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If you’re planning seeing any sights, I’d suggest getting the open-top bus tour – “The Original Tour” (they have heaters on the upper deck but I’d still dress warm!!). The commentary is excellent, it takes you everywhere and you can hop-off/hop-on at any landmark…they run every 15 mins or so. It’s a full day’s trip if you do the hopping off but excellent value.
Alex, thanks for the useful info…
Can you pls clarify this one thing:
“Taxis are really really expensive in London and often it is quicker to walk or get a cab”
It sounds like you’re saying that’s it better to get a cab than to get a taxi?? Wondering what you meant to say here.
Looks like an average temperature in the mid-40’s.
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=london%2C+england
As a Londoner, here are my 2 cents (or 2 p’s):
1. Oyster cards have a deposit charge so remember to return them when you leave, or else you’d pay more than you should.
2. transportaion is really expensive – so just take it easy. a sinlge trip on the tube costs 4£, and a day travel card 7£. if you’re planning a whole day of looking around, get the daily travelcard.
3. Try pub food. Even the most small, dark and seemingly uninviting pub usually has great food to offer, and it is much, much better than going to Mcdonalds or Subway.
4. The bus tours actually suck. they really do. if you do insist on going on one – make sure you pick one with a live guide and NOT a recording. Remember that the weather will most likely prevent you from sitting upstairs on the open part of the double decker – and you lose a great deal of the experience.
5. Apologize all the time. This is a big part of being British, so try to become a part of the great “sorry, excuse me, pardon me” fest.
Have fun!
Share a taxi when possible, ladies bring flip flops to walk in and carry your heels around from party to party. Last yr there was a lot of walking because as Alex said most of the time it is just too hard to catch a taxi or simply just not worth it. I spent close to $300 in taxi fairs last yr
@betsmart 150773 wrote:
4. The bus tours actually suck. they really do. if you do insist on going on one – make sure you pick one with a live guide and NOT a recording.
We obviously did different bus tours
The one (in 2006) I did was superb and having lived here all my life I was wondering why the hell I hadn’t done it before. Puts the Paris and Barca bus tours to shame.@cowboy 150749 wrote:
Alex, thanks for the useful info…
Can you pls clarify this one thing:
“Taxis are really really expensive in London and often it is quicker to walk or get a cab”
It sounds like you’re saying that’s it better to get a cab than to get a taxi?? Wondering what you meant to say here.
Opps – cab = taxi! mistype
Also another tip –
If you have time go skating at Somerset house – It is a lot of fun and is only on for a limited time. See I knew I could come up with a good reason why we put CAP on in the coldest month!
xxxhttp://www.somersethouse.org.uk/ice_rink/default.asp
alexpratt;150793 wrote:Also another tip –If you have time go skating at Somerset house – It is a lot of fun and is only on for a limited time. See I knew I could come up with a good reason why we put CAP on in the coldest month!
xxxhttp://www.somersethouse.org.uk/ice_rink/default.asp
OOH OOH! I LOVE ICE SKATING!!
never get to go in australia! lol
who’s in? super keen here!
@Simmo! 150790 wrote:
We obviously did different bus tours
The one (in 2006) I did was superb and having lived here all my life I was wondering why the hell I hadn’t done it before. Puts the Paris and Barca bus tours to shame.Yes, we probably did – since I went to two of them, with 2 different friends who came over – and they both really were awful. But I guess you can find a good one for sure.
But the weather point is really true – make sure to take a tour on a non-rainy day.
Black Cabs are licensed safe and during the night it is always preferable to take one. If you find trouble in getting one, you can call a black cab – 02074263420. In the city it is very fast and convenient if you don’t know the exact directions of the location you want to visit. The black cabs are supposed to know all the roads and addresses in the city. they go through a rigorous 5 yrs of probation and tests before they qualify to get a license.
Mini cabs or unmarked taxis are run by private companies and fairly cheaper for long journeys. The best mini cab company in London is Addision Lee (http://www.addisonlee.com/services/minicabs/ 02073878888). They are also very safe, accessible and cheap.
if you don’t get any of them on a weekend night, you can try one of the other mini cabs. But always book from their office. There are many mini cab offices in Central London. If you are leaving a club, you can always request the security to get a cab.
If you are in any trouble, you can dial 999. You will get help in 5 mins if you are in Central London.
London is a great place and I hope you guys will enjoy it. Let me know if you need any help.
@sycochicken 150794 wrote:
OOH OOH! I LOVE ICE SKATING!!
never get to go in australia! lol
who’s in? super keen here!
