Thinking of coming to London for a week. . . .

[TZMOM]

My 14 y.o. son & I (OK, mostly me) are thinking of coming to London next year for about a week. Unfortunately, as you all know, in the States, we only get about 1-2 weeks vacation time a year

I've been going to & fro about signing up with a tour company for a trip to London. Since today is my birthday and I'm realizing I'm not getting any younger, I think we're coming over!!!

My question is - the tour company I'm looking at has one trip for a week where you get about one or two tours around the city and then you're on your own. Same hotel (Kensington) all week and you can basically do as you please. The other tour takes you all over the country staying in a different hotel every night and traveling by bus for a bit every day. I get so lost everywhere that I am a bit nervous about staying in London by ourselves, being in a different country and not having the "Disney" bus system. Did you feel nervous about coming over here for the first time?

Is it difficult to get around the city & see the "touristy" stuff? Is the tube confusing to navigate? We really don't have any type of public transportation where I live and I've never been on a subway or public bus (don't laugh.) Also, how is the plane ride over here? About 7-8 hours?

Thanks for your help, I just now realized that I'm more of a control freak than I thought I was - you can all get a good chuckle over the country bumpkin now.. . . . . .

 

[Dimplenose]

You'll have a lovely time in London, there's certainly enough to do for a week and you'll have time to enjoy it.

I was very nervous the first time I visited the states so I understand your concern. The tube isn't too difficult to navigate, I'm sure your hotel would give you some guidance on reading the map - but I'd avoid the rush hour if you can. You can get various types of travel card that save the worry of buying tickets for individual journeys or perhaps you could go on one of the hop on/off bus trips.

If you do the bus tour round the country you'll get to see things that you might not be brave enough to go to by yourself but you must weigh that against the amount of time you'll be on the bus. I've done some bus tours in Europe where you spend more time on the bus than at the destination.

I'd favour staying in London the whole time.

Libby

 

[Beejayjay]

Hi TZMom,

Firstly, you're no different from masses of people - including here in the UK - who do not live in an urban area, so dont feel in the slightest bit embarassed that you've never had the need to use a bus or subway/underground system. Remember, they are just that, a convenience to use when you need to - if you dont need to, why would you ?

Secondly, flight time to the UK. Your location only says NorthEast - is that NE USA or Canada ?

As a guide, flights to & from the UK to NY city take around 6.5 hours depending on conditions, etc. Boston should be about the same, Chicago I'd imagine would be around 7.5 hours, and I'd think around that from Montreal and Toronto as well, maybe 8 hours tops. I've flown to LA from london and that was just over 11 hours.

As for your choice of tour and company, well, that really depends what you want to see. London could fairly easily occupy you and your son for a week, but there are also plenty of historical places and sights scattered all over the UK.

If I had to plan for a weeks trip, I think I'd go for a visit to London this time. Taking into account your travel time to and from the UK, and all the internal travel involved in a tour of the UK, I'd be feeling pretty well frazzled by the end of a week of continual bus travel and booking in and out of hotels.

Being the seat of government and the monarchy, London has a huge number of interesting and historically significant sights as I'm sure you're aware- the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, the cathedrals, hundreds of very old beautiful buildings, the royal parks, etc, etc... Add in newer attractions like the London Eye, Tate modern , the huge selection of shows, terrfic shopping and the like, and you've defintely got enough to keep you busy for a week, yet without the need to be leaving your room at dawn, and only returning late at night.

Another factor you might want to take into consideration is that London will also present you with plenty of other entertainment options that would interest your 14 yr old. Many of the smaller towns in the UK are quite old fashioned and you may find yourselves in a situation where your evening entertainment options are limited to either watching tv in your hotel room or... watching a different channel on the tv in your room ! Thats not going to apply everywhere of course, but it could be the case in smaller places.

As for getting about in London, I dont think you'll have too many problems. I wouldn't t recommend buses as your preferred choice of transport, simply because of the traffic in Central London - short journeys can take a loooong time. If however you prefer the bus option, you could do worse - there are hundreds of different routes which will take you to all the major tourist attractions and, contrary to popular belief, without costing you a ridiculous amount.

For me, the London Underground is the better, faster option - when everything is running ok that is. You're not at the mercy of traffic, get to your destination faster, and again, have many options in terms of route and destination. The 'Tube' has stations close to most of the significant sights in Central London. It can be very crowded on the trains at peak times, the same as any major city, but at other times it is usually a reasonably comfortable way to travel.

