In this episode, I speak with Lisa Dean about London to get an insider view of the city. Lisa has lived in London for 25+ years. She works in commercial real estate as a market analyst. She says at this point, she feels more British than American as she has lived more than half her life in London.

Are you ready? Let’s Roam!

Transcript

Here is a transcript of the podcast. Please keep in mind this was done via AI, so there are typos and mistakes. I tried to catch as much as I can, but it is definitely not perfect.

Beth 00:00:08 Welcome to the Roaming Yeti podcast, where we share stories and tips to inspire you to roam your neighborhood and the world. I’m your host and head Yeti Beth Schillaci. In this episode, I speak with Lisa Dean to get an insider view of the city of London. Lisa has lived in London for over 25 years, where she works in commercial real estate as a market analyst. She says at this point she feels more British than American as she’s lived there more than half of her life. Are you ready? Let’s room. Hey, everyone. Wanted to welcome you back to the Roaming Yeti podcast.  today is something, is sort of a new format we’ve done.  we’re actually talking to,  I’m gonna say expert in their location.  but rather than speaking to someone who’s traveling to a location,  we are talking to Lisa Dean, who has been living in London and can sort of give us that insider view. So I’m really excited. So Lisa, thank you so much, for joining us.  

Lisa 00:01:16 And yes, hello.  

Beth 00:01:18 And,  you know, we have the, what is it, five-hour difference is what it is.  

Lisa 00:01:23 I’m, yes, it’s five hours. So it’s three, three o’clock in the afternoon here. I think you, it’s morning there,  

Beth 00:01:29 <laugh>. Yes,  I’m notorious for,  messing up time zones, so I’ve been on calls wrong times, more times than I wanna talk about, but, I got this one right. And, and we are here. So,  Lisa, how long have you lived in London?  

Lisa 00:01:47 I’ve been in London for,  about 20, 25, 26 years. 

Beth 00:01:56 Yeah, that makes you an expert. I feel <laugh>.  

Lisa 00:01:59 Well, I’m a citizen now, so I I should be.  

Beth 00:02:04 That’s really amazing <laugh>.  and obviously you like it. You and I met in college mm-hmm. <affirmative>.  so what is the thing that has kept you there all this time?  

Lisa 00:02:18 I would say that,  London for me has everything. It has the history, it has,  culture. It’s very vibrant.  it’s, you know, there’s so many opportunities here. There’s a famous,  quote from,  a writer called Samuel Johnson that says, if you, when a man tires of London, then he’s tired of life. And,  I totally agree with that. I think this, I can’t imagine living anywhere else.  

Beth 00:02:58 I mean, that’s, that’s what do they say?  A Chamber of Commerce quote right there.  

Lisa 00:03:04 Yeah. Yeah. <laugh>, it’s been used many times, but, you know, I know it’s corny, but I totally agree with it, to be honest.  

Beth 00:03:10 Yeah, no, I think it’s beautiful. Like, I, I don’t think that’s corny at all. I think that’s, that’s beautiful and I think we should all strive to live someplace that we feel that way about.  

Lisa 00:03:20 Hmm.  

Beth 00:03:21 So, you know, I definitely wanted to get into,  you know, as people are traveling,  over,  to London and,  you know, what are the things that they should definitely, like, what are the don’t miss should do kind of items?  

Lisa 00:03:43 Well, I think that,  you know, there’s so much to do in London. There’s so much history and it all depends on the, the visitor themselves. But I think if you were to like, break it down into,  different topics, so like for the views,  in London there’s so many great places that you can go to see the city scapes, et cetera. So there’s the view from the Shard. The Shard is one of the tallest, buildings in the uk, seventh tallest I think in Europe. And it’s got a  viewing platform on the very top. So you can go up there and see all of London and enjoy a glass of champagne and everything like that.  Then there’s another place that was recently built called the Sky Garden. It’s on top of, 20 F Church Street, which has a, a funny nickname called the Walkie-Talkie. <laugh>  

Lisa 00:04:44 Cause it looks like one Oh, well,  <laugh>, it’s good. It’s the same shape.  and it’s London’s highest public garden, so it’s really unique. It’s free to go to and as a result, you have to book in advance to go there. But, there’s a full garden built on the top of the,building. And, there’s restaurants up there and in my opinion, I think maybe the view is a little bit better than the Shard because it’s a little lower.  but still, it’s an amazing place to go. And of course there’s the London Eye, everybody knows that. And there’s several parks,  which have,  protected views,  in London, which for the view for the views, and that’s Greenwich Park and Hamstead Heath and Primrose Hill, those are amazing for the views of, of the actual, of the actual city center. And of course,  for history and the Royal family, you have to go to Buckingham Palace and, see the changing of the guard. Highly, highly recommend that there’s a lot of, to go along with that in history. So highly recommend that there’s the, the Tower of London and the Crown Jewels.  

