Original Travel UK started life some 16 years ago, when a group of friends left the City and joined forces to start a creative travel company specialising in Luxury Travel. This new venture grew quickly (winning countless awards along the way – like the Guardian’s Best Tour Operator twice!) and branched out into family holidays, specialist diving trips, concierge services and way beyond…
And this is where we come into the post… Original Travel UK got in touch a while back to ask whether we would like to work with them on any trip we were booking in the near future. I only had our half term break organised at the time, but mentioned that I had thought about organising a London trip for myself and my older two – a special birthday weekend for my now 13-year-old (how did that happen?!)… They came straight back and asked if we would be interested in reviewing a couple of their London walking tours with a difference (they do so much more than booking plane tickets) and gave us an extensive list to choose from. Obviously I handed this straight to the future Birthday Boy, and he decided on a tour of the British Museum with an Archeologist, and a walking tour of Soho, Covent Garden and Carnaby Street later in the day…
And that was it, our weekend was just about planned! The hotel was booked, all we had to do was get a train at the earliest hour my older two thought remotely possible, get to our first tour on time and all would be well…
The prospect of a weekend on my own with my older two was quite a novel one – a first for all of us for quite some time, and definitely a first for Mr R to be left at home alone with the Four Year Old ever!! Luckily the promise of something from the Transport museum placated him (The Four Year Old not Mr R) at least, and he was happy enough to wave us off.
On leaving our bags at the hotel (after a slightly confusing “there are two Park Plaza hotels behind Waterloo moment”), we found an envelope waiting for us at the right one (the hotel at County Hall – more on that in a bit) with a personal (and very precise) itinerary of our plans for the day. After a quick black cab ride (another first for my two who have only been to London once previously!), and breakfast at a tiny Greek Place where I used to buy lunch another life ago, we made our way to the British Museum. Shockingly, I used to gaze out on its iconic glass roof (whilst mostly wishing my life away at my desk) and didn’t once step foot inside during the seven years that I worked in London. My first ever visit was shortly after we first moved back to the UK, where we had to skim several rooms as the then two-year-old wasn’t much of a museum fan at the time. It left us wanting to go back to explore thoroughly when he was older, or possibly without him at all. Now was our chance…
We met our Archeologist guide Alicia on the grand steps of this Bloomsbury institution, home to some 8 million objects and artifacts. I always love this kind of tour as you tend to learn so much more than you would otherwise (do you remember our underground tour in Rome?)… Alicia actually specialises in cave paintings, but her knowledge of archeology and history is vast and varied. I honestly think she knew something about every single object we pointed at and dealt with every single question we flung at her with ease – from the origins of the building itself, to what it’s like to be on an actual dig, and the best thing she has ever discovered (cave paintings – not gold – they are far rarer!)…
Over the four hours that we were there (which in reality felt far less), we went on an around-the-world trip of sorts, starting with Egypt and its vast tomb statues… When you go, look out for the beautiful giant scarab beetle. He was possibly my favourite thing in the entire room, along with the very jolly-looking Assyrian Winged gods in the far corner, and of course the Rosetta Stone…
As someone who struggled to learn two different languages (other than my own), I am always intrigued by people who can decipher them easily, and Alicia explained when it was found (1799 by a French Soldier), why it was important (the first time hieroglyphics were deciphered from the accompanying Demotic and Ancient Greek in a nutshell) and why it is the colour it is today (the dark wax used to preserve it when it was first found!)…
We ventured through new countries with ease, learning something new along the way… Greece was next with the Parthenon and the beautiful but controversial Elgin Marbles (one of our group who shall remain nameless, was surprised that they weren’t actually the kind of marbles that you play with. When I think of the money that’s been spent on their education!!)… As we explored the heritage of these priceless objects, we pondered whether they would in fact still exist today had they not been taken in the way that they were, whilst not justifying that (obviously!). Such a difficult one, but thought-provoking nonetheless.
On next to The Americas where we inspected mythical serpents and stared into the eyes of turquoise skulls. The delicate intricacy of some of these objects amazes me when you consider how incredibly old they are (especially when you look at how basic some of the stuff was that Western Europe was churning out at the same time)… Then we time-traveled forward a few centuries and learned about Native Americans and their culture, discovering the hidden meanings behind the colours and patterns of various textiles and objects.
Speaking of costumes and dress, if you happen to be visiting, do go to Africa via the Sainsbury Galleries downstairs, not only to see the current exhibition on pottery (Africa has some of the oldest pottery in the world) but also to see some of the amazing costumes. If you look closely enough there are some amazing details in these massive outfits – the 13-year-old even noticed a bit of Star Wars toy detailing on one…
After a quick break (and admiration of some of the impressive cafe food on offer here, forget cardboard sandwiches, the British Museum specialises in Smorrebrod it seems!) the youngest two put their feet up for a few minutes and left Alicia and I to explore Clock-Land (as they called it) exploring all kinds of horology.
