I have flown from Washington to London for a long weekend to attend a Premier League match before. It is a trip that works surprisingly well: leave Friday night, arrive Saturday morning, attend a match, and fly home Monday.
This trip was an opportunity to try a variation on that formula.
Memorial Day weekend coincided with the final weekend of the 2025-26 Premier League season. Unlike most weekends, when matches are spread across several days and kickoff times, all ten final matches begin at the same time. The synchronized schedule adds to the excitement as clubs compete for the league title, places in European competitions, and survival in the Premier League.
My buddy Joel and I decided to make a quick trip to London and experience it for ourselves.
We left Washington on Friday night, May 22, and arrived in London the following morning. On Sunday, we watched Tottenham Hotspur defeat Everton 1-0 in front of more than 60,000 supporters. Tottenham entered the day fighting to avoid relegation, so the match mattered until the final whistle.
On Memorial Day, we flew home. The familiar long-weekend formula worked again, but the timing made this trip different.
Staying in the Middle of Soho, London
I have been to London many times, so there was no need to construct an ambitious sightseeing schedule. We went for one primary reason: to attend a football match on the final weekend of the Premier League season.
Everything else was built around that.
We stayed at The Resident Soho, located on a side street in the middle of Soho. The location made it easy to walk around the neighborhood and reach the Tube when we wanted to explore other parts of London. Despite being in the center of Soho, the hotel was quiet enough that the surrounding nightlife did not keep us awake.
The hotel does not serve breakfast, but that was not a problem. Soho has plenty of independent cafés where we could grab coffee and a pastry before starting the day. I enjoyed The Resident and would stay there again.
From Heathrow to Borough Market, London
After arriving Saturday morning, we took the Tube from Heathrow into London. Unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise, the Tube is generally the best way to make that trip. It is inexpensive, reasonably fast, and avoids London traffic.
We had booked a Borough Market and London Bridge food tour with Eating Europe for Saturday morning. This was my second food tour in Borough Market, and it reinforced my opinion that the market is one of the best places to sample the range of food available in London.
There is a persistent idea that the food in London is not very good. That opinion is badly outdated. London is one of the world’s great international cities, and its food reflects that.
After the tour, we checked into the hotel and did something I usually try to avoid on the first day of a European trip: we took a nap.
Normally, I prefer to stay awake and adjust to the local time as quickly as possible. In this case, the overnight flight followed by a food tour caught up with us. The food coma arrived, and a short nap turned out to be the right decision.
A Soho Pub Crawl
That evening, we followed a Soho route from Thomas J. Vosper’s book, Historic Pub Crawls Through London. The crawl was excellent, but combining it with a three-hour food tour on the same day was ambitious. By the end of the evening, our stomachs were begging for mercy.
There were also lessons about pacing. One drink per pub is plenty, particularly at our age. Joel started aggressively and paid for it later. I will save the individual pub reviews for another post, but the experience provided a good tour through Soho and several periods of London pub history.
I slept extremely well that night.
Records and Malaysian Food in London
Sunday began with some record shopping around Soho. Digging through London record stores is always fun because I can usually find albums that are difficult to locate in the United States.
Before heading to the match, we ate lunch at Rasa Sayang, a Malaysian restaurant in Soho. The meal was superb and offered more evidence that anyone complaining about London’s food is not looking very hard.
We then traveled across the city for the main event: Tottenham Hotspur against Everton at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Why the Final Day Is Different
Everton was my team for the 2025-26 season, and I had not yet seen them play. Tottenham entered the final weekend fighting to remain in the Premier League.
Every final-day match began at the same time. That means supporters are not only watching the game in front of them. They are also following scores from around the country and calculating what each result means. A goal in another stadium can suddenly change which club wins the league, qualifies for Europe, or gets relegated.
That creates an atmosphere that is difficult to reproduce during a normal weekend. There is almost always something at stake somewhere, and fortunes can change in a matter of minutes.
An Everton Supporter in the Home Section
Unfortunately, Everton did not play particularly well and lost 1-0. Because I was sitting among the Tottenham supporters, I also had to keep my allegiance to myself.
Attending as an away supporter while sitting in the home section is possible, but it requires common sense. Do not wear the visiting team’s colors, and do not celebrate if your team scores. That was not a problem on this particular afternoon.
Tottenham’s victory secured its place in the Premier League. We listened as more than 60,000 supporters sang and celebrated the achievement of finishing 17th. That may not sound glorious, but survival matters. The atmosphere after the final whistle was far more memorable than the match itself.
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is a wonderful modern venue. It is also a trek from the Tube, particularly when thousands of people are making the same journey after the match.
I attended two games there during the season, so I will probably choose a different stadium next year. There are too many grounds left to experience.
One advantage of this match was that our tickets cost considerably less than the hospitality and VIP packages we had purchased for some previous games. Premium seats can make it easier for an American visitor to secure tickets, but they are not always necessary. This match showed that we could attend an important Premier League game without paying hospitality prices.
Lessons From this long weekend in London
The weekend went extremely well, but every trip produces lessons.
London was unexpectedly hot. I had to buy shorts after arriving, and the jacket I packed never left the hotel. Combining a food tour and pub crawl on the same day was also a lot. I would happily do both again, but perhaps not within a few hours of each other.
I also confirmed that watching my team play away is not as enjoyable as sitting among its own supporters. Everton’s poor performance did not help. Still, attending as a neutral-looking away supporter gave me access to an important match and a memorable atmosphere.
Before flying home on Monday, we stopped at The Devonshire for food and a final Guinness. Both were top-notch. It was an excellent way to finish the weekend before heading back to Heathrow.
Why Memorial Day Weekend Works
I already knew that London could work as a long-weekend football destination. What this trip demonstrated was that Memorial Day weekend may be the best time to do it.
The Monday holiday makes the travel schedule easier, and the final weekend of the Premier League season offers something a normal match weekend cannot. Every club is playing. Every match begins at the same time. Supporters are watching the field while also following results elsewhere, knowing that one goal can change a championship race or send a club into a lower division.
This trip tested whether combining those two circumstances—an American holiday weekend and the final day of the Premier League season—would make a familiar London football getaway even better.
The answer was yes!!
An Experiment Worth Repeating for visiting London
We packed a great deal into two days, but the trip never felt like it was only about checking boxes. We ate well, explored Soho, visited a few pubs, shopped for records, and experienced the tension and celebration of the Premier League’s final day with 60,000 other supporters.
The long-weekend trip to London was not new. The timing was—and it made a difference.
I would not be surprised if we do it again next year.
I am Doug Keating, and this is my letter to my sons.