Thread: London help

Originally Posted by TG68

I live in London, so transport (rather than tourism) is my speciality here....

(don't forget Buckingham Palace).
J.

TG--I've been to London many times over the years and your information is excellent. One question for you re: Buckingham Palace. My last visit was in 2001 at the end of August/beginning of September (actually returned to the States on 9/10/2001 and was quite thankful for having planned that return date rather than the next day) and since the Royal Family was on holiday at Balmoral, we were for the first time allowed an inside tour of portions of the palace. It was quite a treat--are they still opening the palace during the vacation of the Royal Family?

Thanks,
Bettie

Yep.

The palace is open in August and September (give or take a day or two) and tickets can be bought on-line. I really ought to go myself one day....... I shall add it to my list of things to do before I'm 50.

(Char - thank-you for my frubals... I shall polish them every Sunday!)

We have done two cruises out of Harwich, both with RCI. The first time we did our air, hotel and transfers with RCI. The transfers were $75 each way and we stayed at Baileys Millenium. The transfers included LHR to hotel and hotel to Harwich. On the return it was Harwich to LHR. They were expensive, $150 pp total, but they were painless. The second time we did everything ourselves. We stayed at the City Inn. a great choice of hotel. Very efficient and great service. Would stay there next time we visit London. The transfers were through a private limo service. The only reason they were slightly cheaper than RCI was because there were four of us. If there are just the two of you, you need to get transfers with the cruiseline. You can use buses or trains, but with our luggage, there's no way we would make it. The train from Liverpool St goes straight into the Harwich Terminal and drops you off as close as a taxi would. It's just getting to Liverpool St that's my concern.
If you want to maximize your time in London/England, I'd recommend taking organized tours. We used Evan Evans and I can't say enough about how good they are. I have photo abums/short reviews posted at Brilliance of the Seas 1 (England & Oslo) pictures from vacations photos on webshots and jewel of the seas british isles/norwegian fjords pictures from cruises photos on webshots They will give you an idea of what we did along with a brief description of the trips. When you are at the City Inn, make sure that you eat at the White Swan. It's just a short walk from the City Inn and the food is great.

Originally Posted by TG68

Yep.

The palace is open in August and September (give or take a day or two) and tickets can be bought on-line. I really ought to go myself one day....... I shall add it to my list of things to do before I'm 50.

(Char - thank-you for my frubals... I shall polish them every Sunday!)

I found that the Buckingham Palace tour to be quite expensive when compared to all else in London. Most of the museums are free or nearly so.

Originally Posted by TG68

Yep.

The palace is open in August and September (give or take a day or two) and tickets can be bought on-line. I really ought to go myself one day....... I shall add it to my list of things to do before I'm 50.

(Char - thank-you for my frubals... I shall polish them every Sunday!)

It is well worth the money and I would do it again if in London while the real HRH is on holday.

Originally Posted by HRHugeness

It is well worth the money and I would do it again if in London while the real HRH is on holday.

When we were in London in August/Seotember 2002, the visit to Buckingham Palace was included in one of the tours we booked in advance, I don't remember the price but thought that the overall tour was worth the cost and the tour of the Palace (or at least the part which tourists were able to see) was one of the highlights.

I’ve been to London a lot and have stayed at the City Inn. A wonderful smaller hotel, very modern, the rooms are small but it is a nice safe area. It is next door to the Tate Museum and a short walk to Parliament and Westminster Abbey.

Getting there is easy by tube with a big caveat. If you are hauling a lot of luggage the tube ride will not be bad but it is the changing of trains (once) and the getting from the last train stop to CI that will be a problem (about a brisk 10 minute walk). If you can handle the luggage, go to the tube stop at Heathrow, take the train to Cockfosters (this is the Piccadilly line by the way). At Heathrow there are people that will help you figure out what ticket to buy. Trust them, they’ve never steered me wrong. At Green Park station get off and transfer to the Victoria Line and take the train towards Brixton. You want to get off at Pimlico. You walk outside of the station, take a left and walk into you run into Vauxhall Bridge, take a right and then a left on J Islip. The CI will be on your right after you pass the back of the Tate Museum.

Suggest you take the Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station and take a cab to City Inn for a less stressful ride. The tube directions may be useful for your free days in London.

Also, there is a very nice pub near the intersection of Vauxhall and J Islip. There are also a few little convenience stores in that area for drinks, candy, etc. This is a residential area and is quiet at night.

I agree with other posters that the bus tours are excellent. Last year we did one that was a one-day trip that included Stonehenge, Bath, and Salisbury Cathedral and it was excellent. I’ve been on several tours and have enjoyed them all. The tour guides are very knowledgeable.

The City Inn has a nice restaurant for breakfast (we never ate there for other meals). Don’t get shocked at the size of the showers! As small as the showers are, the prices for food in London is exactly the opposite; a pub meal for two will be very reasonable, for London, at about 20 lbs. Forget that is around $40 if you want to keep your sanity. But you can live at the Pubs, they have great fish and chips, "pies" (they have various pies, some are like Shepherd’s pie, hamburger and mashed potatoes…ask what is in them if it is not obvious. A very safe one is usually not tried by Americans because they don’t know what it is: "bangers and mash" (sausages and mashed potatoes). You will find pub food is highly concentrated to the usage of potatoes in one form or another and peas. I’m getting hungry writing this!

