I'm Going to London Next Month

[durutti]

This will be my first time traveling abroad. I've never been any further West than Ohio, North than Pennsylvania, East than Delaware, or South than North Carolina.

Any advice? Cool stuff to see and do?

[Catholic Sensation]

1. I went on that London Eye

[onebigbadwulf]

2. I'm your opposite. I'm leaving for NZ on Monday

and I'm really nervous.

[Kamika]

3. visit the Queen!

No real cool stuff..

Madame toussoud(sp)
oxford street
greenvitch
buckhingham palace
hyde park
Trafalgar square

All in all London felt like India, I was really disappointed.

[donco6]

4. My list

Harrods
Ride the underground to Trafalgar Square and watch the pigeons poop on people.
Visit the bookshops near Charing Cross
Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard
The TOWER! Crown Jewels

But that's just me - I've never been, so I need to hit all the touristy things. Others may have better off-the-beaten-path ideas.

[carpediem]

5. I went to London by myself about 10 years ago

one of my favorite trips. One thing I really enjoyed was going on the walking tours at night. Jack the Ripper walk, Pub walk, etc. It was a great way for me to extend my sightseeing into the evening considering I was a 22 year old female travelling alone. I loved London.

[kath]

20. Definitely take some walking tours with London Walks, the best in London.

Check out their website:
http://london.walks.com/

hubby and I went on a couple of their walks (I think "Dickens's London" and one or two others) when we were in London back in 1986, and couldn't wait to go back to London and go on more of their tours. They are superb! We went back this past summer with our two daughters, ages 13 and 11, and did quite a few of their short walks ("Jack the Ripper Haunts", by the expert who wrote a book about him, "Shakespeare's and Dickens's London" "Old Bloomsbury Pub Walk"(me and hubby only)and two "Explorer Days" tours (Bath and "Richmond and Hampton Court Palace" ). We thoroughly enjoyed all of them. It was hard to choose, because they cover so many topics and places.


Don't miss the Tower of London. Westminster Abbey is also great; if you go there try to take one of the guided tours given by one of the Abbey's vergers -- fabulous!

Our last night there we saw "Taming of the Shrew" (done by an all-female cast) at Shakespeare's Globe. Hubby and I were groundlings, we lucked out and got two last-minute "returns" seats for the girls. What an experience! The museum-like exhibit and tour at the Globe (open during the day at times when they aren't rehearsing or putting on a show) is very good as well. Actually -- I don't think they do plays in the winter -- too cold for open-air productions!

I'll stop now. It's a great city to visit (but not cheap -- buying a sandwich and drink at a grocery store is a good and cheap way to have a filling lunch. The budget travel guides can help you find a reasonable place to stay. Don't be afraid to dicker a bit on the price!). Have a great time!

[Catholic Sensation]

6. Picadilly Circuis

it's like Times Square prior to Guiliani

[democracyindanger]

7. Indian food

The best Indian food in the world is in London. Furthermore, the best food in London is Indian.

Check out the British Museum. The loot from centuries of empire is stashed there. Pieces of the Parthenon, giant stone gates and statues from Babylon, etc. A must see.

See a play. Great productions in Victorian-era theaters.

And Look Right. You'll know what I mean once you get there ;)

[name not needed]

19. yep.

theres a great indian place on cromwell road. its by the holiday inn kensington.

[kath]

22. Oh, yeah, "Look Right" and "Mind the Gap"!

[nankerphelge]

8. Make sure you...

mind the gap.

[ConcernedCanuk]

9. London England , or London Canada ?

.
.
.

Yup

we have a London too,

It's in Ontario.

Oh, that's Ontario, CANADA,

Not Ontario, California

:silly:

[qwertyMike]

10. You have friends there?

If so they will show you around.
If not, stay near a tube (underground) stop.

It's walking distace from Leicester Sq., Trafalgar Sq., Buckinham Palace, Westminster Abbey ( Be sure and se where the King had Sir Thomas A Beckett Killed )

Houses of Parliament and 10 Downing St. nearby.