Lisa 00:06:15 The Queen has her own art collection, and I recommend going to that gallery. It’s called Queen’s Gallery. Oh, okay. And even, Hampton Court is a really beautiful place.  King Henry VI live there and,  William and Mary of Orange also live there, so it’s got two different sides to it. One is the tutor side, which is King Henry VI side. Then they refurbished it at one point to look more like Versailles on the back, on the back of the house. And it opens up into really beautiful gardens that are, are fashioned on Versailles.  

Beth 00:06:54 Very cool.  

Lisa 00:06:55 And then of course, all of the churches have to do with the, the royal family in the history, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, places like that, that I would highly recommend going to.  

Beth 00:07:10 Very nice. Yeah. I mean, it, can keep you really, really busy <laugh>.  

Lisa 00:07:16 Yeah. I mean, there’s so much, I mean, I could sit here and talk for hours, <laugh>.  but I think, I think for me the views are the most important.  

Beth 00:07:30 Yeah. It’s a beautiful architecture to take all in.  And, you know as far as the touristy things that people think of, like, is there anything in your opinion to, to skip or, you know, are you like, ah, give it a try?  

Lisa 00:07:48 Well, yeah, I mean, I, I’d say that,  there’s a lot of things that I don’t go to. Sure. But that,  my personal opinion. But I think that it’s such a big city. There’s so much to see. I think there’s something for everybody here. And if I think you should try it at least once, and if you don’t like it, then at least no.  

Beth 00:08:10 Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I’ve, I, we haven’t been in, I think it was 2000 maybe we were there and,  we really enjoyed, we just got like, jumped on the one of those double decker hop on hop off buses and Yeah.  

Lisa 00:08:25 You know, just highly recommend that helps you get your, helps you to get your bearings to be honest. Yes.  <laugh>  

Beth 00:08:32 <laugh>. Yeah, we definitely were like, oh, okay, this is where things are and you could see a lot more. And, you know, we were, we, we were sort of just stopping through and  it’s, yeah, it was, it was a cool way to see a lot of things.  but I’m always like, what is, are we like being super touristy doing this? Or  

Lisa 00:08:51 <laugh>? I don’t think so. I think London’s so big that you really do, you need to understand where things are. Sometimes you think that it’s further away than something is further away than it is. And actually you can get off the bus, go to see it, and then walk to the next one cuz it’s so, and if you’ve been on the bus, then you would know. Right.  then you don’t have to get in a cab or take the tube or whatever.  

Beth 00:09:15 Would you say a lot of the, the city is, is walkable from area to area or?  

Lisa 00:09:20 Yeah, I, I think so.  I love to walk,  from the West end, like from  bond Street Station. You, walk down towards,  embankment and then cross the river, and then you’re in the South Bank. It seems like a really long way, but it’s actually like a 30 minute walk. Oh. So if you, if you enjoy walking,  you can get to most places then, I don’t know, 20 to 30 minutes. I wouldn’t recommend walking from one end of the city to the other, but Sure. <laugh> <laugh>, which I’ve have had to do during tube strikes, but, really it is, it is walkable. You can, just get out and walk. In some cases it’s more enjoyable. Cause then you can see the architecture, you can see what’s happening on the street.  

Beth 00:10:19 Yeah, exactly.  and that sort of brings me, the other thing you can see when you’re walking by all those places is,  food,  yeah, no conversation for me about any location is complete without speaking onto about any kind of food. So,  and I think people have a super bad misconception about food in, in England. So I’m gonna let you,  <laugh> clear that up for us.  

