LONDON'S JUST THE TICKET

First-time visitors to city remind you how special it is

- BY RACHEL BERESFORD

THERE is something magical or, at the very least, joyful about seeing a tourist's reaction to visiting London for the very first time.

Just a quick 40-minute trip depending on which airport you land at across the pond from us and home to many ex-pats, it's not easy finding someone from Ireland who has never been before.

I found three!

In the form of my 15-year-old niece and two nephews, aged 17 and nine.

And so over the St Patrick's Day weekend it was double the thrill for me to take them on their very first trip to the English capital. They'll repay me in my old age, right?

I've been to London more times than I can remember I was a pre-Covid Chelsea season ticket holder and my best friend lived there when we were in our twenties, resulting in many a weekend visit.

It had been six years since I last visited, though, so I had the itch to return but, wanting to do it a little differently this time, I packed up the gang and off we went.

And immediately it reminded me of my first visit over 20 years ago as my little tag-alongs were wide-eyed at the lavishness of Buckingham Palace, head in the sky waiting for Big Ben to toll, open-mouthed at the tales told in the Tower of London.