Welcome to London. After meeting you at the airport, your transfer service will be provided to Richmond where your English host families will be waiting for you. After a short tea break, your exploration of London shall begin by obtaining the travel cards that will give you freedom surfing through the city. Let the exploration begin.

Leicester Square is a square in London's West End. It was designed in 1670 and is named after the contemporary Leicester House, named after Robert Sidney, the 2nd Earl of Leicester. Originally, the square was a gentrified residential area, with tenants including Frederick, Prince of Wales and artists William Hogarth and Joshua Reynolds. In the late 18th century, when Leicester House was demolished and retail changes took place, it became a centre for entertainment. Today, Leicester Square is the heart of London with its restaurants, cafes, cinemas, casinos, fast food stores, hotels, international brands with the street performers and tourist crowds. No tour is completed in London without visiting Leicester Square. Leicester Square has been a popular venue for almost 400 years. Well, the vicinity welcomes more than 2.5 million visitors every week! It’s a meeting point of all Londoners and London lovers. The city's top shows and plays and over 52 star-studded red-carpet film premiers each year can widely be enjoyed by all visitors.

At the junction of Regent Street and Shaftesbury Avenue lies a trapezoidal area near London's West End known to the world as Piccadilly Circus. It's an odd name since there's no circus there, but even odder is that 'circus' usually denotes around city area where several streets meet in a circle, after the Roman plan. But that eccentricity fits Piccadilly Circus, since this area of the great British capital attracts the most diverse set of people in an already diverse town. The first half of the Piccadilly Circus name comes from a 17th-century frilly collar called a “picadil”. The name is a perfect description, for here are the frills of London. Here are pubs, monuments, shops and nearby theatre in the West End. Piccadilly Circus, akin to New York's Times Square, it's filled with traffic, crowds and (at night) neon lights befitting its role as a major tourist attraction. Known already by 1743 by its current name, the junction was created in 1819 and its history shows. There's the bronze Shaftesbury memorial fountain, erected in 1893, topped by a statue of Anteros, the Angel of Christian Charity. (The Evening Standard uses a graphic of the nude statue on its masthead.) Technologically innovative at the time, it was the first sculpture to be cast in aluminium. In the late 1980s, the fountain was moved from the centre to its present Piccadilly Circus location at the south-west corner of the intersection. Not far from the centre, is the off-centre (the literal translation of the Greek word 'eccentric') Reduced Shakespeare Company, who have performed at the Criterion Theater since 1995. Their speciality is the rapid, highly improvised, presentation of the complete works of Shakespeare in 97 minutes. (Well, something that draws inspiration from 37 of the plays, anyway.) The 600-seat theatre regularly sells out, so plan ahead. The surrealistic show fits in well with the ambience of Piccadilly Circus, but for those interested in more traditional forms of theatre the London West End shows are only a few minutes’ walk. Here you can see the best of British theatre - shows which often are later imported to Broadway. On the north-eastern side of Piccadilly Circus, is the London Pavilion. First erected in 1859 as a music hall, Shaftesbury Avenue bisected the site in 1885. A new building for the purpose was built and by 1923 was even lit with electric billboards. Rebuilt in 1986, the original 1885 facade was preserved, and the area converted to a shopping arcade. Later it was connected to the neighbouring Trocadero Centre. There are also pubs galore at Piccadilly Circus, but be selective. Some are nothing but tourists, some are very tourist unfriendly. While you're doing touristy things, don't miss the newly installed, giant, curved TV screen at Piccadilly Circus. Not even Times Square can compete with this one.

Welcome to the heart and soul of the fashion industry in the city. Carnaby Street is a pedestrian shopping street in Soho City and its colourful history stemmed from when the street was built in 1682, taking its name from Karnaby House to the first men's boutique, being the epicentre of the Swinging 60s, home to the punks of the 80s and up to today. It is an iconic London area. Between Oxford and Regent Streets, fashion and lifestyle retailers are just located here, including a large quantity of independent fashion shops. In the heart of London's shopping scene, Carnaby Street brings you over 100 foreign and British fashion brands, independent boutiques, one off concepts, trendy beauty emporiums, grooming salons and custom jewellery specialists together. From brand-new flagships and UK firsts to presenting one-off and unique designers, Carnaby's 14 streets are lined up with women's wear, men's clothing, cosmetics and accessories like no other. Not just for shopping of course, more than 60 independent restaurants, bars, cafes and pubs selling cheap à la carte and late-night drinks, even yummy breakfasts bedazzle the tourists and Londoners alike. Now it’s your turn to explore this lovely district with us.

Speaking of gardens, be sure not to overlook Covent Garden. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a very popular shopping and tourist site. Not really gardens at all, the area is a spectacular array of theatres, shops (many people visit London just for the shopping) and more where the street performers compete with restaurants, bars, clubs and shops for tourists' attention. Covent Garden is also the prime destination of theatregoers and patrons of the Royal Opera House by night. It’s situated right in the heart of London’s Broadway West End. The area wasn’t used to be a fancy part of the city, however, series of developments after 70’s made this district a prime destination for tourists. Indeed, Covent Garden is one of the vibrant places of interest in London. It plays a great role in today’s cultural life with its theatres, restaurants, cafes, street performers, stalls, markets and many attractions. It’s a must-see place in London.

You will return after the London tour back to Richmond for dinner with your English host families. After dinner, you will visit the lovely Richmond Thames Riverside with many cafes, shops and pubs around. You can even walk through your homes via Riverside Drive. Most probably you don’t know but one of our British celebrities Sir Michael Phillip Jagger (Yes, Rolling Stones’ icon Mick Jagger) is your neighbour. You may even see him while you walk. Rest of the night is yours in London.