Day one London
 

My plane leaves Chicago at 5:30 P.M. and I will arive in London at 7:20 A.M. the next day. I want to do a tour on the first day but not a walking tour does anyone have any suggestions?

Hey! You're in the same time frame as us...we leave next Tuesday and arrive at 7am..our plan is to hop on two bus routes...one that takes us around Hyde Park with stops at a toy store (Hamleys-we have kids in tow) and one that goes around the sites..I think bus #11 is one and there are two others that go by Westminster and all that. I would also suggest hopping on the Thames River tour....City Cruises/Catamaran cruises have tickets for 2 for 1 if you have a guest with you...hop off the boat to walk around and maybe do London Eye then hop back on....

Good luck!
Tara

Go to your hotel, leave your bags (or check in if your room is ready early) and then take one of the hop-on-hop-off open top double decker buses. There are two companies but they are just about identical. Then you can get off wherever you want and then jumpback on a later bus. Or you can ride the whole loop w/o getting off at all. The concierege at you hotel can tell you where the nearest tour stop is. You can pay when you board the bus . . . .

You can also jump on and off city buses for a load less cash (£3.50 or less for a day pass).

Here's the map of the territory: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/pdfdocs/tourist.pdf

I was posting the same time as Tara. The regular TFL buses she is talking about are fine - but I meant the tour buses w/ commentary. If you have been to London before, city buses would be great your first day. But if this is your first time in London, you won't know what you are riding past on the TFL buses. I'd stick to the tour buses on day 1.

1. Get a printed guide to London sights (many free at Tourist Information Centres).

2. Download and print <font color="blue">Key bus routes and tourist attractions in central London</font>.

3. Match up the sights to the sites and read the commentary.

(If you can't read, then follow janisj's suggestion. Hell, it ain't her money.)