Kew Gardens, My London AirBnB, & My First Dim Sum

Wednesday, June 1

It was time to head to London!

Sometimes figuring out the best train journey can be tricky. For instance, certain times of day can be a lot cheaper to go, or sometimes there's 2 changes for one journey and another is direct. It can take a bit of research to figure out what the best option is.

I ended up leaving Bath Spa at 8:43 am and arrived at London Paddington at 10:06 am -- no changes. From London Paddington rail station, I figured out which Tube to board to get to Kew Gardens, the Royal Botanic Garden outside of central London. Usually I feel pretty confident that I'm getting on the right Tube in the right direction, but I was not feeling great that I was doing this one right. But I committed and it ended up being correct... yay!

There was a short jaunt from the station at Kew to the gardens and it was a lovely little walk through a lovely little neighborhood! Kew seems like a nice London suburb to live in.

There was no queue at Kew (ha) to buy a ticket, so that was nice! I will start off this post with a few pictures.


This was called the "beehive." I couldn't discern its purpose other than being an art installation.

Rock garden

I had emailed the gardens several months ago to confirm they had somewhere I could drop my little suitcase because I had seen this mentioned on a TripAdvisor review. They replied affirmatively. Excellent -- I'd be able to roam freely! But when I asked the ticket lady about it, she said storage facilities were no longer offered. So I had to lug my bag around with me in these massive garden grounds. I was not a happy camper about it. For one, I just looked weird wheeling around a suitcase in a garden. It was awkward and loud. Two, I didn't have access to some of the things I wanted to see, like a treetop walk. And three, it started raining.


But at least the roses were gorgeous and smelled like goddamn heaven.

Is this not the brightest blue your eyeballs have ever seen?

Gardens this massive require so much walking and it just wasn't very pleasant with a suitcase and with the rain. At one point, it was truly a downpour. I was already on the search for one of the cafes, but when it started raining, everyone came in and there was not a seat to spare and it was so loud and crowded.

Luckily, after about an hour it did clear up and I headed back out.



These things look alive!


I had great ambition for my visit to the gardens. The plan was to purchase a picnic from a local bakery called The Original Maids of Honour. I love a complicated name. The picnic was to be packed inside a basket and include finger sandwiches and scones and pastries and maybe even a little fizz (champagne). You could even rent a blanket if you needed to! (Fun fact -- they call this type of basket a "hamper" in the UK). I had tried to book the picnic hamper the evening before and it was too late to do so. This part ended up being better anyway since I wouldn't have been able to picnic outside. I really had envisioned myself spread out on some green space in Kew Gardens, with my hamper full of picnic, enjoying the temperate climate but perfectly warm sunshine on this day. Maybe next time.

I didn't stay very long, perhaps a little more than two hours overall? I thought I'd be there for the better part of the entire day. I would say I didn't really get my money's worth at Kew Gardens. I couldn't fully enjoy what I did get to see and I missed out on a lot because I was incapacitated. I definitely would go back on a day nearer to midsummer like the end of June or in July, and when I knew the weather was going to be fully clear.

I headed back to Kew station and boarded the Tube to Victoria station in central London. From there, I walked about 10 minutes to my London AirBnB -- 94B Tachbrook Street. The girl who rents the room was so accommodating; I was like two hours earlier than I had originally told her.

Narrow little stairs on the right hand side led downstairs to where I stayed on the lower level. The window you see on the lower right was my bedroom.

I guess I didn't take any photos inside the AirBnB, but I had a decent sided bedroom and my own en suite bathroom, which I didn't expect. It really felt like a hotel room here. I would definitely stay at this place again because the location was great! I've been hesitant to do AirBnB in London. It just seems like there is more potential for creepers, but this was a great experience. I had stayed in 12 AirBnBs so far and they all have been pretty excellent!

After I settled in a bit, I headed back out for an early dinner. Something I've been wanting to try was dim sum! Of course there are so many great restaurants in London, but I saw a dim sum place called Dim T near my AirBnB, so I stopped in there. It was pretty empty, which was super nice. And the food was yummy! I got spicy chicken dim sum and egg fried rice.


I spent the evening planning my next day because it was gonna be a big one!