London vs. Azores Recap: A Kid's Take

Wondering whether London or the Azores is the better pick for your next family trip? In this episode of Family Travel Unpacked, my 12 year old takes over as our tween travel expert and gives her honest, unfiltered review of both destinations, from Harrods and the West End in London to hiking, hot tubs, and Europe's only tea plantation in São Miguel, the Azores.

We just got back from London and the Azores, and this trip felt like two completely different vacations back to back — a huge European capital followed by a small, nature-focused island. Shoshana breaks down what surprised her, her favorite hotel, how gluten-free eating (she has Celiac disease) compared between the two, and which destination won her over in the end.

We also booked this entire trip on points, covering flights and hotels for basically nothing out of pocket until we landed. The full breakdown of the 600,000-plus points we used is back in Episode 42, and full-length, in-depth episodes on London and the Azores individually are coming later this summer and into fall.

In this episode:

• What it's really like traveling with a tween through London vs. São Miguel, Azores
• Hotel reviews: The Standard London vs. DoubleTree by Hilton São Miguel
• Must-do family activities in London, including the Jellycat store at Harrods and the West End show Hadestown
• Why São Miguel felt like "the Hawaii of the Atlantic" — hiking, the rooftop and indoor pools, and Europe's only tea plantation
• Navigating gluten-free and Celiac-friendly eating in London and the Azores, including a splurge-worthy dinner at Niche Gluten Free
• Shoshana's honest verdict: London or São Miguel, and what she'd do differently next time
• A reminder that this trip was booked almost entirely on points — full breakdown in Episode 42

Timestamps:
00:00 — Intro & the Episode 42 points recap 
01:23 — Bringing in our tween travel expert 
02:16 — London highs and lows
04:00 — Azores highs and lows
06:09 — Gluten-free travel: London vs. the Azores 
08:04 — Wrapping up

Don't miss this inspiring, practical travel with kids podcast hosted by family travel expert Melissa Conn, founder of The Family Voyage, certified Child Passenger Safety Technician, and mom of two who proves family travel is achievable for everyone.