Lisa 00:10:47 Yeah. And I don’t, I don’t know why. Well, it, you know, when I first moved here it was shocking. It was not the best. But, you know, of 20, 26 years we’ve moved on and I think that London is a really food lovers city. It’s a real foodie place.  I absolutely love it for the choices of food you can get, you know, from Nigerian to Indian to Italian to American. That’s whatever you want. You’re gonna be able to get it here.  I think that,  some really great places to try are Borough Market. That’s,  a very famous market in South London. It’s got a lot of food stalls and,  restaurants and, you know, places where you can buy artisan cheese and, and buy vegetables,  from the Green Grocers, et cetera. It’s a great place to go. Lots of,  atmosphere.  Chinatown, of course is a great place to go for Chinese.  

Beth 00:11:59 Okay.  

Lisa 00:12:00 And Brick Lane is famous for Indian food and curries,  Spitalfields Markets is one of,  London’s oldest markets. So it’s a great place to go again, to soak up some atmosphere and see pretty great,  food stalls and restaurants and try lots of different types of things.  if you, if you have,  a big wallet,  you could go to the Walsey, a restaurant, it’s very famous. It’s on,  Piccadilly. It’s next to the Ritz famous for breakfast. Mm. And the Ritz is famous for afternoon tea, which is a lovely thing to try. If you’re in London, you don’t have to go to the Ritz. You can go to lots of different places. <laugh> <laugh> cheaper one. But,  still a lovely. And,  you know, there’s is all kinds of fun places to go. There’s a place in that, it’s in Mayfair that has a,  a church that was been refurbished and it’s called Mercato Mayfair. And they have different pop-up restaurants inside the church. And, and so it’s like three levels and there’s, they’re on, you know, each level you can go up to them, decide what you want to order, and,  they make it for you. Then they call you, they’ve got like a little buzzer and you can go up and get it. And then in the, in the altar they have the bars, which is great. <laugh>. It’s amusing <laugh>,  

Beth 00:13:35 You gotta have a good sense of humor about stuff.  

Lisa 00:13:37 Yeah. <laugh>,  

Beth 00:13:40 That sounds, yeah, I mean, it’s,  

Lisa 00:13:43 There’s so much. Yeah, yeah. Don’t believe the stereotype. There’s so much, there’s so much great things to eat here.  

Beth 00:13:53 And I mean, because there’s so many things. Like, do you feel like there is a specialty food in London now? 

Lisa 00:14:01 <laugh> Well, I can tell you one that is very, very special to London and not necessarily to England or the UK itself. Okay. And,  I can’t say I’ve ever had it. When I lived in the East London, when I lived in East London, I used to see these shops all the time.  there’s, they’re called pie and mash shops. And they serve just that pie.  so it’s gonna be like min mints beef or,  I think it’s just mints beef and,  mashed potato with gravy. And then they also have jelly eels and liquor, which is like a parsley sauce. But then they lost me at jelly, so I never tried any of that <laugh>.  

Beth 00:14:45 Yeah. I I’m like, oh, the pies mash, definitely. But jelly eels, interesting.  

Lisa 00:14:53 <laugh>, That’s very, very London, but of course fish and chips and,  some really great places to go to are the, the seashell in Lisen Grove and the Golden Hed in Marone. Those are really famous,  fish and chips places. Of course a roast dinner, which has roast beef, Yorkshire puddings, gravy, all of the, all the other stuff. And I, the, the UK national dish is,  funnily enough, something called chicken tikka masala, which is an Indian inspired dish.  I think there is,  an Indian chef came to London and he created this dish. Of course it’s, you can’t find it in Indian because it’s, it’s too mild. It’s not as spicy <laugh>. So it’s for English tastes. But it’s very nice.  I’m vegetarian so I like,  Panera Chicken.. So Panera is the type of Indian cheese. Oh, okay. And they put that in, curries a lot as well. But you get chicken and all kinds of things.  

Beth 00:16:06 Gotcha. Yeah. That sounds I didn’t, I I’ve heard of chicken. I’m gonna butcher that. Sorry.   

Lisa 00:16:15 No, you said it right. <laugh>.  

Beth 00:16:16 Okay.  I had no idea that was a UK dish.

Lisa 00:16:20 Yeah. Yes. And it’s very funny.  I don’t know if it still is, but it certainly has been for a long time. The, the UK National Dish, everybody loves it.  

Beth 00:16:31 Interesting. Cuz I know we have it here in the US and I just, you know, made, made poor assumptions. Now I know  

Lisa 00:16:37 <laugh>, it’s definitely not,  specific to India that is for sure. <laugh> <laugh>.  

