Seeking recommendations for a solo journey to London
Some background: this trip was originally my 40th birthday present from my now ex-wife. We've since divorced and I'm insistent on going by myself, as something always seems to come up and ruin my overseas travel plans. So, I want to treat this as a sort of growth/healing/looking forward trip.
About me: I've traveled quite a bit but I've never been outside of North America. Europe is completely new to me. I am very fond of football, food, beer, hiking, history, and new experiences. I prefer to stay away from tourist traps and I'd rather find hole in the wall type places that are recommended to me by locals. When I travel somewhere, I want to immerse myself.
I'll be there for ~9 days and I have the first 5 days fully worked out. What I need help with is figuring out what I want to do in London for the last 3 days of the trip before I head back to the airport. Other than going to a Fulham game next Saturday, I'm completely wide open. I would prefer to stay in the greater London area since the first half of the trip already involves quite a bit of travel.
I'd love to hear your recommendations do's/don'ts, or general guidance. I'm open to pretty much anything.
What are you planning on doing the first 5 days? Kinda hard to make recommendations without knowing what you already have on the list.
I had great fun following parts of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Path
Also there are few amazing "normal" parks, which I found unexpectedly wild, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampstead_Heath
I find London rather nice now, but it's big and it took me quite a few visits to find the places I like.
London?
The Tower is definitely worth it. Camden Markets. Walk along the Thames. Westminster Cathedral was nice. Find a Real Ale pub and have a proper English cask ale pint (unless you don’t drink). Personal favorite pub was Cittie of Yorke. The British Museum (see the Rosetta Stone if nothing else).
There’s probably a lot more to come up in the 10-ish years since I lived there.
If you’re up for day trips out, Bletchley Park and the adjoining British Computer History Museum were both amazing. Stratford upon Avon is good if you’re a theater/Shakespeare nerd.
Take the train down to Seaford and walk (or “hike” if you could call it that) to Eastborne, then take the train back to London. You can see the famous chalk cliffs. Most tourists get bussed straight to the seven sisters and bussed out.