Miscellaneous
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You will most likely be flying into Heathrow or Gatwick, both airports have subway/train stations that will take you straight into London. Gatwick is about an hour train ride from London, Heathrow is much closer to London, but if you have lots of luggage with you, the subway is kind of a pain as its not very luggage friendly. Direct flights from Dallas only go to Gatwick.
Accommodation
I would definitely recommend staying in the “West End” of London, this is kind of like the NY Times Square equivalent. You won’t find “West End” on a map, but Piccadilly Circus will be on the map, and this is basically the heart of the west end. There are lots of reasonably priced hotels near Hyde Park, and Hyde Park is 1 or 2 subway stations from Piccadilly Circus.
Traveling in London
Travel is London is best done using the subway (don’t worry, there will be always someone there to ask which train/platform to go to), everything is close to a subway station. Buses and taxi’s get caught up in traffic all too easily. Don’t travel the subway past 11pm at night, unless there are lots of people there too. Violet crime in London (UK in general) is low compared to here in the States, but theft is far higher. Make sure you never let your bag out of your sight, in fact strap it to you if you can. If men are going with you, they should keep their wallets in their front jean pockets, never the rear, pick pockets are rife over there, as well as in other European countries, with France being the worst.
Money
Money wise, I personally just use a credit card for everything, the exchange rate isn’t that much worse then getting pounds or euros from an exchange booth or bank, plus you get the benefit of not having to carry too much cash with you or travelers checks, and depending on the credit card, insurance too. Also, you can get cash out at an ATM with it too. Probably don’t want to carry more then 50-80 pounds in cash on you at anyone time just in case.
Ok, places that are worth seeing in my opinion.
Take an open top Bus tour
You’ll see red buses everywhere, but the tour buses have no top to them, and have signs. You can take a tour bus anywhere and get off when you want. Might be a good idea to do this the first day to see what interests you the most.
Tower of London
Built in 1066, the crown jewels are kept here. See what the queue is like to see the crown jewels (inside the tower of London), if it’s not long, see them first, as there will be a long queue later on in the afternoon.
Piccadilly Circus & Leister Square
Just shops really, not much culture there.
Trafalgar square
Really close to Piccadilly circus, home to Nelson’s column. Nelson is a famous British Navy Admiral that amongst other things, defeated Napoleon’s fleet at strangely enough, “Trafalgar”. St. Paul’s Cathedral This is very unique. I personally think it’s worth seeing, Prince Charles and Lady Diana got married here. Don’t bother going to the top of the cathedral, it’s a pain in the arse, and not worth it when you get there.
Westminster abbey, Big Ben and houses of Parliament
On the bank of the Thames (pronounced “Tems”) river, nice architecture, this is home to Britain’s government, that ruled 25% of the world for over 300 years, and significantly influenced most of the modern world. Believe it or not, Great Britain and Russia where the only super powers in the world at the start of the first world war. Not that I’m proud……Anyway, this is a must see to me!
Windsor Castle
This always seems to be missed by people traveling to London, but its one of the most awesome things to see. The castle is located in the small town of Windsor, which is about 15 – 20 miles west of London, but easily got to via train. Well worth the visit. The shear size of the castle is staggering, and the town of Windsor is very cute to people visiting. You get to tour the castle both inside and out, and the Queen actually lives there at various times of the year too. Edward I “Long shanks” (depicted in the Mel Gibson film Braveheart) has his tomb in the cathedral there too. Long shanks kicked the hell out of the Scottish and they never forgave the English for it. Mention that to any Scottish people you meet.
Go to the Theatre!!
You’re in the heart of where theatre really started; most of the theatres are 200+ years old. See a show if you can. I highly recommend Les Miserables and Miss Saigon, Oliver is ok, Phantom of the opera is just ok (it’s kind of over rated in my opinion). Tickets may be hard to get, but there are always little stalls selling them for a marked up price. Typical ‘ok-ish’ seats cost about 35-45 pounds each (that was in 1999, not sure what they go for now). Dress for a guy would be dress pants and a nice shirt at the very minimum, certainly not jeans. Get there a little early, about 45mins, and enjoy a couple of drinks at the bar, order half time drinks if you like (to avoid the mad rush for the bar), and enjoy. Performances start kind of early, 7pm in the evening, no late performances.
