When Peoria publicist Amy Wolff and her husband, Rick, were assessing study-abroad options for their college-student daughter, Sophia, they blanched at the cost. “‘For that kind of money, we could send all three of you girls to London,’” Wolff recalls Rick saying. “And I said, ‘I’m interested,’” she laughs. For Christmas 2024, the couple gifted Sophia and their adult daughter Emma a trip to the British capital, which the gals took in spring 2025. “We traveled really beautifully together,” Wolff says of the mother-daughters voyage. “It kind of inspired us to say, ‘OK, where can we go next?’”
The London Pass by Go City
Wolff recommends this pass, which includes free/discounted admission to historical and cultural sites in The Big Smoke. The Wolffs used it to take a hop-on/hop-off bus tour, ride the London Eye, walk up the Tower Bridge, tour the Tower of London, visit St. Paul’s Cathedral, see the London Zoo and take Uber boats on the River Thames. “We saved several hundred dollars by doing it that way.” londonpass.com/en
West End Theatre District
“My family is super into theater, and so we did see two shows while we were there,” Wolff says. First: The Great Gatsby. Then, they hit the (digital) half-price tickets booth to score second-row tickets to The Book of Mormon. “They were so close, we could see the actors sweating, we could see their microphones taped to their heads, we could see into the orchestra pit.” officiallondontheatre.com
The Room Where It Happens
The dramatic fun continued at this musical theater sing-along bar – named after the Hamilton song – where the waitstaff regularly burst into Broadway tunes. “They were so talented,” Wolff says. “And Sophia, who’s 19 and a freshman at NAU, could drink legally in London, so she ordered her first legal drink at that bar, which was really fun.” theroomwhereithappens.co.uk/the-room
Borough Market
The Wolff girls relished ramen at Wagamama (wagamama.com) and salads at ASK Italian (askitalian.co.uk), but their most Instagram-worthy bites were the chocolate-covered strawberries at this market. The TikTok-famous stall serves “the most beautiful, succulent, red, fresh strawberries” in a cup, drenched in Belgian chocolate fondue. “It was decadent,” Wolff says. boroughmarket.org.uk
New Around Town: Aspen
The slopes are calling! Bookmark these hot new properties for your winter ski getaway to Aspen, which averages 22-25 inches of cumulative snowfall in November and December, per city data.
White Elephant Aspen
The mountain town’s newest luxury hotel is set to open this winter in the West End neighborhood, within walking distance of cultural attractions Harris Hall, Michael Klein Music Tent and the Aspen Institute. The cultured vibe will extend to the interiors of the 54-room White Elephant Aspen, which will boast more than 125 original artworks. Even the lobby desk will read like an art installation – it’s shaped like a brass elephant trunk. whiteelephantaspen.com
Paul JAS Center
Also set to open this winter: this performing arts center, which will include event spaces, a club/performance venue, a studio for recording and broadcasting, and a classroom for education initiatives. The center is a product of Jazz Aspen Snowmass, a local nonprofit that organizes jazz festivals and advocates for the genre’s preservation and celebration. jazzaspensnowmass.org/jas-center-the-red-onion
YUKI
Head to the beloved Aspen music venue Belly Up and look up. There you’ll find YUKI, legendary chef Nobu Matsuhisa’s “tribute to world cuisine” through his elegant Japanese lens. Mouthwatering dishes at the second-floor restaurant, which opened this past summer, include fish katsu sandos, Japanese Wagyu pizza, seafood paella, king crab dumplings and Colorado lamb with baba ghanoush. yukiaspen.com