Beth 00:16:46 So, so since you are our insider, like what, what are some best kept secrets that we can share? 

Lisa 00:16:55 Okay. There’s a place in,  the city of London, which I’ve always loved to go to. It’s great for you know, your Instagram or, or whatever account because it’s so beautiful. Better to go in the summer when it’s not raining. It’s called St. Dunston’s and it’s in the city and it’s,  it’s a ruined,  sir Christopher Ren church. So it was bombed during the war, but it’s got beautiful plants growing and very atmospheric and it’s really lovely to go there. Don’t go alone cuz you’ll find, you’ll be there with some people that you may <laugh>, you may not wanna be there with Gotcha. <laugh>. But it is nice. It is a, lovely place. It’s very quiet. So it’s off the main, the main,   it’s off cheap side, so it’s not on the main road.  

Beth 00:17:58 Okay.  

Lisa 00:17:59 So that’s,   

Beth 00:18:00 Good. Take a buddy.  

Lisa 00:18:02 Yeah. Take a buddy with you. <laugh>. But it’s totally safe. I promise <laugh>,  the Wallace Collection is an amazing,  art collection. It was a owned by a, a private collector.  and he had a house in Manchester Square, which is in the West End. And he basically converted his house into this amazing art museum. And of course it’s been left to the, to the country and it’s amazing.  all of the rooms have,  wallpaper of the time. So,  richly colored. So you might be in a red, beautiful red room, then you’ll go into a beautiful yellow or lilac. It’s really lovely. Oh, wow. And of course, of course the art is amazing as well. And he also has,  military collections of helmets and armor and swords and all kinds of things like that as well.  

Beth 00:19:05 Oh, wow.  

Lisa 00:19:06 So it’s a, it’s a, a well-rounded collection. Very nice. And I love to go to Tate Modern Art Gallery. They built a separate,  gallery to the main one a few years ago. And there’s a viewing platform on the top of it. And so you can see out towards St. Paul’s and you can see towards,  the Shard and the East London and,  Canary Wharf, et cetera. And they have a fantastic bar just under there, which serves the best gin and tonic, in my opinion, <laugh>. So it’s great to go have a nice gin, look at the views Perfect. While the afternoon away <laugh>  

Beth 00:19:57 Sounds like a, a delightful afternoon for sure.  

Lisa 00:20:00 <laugh>. But yeah. So many things to see. But,  those, those are particularly lovely places.  

Beth 00:20:09 Very nice. So if you had, you didn’t have any responsibilities for a weekend  

Lisa 00:20:16 Hmm.  

Beth 00:20:17 and that meant you wanted to leave the house, because if I don’t have any responsibilities, <laugh>, I might just be  

Lisa 00:20:24 <laugh>.  

Beth 00:20:24 I just might be tucking in.  

Lisa 00:20:26   

Beth 00:20:28 But what, like, what, what would you go, how would you spend your weekend? I, I feel like gin and tonic is on that list, but  

Lisa 00:20:36 Yeah. Yeah. <laugh>. Yes, it is. <laugh> <laugh>.  I mentioned it before. You know, walking from the West end down to the South Bank is a real treat to be honest.  

South Bank, I think if you speak to a lot of London, there’s a lot of, then we’ll say that they love the South Bank,  beautiful views of St. Paul’s and the city. And,  just, it’s, it’s a wide open,  pavement so you can really enjoy yourself. You’re not all crowded in, like, on Oxford Street or something like that mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And it’s just nice to walk along. There’s plenty of pubs to stop for your gin <laugh> or a glass of wine or, and a lunch and just,  just enjoy. And,  then I also like to walk once I get down to the South Bank, then walk over from Saint Modern to,  

Lisa 00:21:37 St Paul’s. And you can go to, there’s a, the square there’s called Pat Nata Square, which is also nice for,  tea or a snack or whatever before you go home.  Walking is a real theme for me. So I also like to go to,  like a favorite museum and just wander around and, and you know, see something that I haven’t seen before.. And usually you’re not far from a park and then just head into the park and walk through there and enjoy it cuz London was so lucky to have so many beautiful parks.  so yeah. That, I’d say that or, or go to any of those amazing views that I mentioned earlier. Yeah.  

Beth 00:22:24 Do you have a favorite season of the year?  