Hampstead Heath. Regent's Park. All within walking distance.

Best city in the world.

m.

[qwertyMike]

12. Well

Next to San Francisco. New York, Istanbul, Granada

[GCP]

32. Beckett was killed in Canterbury Cathedral

About 50 miles east of London in Kent. (Just nit-picking - I'm British).

[MrScorpio]

11. Invest in a raincoat, an umbrella and lots-O-leather

You'll fit right in in ol' foggy London.

[cally]

13. Do you have a hotel?

The last time I visited, I had a horrible hotel. After much haggling with the internet travel site, we got out of the reservation. I just spent an hour or two trying to find a better hotel. I ended up in a great location, great hotel, great price. I plan to only book the first night the next time I visit and then find the hotel on my own.

I second the suggestion to see the British Museum and as many plays as possible. Also, leave some time to just wander the wonderful parks. You see a different side of London and the parks are spetacular. Have fun.

[Beaker]

14. see the Tower of London- and the British Museum.

at the museum, you can touch the actual rosetta stone, and marvel at the booty that the empire looted from civilizations around the world.

and when you take the tube(and do use the tube, don't leave your ticket in the turnstyle when you get on the train- you'll need it to exit the subway when you get to your destination...unless it's changed.

I'd recommend Harrod's, except for the exchange rate.

[Flaxbee]

15. I LOVE LONDON!

It is really a lot of fun, and a good first trip abroad b/c there's no language barrier. Definitely make sure you have a small umbrella with you, it'll be rainy in March. Also, comfy shoes. The last time I was there I just walked all over the freaking place and had a wonderful time. Walking through London can really be a lot of fun.

The British Museum is great, & the Victoria & Albert is interesting, too -- some huge Michelangelo tapestries are on display at the V&A (or were last time I was there, when I also ran into - literally bumped into - Prince William at the museum, he was there with his Eton class and he rounded a corner as I did and smack!)

My mom has stayed many times at the Rembrandt hotel which is on the outskirts of Kensington, I think. It's small, but clean and nice and pretty reasonable (though she might have had my aunt's travel agent discount). Might want to look into that if you don't have any other plans.

Just have fun! The Indian food recommendation is excellent, and make sure you have an authentic pub meal - stay away from some of the newer-fangled wine bars and theme pubs and find an old time real pub that'll serve you bread and cheese and pickles and beer. YUM! Oh, the other thing that you might find fun is a traditional tea at the Savoy or Brown's or some other snooty hotel.

[roguevalley]

16. Go to embankment and take a boat ride on the thames. Go to the

british museum and all the art galleries. Go to the
Museum of Mankind (?). Go on the tube. Go on short
hops out of town, such as to Bath. See the Roman Spa
there and eat lunch in the pump room. For sheer decadence,
go see Harrods.

[alcuno]

17. Take melatonin. I get really bad jet lag.

I think I've been to England 5 times; mainly to go to Wimbledon. English food is generally bad, unless you like fish and chips and beer. Go eat Indian or something like that.

What to do? I'm not much of a museum person, but I did spend time in the British Museum. I like Shakespeare and enjoyed Stratford-on-Avon. If you go there, hit Warwick Castle. Get some 1/2 price theater tickets in London if you like the theater.

The dollar has taken a real slide so everything will be very expensive. Try to do as much free stuff as you can.

[Corgigal]

18. for a kick

take the Jack The Ripper walking tour. One day I will get to London but I saw it featured on the travel channel and it looks like fun.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

