One of the most fun parts of the 100K Vacay challenge last year was getting to bring my wife along for the ride as I was able to book flights and accommodation for the two of us for less than 100K points.
That said, we didn’t spend every minute together. After landing in London, I went off for a fun experience at a brewery helping them brew a batch of beer, while Shae went off to explore London, using Monopoly as an inspiration.
That’s because the Monopoly board in the UK is based on sites in London. Stops on the board include some you might well have heard of (e.g. King’s Cross Station, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly, Mayfair), as well as some you might not know anything about, such as Old Kent Road, The Angel, Islington, and Bow Street.
There wasn’t time for her to cram in all 26 sites on the UK Monopoly board, but she did visit at least one location from each color, as well as a couple of railway stations. As someone who’s been to London many times, it was a fantastic way to explore the sites and sights of England’s capital by checking out off-the-beaten track locations that you’ll likely miss if focusing on the usual tourist hotspots (which are worth visiting too).
Quite a few people who followed her videos on Instagram throughout that day were interested in reading a blog post all about where she visited, so here’s Shae to share everything she got up to and why each location was so interesting.
When Stephen first invited me to join him on his 100K Vacay which was beer-themed, I was conflicted. On the one hand there’s a ton of fun to be had when you travel with your best friend AND we were going to get to travel to two new countries for me (Stephen is ahead of me – thanks Greg🤨).
On the other hand, beer.
That was it. The whole other hand – beer. I’ve tried different beers during our travels, from Budweiser at Busch Gardens Williamsburg to Berry Rocky Road (a fruity beer that looks like a smoothie and also tastes like one) at Dewey Beer Co in Dewey Beach, DE. I’ve also done more than my fair share of brewery tours, from Sam Adams in Boston to Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee, WI to Guinness in Dublin, Ireland, as well as beer experiences like staying at a brewery for a week in Nebraska at Kinkaider Brewing.
However, I generally don’t like or drink beer, (the exception is that Berry Rocky Road from Dewey Beer Co), so the thought of an entire adventure focused on beer caused me to consider if this would be as fun as I’d hoped. But that also led me to think, “I can’t be the only one who has a beer-loving (or at least enjoying) partner even though I don’t like beer, so how can I best serve the Frequent Miler P1s & P2s of non-beer drinkers!?”
And thus a day around London that wasn’t beer-themed was born. But what to do? I’m planning a day for people who have, most likely, traveled to London on more than one occasion, and if they haven’t it’s easy to find the big, touristy places to see. I toyed with a few ideas: finding another drinking tour (gin is huge in the UK), but knowing that we wanted to keep the $$ side of the challenge as low as possible so a couple could replicate Stephen’s trip with 100k miles and as *close* to $1,000 as possible, it wasn’t going to work. I thought about a book-themed day out: I love books, libraries, bookstores and more, but again, that can be quite niche.
What could I do that would have broad appeal, take you to places you might not expect to see in 12 hours in London, AND make for great content while Stephen was locked away making beer? I chatted with my UK bestie and she asked “What about Monopoly?” Yes! That was it! The perfect idea to see more off-the-beaten track places in London, but which still hold wide appeal as a general concept with the locations.
London Monopoly site research
I spent hours looking into which locations were feasible with the time and money I had allotted; our goal was for me to spend the same or less than Stephen on any food or activities that we did. I looked at a few blogs (this was the most helpful) out there to get some ideas and researched anything that looked interesting within the area of each color/stop. Then I worked out the best route and the logistics of walking vs taking the Tube.
At first I wanted to visit a spot for each stop on the Monopoly board, but that quickly became unrealistic. As it was, I only made it to ~1 stop per color and that still took 12 hours. However, you could easily spread the full board out over a few days, including more time at each location. Use this post as a quick guide to seeing the UK Monopoly board in a day, but it can/should be extended to see more of each stop and the sights included in this post, based on your interests.
Here is what my research looked like:
Here is what my initial plan looked like; I still had to cut stops along the way on the day:
Now to the stops. My final choices are in bold and the final itinerary in order will be posted below.
