London Calling: An Alternative Getaway

Check-in at the COMO Metropolitan, close to Hyde Park Corner, where you will be met with personalized VIP treatment from the hotel staff. Afterwards, take time to unwind in your room or take a leisurely stroll through Hyde Park.

Dinner: Indulge in the finest Japanese sushi London has to offer at Nobu.

London is also made for foodies! take the tube to Shoreditch High Street, where you will meet your guide. The tour will take you to diverse eateries, ensuring you experience Shoreditch’s full spectrum of food options—from bagels to fish and chips, to unique street food from the market, truffles, and an English dessert. You’ll also try ale, beer, or cider (or a soft drink).

Evening: Embrace culture like a true Londoner by attending a showing of Hamilton at the Victoria Theater. Afterwards, enjoy a late after-show dinner close to the venue.

Get out of the city with the train and visit one of the UK's most historic towns. Immerse yourself in the history with a guided tour of the ancient Roman baths.

Evening: Ready to try some proper Indian food? Then head over to Veeraswamy!

Note:

If you would like to further immerse yourself in the local culture in the lead-up to your trip, find below a list of content I have curated:

Books

• The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguru - In the summer of 1956, Stevens, a long-serving butler at Darlington Hall, decides to take a motoring trip through the West Country. The six-day excursion becomes a journey into the past of Stevens and England, a past that takes in fascism, two world wars, and an unrealized love between the butler and his housekeeper.

• Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby - For many people, watching football is mere entertainment, but to some it's more like a ritual; and for others, its highs and lows provide a narrative to life itself. For Nick Hornby, his devotion to the game has provided one of few constants in a life where the meaningful things - like growing up, leaving home, and forming relationships, both parental and romantic - have rarely been as simple or as uncomplicated as his love for Arsenal.

• Notes From a Small Island by Bill Bryson - After nearly two decades spent on British soil, Bill Bryson - bestselling author of The Mother Tongue and Made in America-decided to return to the United States. ("I had recently read," Bryson writes, "that 3.7 million Americans believed that they had been abducted by aliens at one time or another, so it was clear that my people needed me.") But before departing, he set out on a grand farewell tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home.

Films

• Chariots of Fire - Two British track athletes, one a determined Jew and the other a devout Christian, are driven to win in the 1924 Olympics as they wrestle with issues of pride and conscience.

• The Queen - After the death of Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth II struggles with her reaction to a sequence of events nobody could have predicted.

• In the Name of the Father - A man's coerced confession to an I.R.A. bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. An English lawyer fights to free them.

TV Series

• The Crown - Follows the political rivalries and romance of Queen Elizabeth II's reign and the events that shaped the second half of the 20th century.

• Peaky Blinders - A gangster family epic set in 1900s England, centering on a gang who sew razor blades in the peaks of their caps, and their fierce boss Tommy Shelby.