A Day Out In London: Platform 9 3/4

Anyone who knows me IRL knows that I am completely obsessed with Harry Potter…. and a couple of weeks ago I finally got to go to platform 9 and 3/4!!!!

The day started with us taking the tube as my parents were attending a presentation in a hotel in Central London, while me and my sister watched movies on my iPad. Absolutely starving, we went outside where we were not pleased but not surprised either to discover that it was raining super hard. We walked from there to Euston Station, which is quite nice as there are many shops and restaurants, and we went to Accessorize, where I got a really nice leather bag and then we went to Leon, where I’d never aten before but the menu looked promising and it wasn’t as crowded and busy as Nando’s. I got a Korean Chicken burger, which was spicy, had so many flavours and was just SO AMAZING and probably the best burger I’ve ever had, while everyone else got a Grilled Halloumi Wrap, Baked criss-cross fries (I hadn’t had these in ages) and a Chicken Rice Box. Overall this meal was really nice as it tasted better than other fast food alternatives like KFC and McDonald’s, and it was healthier and at a similar price.

Before we went to the platform, we also visited the British Library which contained a collection of important documents that were pretty interesting, albeit slightly boring once we got to the end. The gift shop there was also quite cute but expensive, and outside the building there were many nice places to sit and just people watch or chill.

When we arrived at the station it was in the late afternoon, around 4, so there were predictably a lot of people waiting in queue to take pictures, and we were told that there was an approximately 40 minute wait, which is really quite long but understandable because some fans travel especially to London to see platform 9 3/4. While my parents waited in the queue, I went inside the Harry Potter store right next to the sign and it was so unreal…almost like I’d entered an actual shop in Diagon Alley.

It was full to bursting with so many people, and the walls were full of various merchandise, such as clothes (the scarves for each of the Hogwarts houses were amazingly soft and pretty), trinkets and necklaces with time turners and golden snitches etc, piles of chocolate frogs and bertie botts, so many wands it felt almost like I had stepped into Ollivander’s, and so many posters (I really wanted to buy one which had the whole of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone written on it in tiny writing).

To be honest, most of the merch was definitely on the pricey side so I didn’t buy anywhere near as much stuff as I wanted to – I only got a top with the Hogwarts crest, a silver necklace with the symbol of the Deathly Hallows on it and the photographs of platform 9 and 3/4 – but you can buy Harry Potter clothes for much cheaper in Primark, and you can get other stuff at better prices on Amazon or Wish as well.

Once we bought everything, our turn had come in the queue and we were called forward to take our pictures – we can use props such as wands and you get to choose your Hogwarts house scarf, and then you can run into the wall, you can lean onto the trolley, and you can grab a friend and pretend to have a fake little duel with them, which actually turns out kinda cute/funny in the pictures. I chose a Gryffindor scarf because I’m a Gryffindor (I know that everyone says that, but I legit got sorted into Gryffindor on Pottermore, but sometimes I come across as more of a Ravenclaw – also my Patronus is a blackbird, in case you care) and me and my sister posed for the camera in a little fake duel. We weren’t planning on going to Platform 9 and 3/4 in the first place, so I just wore a plain dark blue hoodie and some ripped jeans, but I’m really happy that I got to go.