London 2025

Meezy needed to travel to London for work in early August, so the kids and I took the opportunity to tag along. We departed on a Thursday night and arrived into London on Friday after lunch. We headed to our hotel, the Hilton London Bankside. We booked the Family Connecting Room and it was perfect! There was a large bed in our room and two twin beds in the other, and each room had its own full bathroom. The kids' room had stuffed animals and goody bags and our room had a Peloton (nice touch, but with as much walking as we do in Europe, I don't need more exercise). Hotel rooms are notoriously small in Europe, so it was very refreshing to have space to spread out and not have to share a bathroom with our kids. The hotel offered a scavenger hunt to find hidden foxes, so that was a fun activity during down time.

We did a little bit of sightseeing, visited a souvenir shop, took our first ride on the Tube, and then had an easy dinner at Market Halls Victoria. 

Our first full day in London started with a tour of the Tower of London. We learned of its history, saw some ravens and the Crown Jewels, and got some great photo ops.

After the tour we went to a cinema so the kids could see Bad Guys 2. It had just come out and we thought it would be fun to check out a theater in another country. It was definitely smaller than what we're used to, but the concessions were good, and the kids enjoyed it. (I slept through most of it, oops). From there we headed to what I was most excited about for the day - the Moco Museum. My sister and I had visited this museum in Amsterdam, so I definitely wanted to see it when I heard they had one in London too. Some of the artists on exhibit were Warhol, Haring, Banksy, Basquiat and Robbie Williams. 

                                                 

We stopped at the Golden Carousel on the way to our sunset speedboat ride with Thames Rockets. This tour was super fun. The guides were great, the sights were beautiful, and it was slightly scary, like being on an amusement park ride! 

Our next day in London started with a tour at The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, aka where Wimbledon is held. Meezy and I attended the Ladies Final back in 2010, but we wanted to come back to learn about things behind the scenes and to bring the kids this time. I really enjoyed this tour and appreciated being able to ask questions. The kids liked all the interactive activities. I also jumped at the chance to buy more Wimbledon gear!  

Later that day, the kids and I took the Eurostar to Paris while Meezy had to stay in London to work for a few days. I'll put those details in another post! When we got back to London so we could all fly home together, we did a couple more sightseeing activities. We stopped by Hyde Park to see Speakers Corner and eat some ice cream, took a hop on/hop off bus tour, enjoyed the good weather, shopped at Max + Betty, and took a paddleboat ride. I love being able to show my kids other parts of the world and seeing them have a good time together! 

 

Formula 1 2025 Montreal

My hubby's bucket list included Formula 1, so a couple years ago we bought a grandstand package for the Las Vegas race that was taking place the weekend before Thanksgiving. We ended up getting Thanksgiving Day NFL tickets for the whole family, which meant we couldn't do both activities. We decided to fly to Vegas for just the first practice day to get a taste of the action, and sold the rest of our tickets. The practice was a bust because a manhole cover came loose on the track, so we got to watch like 9 minutes of racing before it got cancelled. Definitely not an ideal F1 experience. 

Fast forward a couple years and we decided to try again, this time in Montreal with a hospitality package. We opted for the "Champions Club Blanc," which came with a prime viewing location right before the Wall of Champions for all 3 days of racing, food and drinks each day, private seating and bathrooms, special guest appearances, a guided paddock tour, and a grid walk. It was a pricey package, but we figured this was the best way to get the full experience, especially since we planned to be there 8-10 hours each day. The race takes place on an island, so we stayed at a hotel near a Metro stop and used public transportation to get to the site every day. Going back to the hotel each night was a little more difficult because everybody was leaving the racetrack at once. Luckily there is also a casino on the island, so we just stayed and played for a couple hours until the crowds subsided! It's definitely a cluster if you're trying to use the Metro or ridesharing right after the practices or main race ends. 

The first day of racing we got to check out our seating and viewing arrangements and then do the guided paddock tour. That was really fun because we got to walk between all the hospitality buildings and the backs of the garages. That area is filled with the team personnel, owners, media, and you can even spot a driver sometimes. Meezy checked out the various types of tires they use on the cars, we asked lots of questions, and took lots of pics!

The racing on the first day included the Porsche Carrera Cup practices, the F1 Academy practices (lady drivers!), and the Formula 1 practices. We got to see so much action! We also got to hear from Sean Kelly, chief statistician for F1 broadcasts, and Bernd Maylander, the official F1 safety car driver.  

The second day's schedule included F1 Academy racing, Porsche Carrera Cup qualifying and racing, and then the Formula 1 third practice session and qualifying session. Our vantage point was really amazing. Not only did we get to see the cars go through the final chicane and narrowly miss the Wall of Champions, but we also got to watch them go down the straightaway. 

That day we also got to hear from former F1 driver Nico Rosberg, do a grid walk, and take a photo with the championship trophy. It was pretty neat to look into the garages, check out the Wall of Champions, see a curve up close, walk the track, and soak it all in.

The final day of racing included the Porsche Carrera Cup second race, the F1 Academy third race, the F1 Driver's Parade, and the main event Formula 1 race. There was so much excitement in the air that day! It was a fun environment to be in. It was also helpful that our hospitality areas had TVs so we could keep up with what was happening on other parts of the track and hear the broadcast commentary. 

After the race was over, fans were allowed to go on the track, so we got to see the trophy presentation and champagne spray. The coolest part was being closer to the race cars! 

Being only a very casual F1 fan myself, this was still a fun experience for me and of course it was worth it to see how much my hubby enjoyed seeing the action live. We don't have plans to see another race in person in the future, but if we do, it would likely be one in Europe and definitely with the same type of hospitality package. I think it was worth the cost!