Any travel tips? Wifey and I have never been overseas before. We have a friend that has a few items for us to see in London. Any suggestions from DHC members? Its a work trip, but we have about 5 days of free time. Also does anyone know if electric razors and curling irons work there if we have an adaptor? Many thanks!

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thats what I found London to be. Food sucked. Night life was great though. We took a few tours of the royal grounds. Was very interesting. I've been to about 7 or 8 bigger cities and London wasnt one of my favourites.

Good luck though and have fun.

We were there a couple of years ago for a week and had an amazing time. Every tube stop can be a new adventure. I recommend you invest $30 in a Lonely Planet or Rough Guide London Book and decide what you want to see.

It is expensive there so pretend the bills are in dollars and it won't spoil your vacation...worry about the bills when your visa comes in later.

We did a lot of walking as there's so much to see....walking is free. Try to stay near a tube stop which makes it easier to get around. We stayed at a long term business place so got a reasonably good deal on a room...it had a kitchenette too. Drink in the pubs but don't eat there...crappy food.

When are you going???

Leaving Sunday night. Staying at the London Bridge Hotel. I'm thinking that should be close to the Tube as well. A colleague has lent me his Oyster card. Good tip about ignoring the cost. It also our 25th wedding anniversary (ok in April, but close enough!) so as far as I'm concerned I'll worry about the bills later!

Nanuuk,

You'll have a gas in London.
The tower of London is a must-see, albeit expensive.
Don't eat right down town - - go a few blocks in either direction. It cost us $75.00 for Fish'n Chips at Shakespears' and it sucked. It was not "the best fish and chips in the world" as the tour buses claimed.

Ride the tube lots . It's fun. If you make a mistake, just get off at the next stop and backtrack. We had a blast and it was cheap.
TRY TO DECIPHER WHAT THEY KEEP BABBLING AT YOU OVER THE SPEAKERS ON THE TUBE! You'll find out what is was when you get back to Heathrow Airport on the way home!! :D You'll see tee shirts that will shed light on what the tube speakers keep screaming!

Have a great time!

I went on a Rugby tour and loved England, although London was maybe the least fav. of our stops. It doesn't take much to get around England and we found the little towns to the north to be a blast. Beautiful countryside once you get out of the city!

If your into art, thier art gallery is free admission. u can see all the major artists on display. van goh's famous sunflower painting is there. Also they have the new highspeed train. You could goto paris for the day..(eurostar)..2hrs each way...or u could take it to ashford get off and turn around...ashford is in kent about 1.25 hours via a regular train.

There are 2 kinds of londoners, those that are from London, and those that wish they were from London. Anyway...people fall into the touristy traps when it comes to London, you can read all the lonely planet guide you want, but my advise is to ask Londoners, what their idea of things to see and do.

All the oldest pubs are in the eastend of London, and so are the curry houses ( an area called brick lane ), visit the Jack the ripper trail in the same area whilst you are there in the eastend. I'll post a list of things to do for you in the morning, and places you can get into for free believe it or not.

Am a true Londoner and know it like the back of my hand, every nook and cranny or it.

I went on a Rugby tour and loved England, although London was maybe the least fav. of our stops. It doesn't take much to get around England and we found the little towns to the north to be a blast. Beautiful countryside once you get out of the city!
Is that why all those in the North of England, rush down to the South ( London )? Rubbish

Nanuuk,

You'll have a gas in London.
The tower of London is a must-see, albeit expensive.
Don't eat right down town - - go a few blocks in either direction. It cost us $75.00 for Fish'n Chips at Shakespears' and it sucked. It was not "the best fish and chips in the world" as the tour buses claimed.

Ride the tube lots . It's fun. If you make a mistake, just get off at the next stop and backtrack. We had a blast and it was cheap.
TRY TO DECIPHER WHAT THEY KEEP BABBLING AT YOU OVER THE SPEAKERS ON THE TUBE! You'll find out what is was when you get back to Heathrow Airport on the way home!! :D You'll see tee shirts that will shed light on what the tube speakers keep screaming!

Have a great time!
Mind the flippin' gap

Interesting Nanuuk, we went there on our 25th....in 2002. If I can find our notes I'll post where we went. We did a different "area" each day...touristy things and off the beaten track things.

"Is that why all those in the North of England, rush down to the South ( London )? Rubbish"

I have no idea why people may or may not move to London....nor do I care. I was simply stating my opinion. I loved Northern England. The countryside was green and lush, the pubs were excellent, the air was clean, there were many things to see and do. And the people were unbelievably friendly. I still recieve B'day cards from one family and that tour was in 1991 for a week!

