Need travel advice from UK members... (Help!)

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CodeRedR51

CodeRedR51

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I have the option of taking a later flight out of Heathrow airport after the GT Academy thing, and might stay for an extra day to do some sight seeing. However, being that it is the first foreign country I have visited, I am not sure exactly what I should do as far as a place to sleep and/or travel around the city.

What would be my best options based on a tight budget?

A co-worker of mine recommended staying the night at a Hostel. Good idea? Do these have to be booked in advance, or can I just show up?

What about transportation? Obviously taxi's or buses are the first thing that come to mind. What's the average cost of a bus ride across London? I don't mind doing a bunch of walking if things are close together.

Recommended sights to see?

I do plan on doing some major research this weekend on this stuff, just wanted to see what some of the members here think. :)👍
 
Actually, your best bet will be Jordan - he was recently over here and "did" London.

I can't stand the place, but I will say that you should avoid all on-road public transport and stick to the Tube (London Underground) instead.
 
Staying in a hostel is a good idea for a tight budget. And getting around I think a bus fare is £2.20 for a single journey, or an all-day travel pass for the underground (subway) to go through all zones is £18. If you are sticking to a certain area then you'll be able to save mine by only getting a pass for certain areas.

For sights it really does depend on what you want. There's art galleries, shopping destinations, muresuems, and more in London. Camden is recommended if younwant somewhere different, you can find all kinds of weird things for sale and and you can get some pretty good food around there too.
 
For sight seeing, I'm more into the "outdoor" stuff than museums. Buildings with great or weird architecture, old buildings, etc. A car museum would be cool too. And maybe the London Eye?
 
You wouldn't be far from Brooklands.

As for architecture, there's quite a few things. I find Tower Bridge to be quite special to look at, and St Pancras railway station is stunning Victorian architecture. That is gettable to by Tube (there is network map of the Tube on the Underground site).

Not much pre-dates the fire, Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and I think Banqueting House are pre 1666 though.

Weird stuff, the Gherkin and City Hall look quite spectacular.

I like London and as Famine says, use the Tube.

Oh and although you won't be interested due to being American, the best architecture in London, for me, will always be Lord's and the pavillion.

5de87d3d7a7455f824a8bbbea6b14c65.jpg


I think hostels is a good idea, but obviously you'd want to sort that out around what/where/how long you want to do in London.
 
Milford_Cubicle
London is crap. Avoid.
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:lol:

First and probably the only time I will get to leave the USA, so going to at least try and see something. :D

Edit: Thanks Sureboss, will do some research on those places. I'd like to get everything organized so I at least know a little about where I should be going and how to get there....
 
I would recommend the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum. Both are full of fascinating exhibits and they are literally right round the corner from each other.
 
Madame Tussauds is a great way to kill an hour or two, and don't forget to check out Tottenham Court Road, London's equivilent of the Akihabara.

I will admit, for architecture you could take a trip down the Thames, or take a tube to Canary Wharf and marvel at the Gherkin.
 
You will probably find London overpriced, overcrowded and very impersonal. Personally I can't stomach it (despite living a 12 min train journey away for 5 years, we went there less than 5 times). However, seeing as you are there, the London eye is great (but expensive again) but I would recommend trying to book a time after sunset - it is great at night. Good sights are houses of parliment/big ben, st Pauls cathedral and Buckingham palace (a lot of Americans I have spoken to seem intrigued by the royal family). These are free to look at, and given you are an outdoorsy type will probably suit you better than museums. Do NOT go to madame tussauds, it is rubbish and costs a fortune, the one in Vegas was better!!

EDIT: Oh, and as many have said, the tube is by far and away the best way to get about, buy a day pass and you can get to so many places 👍 and just saw your post DG_silva, I guess you enjoyed madame Tussauds more than me :lol:
 
Having been an American that's been to the UK I can only give you a bit of friendly travel advice.