Lisa 00:22:29 Hmm.  it’s funny because I would say <laugh> until recently, you couldn’t really tell the difference between the seasons. Okay. And <laugh>, it was always wet and cold, <laugh> and occasionally some sun.  but you know, this last summer we had really hot temperatures. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I’d say probably spring and summer the are really lovely because of the flowers.  Regents Park is a beautiful rose garden that you can go to and the the smell is so heady and beautiful.  

Beth 00:23:05 Wow. Yeah. I, it’s, it’s funny cuz it is, I you do, it is sort of, I guess rainy and <laugh>, but it’s not always like, I think that’s a bad stereotype too of it, right?  

Lisa 00:23:20 Oh, I don’t think so. Oh,  

Beth 00:23:21 Okay. <laugh>.  

Lisa 00:23:22 I I never leave my house without my umbrella. Never.  

Beth 00:23:28 Okay.  

Lisa 00:23:29 There  

Beth 00:23:30 You go.  that’s, I have to remember things to pack, umbrella, raincoat, <laugh>,  

Lisa 00:23:38 Something warm to wear as well.  

Beth 00:23:40 Yeah. Layer, I’m assuming layers is a, is a good thing for sure. Yeah.  

Lisa 00:23:46 <laugh>.   

Beth 00:23:47 And do you have, are there,  good places to shop? Like some favorite places to shop that you can find something sort of maybe out of the, the ordinary or Yeah. Or small businesses to support or,  

Lisa 00:24:02 Well, definitely, where I live is great.  I live in Eeling and they have, this amazing high street, this little,  high street that’s won like Best High Street in the UK award for several years. It’s called Pit Hanger Lane. And they have a lot of small independent shops and restaurants.  and it’s, it’s hard to believe it’s in London to be honest. It’s like a little village. That’s, that’s really nice. And I would also recommend,  Covent Garden is a nice place to go. They have a lot of,  market, they have a market stall there and market inside the actual Covent Garden area that sells like,  artisan gifts like jewelry or pottery or whatever. And that’s a nice place to wander around.  if you like books, I would recommend dont books, they’re all over London, but there’s a really great bookshop from Dont books at Marone High Street.  it’s like a oldie worldy bookshop with, you know, dark wood and  you can, you can just get lost in there. It’s really lovely.  

Beth 00:25:28 You could spend the perfect weekend there  

Lisa 00:25:30 <laugh>. You could <laugh> <laugh>. What would be best if they had a gin <laugh> bar inside, that would be good <laugh>  

Beth 00:25:40 Then you could just live  

Lisa 00:25:41 There. But they’d never, they’d never get rid of me. That’s the problem. That’s probably why they don’t have it. I love it. And,  there’s some really,  great,  places that have been renovated or refurbished.  the,  Bady Park,  power Station is one of them.  a lot of people will know it from,  Pink Floyd’s and very famous,  album cover of this giant inflatable pig in between the chimneys. Yep.  but they, they’ve re they’ve rebuilt it, it’s now,  shopping mall destination and they have kept a lot of the original features of the power station. So it’s, it’s pretty incredible inside.  they have a lot of luxury brands there, so,  I was very impressed when I went, it wasn’t your usual shopping center with all the chains and stuff like that. It, it had,  it has something different about it and they have great,  restaurants and bars around there as well.  

Beth 00:26:52 Oh, very cool. Yeah, I think, I think that’s sometimes the surprise in the few, times I’ve been to other countries and I’m like trying to find the, you know, the more independent shops and you go down these and it’s just like all the stores that I see in our malls and I’m like, no, I want the <laugh>. Like I want the local  stuff.

Lisa 00:27:13 Yeah. I think you have to,  probably get out of the city center in London if you want, want that.  it’s, you know, you can go to,  up near Hamstead. They have wonderful independent shops and restaurants, et cetera as well on their, on their main high street there. But it’s, you know, it’s, you just have to go to a place outside of the city center, you’re not gonna find it there.  

Beth 00:27:45 Right. That makes sense. So is there like the quintessential souvenir to, to acquire in, in London?   

Lisa 00:27:58   

Beth 00:27:58 In your opinion, I mean, I know there’s the Yeah. A lot of things, but like what would be the, a very cool thing to bring home?  

Lisa 00:28:07 I think probably,  a proper English tea.  sorry to say this, but the tea in America’s a very good <laugh>.  

