we walked everywhere and visited all the tourist and local spots:Canal Saint Martin/Le parc de Buttes Chaumont

• Place de la Concorde

• Petit Palais

• Eiffel Tower.

• Théâtre des Champs-Elysées

• Latin Quarter

• Pantheon

• Chinatown