  • Bring money, lots of it. The American dollar doesn't go far at all in the UK and you are looking at spending a zillion dollars on anything. For a cup of coffee at the local Starbucks in Oxford I paid the equivalent of $8USD. A pizza at Pizza Hut? $35USD.
  • For transportation? The Underground. I didn't get on a bus at all in London, mostly because I couldn't figure it out to save my soul. I used a taxi once but I think it cost slightly less then one of my kidneys so I chose to walk if the Tube wasn't near by.
  • Don't wear a baseball cap, you will be made fun of.
  • Learn some of the Queen's English so you know what people are on about. I was fine since I grew up around the Queen's English with my grandparents, but the other students with us were lost in a lot of conversations.
  • Hotels are stupidly expensive and tiny too. I stayed in a hotel near Paddington Station to the tune of like £180, that was over $300 for a pretty low rent hotel room. I'd suggest a hostel, I've know several people to stay at them and I've stayed in them in other European countries. You can try www.hostels.com or the UK Hostel Association: www.yha.org.uk.
  • But a good London map while you are still in the states, they are a expensive and useless over there.
  • The London Eye was the biggest tourist trap I have ever seen in my life. It was like a 3 hour wait to get on the thing and it was something like £40 for a ride.
 
Well, make the most of your trip:

Step 1: Get to the EUROSTAR terminal.
Step 2: Take the EUROSTAR to Paris.
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit!

:D
 
Mr. S
Well, make the most of your trip:

Step 1: Get to the EUROSTAR terminal.
Step 2: Take the EUROSTAR to Paris.
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Profit!

:D
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London and Paris are pretty damn similar to be honest. :p
 
Joey D
Having been an American that's been to the UK I can only give you a bit of friendly travel advice....
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See, now you scare me to even bother. :lol: Problem is I don't have that much money so the best thing for me to do is just get the tube pass and wander around for the day just looking at things that don't require admission. That's all I'm looking fore really.

Edit: as far as the "Queens English", does watching the TV show Skins count as a good lesson? :D
 
Mr. S
Right, neither of the inhabitants speak proper English. Anyway...French girls are best. :p
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I agree with you on both points. Especially the latter one. I was in Paris last weekend and quite simply, damn. Parisian women are a step up in both style and looks - I was actually quite disappointed when I got back home! :lol:
 
F1GTR
I agree with you on both points. Especially the latter one. I was in Paris last weekend and quite simply, damn. Parisian women are a step up in both style and looks - I was actually quite disappointed when I got back home! :lol:
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Well, keep in mind that most of the really cool girls are students etc. - so most of them aren't even French (and neither am I). :D

With that being said, most "real" French girls appear to be extremely posh and arrogant while they're actually not. 20-30% are. Poke me when you're over here and we'll have a beer. :dopey:
 
Mr. S
Well, keep in mind that most of the really cool girls are students etc. - so most of them aren't even French (and neither am I). :D

With that being said, most "real" French girls appear to be extremely posh and arrogant while they're actually not. 20-30% are. Poke me when you're over here and we'll have a beer. :dopey:
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I go to Paris quite often so I'll drop you a PM when I'm around. 👍

Anyway, back to London. Most of the big museums are free around here, can't think of many outdoorsy things to do though. Although you can cover quite a bit of Central London if you just like walking around and taking in the sights.
 
Milford_Cubicle
London is crap. Avoid.
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I agree. I was born, raised and spent most of life in London. It's a dive (for the most part).

London transport museum is a good call though and I think it's cheap/ free with the purchase of a travel card.

Camden rocks if you like strange, drug fueled, alternative, trippy hippie type places. (Cheap er... intoxicating substances there too)

If you can get to Stratford (the Olympic site just outside the city) and hop on the DLR (light rail) the journey is a great one. It goes through the Docklands, Canary Wharf and all the way to Greenwich which is an interesting place. It can all be done on a travel card. When I worked in Canary Wharf the DLR ride was the highlight of my day. Every day.
 
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Anywhere in the City tends to be pretty good for sightseeing. Westminster, for instance, where something just happens to be taking place right now, Trafalgar Square is another, as is Piccadilly Circus, and also Regent Street is a good place for shopping.