London Monopoly board stops
Brown
- Old Kent Road – Lord Nelson Pub
- Whitechapel Road – All Hallows-by-the-Tower, Jack the Ripper sites, Tower of London, Tayyabs Restaurant
Light Blue
- The Angel, Islington – Monopoly Plaque, Candid Cafe
- Euston Road – Wellcome Collection
- Pentonville Road – Foundling Museum, Pentonville Prison (go to jail)
Pink
- Pall Mall – St. James Palace Gatehouse & changing of the guard (1030am)
- Whitehall – Churchill War Rooms, Great Scotland Yard (go to jail), Cavalry Museum, 10 Downing Street, Parliament, etc., New Scotland Yard
- Northumberland Avenue – Sherlock Holmes Pub
Orange
- Bow Street – Bow Street Museum of Crime and Justice, Covent Garden, TFL (Transport For London) Museum, Rules – the oldest restaurant in London
- Marlborough Street – Doesn’t actually exist, only 70 ft long (vine), Might’ve meant Great Marlborough Street SOHO (Maybe visit Daunts)
- Vine Street – Man in the Moon passage off Vine Street
Red
- Strand – Somerset House
- Fleet Street – Former newspaper buildings, St. Bride’s Crypt Museum, Memorial in Postman’s Park, Ye Old Cheshire Cheese Pub, Humble Grape
- Trafalgar Square – National Gallery (Water Lilies by Monet) & Sunflowers by Van Gogh, Statues in Trafalgar Square (Edith Cavill)
Yellow
- Leicester Square – Swiss Glockenspiel (every hour), Shakespeare Statue, Empire Casino, M&Ms store
- Coventry Street – Connecting between Square and Piccadilly – Walk by and snap Prince of Wales Theatre
- Piccadilly – Hatchards (oldest booksellers in London) & Waterstones Piccadilly (largest bookstore in the UK), Fortnum & Mason
Green
- Regent Street – Hamley’s, Liberty’s, The Nest rooftop bar
- Oxford Street – Oxford Circus, Tyburn Hanging Tree
- Bond Street – Handel Hendrix House
Dark Blue
- Park Lane – Hyde Park, Speaker’s Corner, Reformer’s Tree
- Mayfair – Apsley House, Spencer House and others, Shepherds Market, Royal Academy Art Gallery has some free displays
Railroads
- Kings Cross Station – Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter
- Marylebone Station – Architecture, Diesel Trains, Hard Days Night Filming location
- Fenchurch Street Station – One of the smallest stations in London
- Liverpool Street Station – WWII including site of bombing and kindertransport, in the film MI 1 and others
Jail
- Just Visiting – Great Scotland Yard Hotel Speakeasy
Here is what my final itinerary looked like. I know, it’s very high tech with my handwritten plan on Fairfield Inn paper, but I prefer to plan on paper, needed something small that I could quickly reference, and wanted something that didn’t rely on technology.
Video of my London Monopoly adventure
I filmed loads of videos throughout the day that Carrie published on Instagram at the time. Instead of embedding all those individual videos here, I put together one longer video showing everything I got up to.
If you’d rather read about what I got up to, here are all the details.
Final Itinerary of London Monopoly sites
Italicized sections below are my notes with further details from the day, some of which led to changes.
Morning plan
Railway Station
10:00am: Kings Cross Platform 9 ¾ (Official Start). I planned my day to start at 10am since I wasn’t sure what immigration, customs, getting our things to the hotel, and getting into London would look like. It was all much faster than expected and I left the hotel at 8:00am, arriving at King’s Cross around 9:10am which is good since I had so much to fit in. It meant that I made the call to stand in line for a photo at Platform 9 ¾ rather than just grab a picture and get on with my journey.
Light Blue Monopoly sites
10:30am: Angel Station Bus 214 (walk 12 minutes) £1.75 (~$2.35) (Stop E). I ended up taking the Tube to Angel Station from Kings Cross/St. Pancras.
10:45am: Plaque at 1 Islington High St. Co-op (former site was Angel Cafe). I couldn’t find the plaque, but walked all over looking for it.
10:50am: 2 min walk to Candid Cafe, at 3 Torrens St, London EC1V 1NQ. This turned out to be closed when I was scheduled to go there, so I went to a different cafe for a cup of cocoa to warm up.
Community Chest
Unexpected stop addition: I bought a magazine called The Big Issue which helps homeless individuals earn an income, which earned me a Get Out of Jail Free card which came in handy later.
Railway Station
11:20am: Tube ride from Angel to Moorgate (Northern Line), then walk to Liverpool St Station (7 minutes) £2.80 (~$3.75).
Brown Monopoly sites
11:50am: Dennis Severs’ House (museum) / Folgate St (1800s homes). I walked outside of these locations.
The 10 Bells pub (a Jack the Ripper site; two of his victims are thought to have had drinks there before being killed) at post code E1 6LY. I stopped and had a drink there and rested.
Whitechapel Gallery (free) at E1 7QX, The White Hart (where one person suspected of being Jack the Ripper used to drink; one of his victims was also murdered 50 feet away from the pub) at E1 7RA. I had to skip these due to time constraints.
Walked to Aldgate East (the walk alone is 25 minutes).
12:45pm: Aldgate East to Tower Hill £2.80 (~$3.75) (124 Bus or District Line).
12:55pm: All Hallows by the Tower (this is the oldest church in London), then walk by the Tower of London.
1:30pm: Take the Circle or District Line from Tower Hill station to Embankment; £2.80 (~$3.75). Then walk 10 minutes to Rules restaurant.
Lunch
Orange Monopoly sites
2:00pm: Rules (35 Maiden Lane) is the oldest restaurant in London. I wore an appropriate outfit to go around the city and that could be worn into the restaurant. I also brought a pair of flats to slip on so I could meet the restaurant dress code. I ended up having a starter and dessert as it’s a pricey place on the budget we were working with.
