Although I never look forward to the 11 hour flight from San Francisco, it’s always a treat to go back to my hometown of London for the holidays.

London gets a bad rap for its weather, but in the winter, if you’re wrapped up appropriately, the crisp air can be really pleasant — something I miss living in California where the weather is always pretty temperate.

There’s lots to do in London over the holiday period, and Moovit has just announced a collaboration with one of the most renowned winter events in London — Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park.

Winter Wonderland is a festive extravaganza with fairground rides, a food market, and a lot of mulled wine — my favorite! My birthday falls near Christmas, and for many years while I lived in London, I would to celebrate with friends at Winter Wonderland. The event has a special place in my memories, and I’m pleased that this year I can get there with ease by using Moovit. With a click here, you can get easy to navigate routes on transit to the event.

Perhaps the song “Walking in a Winter Wonderland” should be updated to incorporate multi-modal transit: “Walking, or taking the bus, Tube, train, boat, bike, dockless transit, and ride-share in a Winter Wonderland!” We’ll have to work on the tempo.

This is the first year I will have my toddler with me, which makes traveling a lot harder. You would think that traveling on public transit would be a pain, but Moovit even has accessible routes on its trip planner in London and over 30 metro areas around the world. These indicate wheelchair/stroller-friendly directions so it’s simple to get in and out of the stations.

Many Londoners like to complain about the London Underground but I’m not one of them. Having used the metro/subway in multiple other cities around the world, I find London’s Tube to definitely be one of the most efficient.

Surprisingly, London doesn’t have the longest commute times in the UK. According to Moovit’s Public Transit Report, Birmingham commuters actually have the longest average journey times in the UK – 94 minutes a day compared with London’s 84 minutes. The study also outlined the most popular lines and stations:

The most popular Tube lines in London are:

• Northern
• Piccadilly
• District

The most popular Tube stations are:

• King’s Cross (this is my favorite station as it’s super accessible and there are lots of restaurants to catch up with friends)
• Victoria
• Waterloo

I bet if we did the study in December only, the top line would be the Piccadilly line, and top stations Green Park, Hyde Park Corner and Knightsbridge thanks to the popularity of Winter Wonderland!

Wherever you are in the world, Happy holidays fellow transit riders and supporters!