Beth 00:28:19 I don’t think anyone’s gonna argue with you from  

Lisa 00:28:21 <laugh>. So,  you know, if you have a tea lover as somebody, there’s so many places that have,  looseleaf tea that they sell,  specialty tea shops,  yeah. Really nice places that you can get a, a special type of a tea. Right. I think would be good. Of course there’s  I dunno, biscuits maybe that kind of thing. You can also get like,  really nice gifts from the, the royal palaces, any of their gift shops. Okay. Really lovely.  and any of the museums can have really unusual gifts that are related to the exhibitions or the collections that they have. So they might have Egyptian jewelry or something like that. So you can always find something a little unusual at those places.  

Beth 00:29:21 Yeah.  

Lisa 00:29:22 But whether it’s perfect souvenir of British things, I dunno,  

Beth 00:29:30 I don’t think it always has to, I think it’s something that maybe you can’t get elsewhere necessarily. Or, or that it brings back the, to me it’s always something that brings back the Yeah. The memories of, of the trip. Yeah. I know when we were in London, I picked up a copy of,  it was the first Harry Potter book, but it was, oh gosh, I’m gonna get the name wrong cuz I’m not a Harry Potter person. Sorry, everyone.  but it but this  

Lisa 00:30:00 Source Sorcerer Stone. Yeah.  

Beth 00:30:02 Yeah. I think it’s the Sorcerer Stone in, in America. But it was Philosopher Stone,  

Lisa 00:30:07 I believe that’s, that’s a philosopher stone that’s  

Beth 00:30:09 Yeah.  so I bought the, the British version. I was, it’s so to always see that and it Yeah. In that proper like Harry Potter language. Yeah.  like that was a really cool souvenir for me to, to always, you know, see it on the bookshelf Yeah. And be like, oh yeah, yeah. You know, so it’s, I I always want people to like, don’t, don’t just think of the, the typical things you want. Things that you see down the road and go, oh yeah, remember we stopped in that museum or we stopped here, or Yeah.  kind of thing. But yeah, it’s, I think those are some, some really great, great ideas for people to look for.  getting around in London.  one, you have to look left right? Look left first, right.  

Lisa 00:30:57 no, it’s, you learn, you look to the right, look at  

Beth 00:30:59 The right. See, this is why I almost, otherwise  

Lisa 00:31:02 You’re gonna get  

Beth 00:31:02 Hit <laugh>. This is why I almost got hit 20 times when I was there, <laugh>.  so remember to look both ways. Yeah.  but like what, I know it’s very walkable and that’s a great way, but like,  I it’s the underground or the tube mm-hmm. <affirmative> the underground. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.  is that pretty navi, you know, easy to navigate for people? Is that a good way? Should they look at ride share? Like, if, if walking is a little too far, what’s, what’s sort of our second best  

Lisa 00:31:32 Option? Yeah, I’d I’d say,  definitely use the tube.  I use it every day. It gets a bad name for people think it’s dirty, people think it’s hot, people think it’s crowded.  it’s definitely crowded, but it’s,  you know, it’s something to, it’s gonna get you there. You’re not spending the whole day there. Right. So,  and there’s often,  like less than five minutes, five, 10 minutes between and stops anyway. So you’re gonna get there quicker if you need. Especially if you’re late or, or whatever.  I would recommend taking a, a bus as well. A double decker bus.  very British thing to do <laugh>. And  it’s kind of fun to sit in the front seats like a little kid in <laugh> in the front window and see where you’re going.  there’s also,  a boat that you can take. It’s called, I think now it’s called the Uber Boat.  

Lisa 00:32:34 Boat. And the days that I used to use it, it was the Tems Clipper. Okay. And it’s great, you can sit back, relax, see the, see the sites from the river and you can stop and it stops off regularly.  all the way from Westminster down to   it’s past Greenwich that it goes to w will, excuse me. And,  and even,  we west down the thas pass to Westminster, so you’re gonna get a great,   experience there, seeing different,  parts along along the river and plus it’s gonna be less crowded. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.  there’s a lot of people who like to take,  the bikes Oh. That you can rent. You just put in your debit card, rent a bike, or there’s some electric bikes as well. All I can say is be sure you can ride a bike confidently in the city because it’s not for the Fainthearted. Right.  

Beth 00:33:39 It’s not like in your neighborhood.  

Lisa 00:33:41 <laugh>. No. Remember you have to negotiate roundabouts with traffic.  