The trick to pubs is that you go to the counter to order and they will bring the food to your table!
Make sure you have a draft Guinness!

If you are a history nut or war history buff, go to the Imperial War Museum and or the RAF Museum; both are reached easily by the tube. If you want specific information about any of these or other things don’t hesitate to contact me. Each of those will take the better part of a day. Another high quality day is the Victoria and Albert Museum and you can combine that fairly easily with the obligatory visit to Harrod’s.

As someone earlier said, you will be jetlagged the first day. Get to the CI, then walk to Parliament and Westminster Abbey. You will then want dinner and that will have been a nice day (and you might go to the Tate at that time as well).

Enjoy your trip.

What wonderful and detailed information you have given! Thanks

Originally Posted by Char

What wonderful and detailed information you have given! Thanks

You are more than welcome. My wife thinks I'm a London guide, but I'm only good for a few parts. I adore the double decker buses and forgot to note that there is a bus stop on J Islip that will take you to Parliament if you don't want to walk. The buses are a great way to see the city for not much money. An "oyster card" will give you unlimited usage of the buses and tube but you need to know what zones you will be using. Don't buy the more expensive zones if you are just going to be in central London (the trip to RAF requires more than zone1/zone2).

Summer can be very warm there and it is not as air conditioned as US is. City Inn however is very modern and will be nice and cool.

Chat with the tour desk at the hotel the FIRST day you get there. Tours really cannot be bought the night before in most cases. You can also book online at Golden Tours - Gray Line London - Deluxe Sightseeing by Coach and Rail

Ask me questions....glad to help.

Originally Posted by JLT

I’ve been to London a lot and have stayed at the City Inn. A wonderful smaller hotel, very modern, the rooms are small but it is a nice safe area. It is next door to the Tate Museum and a short walk to Parliament and Westminster Abbey.

Getting there is easy by tube with a big caveat. If you are hauling a lot of luggage the tube ride will not be bad but it is the changing of trains (once) and the getting from the last train stop to CI that will be a problem (about a brisk 10 minute walk). If you can handle the luggage, go to the tube stop at Heathrow, take the train to Cockfosters (this is the Piccadilly line by the way). At Heathrow there are people that will help you figure out what ticket to buy. Trust them, they’ve never steered me wrong. At Green Park station get off and transfer to the Victoria Line and take the train towards Brixton. You want to get off at Pimlico. You walk outside of the station, take a left and walk into you run into Vauxhall Bridge, take a right and then a left on J Islip. The CI will be on your right after you pass the back of the Tate Museum.

Suggest you take the Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station and take a cab to City Inn for a less stressful ride. The tube directions may be useful for your free days in London.

Also, there is a very nice pub near the intersection of Vauxhall and J Islip. There are also a few little convenience stores in that area for drinks, candy, etc. This is a residential area and is quiet at night.

I agree with other posters that the bus tours are excellent. Last year we did one that was a one-day trip that included Stonehenge, Bath, and Salisbury Cathedral and it was excellent. I’ve been on several tours and have enjoyed them all. The tour guides are very knowledgeable.

The City Inn has a nice restaurant for breakfast (we never ate there for other meals). Don’t get shocked at the size of the showers! As small as the showers are, the prices for food in London is exactly the opposite; a pub meal for two will be very reasonable, for London, at about 20 lbs. Forget that is around $40 if you want to keep your sanity. But you can live at the Pubs, they have great fish and chips, "pies" (they have various pies, some are like Shepherd’s pie, hamburger and mashed potatoes…ask what is in them if it is not obvious. A very safe one is usually not tried by Americans because they don’t know what it is: "bangers and mash" (sausages and mashed potatoes). You will find pub food is highly concentrated to the usage of potatoes in one form or another and peas. I’m getting hungry writing this!

The trick to pubs is that you go to the counter to order and they will bring the food to your table!
Make sure you have a draft Guinness!

If you are a history nut or war history buff, go to the Imperial War Museum and or the RAF Museum; both are reached easily by the tube. If you want specific information about any of these or other things don’t hesitate to contact me. Each of those will take the better part of a day. Another high quality day is the Victoria and Albert Museum and you can combine that fairly easily with the obligatory visit to Harrod’s.

As someone earlier said, you will be jetlagged the first day. Get to the CI, then walk to Parliament and Westminster Abbey. You will then want dinner and that will have been a nice day (and you might go to the Tate at that time as well).

Enjoy your trip.

let me clarify one thing: when you walk from Pimlico you are looking for Vauxhall Bridge as a road, not as a bridge. Take a right on that street. Then you are looking for J Islip. If you miss J Islip you will be on the bridge shortly! This goes over the Thames and is an interesting view but is not worth it if you are measuring your time carefully.