When my sister was graduating from college in 2018, I wanted to get her a really great gift. I ran a few ideas by my mom, like buying her graduation photos, but I found the ultimate gift in a Scott’s Cheap Flights email – cheap flights to London. At $431 a piece, I was able to not only purchase a ticket for my sister, but one for my mom and myself as well. We were going on a girls’ trip!
Neither my sister nor my mom had ever been to Europe before, so we had a lot to figure out. What were their must-sees and must-dos? Since we had a long layover in Reykjavik, we knew we’d need some fun things planned there – fortunately, I’d spent 10 days in Iceland just a couple months before we got there – and, of course, we needed to make the trek to Disneyland Paris. That meant in just six days, we would hit England, France and Iceland. Here’s what we did and how we did it:
Day 1: London
After narrowly making our plane to Reykjavik, where we then spent a few hours in Keflavík International Airport, we got on the next plane to London. Two train rides later, our lovely Airbnb host came to pick us up from the train station. We stayed in the Crystal Palace area of London, which was a little off the beaten path, but worked well for us – the bus system makes it easy to get around the city. We explored locally, stopping at The Crystal Palace Market for dinner. We called it a night early – after all of our traveling on this day, our next day would be even busier!
The Crystal Palace Market 
Stonehenge 
Bath
Day 2: Stonehenge and Bath
Our day started bright and early as we hustled to make our tour departure – we’d had to repack for our big day ahead! We had booked a tour with The English Bus to see Stonehenge, Bath and a secret place (no spoilers here). This tour had been highly recommended to me by a coworker, and I would absolutely suggest it to anyone looking for a small bus tour. Johny was our tour guide, and he was a hoot.
I had been to Stonehenge during my study abroad in 2014, and it’s an obvious must-do when in England. Do not skip out on the audio tour! As my first time in Bath, though, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the vibe. One highlight was the pasties we munched on from The Cornish Bakery.
We got back to central London around 8:30 pm, which was perfect timing. After all, we had a 10 pm bus to catch – to Paris. While this may seem like a great option because it is cost-efficient, I definitely do not recommend taking the sleeper bus from London to Paris. It’s uncomfortable, it takes a long time, you have to get off in the middle of the night to go through customs, and there’s an element of fear associated with falling asleep in a crowd of strangers. Pay extra to take the train through the Chunnel!
Day 3: Disneyland Paris
That being said, we did arrive in Paris around 7 am, and we were able to grab the train to Disneyland from there. Since Disneyland Paris was a must-do, we wanted to be able to spend the entire day there. We arrived when they opened for the day, and we changed into our matching shirts in the Main Street bathrooms. You can take the girls out of Florida, but they’ll still find a way to go to Disney!
You can read all about Disneyland Paris here, but suffice it to say, we had a great time. We went from there to the train station for our train back to London via the Chunnel (Do this!). After a whirlwind few days, we arrived back at our Airbnb close to midnight, and we crashed. Fortunately, we had a lighter day ahead of us.
In retrospect, my mom and sister agree they would’ve liked to spend more time in Paris and see the actual city. While Disneyland Paris is fun, the city has a whole lot more to offer. You definitely miss out on a lot when you’re spending such a short window in each country.
Disneyland Paris 
Browns Butlers Wharf 
Tower Bridge
Day 4: London
Considering we’d flown into London, we’d spent very little time there up until this point. The only thing we had on our must-do list was afternoon tea, so we took our time exploring the city. We were able to take in some of the great Summer by the River events. If you’re there when they’re going on, be sure to check them out. We made our way around the Tower of London, enjoyed fish and chips at The Vault and, of course, had the loveliest afternoon tea at Browns Butlers Wharf. Since this was our last full day in England, we made the most of it.
Day 5: Reykjavik
Our flight to Reykjavik left at 1 pm, so we mostly spent the morning packing up. We said goodbye to our little Airbnb, and we headed to Iceland, where we landed just after 3 pm. The big thing on our agenda this evening: the Blue Lagoon.
Since I had just visited the Blue Lagoon (more on that here), I knew my mom and sister would enjoy it. We indulged in our mud masks and relaxed, finally slowing down on the trip’s go-go-go pace. For dinner, we found reservations were required in many restaurants, so we ultimately ended up at Íslenska Hamborgarafabrikkan (“The Hamburger Factory”). I had a goose burger, which I really enjoyed.
Even though the sun was still up – that will definitely mess with your sense of time – it was late, and we were exhausted. We grabbed a cab and made our way to our Airbnb, ready to take on our final day in Europe.
The Blue Lagoon 
Íslenska Hamborgarafabrikkan 
Perlan
Day 6: Reykjavik
We took all my Reykjavik must-dos from my 10 days in Iceland and made them happen before our 5 pm flight home. A major highlight was exploring the ice cave at the Perlan museum – if you can’t make your way out of the city or explore a natural ice cave, this man-made ice cave will give you all the Iceland feels. We also got hot dogs at Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur because, well, we had to.
It was hard to believe all we accomplished in just six days, but we slept hard on our flight home that evening!
Looking for a different European itinerary? Check out some of our other ones: