The train trip from Bristol to London was a breeze, no running for trains this time, as we arrived with plenty of time to board easily with none of the struggles to find places for our bags in already overflowing compartments. A quick change at Paddington station and then onto Kings Cross.

Every time I leave London it kind of blurs into the other places that we have visited and the feeling I have when I am here goes away and I forget how much I love this town. I’m not saying that I would like to live in the burbs and commute to work very day.. but I do love being a tourist in this place.

This visit our accommodation is by no means flash, but it is well named (MacDonald B&B) it is clean, includes English breakie each day and it is a 5 minute walk from Kings Cross station. Whilst it does have a number of positives it is a very different proposition to our London accommodation from last year, where we along with two other families rented a 5 storey house, in a well healed part of town, each floor with its own bathroom – it was really lovely. This week the four MacBazs have shared a little room that had a tiny double, and bunk beds, our bathroom (an ensuite thank goodness ) was quite small – to give you an idea I could stretch my very long legs (yes I know I’m short Isaac) when I was on the toilet and hit the shower curtain, all of this for the princely sum (once converted) of about $280 AUD a night…

See that’s the thing about London, accommodation is expensive but for us the Mac B&B was perfect as it’s just a spot to reconvene at the end of each day. Would I stay there again, yes the staff were pleasant and helpful and as long as you are in the right frame of mind and aren’t expecting the Ritz it is all good. There are staircases that you will have to manage, but they are everywhere and unless you are going to spend money for a hotel, the inconvenience of lugging your bags up and down is something you can’t avoid ( well I did but that’s because I was travelling with blokes who were sympathetic to me !)

After dumping our bags we headed to Piccadilly Circus to submerge ourselves in London where we unexpectedly wander into Chinatown and discover The Manchurian Legends in Chinatown. What attracted us to this unusual little restaurant was a sign on the window that stated that The Manchurian Legends had been voted in the top 50 restaurants in London and the fact that some of the dishes on the board out the front looked similar to ones at home.

Once inside we realised that what looked like a reasonable sized restaurant was in fact a tiny little space, with a low roof and you couldn’t help but have that feeling that if there was an emergency you would want to be the closest table to the door. The menu was really extensive and mixed up with the traditional Aussie Chinese there was page after page of offal, intestine, gizzard, heart, tripe, blood cake, knuckle offerings. I know that this would be paradise for some people, but those people are not us….having said that when we did order our food was quick, fresh and whilst a little salty really great.

We then headed to this boutique independent movie theatre called the Prince Charles theatre and the vote was to see “Bad Neighbours”….. For those of you who haven’t had the opportunity yet, I’d be happy to provide you with an independent review.. Yes there were a few funny bits, but I was cringing in my seat for the majority of the time.

In the back of my mind each time we have come to London I leave wishing we had squeezed a visit to Lords in, but up until this trip it has been a nice to do but maybe next time. With all of the boys castled out ( bizarre) it was with heated agreement that we made our way to the home of cricket. It was £60 for the four of us to do an almost two hour tour and was worth every cent. I do love the pomp and ceremony around this stuff, and having the opportunity to go into the committee room where decisions around cricket are made, sitting in the home and away change rooms and spending time in the media tower was really really cool. Our tour guide John was excellent, he gave us lots of information and fun stories that felt a little like gossip, our group was made up of people from England, Australia and India and his commentary was well targeted for all of us.

Time to hit the shops, yet another great thing about London is that there is so much choice, well probably too much but I just like wandering through the shops and streets, or sitting in the local Starbucks listening to the diverse accents and soaking it all in. Dinner tonight is at a burger place we have been to before which we really enjoy, the Gourmet Burger Kitchen in Russell Square – a good walk from our accommodation and we know that the food will be good.

It’s funny because we have been lucky enough to come here a few times and so London feels really comfortable for all of us. It has been great spending time with Nick who of course importantly knows the places with happy hour prices, almost like having our own local tour guide. I know that in a lot of big cities people often feel like the natives are rude and unhelpful, but we have been really fortunate that this hasn’t been the case anywhere on our trip and certainly not here in old London Town.