Beth 00:33:49 <laugh> on a bike.  

Lisa 00:33:51 <laugh> on a bike. Absolutely.  

Beth 00:33:54 The boat. It is for me.  

Lisa 00:33:56 <laugh>. And, and I would recommend a black cab. I know that’s a lot of people like Uber and that kind of thing. That’s not for me. I do take black cabs. I think it’s a nice experience. Cabbies are always very chatty. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and they’ll, they,  know so much about London. They’d be able to recommend lots of things for you.  

Beth 00:34:22 That’s cool. Like, so not only are you getting a ride, you’re getting a little, little tour guide as well.  

Lisa 00:34:27 Yeah. You could even get their political views. You get into that conversation, <laugh>, <laugh>  

Beth 00:34:34 And hopefully you don’t disagree too much or you’ll end up at where you don’t wanna be. Yeah.  

Lisa 00:34:39 <laugh>  

Beth 00:34:40 Like, get out now. Okay. Sorry,  

Lisa 00:34:42 <laugh>.  

Beth 00:34:43 so we definitely talked a little bit about like an umbrella, a raincoat, something warm. Yeah.  obviously comfortable, comfortable shoes.  

Lisa 00:34:54 Definitely  

Beth 00:34:55 With walking,  is, you know, are restaurants and stuff, do you need to dress up a little bit? Are they more casual? Like what I mean, you, you know how Americans dress  

Lisa 00:35:05 So Yeah. <laugh>. Yeah, <laugh>.  I think that most places,  that the average tourist is going to be going to like a pub or  a deli or  pizza place. You know, you don’t need to worry about it. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I’m sure there are places like,  the Ritz and  even the shard, if you go, if you’re having dinner there or a lunch, you, you’re not allowed to wear jeans and trainers. You have to wear,  at least wear a nice pair of trousers, nice shoes, you get away with it, they’ll let you in. Cool.  

Beth 00:35:44 So that, that brings, so what would be, what is,  dress etiquette for a proper high afternoon tea? Like,  

Lisa 00:35:53 Oh, I’d say,  yeah. Get dressed up. Okay. Just for yourself to enjoy the experience cuz it’s, you know, it’s fun <laugh>, eat your little cucumber sandwiches and have your tea and tea and crumpets and things.  

Beth 00:36:13 Hmm. Sounds delightful.  

Lisa 00:36:15 <laugh>.  

Beth 00:36:17 I think we’ve talked about a few of these, but I, you know what, I feel like there’s a lot of things that are truly authentic to London, but sort of what is that, that one, that one thing that sort of sticks out out most as truly authentic to, to London and nowhere else?  

Lisa 00:36:37 Oh, I’d say,  just like in LA New York, you need to go to the West End, go to a show,  it’s world famous,  for that,  type of entertainment.  while worth it.  like I said before, take a, take a  double decker boss, take a cab, go to the pub, go to these things. These are all very  London very English things to do.  

Beth 00:37:13 Yeah. I I’m glad you brought West End cuz I think,  everyone looks to Broadway as the originator of all these things and so many shows start  

Lisa 00:37:24 In the, in the West End. Yeah. And then there’s a lot here. Like right now,  Matthew Modine is starring in,  to Kill A Mockingbird. So there’s a lot of Hollywood stars who do come here. Yeah.  so the, there’s a lot that you can,  see and,  some familiar faces as  

Beth 00:37:46 Well. Yeah. It’s, I think people equate it to like a touring thing. It’s like, no, it’s like, it’s  

Lisa 00:37:52 One. Oh, all that stuff.  

Beth 00:37:54 <laugh>  

Lisa 00:37:54 Yeah. Stuff starts  

Beth 00:37:55 And a lot of people come over to Mm. To star and  

Lisa 00:37:58 It’s cool and definitely since Covid and everything like that, I think they’re struggling. So,  it’s good to, to try to, to help out with that industry because it would be a shame to, to lose it cuz it’s, it’s such a integral part of, of London, I think.  

Beth 00:38:15 Yes, definitely.  well this information on London, like, I’m ready to, book my flight <laugh>.  we were supposed to go last summer, but, we’re gonna try to get over there again.  so now I just have a few fun questions Okay. Which I did not send to you. Um Yep. I don’t say rapid fire because they never end up being a rapid response  

Lisa 00:38:40 <laugh> <laugh>.  