Places to see if you have time
Buckingham palace and St. James Park
Worth a visit, but you can only really see the outside from the front gates. This is where the queen lives most of the time. St. James’ park is a nice park to walk through, right next to it.
Tower Bridge
If you have time, not such a big deal, you could drive over it and see as much as you’d probably want to see. You can also see it very well from the Tower of London.
Covent Garden
As far as I remember, just lots of little shops, and market stalls, but it’s undercover. You can get theatre tickets here, as well as Piccadilly Circus.
Temple Church
From the Da Vinci code, this was an interesting place. Stuck in the middle of some residential type buildings, but if I remember rightly, 800 years old. It’s very cool, but not many locals know where it is. I know the nearest subway is Temple. It’s a rectangle church with a circle end. You actually walk past another church looking building on the way to it. Some locals think THAT is the church you’re asking for, but it’s not, you walk through a cute little court yard and you’ll see it. It’s amazing. But nothing is nearby, so see it if you have time.
Places not to see
London Dungeon
Biggest rip off I’ve ever seen, total tourist trap. Not only do you have to queue for ages to get in, its not near anything else and a pain to get to, the site is under a railway bridge, and never was a dungeon, plus it costs an arm and a leg to get into the place.
Madam Tousards
This is basically a place where you can see lots of wax life sized figures of famous people. Nothing British/English about it. Not sure its worth seeing, in my opinion.
Financial District & Canary Warf
I’ve heard of people going to see these places. Not sure why.
Food and Drink
Tips/Gratuities
10% is a good tip in the UK, unlike here, waiters/waitresses get a good hourly wage, any tips are a bonus, not the majority of what they make. Also, when people go out for dinner, it’s mostly for the evening, 2.5-3 hours, so don’t expect service to be fast (1 hour). If you need it to be fast, tell them you’re in a hurry.
Chinese
Chinese cuisine seems to be tailored for the local population, so Chinese food in England, America, Spain and even Hong Kong, are all different, so don’t think it will be the same? My favorite English-version of Chinese is “Crispy Aromatic Duck”. This is wonderful in my opinion, served with very thin pancakes, plum sauce, spring onions, cucumber and of course duck. They shred the cooked meat from the bone in front of you, and will show you how to eat it, if you haven’t had it before. You can get this at any Chinese restaurant; however, believe it or not, China town in London is one of the worst places for Chinese food. The service sucks bad!!! They also hang up ducks in the front window to ‘attract’ customers. If you can, have Chinese somewhere else, maybe in Windsor if you go there, if not, other then the décor of the restaurant and poor service, the food will actually be great.
Indian
As above, the English-version of Indian food is different, and much spicier then here in the States. Things to try, Onion Bargies (spelling??), Garlic nan bread, and virtually any meat dish, Chicken Masala is a safe choice.
Fish & Chips!!
This is a must have!However, believe it or not, you can’t get good fish and chips in the West End, the chip shops (it’s a take away/out food, not a restaurant type food) are serving up basically French fries as it’s quicker. So real fish and chips need to be bought from a dedicated fish and chip shop (not a pub or restaurant), the fish is cod in batter, and the chips are very thick potato strips (for want of a better word) the length of a French fry. Need to ensure you put on lots of salt and vinegar (vinegar is a must). To be safe, ask the person behind the counter to put the salt and vinegar on for you, to make sure you get the right amount. A good place to get fish and chips is probably Windsor or maybe around St. Paul’s cathedral. Trust me, it’s worth it, everyone loves the fish and chips.
Pub Lunch
Stop into a pub and have lunch there. Things to try are Steak and Kidney pie (yes it is real kidney), Bangers and mash (large sausages and mashed potato), Toad in the hole (large sausages in a hard potato type thing…), Apple pie (no cinnamon, its great), Shepherd’s pie (ground meat with potato type stuff on top), Cornish Pastie (one of my favorites, it’s a little bit like a pie), that’s all I can think of.
I’m not big into Italian so I don’t really know about that, Mexican food, don’t bother…
Important things to know
Bloke = Guy
Mate = Bud or Buddy
Hole in the wall = ATM, not a restaurant
Cash point = ATM
That’s about it, nothing else I can think of. If you do want to go to the Theatre you may be able to book your tickets online now directly from the theatre, rather then taking your chances.
If you have any questions, feel free to click CONTACT on the top menu and send me an email.
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