If you decide to go further east I advise NOT stepping into the following areas:

Peckham
Penge
Croydon

In those places it's all just crime, vandalism, crime, stabbing, crime, drug scandals, crime and crime. I live in Bromley, which happens to be roughly next to Croydon, but it's not bad here at all. But Heathrow is the other way, so what're you doing going east?
 
shem
I agree. I was born, raised and spent most of life in London. It's a dive (for the most part).
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To each their own... I lived in London for 6 years and enjoyed it immensely - I love London (for the most part). Yes, it helps if you stay away from certain areas, esp. at night, but you could say that about just about any city in the world. London is a great city with lots of activity if you choose to look for it, and it is pretty easy to navigate.

Over-ground trains are cheap and frequent, and coupled with the Underground, you can get around no problem. On the Tube, just remember that many lines have more than one route in any particular direction, and so it is important to check which route your train is going - the Piccadilly line (which goes to and from Heathrow, for instance) splits in two Westbound, and so only every other train will be a Heathrow train. It is also further to Heathrow than it looks on a Tube map - can't remember exactly, but the first time I went to Heathrow on the Tube (from Mile End), it took about 30 minutes longer than I anticipated, and as a result, I was lucky to catch my flight!

I would personally avoid hostels and opt for a hotel instead - might be a bit more expensive, but booked far enough in advance, you can get a decent spot for ~£60 a night.
 
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Touring Mars
On the Tube, just remember that many lines have more than one route in any particular direction, and so it is important to check which route your train is going
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This as well. The District Line can be particularly confusing - it splits at Earls Court at least 4 times. Northern Line is another one too, there are actually two completely different branches down the centre of it that split at Kensington and Euston.

Yes, I am a complete transport freak in London, I will admit :D
 
Get a tube map, an all-zone travel card and some comfortable walking shoes. Most things within London are pretty easy to get to via the tube.. which is pretty easy to use as long as you just read the signs. The touristy area's are mega touristy, picking up a map with all the sights on it and the local tube stations should be a doddle. Avoid buses they are confusing and slow, avoid taxi's they are expensive.

Also, most of central London is pretty nice, most people that live in London don't like it anyway, so they'll normally whinge about it.

Personally I just like to hang around places rather than do the really touristy stuff. Head to Charing Cross (Charing X) then..

a) head over the river and hang around the National Film Theatre for a bit (watch the world go by on the river).. this will also put you pretty close to the London eye IIRC.

b) walk around to Trafalgar Square/Nelsons Column..., then head past the National Gallery to Leicester Square, absorb some atmosphere there, then head past the Angus Steakhouse towards Picadilly circus (you should start recognising the London GT track here :) )... Covent garden is nice too, that's about as far in the opposite direction..

all of that can easily be done on foot, with not much more than a 5-10 minute walk between the places. It's a great way to see a lot of the Stereotypical London without spending a penny or taking too much time...

.. then, Jump on the tube at Picadilly Circus... get off at Oxford Circus. Walk along Oxford Street towards Tottenham Court Road.... lots of shopping around here... Soho area is just off Oxford street also... yes it's more walking, but again it doesn't really cost anything, and you can soak up lots of London atmosphere.

The problem with trying to go to each of those places on the tube is that you'll only see about 30% of what there is to see, then you'll be heading back underground again... and also it's really not that far... use google maps...

Google Maps London

also..

tube-map.jpg
 
Having never traveled outside the US, I think this is really becoming a bit over whelming for me. Kind of having second thoughts as to actually staying that extra day. I'm also going to look into adding a day between my returning flights to check out whichever city I happen to land in. (Will probably be New York)
 
A lot of good ideas already. Getting around on the tube is pretty easy, just try not to use it at the same time as the commuters. The London Eye is a must, we booked in advance (just after sunset) so didn't have to queue and I don't remember it being expensive. Borough Market is central and very interesting as is Camden Market in a very different way. If you go to Covent Garden be sure to find Neal's Yard, not only does it have an awesome name it's also a pretty cool little place.

EDIT: Don't have second thoughts, if an oik from a provincial northern town (me) can "do London" without mishap I'm sure you'll be fine. You'll also be able to say "I've been there" when you're watching movies set in London :p
 

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