Beth 00:38:41 but so here we go.  If you’re going on a road trip, what do you pack? What’s your, what’s your favorite road trip snack?  

Lisa 00:38:53 Oh, well I’m a big crisp eater <laugh> and,  England has lots of nice crisps, so, and that’s,  potato chips.  

Beth 00:39:03 Right. Do you have like a flavor that you like more than others?  

Lisa 00:39:07 Yeah.   I’m a bit boring. I like the just ready salted, but,  salt and vinegar as well is nice. But a very English one is cheese and onion.  

Beth 00:39:17 Oh.  

Lisa 00:39:18 It’s very, I think it’s similar to sour cream and  

Beth 00:39:23 Okay.  

Lisa 00:39:24 Onion or is it onion, sour cream and onion.  

Beth 00:39:27 Yeah. Sour cream  

Lisa 00:39:27 And onion. Yeah.  

Beth 00:39:28 That makes sense.  do you have, what’s your next planned vacation or trip, if you have any?  

Lisa 00:39:36 Well, I don’t have anything planned, but it’s definitely something that’s been on my mind. I’ve been wanting to go to Florence for years, so I’m hoping that this is my year to go to Florence. Finally. <laugh>. See the, see the David.

Beth 00:39:57 Okay. That’ll be cool.  do you have a favorite trip you’ve ever taken?  

Lisa 00:40:04 Yep. I’d say that,  anywhere in Italy. I, adore Italy a lot.  yeah. It’s the  

Beth 00:40:17 In Have you had any cities specific that like, have your heart?  

Lisa 00:40:21 I’d say Venice. Okay. Venice definitely. And, and Rome. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And,  I’ve been to Sicily and to San Marino as well. They’re just amazing places.  

Beth 00:40:33 Yeah. Yeah. We visited my husband’s family in Sicily one summer. I do not recommend Sicily in July.   

Lisa 00:40:44 <laugh>, it’s probably hot. It’s a little warm <laugh>. It’s  

Beth 00:40:46 Probably the hottest I’ve ever been in my life. <laugh>.  but it’s gorgeous. I, everyone should go to Sicily, but Ooh, don’t go in the summer.  

Lisa 00:40:56 <laugh>, if you go make sure you’re by the, by the beach, by the water.  

Beth 00:41:02 Right. Or a place that has air conditioning cuz Yeah. His aunt’s place did not and it was,  it was, we were, boy we were spoiled American.  

Lisa 00:41:12 <laugh>  

Beth 00:41:15 Roasting away.  

Lisa 00:41:16 <laugh>.  

Beth 00:41:17 do you have a, a favorite travel tip that you can share with us?  

Lisa 00:41:24 I would say try to pack as light as possible,  and just,  bring a good book, lie back and relax.  

Beth 00:41:41 There you go.  and do you have any, like, if you take a trip or something,  do you have a playlist, like a travel playlist? Do you like certain artists you like to have on there? Or are you an audiobook or a podcast listener? Sort of what’s, what’s on that travel playlist?  

Lisa 00:41:58 I’m gonna be really boring. Beth. I’m sorry, <laugh>. I just watch the movie on the, on the airplane <laugh>.  no, I don’t bring a lot of music to listen to mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I guess cause I’m out about wandering about I’m not, I I don’t always listen to music a lot, so.  

Beth 00:42:25 Yeah. Well I think cuz sorry, <laugh> in No, it’s fine cuz it, I think in Europe, traveling’s different than here cuz we drive so many places. So we have more of a road trip playlist kind of thing. That’s because we’re in, in a car.  you guys have nicer transportation, like you have quick flights that don’t cost a fortune and you have trains and so it is a different way of traveling as well.  

Beth 00:42:52 So that definitely, definitely affects it. But this has been great.  I’ve really enjoyed all your insight. I know,  everyone will get a lot of great information from that. So,  I appreciate your time. Thanks for joining us.  

Lisa 00:43:09 Thank you for having me. Sure. Thank you.  

Beth 00:43:14 Thank you again to Lisa for sharing your insider tips on what to do and see in London. And thank you for listening. I hope these episodes inspire you to get out and roam even in your own neighborhood. Please subscribe so you don’t miss future episodes. And if you like what we’re doing here, please leave a rating and a review also to help support us. Please head to Yeti to shop.com to buy some roaming Yeti merch. Talk to you soon. And keep roaming.