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Transcript

0:02

Hey there, and welcome back to Family Travel Unpacked. I'm your host, Melissa, and in case you're new here, you can always find tons of detailed destination guides, travel tips, hacks, and more on my website, thefamilyvoyage.com. And if you've been enjoying the show, be sure to hit follow wherever you're listening so you never miss an episode, and drop a five-star review while you're at it because it really helps other families find the show. Today's episode is a little different. We just got back from London and the Azores, and instead of me telling you all about it, I sat down with my daughter Shoshana to hear what she thought, the good, the bad, and everything in between. Quick reminder before we get into it, we booked this trip entirely on points for the hotels and the flights, and if you want the play-by-play on how we pulled it off, make sure you go back and listen to episode 42 where I broke down the 600,000-plus points that we used to make this trip happen for basically nothing out of pocket until we got on the ground. Now, this episode is more of a quick recap than a deep dive. Think of it as a preview. Later this summer or early fall, I'm gonna be doing full-length episodes on both London and the Azores individually, so if you want all the planning details, the logistics, where we stayed, and how we booked it, those are coming, I promise. I'm also putting together full articles on thefamilyvoyage.com with the nitty-gritty on how to book your own trip to either destination. Those should be up in the next few weeks, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled, and if you wanna get notified as soon as they're available, you can go to thefamilyvoyage.com/newsletter to sign up. All right, now bringing in Shoshana, my tween travel expert Shosh, welcome back to the show, and thanks so much for being with us to share your perspective on our trip to London and the Azores. Now, we just got back from our trip about a week ago, and it was almost like two completely different trips back to back rather than one trip because the destinations were so different. What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think back on it? The first thing that comes to mind is warm weather. It was very, very, very warm in our first couple days in London, and it was a little bit hot in the Azores too. Yeah, in the Azores it was kinda humid, and I, think it's like that most of the year because it's got that ocean tropical climate going on. Now, before we left, what were you most excited about for this trip? The Jelly Cat store. And did that live up to your expectations? Oh, yeah. Okay, so since that's at Harrods in London, let's talk London first. We stayed at the Standard Hotel, and what did you think of it? I mean, it was pretty nice, but I liked the hotel in the Azores a lot more. Okay, and we're gonna get into the other hotel in just a few minutes. But in terms of London, you know, it's a really big city, and I know that's usually your favorite kind of destination, that and beach destinations. So did London live up to your expectations and the hype? Eh, not really. It was a lot different than I expected. In what way? For starters, I thought it would be a lot more fancy, but it was just not what I expected at all. It was... I don't know. It was, like, less royal than I thought it would be. Did you expect to see everybody walking around with a big fur stole and a crown? Yes. Okay. Well, at least you're honest. Now, you mentioned this a little bit before, but can you tell us more about your favorite thing that we did in London? Okay. The favorite thing that we did in London was the Jellycat store, and, it was very, very, very fun. What is the Jellycat store? So Jellycats are these, like, really, really, really soft stuffed animals, and the store that we went to was an airport theme, but there were Jellycats everywhere, and it was just so awesome. And were there any other activities or shows or anything that you really loved? We saw Hadestown, the West End show, and I really liked that. Great. Thanks for sharing your perspective on London. And we took a few hours flight from London to the island of São Miguel in the Azores, which is a really big contrast because you go from one of the largest cities in Europe to this really small island that's super nature-focused, totally different vibe. So what was that switch like for you? Um, if I'm being honest, it was a lot of a switch. I like the Azores vibe better than London, honestly. It was kind of the Hawaii of the Atlantic. I've heard a lot of people say that before, and I can totally see why you think that. Now, you mentioned that you liked the hotel on São Miguel better than the one in London. We stayed at the DoubleTree by Hilton, and can you tell us why you liked it so much and how it was different than the one in London? the staff there was just so nice. And, if you're like a gold member or something, then you get complimentary access to the spa, by the way, which if you are like 12 and up, you can use the sauna, so... And the indoor pool is also really nice. What did you think of the outdoor pool? The outdoor pool was cold for the weather that there was. Yeah, so nice view from the rooftop pool, but we actually didn't end up swimming there at all because the indoor pool was way warmer- And there was a hot tub there but we went up to the pool deck, and we watched soccer, and we ate a lot of food there. So since you said you liked the Azores better than London, what was your favorite thing that we did in the Azores? My favorite thing that we did in the Azores was probably, if I'm being honest, chilling at the hotel and enjoying the views and stuff. We did a lot of hiking And was doing a lot of hiking good or bad for you? Bad. I have tiny little legs. Okay. And was there anything about the Azores that you hadn't expected, whether it was good or bad? I had not expected to drink tea the first day that we got there and go to a tea plantation. Okay, that is something really unique about the island of São Miguel because this tea plantation they have is the only tea plantation in all of Europe. So thanks for pointing that out. Now I wanna shift gears just a little bit because you have celiac disease, which I've mentioned before on the show, and food is always a part of the story on our trips, whether it's because we really like eating or because we have to go out of our way to find gluten-free food. So how would you say the gluten-free eating was in London for you? I've gotta say, it did not live up to my expectations. Italy is really good for gluten-free. Anywhere you go, you just say, "Hey, I'm gluten-free." They'll be like, "Okay, come on in. We have gluten-free pizza or pasta for you." So you felt like we had to work a little bit harder in London. And how about the Azores? Was that easier or harder than London? We ate a lot of fish and vegetables, which nothing special about that. I mean, everywhere you go there's gluten-free fish and vegetables. Although, the fish on San Miguel was exceptionally good because it was super fresh, right? Yeah. But on our first night in London, we went to this restaurant. It was so good. It's called Niche Gluten Free, and you cannot tell that it's gluten free. The food there is so good Yeah, I'll second that. I would say that was probably the best meal that we had in London, and it was fully gluten-free. Not a cheap restaurant. It was quite pricey. It was the most expensive meal we ate on this trip, but I would say that as a one-time splurge, it was totally worth it. For dessert, we had gluten-free chocolate fondue. We had marshmallows, bananas, and donuts to dip in the fon- chocolate fondue. By the way, you're not dipping donuts in cheese. It's chocolate. I got confused about that when I first saw it. think I know the answer to this, but if you had to pick, which of those two destinations did you like better, London or São Miguel, and why? São Miguel, 'cause I liked the vibes better, and, honestly, in London and the Azores, the people were just so nice. Yeah, I would say that was something that surprised me a little bit about London is that since it's such a big, busy city, I expected it to have kind of harried New York vibes, but I definitely felt like the people there were warmer and friendlier than I had anticipated. All right, Shosh, what would you tell another kid who's about to go to either London or São Miguel? Oh, I would say for London Go to Harrods. It was just a really cool place. Like, I got my nails done there. I got special designs on them, 'cause there was, like, this cool oil-based nail polish where, like, you draw designs on your nails. Yeah, the toy section at Harrods was pretty special. There are all these demonstrators out showing you how cool gadgets and toys work. That was pretty cool. Yeah, it was. Also, the food hall there is amazing, right? That's a great place to pick up lunch for a picnic. It's pricey, but really good. Mm-hmm. Like, when I say pricey, I mean pricey. There was a ramen place there, and each bowl of ramen was $50. Right, that's in the restaurant section, but if you were doing the meal deal for a takeaway lunch, it was much more reasonable. It was more like 15 or $20 per person. Yeah And if we were doing this trip over again, is there anything that you would do differently, or if we went back, something you'd wanna do differently? If we went back, I would wanna explore another island on the Azores, but do less hiking. In London there was surprisingly a lot of walking. Mm-hmm. Like, like nine miles a day. We walked a lot. We also took the Tube, but we got our steps in for sure. Okay, and any final thoughts on the trip that you wanna share? No. I've summed up my feelings. Great. Well, thanks for being here with us and for sharing your thoughts. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Family Travel Unpacked. If you enjoyed hearing Shoshana's take on London and São Miguel, Do me a favor and hit follow wherever you're listening. That way you'll get notified when I've got those full episodes launched. While you're at it, share this episode with another family who's dreaming up their next trip and drop a five-star review so that other families can find the show. Remember, episode 42 has the full points breakdown for how we booked this trip. And my in-depth website articles and podcast episodes will be coming later this summer and in early fall. If you've got a question about points, planning your next family trip, or anything else travel-related, you can always email me at melissa@thefamilyvoyage.com or hit me up on socials @thefamilyvoyage. I read every message, and I love hearing from you guys. Until next time, safe travels.