London in Winter Report

Old May 23rd, 2017, 10:37 PM
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London in Winter Report

Hi all,

We traveled to London in winter around the Christmas period and almost regretted it because of how cold it was! We are from South Africa so we came from summer, with 30 degrees celcius, to a winter of about 4 degrees. It was freezing.

However, even though the city was so cold, it was magical too. The decorations around town was beautiful and we found that most of the attractions we were interested in was indoors anyway.

Be prepared however, for public transport to be down on Christmas day (Good! Everyone deserves a break). This does mean you will need to walk or spend some cash on a taxi.

We stayed near the Aldgate East station and from here we could access almost any area. It was very convenient and I would recommend the hotel we were at, Qbic.

Overall, an amazing experience, I wrote about it in some more detail, which you can find here:

https://alikerofthings.wordpress.com...don-in-winter/

If you are a Harry Potter fan, then it just makes it better.

Regards,
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Old May 24th, 2017, 01:25 AM
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I love your photos. Btw, I have never thought of London as a summer city - my favourite time there is autumn. It's meant to be seen through rain and fog
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Old May 24th, 2017, 06:00 AM
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Were you bothered by the short daylight hours?
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Old May 24th, 2017, 06:40 AM
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Hi RM67,

I think you are correct, perhaps next time I will try and plan my trip for autumn, that sounds lovely.

Hi Julies,

It confused me at first, that somehow at 6pm, it felt like 8pm, and it never quite felt like noon. But it didn't actually bother us. The nightlife around Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square was good. Plenty of people walking around, shops stayed open, so even though it felt later, it was not a problem.
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Old May 25th, 2017, 10:34 AM
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That's good to hear that you still felt you had plenty to do even though it got light late and dark early.
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Old May 25th, 2017, 02:41 PM
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What a fun trip report! Thanks for posting it.

Lee Ann
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Old May 25th, 2017, 10:13 PM
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Great report, thanks for sharing it!

I think it's really cool you went when you did. We have kids and have been trapped into the more expensive and crowded times of year to travel.
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Old May 25th, 2017, 10:23 PM
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Thanks Julies and ElendiPickle,

Also, I found there were quite a lot of people walking around at night too, and the trains still operated into the night, except on Christmas Day (as mentioned).

We never felt unsafe or anything either.
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Old May 25th, 2017, 10:26 PM
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Hi 5alive,

I will be asking you for advice in a few years then! I can imagine with children it is a bit harder, as you have to keep them entertained and I don't suppose they will enjoy spending hours at a museum
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Old May 27th, 2017, 08:41 AM
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AATOlive--I know it's a long ways off but I think if you enjoy the adventure of travel, you'll still have fun with kids. I joined this forum when my kids were little, and we were planning a two-week trip to Rome at Christmas.

In general, museums will not hold a child's attention as long. It depends. For grade schoolers, if you read them some fun stories about a place beforehand, that could help.

On the other hand, castles with armour like the one at Bracciano were even more exciting to a child. Huge spaces like St. Peter's and the Pantheon were more inspiring. Climbing to the top of a church lookout was an adventure. Exploring the ancient city of Ostia Antica, walking into ancient rooms and climbing old staircases, was even more of an adventure. For us, the hard part was never the kids, it was the extra costs of the plane tickets!
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Old May 29th, 2017, 03:04 AM
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5alive, this is so endearing to read. I love that you put in the effort to entertain your children. It does sound like a lot of fun (aside from the extra plane tickets!)

I suppose I too am a kid at heart and will still enjoy a lot of things they would too.
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