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This October, I was wildly fortunate to take a spur-of-the-moment trip to London. My friend Wendy texted me on a Tuesday, saying she needed to be in London by Sunday for a work meeting. Would my daughter and I like to tag along with her and her daughter?

Why yes, we would indeed! A quick glance at the calendar revealed we’d miss almost nothing terribly important, so the airfare and hotel were booked, we pulled together our dusty suitcases and we were off!

I’m not sure what was more delicious — international travel or the fact that we took off with almost no notice. Being flexible during a global pandemic continues to serve us well, including the kind of flexibility of the mind when presented with a fantastic opportunity or crazy idea.

The ever-shifting COVID landscape made travel only a touch more complicated, but easy to maneuver with some research and planning. And because our trip was so brief, the required PCR test two days after landing in London also served as the negative test required by the U.S. to return to the States.

Surprising two pre-teen girls with a glamorous trip to London was also thrilling. Both of our daughters had traveled internationally before, but none of us had been anywhere recently due to the pandemic. They were troupers— aided only slightly by the surprise of business-class seats on the way to London.

We all had dinner, watched a movie and then laid flat for a good night’s sleep. For decades I’ve traveled around the globe in coach, but I regularly use my age as a reason I must fly business class. While preposterous, I’m going to lean in to aging gracefully and still upgrade to lying flat while flying across any and all oceans in the near future.

The Seattle-to-London route deposits you into London mid-morning and so the struggle is to conquer jet lag that first day. We dropped our things off at our gorgeous hotel, the Kimpton Fitzroy, and started a several-hours-long-traipse through some of the best of London. Camden Market and the West End.

The girls’ eyes popped at every corner and we delighted as moms in lots of “yeses” to requests for photos and matching sweaters, sweets and even the rare treat of a caffeinated and sugar-loaded drink from Starbucks (just to get them through the day, of course). London was staging for Christmas and so just a few of the streets held the traditional Christmas decorations, but the magical decor definitely encouraged this traveler to consider a Christmas trip in the future.

We ended our first day at a fabulous Italian restaurant around the corner from a piece of street art by the famous artist Banksy on the side of a regular old London building. We had to drag the girls home and let them finally get to bed for a good night’s sleep.

The first full day in London, Wendy had business meetings, and so I booked some activities with the girls. First, we headed to the London Eye, which is a fun way to get a bird’s eye view of central London. The girls spotted a cool playground on the way, though, so they first spent an hour being little kids and jumping around logs and ropes under the Eye.

While during peak season, I imagine most tourist activities will still be crammed in places like London, mid-October was pretty special with half-empty flights and few tourists in the city. We had our London Eye capsule almost to ourselves and the girls loved seeing all the buildings from the sweeping views. I delighted in trying to point out special places I remember from studying abroad in London for a few weeks one summer, decades ago.

After the London Eye, we hopped on the double-decker tourist bus to make navigating the main attractions easier. When I travel with my kids, I really hand over the trip to their interests. We spent a long time in Hyde Park, lounging on the grass, having a snack. The girls entertained me with dancing and jumping, angling the cellphone just so, to capture their antics.

We shopped quite a bit around London, popping into all kinds of shops and admiring the different fashions compared to Yakima. The girls also quickly tried on a British accent, which they used without hesitation in every shop and with every Londoner. My daughter Quinlen spoke with such gusto and bravado that I could hardly stop laughing. The shopkeepers and restauranteurs took it in stride and winked while saying how authentic they sounded.

That night we were tired enough to have dinner at the hotel and go straight to bed

The next day was devoted solely to shopping. While that may sound silly considering all of the history, architecture, and art that surrounded us for the tasting, the girls soaked up the culture as they strode through posh London neighborhoods and marveled where old buildings melded in to new. We stumbled upon Hamley’s, a seven-story toy store where we spent hours exploring each floor. The girls loved that store employees were out testing the toys and asking them to participate, play with the slime, cuddle the stuffy. The whole experience was a glimpse into toy stores of the past.

That night we ended up in a pub full of Wendy’s international colleagues. These American girls had never experienced the delights of a British Pub and were wide-eyed to be allowed to mingle with the adults. We lost count at about four of the Shirley Temple drinks they enjoyed as adoring adults kept the girls with full drinks.

The girls initiated a game with all gathered there, guessing ages. Soon, the adults in the room were lining up to have their ages guessed by these bright pre-teen girls, and roaring with laughter every time they guessed far over or far under.

On our last full day in London, we relished a gorgeous English Tea themed with “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” The One Aldwych Hotel has a partnership with the Roald Dahl Foundation and the tea is mesmerizing as they take key elements from the novel and include them in the treats from chocolate milk to candy floss.

This tea, in particular, is known for offering a great gluten-free option which totally lived up to its reputation. After tea, we headed over to Buckingham Palace and Harrods, while continuing to shop. The flag was up on the Palace, alerting us to the fact that indeed the Queen was in residence. We watched the tradition of the changing of the guards and took lots of photos while discussing the significance of the royal family in our modern world.

Harrods took our breath away, of course, as it was completely decked out in holiday splendor. We picked up a few holiday gifts and the requisite Christmas ornament before heading back to our hotel and ordering in — fish ‘n’ chips.

I cannot recommend enough some spontaneous international travel in your future, even during a global pandemic, if the pieces of the puzzle can all come together for you. I’d long held the belief that to travel overseas, I really needed to go for 10-14 days to have fun considering the jet lag. But I was wrong. Jet lag was no problem — it did not detract from the trip one bit.

Moreover, London really refreshed my memory during this getaway. I’d once studied there and traveled to and through London several times, casually commenting in recent years that I’d likely never really go back to visit. Been there, done that. But I was wrong.

Pleasant weather, shoulder season, few tourists and great company made this a memorable and fantastic trip.