My 13 year old son and I leave on August 10 for 12 nights in London. I am staying in an aparthotel - 130 Queensgate - for the entire time. I'm a little concerned about the lodging because it has very mixed reviews on Trip Advisor. Below is the itinerary I've worked up after many rough drafts... what I'm looking for is are there any glaring mistakes of planning something for a day that just doesn't work due to hours etc.

Arrival - booked Just Airports for pick up.
Explore area around apartment, get groceries, Harrods (son wants to do this) and depending on how we're feeling may start the Original bus tour and ride for awhile.

Day 2 - Finish bus tour, Westminster Abbey, Horse Guards ceremony at 11:00 (if we can make it), Parliament

oops... hit post before finished.
day 2 continued - Covent Garden and Ceremony of the Keys (have tickets)

Day 3 - Portobello Market then catch train to Canterbury for the day.

Day 4 - Hampton Court Palace

Day 5 - Tower, Leadenhall Market and then head back to Tower bridge and walk along the South Bank back to Westminster area.

Day 6 - Cotswolds daytrip (already booked)

Day 7 - Buckingham Palace (tour at 13.00), Trafalgar Square, Horse Guards dismounting ceremony and V&A (open late that night)

Day 8 - Salisbury & Stonehenge, British Museum if not too wiped (open late that night)

Day 9 - Warwick Castle & try to get out to Kenilworth castle too.

The next two days I have a free 2 day London pass I got when booking my air through BA so I'm going to make the most of it.

Day 10 - Windsor Castle & town (be there for changing of the guard), St. Pauls Cathedral & London Museum if we get back early enough.

Day 11 - Banqueting House,Royal Mews,Cabinet War Rooms, Kensington Palace & London zoo if time.

Day 12 - anything missed & shopping.

Day 13 - fly home

Any "free" time we have will be spent just wandering, enjoying the parks and shopping! (probably a lot of "window" shopping). Any suggestions are welcome!!

Your itinerary is pretty full. There are a few days I just don't think you'll be able to do it all.

On Day 10, I don't think you can possibly see Windsor, St. Paul's and Museum of London. Windsor will take most of the day and you'd be hard pressed to get back into London in time to get to the other two.

Day 11 is pretty ambitious as well. The Banqueting Hall and Cabinet War Rooms are in the same area, so you'd want to group those two together. But if you have to cut something from the day, I'd omit the Banqueting Hall. You can probably see the Royal Mews and Kensington Palace in the afternoon if you didn't spend too much time at either place. I don't see how you could possibly squeeze in the London Zoo, too.

You are goimg to have a fabulous trip - but I do see a few bear traps in your plans.

Also you are spending fully 1/3 of your time outside of London and that will make for a pretty frantic pace.

I'll make comments by day:

Day 2: >> Finish bus tour, Westminster Abbey, Horse Guards ceremony, Parliament, Covent Garden, Ceremony of the Keys <<

You will have to go to Westminster Abbey after Horse Guards if you want to see the change - you won't have time to tour the Abbey before you'd have to get up to Horse Guards

>> Day 3 - Portobello Market then catch train to Canterbury for the day <<

Is this a Saturday? If so get to P. Road as early as you possible can. 6 a.m. is not too early. If it isn't a Sat. you can skip it alltogether.

I think it is a stretch to go to Canterbury after Portobello Rd. I'd do some other London-based things that day.

>> Day 7 - Buckingham Palace tour at 13.00, Trafalgar Square, Horse Guards dismounting ceremony, V&A late night<<

The Royal Mews are at the Palace and the Banqueting house and Cabinet War rooms are between the Palace and Trafalgar Square. You will be walking right past both of these sites yet have scheduled them on Day 11. OR - they are also near Westminster Abbey and Horse Guards so would fit in there. If you group things geographically you will have a LOT more time and do a lot less to-ing- and fro-ing.

>> Day 8 - Salisbury & Stonehenge, British Museum late night <<

A bit hectic but not impossible.

>> Day 9 - Warwick Castle & try to get out to Kenilworth castle too <<

On day 6 you are going to the cotswolds and then on day 9 you are going back that direction for Warwick. If you can work it out it would be much better to do an overnight - one day for the Cotswolds and the other for Warwick. It would save you a lot of extra travel time. And even wasting a night of your London accomodations would be worth it IMHO.

>> Day 10 - Windsor Castle & town (be there for changing of the guard), St. Pauls Cathedral & London Museum if we get back early enough <<

You probably won't be able to squeeze these all in on the same day. You really need to be to St Pauls well before 3 p.m. to give you enough time to tour before they close up to prepare for Evensong.

>> Day 11 - Banqueting House,Royal Mews,Cabinet War Rooms, Kensington Palace & London zoo if time<<

This day is sort of nutty - spread out all over town. need to re-think this one for sure.

I was posting but got knocked off line so didn't see Kayb95's post - she and I are definitely on the same wave length . . . . .

I would also say that Notting Hill (ie Portobello rd) to Canterbury is a bit ambitious. You're on the wrong side of london. You could do Portobello Rd and Hampton Court more easily and give Canterbury a whole day.

Also bear in mind you are at the mercy of London's public transport, and we're all a bit edgy about this at the moment. You will be safe, but there are fairly regular station closures etc owing to the current alerts, so you might want to have a few "reserves" in case it becomes hard to stick to your tight timetable.

Thank you all for the suggestions... I'm reworking things to adjust. I am so glad I decided to post so I could find out these trouble spots.

You have been given great advice. I think your son will be bored to tears at Kensington Palace. My mother & I went there mainly for the exhibit of the Queen's hats and Diana's dresses and enjoyed it very much, but the rest was neither impressive nor interesting. He would probably much rather spend that time at the zoo, although I don't know where that is located or whether it's near the other things you have listed on that day.