Hugo's first trip to the capital!

London is my spiritual home. I've been pining for it for months as I haven't been able to get down since December, the longest time I've been away since I moved there five years ago. I therefore jumped at the chance to go down for the day to celebrate my amazing sisters masters graduation. 

It was a very last minute trip so the only option was driving, not something I'd normally choose to do. I searched for parking online and found a fantastic website 'parkatmyhouse', which allows you to book a private parking spot. You can choose from thousands of locations dotted around the city. I chose one on Caledonian Road, right next to a direct bus to the Institute of Education, outside of the congestion zone and in an area of London that I was familiar with. I highly recommend the website, the particular spot (Carnegie St) and will certainly do it again. 

The first visit to London was bound to be a bit stressful but given Hugo was five and a half weeks old and we were both fairly new to bottle feeding, we did pretty well I think!

The first challenge was the bus rides. Hugo falls asleep when driving along, but the stop, start, jerky nature of the bus made it a bit stressful for him. Add extra delays, terminations and crowds due to a tube strike with a hungry baby and of course there was a lot of crying, but I think that was fair enough! By the third and final bus ride of the day he had got used to it and was very alert, taking in all of his surroundings. He even made a big, bald, tattooed man oo and ahh over him for the whole journey (lesson learned not to judge big, bald, tattooed men in future)! 

The weather was also that confusing spring transitional stage so I was feeling hot and bothered and Hugo seems to mimic however I'm feeling - if I'm stressed he'll he stressed, if I'm hot and bothered he will be the same and so on. I was able to change him into something light and cool and chuck a blanket off and on him which worked in the end.

As well as going to see my sister I popped into my old workplace - the Brooke, to meet friends and show my face/ introduce Hugo while I was there. It was great to have a comfy sofa where he could let off some steam and kick about, having been in either a car seat or a pram all day. I spent a good couple of hours there catching up with friends before heading to dinner with one.

I had so, so missed her. Going from sitting next to each other every day and sharing everything to living four hours apart sucks, but it was great to see her so, so happy :)

I don't think I could've done such a trip in a day (Leeds - London - Nottingham) with a small baby had he not been Hugo! He really is so good and having me as a mother means he'll have to get used to fitting in with my busy lifestyle! It also helps that I'm so familiar with London now, the drive wasn't at all stressful and we got home in record time. Chucking everything in the car 'just in case' also really helped ease the stress, knowing it was only a bus ride, so perhaps driving wasn't such a bad idea.

I'm already planning my next trip, but definitely not all of that in one day again!