They rejoined us for an exploration of my favourite kind of history – buried treasure (if you haven’t watched the Detectorists, do find it somewhere on catch up, I loved it!)!! I always wanted a metal detector when I was little. Imagine finding something like the Winchester Hoard – a collection of ten iron age pieces found in 2000 by a retired florist, probably not all that far from where I am sitting right now – to the most monumental finds like those at Sutton Hoo. (I was recently sent this link by a US treasure hunting specialist – the info regarding Sutton Hoo is so interesting, I have included it here…. ). Alicia described to the teens what it was like working tirelessly on digs like this, what life as an archeologist really entails, and how sometimes it might be weeks before you find anything at all… We all said we would still love to do it though!
And before we knew it, our in-depth tour of this brilliant building was up. I think we covered an awful lot of the British Museum that day, obviously not all of it, but in that four hours the building was brought to life by Alicia in a way that no audio guide or guide book could possibly manage. If you would like to book this or another tour, you know who to talk to...
Introducing my children to their own museums and history (after spending so long studying everyone else’s!) will never get boring for me. We all came away with renewed interests in various parts of history and thousands of questions about things we didn’t know existed before. Alicia even walked us to Covent Garden (some of the streets around here are pretty unrecognisable these days from when I worked here!) for a very well deserved lunch (also booked and organised for us by Original Travel. I love that when you book with them you basically have a concierge at hand should you need them for bookings, help or advice at any point in your entire trip whatever/wherever it might be!!).
And as we sat down properly for the first time that day we had time to have a leisurely lunch before our next tour…
PS: Our visit was the weekend of the (the 7/8 March) before the dreaded C Virus started to really do the rounds… The British Museum (along with many other London Museums) is currently closed whilst we weather the storm (some of them do have some amazing virtual tours if you can’t wait though!). I am publishing this now in the hope that it won’t be all that long before normal life resumes and we can start doing things like having private tours of the British Museum again which you absolutely should by the way! You can always book trips and days out in advance as something to look forward to – Original Travel UK along with the rest of the UK travel industry will appreciate the support at this time I am sure of it… In the meantime, these posts and many others will hopefully provide inspiration for future jaunts in the hopefully not so distant future…
PPS. We received our tours in return for an honest review. Everything else we paid for as is typically the case when it comes to travel views on this blog (it’s the way we like to work)!
Tanja/The Red Phone Box travels says
what a great tour! hope you’re well
Emma says
Thank you! Look out for part 2 coming soon! Hope you are well xx
Lyanna Soria says
I’d always love visiting places like the museum. They have plenty of things to learn about and you can never get tired of it.
Emma says
Very true! :)
Natasha Mairs says
This sounds like a lovely tour. I would love to visit this museum one day. I bet the birthday boy enjoyed himself.
Emma says
He really did! It was exhausting but great! :)
di says
We went to the British museum for the first time sept 2019. such a great place, so much to see!
Emma says
Amazing isn’t it? :)
Anosa says
Wow there is a lot to see, you did well to get it all done by lunch time. I would love a guided tour of the main museums in London. I did a Jack the Ripper tour in London years ago and it was absolutely the best! I would definitely recommend it to anyone… just maybe not with the kids
Emma says
My older two would absolutely love a Jack the Ripper tour. Anything gory like that! :D
Jenni says
This looks like a truly amazing experience, definitely something to keep in mind for when everything settles down. I can’t wait to check out the virtual tours too.
Emma says
Yes, please keep it in mind for when this is all done and dusted!
Kara Guppy says
This sounds like a wonderful way to visit London. Will definitely look into this once things are looking up
Emma says
I know you and yours would love it Kara! :)
Samantha Donnelly says
We live close to London and Waterloo is the station we go to when visiting. Is it sad to say that neither of us have been to the British Museum, I certainly need to rectiy this
Emma says
Oh you must when everyone can go out properly again! :)
Mellissa Williams says
The British Museum is such a wonderful place to visit – so full of heritage and history and lots to see and do. I definitely need to visit again soon.
Emma says
Amazing isn’t it? So full of fascinating things! :)
Rebecca Smith says
I love the sound of this – I’d love to tour the British Museum like this (and hope to once everything is semi back to normal). I love that there is so much to see and do in the capital.
Emma says
We are lucky with our capital aren’t we! :)
Sarah | Boo Roo and Tigger Too says
I love the idea of doing walking tours, my son would love the British Museum with an Archeologist
Emma says
It was a really great morning! Thanks Sarah! :)
Becky says
We haven’t taken our two to London yet, although have talked about it a few times. The idea of having a guide is a great one – we wouldn’t really know how to start. Let’s hope we can think about it realistically fairly soon x
Emma says
Fingers firmly crossed! Thanks Becky!
Rhian Westbury says
The British Museum is a stunning building and it’s so nice that you were able to enjoy a London day with the family and make it super special x
Emma says
Thanks Rhian! :) x