Afternoon plan
Red Monopoly sites
3:15pm: Walk from Rules along Strand to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square.
3:30pm: See Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in Room 43, Level 2 at the National Gallery. 3 minute walk to Leicester Square.
Yellow Monopoly sites
4:00pm: Leicester Square to see the Swiss Glockenspiel. Sadly it was having construction completed on it, so it wasn’t running when I visited. It normally chimes at 12pm, 5pm, 6pm, 7pm, and 8pm during the week, and at 2pm, 3pm and 4pm at the weekend. I was therefore early that day, but it wouldn’t have rung anyway due to the construction.
I stopped in Leicester Square for a picture with the Paddington statue instead. While in Leicester Square, I stopped for a break and enjoyed a soda at McDonald’s because Monopoly was back for the first time in years!
4:15pm: Walk to Waterstones Piccadilly (largest bookstore in Europe), Hatchards (oldest bookstore in the UK), and Fortnum & Mason (luxury department store that’s been around since 1707).
Green Monopoly sites
4:45pm: Walk to Liberty London (luxury department store that also appears in the 2021 movie Cruella as it’s where Emma Stone’s character works).
Then I walked through Oxford Circus (high street with hundreds of stores) and past the Handel Hendrix House. The Handel Hendrix House is a house where both George Frideric Handel (who wrote Messiah) and Jimi Hendrix once resided (although not at the same time).
5:35pm: Then it was on to the Tyburn Tree Plaque. The Tyburn Tree was the site of a former gallows for 650 years where 50,000+ people were publicly executed.
Dark Blue Monopoly sites
5:40pm: From there, the plan was to continue on to Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park. This is a historic area where open-air free speech on any subject has been allowed. I didn’t make it to Speakers Corner. It had already been a lot of walking, it was raining and cold and I didn’t have it in me to make the march into the park to find the location.
Instead, I took the tube from Marble Arch (Hyde Park) to Westminster. On the UK Monopoly board, the two blue locations are Park Lane and Mayfair which, as you might expect, are expensive parts of London. We’ve since stayed at the London Hilton on Park Lane; you can read Stephen’s review here.
Pink Monopoly sites
6:10pm: Walk from Westminster station to 10 Downing St (where the Prime Minister lives). This walk took me through Whitehall, synonymous with politics in the UK. I wasn’t able to go to the Household Cavalry Museum that day, but if you have a chance to see the Household Cavalry Dismount Parade nearby, it’s better than the Changing of the Guard because you don’t have to arrive as early and you get much closer. After 10 Downing Street I went to…ack!
Jail
6:20pm: New Scotland Yard (home of London’s Metropolitan Police) which took me directly to jail. I didn’t pass go and I didn’t collect £200 (~$268.50). Thankfully I had my Get Out of Jail Free card which means I was…
Just Visiting!
6:25pm: Sibin Speakeasy at Great Scotland Yard Hotel (see Greg’s review of the hotel here). Sadly the speakeasy was closed for a private event, but I stayed for a drink at the 40 Elephants Bar and had a cocktail called Alice In Wonderland. This was named after Alice Diamond – a famed female criminal – to round out my day.
7:15pm: After finishing my drink, I began making the journey by train, bus, and walking back to the hotel we were staying at near Heathrow that evening.
After the walk, train, and bus back, I made it to the hotel at 9:00pm where I downloaded with Stephen about our respective days and then we crashed. You may recall Stephen’s iconic cucumber photo…
…but I’m my own woman and I relax best with Oreos, not vegetables. We recreated it and moments later I was out, ready for the next day that would take us on to Oktoberfest.
One of my favorite stops along the route was Liverpool Street Station. Besides the interesting information provided about the Kindertransport of children during World War II, it has a public bathroom, seating places, and Wi-Fi. While there, I got chatting to a man named Michael who was seated nearby on his lunch break; this won’t be a surprise to Stephen as he proofreads this for the post. Michael heard me recording and, as is often the way when I’m recording as The Traveling Teach, for No Home Just Roam, or as it turns out for Frequent Miler, he was wondering what I was up to. We got chatting and I told him about the challenge and he made a lunch recommendation for a nearby local market, Spitalfields Market, which if I’d had time I definitely would’ve gone over to as local recommendations are my favorite when traveling.
The day was long, full of exploration, and by the end it was very wet and cold. But I saw so much of London that I hadn’t seen before; even larger “touristy spots” like the National Gallery and the Ten Bells were places I hadn’t been. Despite my careful research, I still ended up making changes on the day as I went and places were unexpectedly closed, or walking was quicker than using the Underground.
I don’t have as much interest in art galleries, but many of the stops along the Monopoly board in London have free or affordable entry to art museums. There were some other places I’d have loved to visit if I had the time and funds including the Handel Hendrix House which really looked like a fascinating museum. Overall, it’s a route I’d recommend if you only have a day and are willing to really push yourself, or to stretch it out over several days to get the most out of the itinerary with its stops and sites.
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Methinks a star is born! Great article Shae!