There were few years during the 1860s in which Georgina and Harry did not spend several months away from Beaumaris. To begin with they were heavily dependent on their friends, without whose generosity they could not have afforded to stay in London or travel abroad. The sale of Harry's commissions raised almost £2000, but most of this was swallowed up by his outstanding debts, so they often had to borrow money from Hannah Weldon to enable them to pay their day-to-day living expenses.

Somehow they scraped together enough money to take them up to London early in April 1861. They were away from home for nearly two months, staying mainly with friends. For a few nights, however, there was nothing for it but to stay in a hotel. Georgina hated it, writing in her diary one evening when Harry was out gambling with his old army colleagues:

Harry returned at one in the morning, smelling ‘most odiously’ of smoke and stale wine, and very pleased with himself as he had won £21 14s playing at loo. Complaints about his extravagance were to be a recurrent theme in the diaries during the next few years. Saving him from himself was going to be a much harder task than Georgina had at first imagined.

In spite of Georgina's parents’ best efforts to turn her friends against her, most people seemed to be pleased to see her and her new husband.