We Loved Our Trip!

United Kingdom | Jul 29 - Aug 7, 2025

We Loved Our Trip!

Kateryna clearly took the time to create an unforgettable trip to London and Paris for my husband and I.

We began in London with activities planned to help us see the most important sights and landmarks. After a slight hiccup with a two hour delay leaving New York, and then another hiccup in the Heathrow Airport, in which the customs computer system went down, we missed our time slot to see Westminster Abbey. Kate replied to us while we were still standing on line at customs to change our call time to the following day. She also ensured that our transportation from the airport would wait for us! We got the chance to have a private tour of London in a black cab with our guide, John. John was fun, informative, and certainly a highlight of our trip! In addition to Westminster Abbey we were also scheduled to tour The Tower of London and go to The British Museum. On our final day in London we went on a bus that Brough us to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath. Our tour guide Apple made sure that we stayed on time and had fun throughout the day. We had a great time in London, we stayed in The Phoenix Hotel, which was easily accessible and in a cute neighborhood that had everything we needed within walking distance.

The middle part of our trip took us to Oxford. Unfortunately, we were scheduled to be there during many of Oxford's graduations. We were booked to stay in a pub that was not in Oxford and we believe this is because many of the hotels were booked for the graduations. While Headington is not far from London, the 20 minute bus rides definitely put the brakes on exploring. In hindsight we wish that we had not been scheduled to go to Oxford. It was impossible to get tickets for Christ Church, Oxford's buildings were closed to non-graduates, and the streets were packed with people. We had a very hard time finding a place to have dinner in the city of Oxford and ended up having dinner at our pub, The Black Boy, both nights. While The Black Boy was a nice place to stay and we had plenty of room in our accommodations we couldn't help but feel that the overall experience was a little... off. While the owner was welcoming she also seemed annoyed that she had guests. The service in the restaurant was extremely slow and the staff seemed untrained. While we made the most of our time there- it probably would have been more fun for us to have spent those two nights in London. That being said, we did enjoy our tour of The Cotswolds, which could have been scheduled even if we hadn't left London.

Finally, our trip brought us to Paris! We loved it there. We got to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower our first night and the experience will stick with us forever. We were also scheduled to visit the Catacombs, which was both thrilling and chilling, and The Louvre! Our last scheduled event in Paris was seeing Versailles which was well organized and well timed within the scope of our day. Our schedule was open enough that we were also able to see Notre Dame and spend plenty of time in the Luxembourg Gardens. We were staying the WS Casanova. We had our own apartment which was cozy. We were on the top floor and were initially concerned about the fact that it had limited air flow, no direct access to the elevator, and no air conditioning (not uncommon in Paris!). The apartment worked out well for us as Paris experienced mild weather during our nights there. The only flaw is that the apartment was not a traditional hotel room and so there were no amenities such as room cleaning or fresh sheets and towels. There were also small signs of wear and tear on the room that, while not taking away from the usability of the space, did diminish its quality.

Overall we are really pleased with our experience. We would recommend Kateryna and KimKim to our friends in the future! Thank you for a great 10 days!