I am up for this if someone organises it – I am bored of oirganising now! :wink-wink
We could go before the Sunday Session as it is short walk from there and could be interesting with a hangover!Also – More tips for London
DON’T GO TO Aberdeen Steak Houses – However hungry you are and however good the steaks look in the pictures it won’t be good – If you are a N. American you will be even more disapointed as this doesn’t even come close to yoru steaks.
Oh and watch out for anything with “Ye Olde” at the start of it as it probably isn’t “olde” and is likely to be a rip off full of tourists – Examples could be “Ye Olde English Fish and Chips” or “Ye Olde Pub”
If you fancy a gamble check out the new Empire Casino in Leicester Sq – Called The Casino in the Square. Google it and you will find the site – Remember you need ID to join. The Empire does have poker but really only the odd tournament at weekends and Tuesdays and no real cash games to speak about.
For poker I would personally head to “The Vic” which is at the Grosvenor Victoria Casino just off Edgeware Road and always has a large number of cash games on plus evening tournaments at or around 8pm. These days it is tricky to become a member of Gutshot so I wouldn’t bother with that unless you are already a member.
Talking of land-based casinos… do NOT go to Hard Rock. Everyone who works there must have to undergo a crapness and rudeness test before they’re allowed to work there.
Here’s part of our blog review of last year’s visit…
Hard Rock Casino – A Great Advertisement For Online Casinos
Pretty much everyone who works in the online casinos industry is also a player. A number of us decided to finish the night at the Hard Rock Casino on Coventry Street and it turned out to be the worst decision of the entire trip. Quite why we decided to visit this casino is a mystery because we’ve been there previously and hated the place. When you walk into a casino you should be made to feel completely relaxed and very welcome. Trying to walk through the doors at the Hard Rock Casino is one of the most miserable experiences of our lives – and it’s been exactly the same every time we’ve been there. The door staff are about as unpleasant as you could ever hope not to meet and clearly enjoy the opportunity to exercise the only authority they’ve ever been granted.
Not everyone managed to gain entrance to the Hard Rock Casino. After having been kept on the doorstep for about five minutes despite there being no queue (you read that right, we were kept waiting before we were granted the luxury of being able to walk in and hand over our money) we found that our group had dwindled. Not everyone had managed to get in. Despite having a wealth of ID and plenty of disposable income, the casino’s staff were refusing entrance without a passport. To say that this was embarrassing is an understatement.
Hard Rock could learn a lesson or six from, say, Gala Casino in Birmingham where players are welcomed, helped to relax and generally made to feel like a guest rather than an inconvenience.
Hard Rock is a huge, global brand. We suspect that their executives have rarely, if ever, been to London’s Hard Rock Casino. We suggest they make an anonymous visit in a ‘mystery customer’ style. They’d be horrified at how the door staff treat new potential customers, at the appalling state of the casino inside and at how hell-bent the casino seems to be on driving away business.
Quite frankly, we’re embarrassed when we consider the image that this casino gives to tourists arriving in London.
http://www.londontown.com/ is a usefull website about London.
Some other tips for London:
1) It is impossible to stay lost in central London.
Even if you don’t know where you are, just keep walking and you’ll find either an underground station or can flag down a black cab and ask.
London black cab drivers are professional people (it takes about the same length of time to become a licensed cabbie as it does to get a bachelors degree) and they know where everything is.
So if you find you don’t know where you are, don’t panic, start arguing or ask random groups of lads standing on street corners for directions – you’re not lost. You just don’t currently know where you are.
2) Your hotel room is smaller than you expected – it’s not personal.
As a British visitor to the USA, it took me ages to get used to the fact that America wasn’t Britain with funny accents.
So, I would guess that the same applies to American visitors to Britain. You may book a stylish 4 or 5 star hotel expecting the same size and quality of room as you’ll get at home. You won’t.
All those fantastic looking London hotels used to be something else. That’s why they look fantastic. The problem is London has been around for two thousand years and there ain’t much room left so things get squeezed in.
That goes for hotels as much as anything else. Expect to find that your room is smaller and somehow shabbier than you would find for the same money back home. Embrace it as part of the ‘London experience’ but don’t start thinking you’re getting a particularly poor deal – you are probably not.
This kind of stuff can ruin a stay in a foreign country (remind me never to tell you about the so-called 5 star hotel I once visited in Oman), so it’s best to start with realistic expectations and enjoy the good stuff.
