Two weeks in London is wonderful, I think it's great that you've decided to stay put in London and take daytrips.

I agree with janisj though- have you thought about renting a flat instead of staying in a hotel? A flat will give you more space and a kitchen- you could have breakfast and some evening meals at home which saves you money and the effort of always having to go out to eat 3 meals a day for 2 weeks straight. It could end being more economical.

Space is no small consideration either- having more than one room so you aren't always on top of each other can be a relationship-saver.

I'd also suggest you rent an apartment or maybe try http://www.lsevacations.co.uk/

Lee Ann

hi blade,

great to see someone who really wants to stay put and see the place they are visiting, instead of flying in and immediately gonig somewhere else!

that said, if you stay in an apartment, there's nothing to stop you doing one or even two overnight stays outside the capital - which would enable you to take in a play in Stratford, or walk on the beach at Brighton in the moonlight, or even spend a night in Paris.

when you are looking for accommodation, remember to look at how easy it is to get from there to other places in London - near a tube and/or bus is very important.

have a great trip,

regards, ann

Thank you all. I will check into prices for a flat as well. I read a mother and son/2pp got Holiday Express Earls Court for $49/night in June. Is this a good enough location? The price seems to be very reasonable for June. Your input? I am prepared to spend up to $80/night for a 4* but as long as it's convienent, safe, clean it's good enough.

taggie - Thanks for your suggestions. We have planned to do the London Walks and take the bus (#15, #11)on the first day or so. We'll take the tube/bus. I will get hold of a guidebook and group the sites as suggested.

Thanks Ann,

We usually like to visit ONE country at a time and take our time to soak it all in. The past years, we were in Paris for 9 days (06), Italy for 19 days(07) and Malaysia for 14 days(08). Taking day trips out of the city to nearby towns is also great way of learning about countrysides, it's places and people. Sorry, English is not my mothertone.

hi blade - your english i quite as good as many of the native speakers here - LOL.

as you ahve alrady been to Paris, you may like to strike that from your list of possibilities. Earl's court is not a premier area, but it's safe enough and [reputedly] full of australians. More importantly, it's on a busy underground hub, so quite a convenient place to be. $49 per night per room would indeed be a great rate, but on priceline, you can't book a specific hotel - just area and grade, as I understand it.

it would also be convenient for visiting places outside London, like Hampton Court, and Kew, both of which I would strongly recommend.

regards, ann

If you can book the Holiday Inn Express directly (in other words, not through Priceline) for $49 That would be a very VERY good deal. The hotel is near the West Kensington tube station. Priceline really isn't a good option for long stays like yours. You might bid a good price but have it rejected simply because one or two nights during your stay the hotel is booked up.

A flat would be a good option - but none would be near as low as $49 a night.

"<i>Since we can walk to many places do we need to get the travelcard for all 13 days </i>". From any one location, you could only walk to a very few sites. London is very spread out - so you can count on taking some sort of public transport just about every day. And <u>especially</u> if you stay at the HI Express - you would definitely take public transport every single day.

I think that $49/night rate at the Holiday Express Earls Court came off of Hotwire- a couple of posters saw it and got it this past spring.

Thank you janisj - I have read a lot of your postings. You must be such a pro and so kind of you to offer your experiences and knowledge. I'm almost getting hooked on reading and reading on Fodors. Especially, when I'm planning a vacation somewhere. It's a GREAT forum.

BTW, is HI Express in a convienent location to public transportation? Is it still in zone 1,2?

Thank you Ann - I have planned to visit other sites outside of Central London such as Hampton Court, Kew Garden, and hope to have time for day trips to Oxford, Coltwolds and/or Bath. I have not study the maps so I have no clue as to the locations of all the sites. I was hoping someone familiar with London would help and get me a head start to group the sites but may be I should do my own homework. I don't have any particular area of interest to be a certain sites for more than normal/usual length of time.

For PL bidding, I am going to split into 2 different areas. Soho and Kensington or Bloomberry. Your idea?

Thank you Apres_Londee - I have not looked up with Hotwire for the Holiday Express yet. Any information will be very helpful. I am prepared to spend up to $80/night, but as long as the place is clean, good, safe, convienent the lower we can get by the better:)) We plan to be out 24/7 except for sleeping:))

Hey Annhig, I'm assuming that Earl's Court being full of Australians would be a good thing . . . wouldn't it?