And navigating your way around the system is usually fairly simple - the map of the system is acknowledged as one of the best designed and simplest guides of it's type. Also, if you utilise the TravelCard system - available in daily and weekly variations - the cost is by no means prohibitive. These give you unlimited use of all London transport bus and tube services in the zones for which you buy the ticket for the whole period of the ticket (there are a few restrictions on use during peak hours but these are not too big a deal). You can also get a combined version which will allow you to use overground train services as well, though I wouldn't recommend that on a first visit - our overground trains truly are awful.

Anyway, that's my opinion. I hope this gives you some ideas and and eases some of your concerns. I'm a Londoner, and if you want any other advice, please feel free to ask !

 

[TZMOM]

Thank you both for your very thoughtful replies. Based on those, it seems we'll be able to get around just fine.

I think a week in London will be a wonderful vacation!! Now, I'll just need to "cough up the dough" for the tickets. I think we'll try to schedule an end of June, beginning of July trip - thank you again for your help. I truly appreciate you taking the time to write.

Jane

 

[WDWFOREVER]

Jane,

I live just outside London but work inside, and my husband is a licensed black taxi driver. If we can help in any way at all with planning or helping you work out the best way to get to places you wish to visit while you are over here, please pm me.

Jackie

 

[Astrid]

I used to live where Jackie comes from and thorough agree with everything Beejayjay has said - excellent advice.

I'd definitely stick to London for the week, you can always venture to Windsor Castle or something which is only a short journey away to the west of London if you want to see a bit more of the countryside.

The tube system is all colour coded and as long as you remember which line you want to catch and in what direction you're travelling it really is quite simple after the first couple of journeys.

You'll have a fantastic trip I'm sure, and, like the others above have said, if you need any help on anything just shout.

Astrid

 

[kim wilson]

I have been to london a few times and love it, one good tip I can give is, if you plan on doing the wax works there are long lines, but if you go to the sherlock holmes hotel you can buy tickets and go in fast track entrance. The hotel is not far away, about 5 min walk , I dont know the name of the street but is the opposite side to the wax works and to the right , you will find it on the net, it is well worth doing ,you save lots of time

Originally posted by TZMOM
My 14 y.o. son & I (OK, mostly me) are thinking of coming to London next year for about a week. Unfortunately, as you all know, in the States, we only get about 1-2 weeks vacation time a year

I've been going to & fro about signing up with a tour company for a trip to London. Since today is my birthday and I'm realizing I'm not getting any younger, I think we're coming over!!!

My question is - the tour company I'm looking at has one trip for a week where you get about one or two tours around the city and then you're on your own. Same hotel (Kensington) all week and you can basically do as you please. The other tour takes you all over the country staying in a different hotel every night and traveling by bus for a bit every day. I get so lost everywhere that I am a bit nervous about staying in London by ourselves, being in a different country and not having the "Disney" bus system. Did you feel nervous about coming over here for the first time?

Is it difficult to get around the city & see the "touristy" stuff? Is the tube confusing to navigate? We really don't have any type of public transportation where I live and I've never been on a subway or public bus (don't laugh.) Also, how is the plane ride over here? About 7-8 hours?

Thanks for your help, I just now realized that I'm more of a control freak than I thought I was - you can all get a good chuckle over the country bumpkin now.. . . . . .

 

[TZMOM]

Thank you all for your replies. I've decided (well, pretty much) that we will be coming over 8/21 to 8/28. The tour gives us 2 choices of hotels - I've picked the Rubens (sp?) because it's "right across from Buckingham Palace" - is it really? The pics on the internet make it look so grand, I thought it would be a wonderful "home base" place. We're also lucky in that United Airlines has spaces left on their "companion flies for $99" promotion.

I may be PM'ing (??) you all at sometime or another for tips, I hope that will be OK with you.

Our tour "group", which is not really a tour per se, just a package type deal, will be run by Evan Evans on England, it's an Insight tour. My son (me, too!!)wants to go on a double decker bus tour and, like most tourists, see everything!! Thanks again for your help.

 

[Dimplenose]

If it's the hotel I think it is the Reubens looks very nice when I've passed it. It's at the side of Buckingham Palace, on the other side of the road. It's also near the Girl Guide headquaters. Quite a lot to see in walking distance and not far from Victoria station.

Libby