Now that travel abroad is becoming harder and slightly more complicated than it used to be, a lot of people are choosing not to bother and staycation at home. 

For those of us who live in London, we are very lucky and absolutely spoilt for choice of where to go and what to do. If you’re trying to save the pennies and don’t want to stay overnight away from home, then there are a host of activities you can do on a day out, right in the heart of London.

So if you’re thinking of what to do over the Christmas holidays and don’t know how to entertain the family without having to cook, feed, water and clear up after them, then read on because this is where My London Tour Guide comes in. 

A fully trained Blue Badge London Tour Guide, Jonathan is so passionate about what he does and that is one of the most important qualities you can have in a tour guide.  You can feel it when he’s talking, his knowledge is outstanding, not surpisingly, considering it takes over 2 years and many exams to qualify and not everyone manages to pass all the exams! So many facts and dates to remember, but Jonathan remembered them all!

Before I go on, he also covers Windsor, Canterbury, Oxford, Bath, Stratford and other interesting places around the South East of England.

We did the Southwark – London’s Las Vegas tour, and literally spent the whole walk wowing and oohing! We realised that you can live in London all your life, but you don’t actually KNOW London or a lot of its extensive history. From Charles Dickens, to William Shakespeare, Chaucer and Keats, they all have a presence in London, but most of us don’t realise exactly where that presence is. Many people spend their walking moments looking down, but if you were only to look up, it’s like a whole new world up there!

So if you want to invest in the city you live in, and have the time to fill, you can take a tour with Jonathan and travel back in time.  We covered the Wharfs; London Bridge; The Globe Theatre, (both of them!); old coaching Inns and taverns that we didn’t know existed, and I’ll say it again, it was fascinating! Do you know anything about the Winchester Geese? They aren’t what you think they are!

Jonathan offers a huge variety of other tours, from the ‘London Bond in Motion’ tour to ‘Rockin in the West End’, from ‘St Paul’s Cathedral, the Jewish story’.  to ‘Royal London’. There’s something for everyone and for all ages.  When walking and listening to Jonathan, you can hear the excitement in his voice, he wants to tell you everything he possibly can about the areas he takes you to, teaching you all the unknown facts and fascinating stories and history of the area.

The walks can last up to 2 hours, they are not strenuous, and if you ask him nicely, he’ll even recommend a coffee stop or two!

As it says on his website mylondontourguide.com; ‘Blue Badge Tour Guides are the only guides officially allowed to guide in some of the jewels in London, Westminster Abbey, The Tower of London, St Paul’s Cathedral and others – when booking a Blue Badge guide, you get professionalism, enthusiasm, knowledge and the comfort of knowing that you’ll be well looked after.’

Honestly, please take a tour yourself, I really felt like I’d been on a mini-break yet I was only 45 minutes away from home!

You can find him and contact him on Facebook here.