I enjoyed London as well but found the people less friendly and the air was filthy (make note of the guys on bikes wearing dust masks). Consider though that I am not fond city atmosphere but apprieciate small town life much more.

I can say that no one in Northern England ever said "rubbish" to me simply for stating my personal preferences.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I was told yesterday that the project manager and his wife intend to take a couple of days off to coincide with my free time so show us around. We'll even take a trip to Bath to see the Roman baths and another place similar to Stone Henge, Can't remember the name of it though. He's also picked up some tickets to see the show Momma Mia.

England, I love curry, but my wife doesn't so I will be a quandry there. It is our 25th after all so I may have to defer to her:cool:. If time permits, we'd also like to see the Phantom of the Opera, although we didn't go there just to see shows. We were also thinking Tower of London, Imperial War Museum, maybe an art gallery, maybe one of those famous gardens, an abbey. If we can't we'd be satisfied just looking at all the historical architecture. Out west we'd don't exactly have an abundance of old buildings!

Heres a partial list of what we saw. Remember we were there 8-9 days:

Buckingham Palace
Orientation bus tour
Thames boat tour
Haunted walk
The Eye
West Minster Abby
Churchill museum
Soho
China town
East end
Canary Wharf
London Tower
Greenwich
Maritime Museum
St Pauls
Kew Gardens
Nottinghill Gate
Carnabie St
Covenant Gardens
Regency Park
Camden Town Market
plus
Day trip to Bath
Lots of Theatre
Other Parks


Try to group you sites by area....have fun.....

Many thanks, Otown. That's a great list! We have adapters for our electrical devices. Will they work with electric razor, curling iron, camera, cell phone, etc.? Or should I pack some blades and buy the Mrs. a curling iron when we get over there?

Here's my $0.02:

Purchase a pass for the London walks. A tour guide will take you on a walk and you will be blown away by how interesting and informative they are. The tour guides that we had were both engaging and very well educated. We did four; Jack the Ripper, London Museum, SOHO and a literary tour. You will get to see a side of London that isn't covered in any tourist book.

And the food was very good with the exception of local (ie. fish and chips) cuisine. The ethnic food was great.

FWIW, M64

"Is that why all those in the North of England, rush down to the South ( London )? Rubbish"

I have no idea why people may or may not move to London....nor do I care. I was simply stating my opinion. I loved Northern England. The countryside was green and lush, the pubs were excellent, the air was clean, there were many things to see and do. And the people were unbelievably friendly. I still recieve B'day cards from one family and that tour was in 1991 for a week!

I enjoyed London as well but found the people less friendly and the air was filthy (make note of the guys on bikes wearing dust masks). Consider though that I am not fond city atmosphere but apprieciate small town life much more.

I can say that no one in Northern England ever said "rubbish" to me simply for stating my personal preferences.
But isn't that the same here when you look at Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver? I don''t know how long you spent there, but you are still in no position to feel like you know it all.

The black taxi drivers take 5yrs to learn the whole London route, and that inlcludes history and places of interest

If you've got some "wonga" ( cash ) to spend, make sure you pop into the world's famous Harrods ( owned by Mohammed Al-fayad, who also own fulham footabll club ), Selfridges, and marks & spencers ( called marks and sparks by Londoners ).

One place no one has mentioned yet, is Madame Tussauds ( the wax museum ) that is round the corner from Baker's Street

Is Madame Tussaud's worth the ticket?

Nanuuk, if you find yourself in Piccadily Circus, at the Fountain of Eros, have a jaunt up the street to the Devonshire Arms. This is the pub where I first tasted the Swiss beer Hurliman. Mmm Mmm Good.

england, didn't the Bobbys do their carousing after hours here in the 1970s.

While having a few drinks with me mate at the Devonshire Arms in August 1988, a vicar stopped in for a pint. He seemed a jolly sort, capturing the attention of a table of young ladies with his risque jokes and lively manner.
He quickly loosened his collar and got right down to some rather inappropriate behaviour towards one particular girl. From a loose collar to his g-string in about two minutes.

It turns out it was all a big put-on. He was a hired performer for one of the girls who was celebrating a birthday.

We were all in stitches; the young ladies, the Chinese couple at the next table, me, my mate. Laughter is a universal language.

Nanuuk, I hope you and the Missus have a great time and bring home some fond memories.