21. Go and see Air at the Brixton Academy on March 13th

or....
Basement Jaxx at the same venue on Thursday March 18th/ Fri 19th
Cat Power at the Shepherd's Bush Empire on Weds March 31st
Fountains of Wayne at the Astoria March 3rd
Jerry Springer, The Opera - all month at the Cambridge Theatre
OH MY GOD - Kraftwerk at the Brixton Academy March 20th (2 shows)
Lambchop - Shepherds Bush Empire March 23rd
Love with Arthur Lee - The Forum, March 1st
Patti Smith - ULU March 17th
Pernice Bros - Islington Academy March 16th
Roni Size - Islington Academy March 13th
Sam Roberts - Barfly March 16th
Shane McGowan - Shepherds Bush Empire March 17th
Stereolab - Islington Academy March 3rd/4th
The Who - The Forum March 22nd-25th, Royal Albert Hall March 29th
Travis - Hammersmith Apollo - March 28th, 29th
YO LA TENGO! - Shepherds Bush Empire, March 1st



not to mention Placebo, the Offspring, Bob Log III, Dropkick Murphys, Vanilla Fudge, Zero 7

[Gildor Inglorion]

23. Westminster Abbey

St. Paul's Cathedral, the British Museum, take a bus ride to Stonehenge (England is only about the size of Wisconsin, so it's not a big deal to get there), Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, the underground headquarters used by Winston Churchill during WWII - hell, you can't NOT have a good time in London. It's all wonderful. If the weather weren't so lousy, I'd consider moving there. :D

[maggrwaggr]

24. it's expensive as hell!

Be prepared to pay a hell of a lot more for everything.

Other than that it's great. I love London. See the museums, and yes, the London Walks tours are great.

Wander. Get lost.

[T_i_B]

30. It is very expensive.

London is horribly expensive even for us Brits, due mainly to the extortionate price of property in London. I dread to think what it's going to do to you lot with the exchange rate as it is.

[cosmicdot]

25. what are you interested in?

one of the coolest neighborhoods is Camden Town

http://www.camdentown.co.uk/
http://www.theunderworldcamden.co.uk/index.asp

http://www.mycamden.co.uk/

http://www.vexen.co.uk/alternative/camden.html

you might want to see what's playing in the West End theatres
http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/

or what music groups might be playing (it has to be neat going with an all Brit audience)
http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/

take a day trip out to Cambridge and/or Oxford

[soleft]

26. Go to Stonehenge - I was just there on Sunday and it's closing soon

They're about to close that leads to Stonehenge for ten years. The only way to get there will be to hike over several miles of pastures. It's only an hour from London, you can book a tour through a company called Evan Evans. Along the way you'll see lots of great English country side.

As for what we did in London, we went on a cool Jack the Ripper walking tour in the East End, but don't take the one listed in Time Out because the tour guide has a speech impediment and is difficult to understand. Get a London treval book, like Frommers to find out about the other Ripper tours.

You can also take these doubledecker bus tours that you can pick up at locations all over town. They go all over the city and you can hop on and off at any point and get back on. On these buses you can go to Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Harrods, Parliament, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Piccadily Circus - which is a lot like TImes Square in Manhattan.

The best thing of all are the Tubes - the London underground is totally easy to figure out and goes everywhere. It's clean and safe.

The weirdest thing is that pounds are equivalent to about 2 bucks, so you buy something that's like 4 pounds and you think, wow, that's cheap, til you realize it's really 8 bucks.

Getting from Heathrow you can either take the underground or a bus, I recommend the Underground. As for Hotels, there are lot of inexpensive ones in the Bayswater area, but they're not very fancy.

The weather was very springlike, in the fifties during the day, forties at night. Little drizzly at times, but we did get some sun.

I was only there for 3 days - it wasn't nearly enough time. It was also my first time out of the states too.

Have a great time!!! I loved it. It was Brilliant!!

[historian]

27. London Dungeon

Not well known but its an old series of tunnels used during the war and is a sort of wax museum of tortures used in dungeons during the past centuries. It's on the east side of london. Worth a visit!

[pagerbear]

28. Is "The Madness of George W." still playing?

[T_i_B]

29. Camden

I love going to Camden when I can. I live in Chelmsford, just a 35-min train ride from London so I'm down there once every so often.

Besides that Covent Garden, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, the National Gallery and the Natural History museum are all great for the tourist thing. You can even drop me a PM if you like when you're here! :-)

[Screaming Lord Byron]

31. My wife used to live in Camden, on Mornington Terrace.