Blade2007, we recently stayed in a 1 bedroom flat just west of Kensington Gardens and found that a good base for London. We are strong supporters of the idea of staying in an apartment/flat as it feels more like 'home', gives you a lot more privacy and offers the opportunity to provide for yourself instead of eating out all the time. Here is a link to the place we stayed:
http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/ren...n-zone-1/75461

GregY2 - Thank you. I went to the link you provided it seems the dates I need are completed booked. The place looks really nice, it has a lot more room than we needed. The price is also quite high for what we want to spend. I appreciate your reply but all we need is a safe, clean, convienent place with a VERY good rate. $80 or less a day.

hi gregY2 - well they might all be a bit down at the moment, [a little matter of a cricket match] but generally, yes of course.

blade, taking your list, here's my attempt to rearrange them into [hopefully] doable groups:

British museum, Victoria & Albert Museum,

Tower of London, St Paul's Cathedral,Tate Modern

Buckingham Palace, Kensington Garden and Palace,
Westminster Abbey, The Eye,
the National Portrait Gallery, Covent Garden,

the British Museum and Library,

Windsor Castle,

Kew Garden, Hampton Court,

Antique Markets, Shopping( Knightsbridge, Borough Market,Camden MarketGood, Portobello Road, Spitalfields Market), - a bit too wide to group together

1-2 shows. Soho, [to which I add China town]

hope this helps,

rgards, ann

The Holiday Inn Express hotels are named after an area but they are not exactly central to the named area in London. So the HI Express Swiss Cottage is just north of Finchley Road tube station, a new build, it is a good transport hub but a bit of a walk from the area that is closer to Primrose Hill, where you have the Regents Park Marriott. I am not familiar with the area of the Earls Court HI Express but its nearest station is on the District Line but zone 2.

If you're adamant about paying $80 a night for lodging, I'll recommend again looking into the LSE link I posted earlier, or you might want to try one the excellent YHA hostel facilities. Either one will allow you to fix some of your own meals and save money on food.

Here's YHA's link for London:

http://www.yha.org.uk/find-accommoda...don/index.aspx

Lee Ann

Hi blade,

Like Lee Ann already suggested, you should really take a look at this: http://www.lsevacations.co.uk/ or the hostel link she posted.

For Hotwire, there's some info on how to figure it out and make bookings here:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...on-lodging.cfm

These websites also have helpful information about Hotiwre and Priceline: betterbidding.com and biddingfortravel.com

I've been looking on Hotwire and unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much on offer for under $80 right now (except for hotels at the airport or in Hammersmith- places where you really don't want to stay)

However, I did see that unlike on Priceline you can book hotels on Hotwire for 2 weeks and it doesn't seem to affect the rate you get offered (ie nightly rates are the same whether you book 2 nights or 2 weeks)

Remember to keep in mind that anything you book on Hotwire or Priceline is nonrefundable.

If Hotwire still seems confusing, I'll do my best to answer any questions you might have.

Lastly, I thought I might as well suggest this flat (I stayed here for a week last October): http://www.vrbo.com/52647

It's actually showing up as booked for your dates but if looks suitable than it may be worthwhile to email the owner to ask about cancellations.

There is one major caveat with this apartment- it's on the very top floor and there is no elevator in the building, and it's about 100 stairs up to the flat.

Thank you all for your replies and suggestions. I will check into them.

Thank you Annhig, for your help in grouping the sites for me, it's a good start for me to work on our itenerary.

From the list of areas I posted earlier from Priceline.com, please rank the order of preference in terms of safety, convenience, etc. Also, please note the areas to avoid. Thank you.

None of the PL zones are dangerous so that isn't a problem.

But generally the best bidding zones for convenience are:

Kensington - Earls Court - Knightsbridge (you will usually get Earls court or Kensington but you <i>might</i> luck out and get South Kensington/Knightsbridge)

Mayfair - Soho (terrific and central - but hard to "win" at reasonable bids. A high priced zone)

Westminster (used to be the best zone - but now there is at least one hotel south of the river near Vauxhall that is pretty inconvenient. Still lots of good properties in good locations)

Bloomsbury - Marble Arch (though you can get King's Cross)

The City and London Bridge (used to be a crap zone - but now the borders have been re-drawn and some good catches can be had. Though you can also end up in business areas that are dead at night)

Avoid (decent areas but mostly avoid because they include several PL hotels in inconvenient to VERY inconvenient locations):

Notting Hill - Bayswater

Regents Park - Baker Street

Finsbury and Islington

Hammersmith (definitely avoid this one)

London Docklands (this one too)

I think someone has already recommended London Walks, www.walks.com. They have one-day Explorer Day walks that you might like. We've done Oxford, Bath, Greenwich, Canterbury, and the Christmas Dickens walk. They were all great. These would give you a chance to see some areas outside London. Of course they have dozens of walks in London itself.

Thank you crckwc1-Yes, we definetely have plans for walks.

Janisj-I have started the bidding process with PL, 4*. It's getting close to my target for Kensington. I will avoid all other areas as mentioned by you. Thank you very much.