Has anyone had any hesitation traveling to London after the tube bombings? Have you been there recently?
 

Hello! I was wondering if you've been hesitant to go to London the past few months after the bombings and if you've been there recently, have you used the tube pretty regularly during your travels? We will be headed there next month and will probably use the tube as our primary mode of transportation although initially after the bombing I was thinking only taxis! Thanks

Going next month. Had the plans prior to the bombings, didn't change them. Plan to use the tube.

Thanks, we're in similar situations then!

"I was wondering if you've been hesitant to go to London the past few months after the bombings and if you've been there recently, have you used the tube pretty regularly during your travels?"

Don't forget the millions of people that live in London, a great many of which use the Tube on a daily basis to get to/from work or whatever.

There was certain hesitation by people immediately after the attacks (despite all the reports of the Brits' defiance etc), but even people that altered their route/travel method or the times they would travel on the Tube aren't really doing that anymore.

I was surprised how nervy some of my colleagues were using trains/Tubes after July 7 and so I am not surprised visitors share the same anxiety. It's not a feeling I share but there are a number of threads on here addressing the same question you have raised which you may find it helpful to read.

I was there in August and pretty much it is back to normal; lots of police around and I felt perfectly safe.

thank you! i feel better already. i tried doing a search but nothing much came out of it. what were the key words you used in the search? thanks!

I was just there two weeks ago -- we arrived Friday the 16th, and spent the weekend there. Everything is back to normal, except for an occasional sweep of subway systems by the police, which sometimes holds things up. We didn't even experience that -- only heard about it.

We have a friend we visited in London, and she talked about it some. She lives near one of the stations that was hit, and told us about what happened, but other than that, no one we met was dwelling on it or worried about it. British resolve is made of steel, and they liken it to the IRA bombings -- something they've lived through, and they'll do it again as necessary, and trust that heightened security measures will do their best to lessen the risk, just as they do here and everywhere.

Please don't hesitate to go. We used the Tube extensively and had no problems, no fears, and in fact -- I was surprised afterwards to realize I hadn't really thought about it at all while I was there until after I left.

Jules

We've hardly used the Tube since we discovered the bus network several years ago. Consider the facts that:

o The Underground is only practical if you're going several miles. For short distances (which is what most tourists usually travel), it's often less trouble to just jump on a bus than go down into the tunnel, often walk up and down for several minutes to change lines, and climb back out at the destination.

o Riding a bus is more interesting, because you get to see various neighborhoods, and you can jump off any time if you see something that interests you.

o Bus lines traverse what seems to be every square inch of the city. Tube stations are relatively scarce, but bus stops are ubiquitous.

o You can often change from line to line by simply getting off one bus and getting on another at the same stop.

o The Greater London weekly bus pass costs £11, and is valid from Heathrow to Greenwich and everything in between. A daily card is £3.

Here's a simplified tourist map to get you started (note the #15 and RV1 routes cover many of the sights):

<b>http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/pdfdocs/tourist.pdf
</b>

And here's the whole city on a page:

<b>http://www.tfl.gov.uk/buses/pdfdocs/centlond.pdf
</b>

ttt

We used the tube frequently last month. I can't say I was completely unafraid, but the fact is I wanted to get from Point A to Point B cheaply and efficiently! The buses aren't bad either, but the tube was very convenient for us, given our location. And of course both modes of transport are vulnerable to terrorism. I did think there were fewer people on board, but I've never been to London in late August before.

I'm pretty worried about it, so I decided to go to New Orleans instead.

It may not have been the best choice I ever made:)

We were there just last week and had no trouble with the tube. We only used it for 2 days but still did not encounter one snag.
Happy travels

We were there August 24-28. Used the tube once or twice, but did use the buses a lot - having realized from reading here how much more sense that made from a sight-seeing standpoint. We even made up our own hop on-hop off tour. Maps at every bus stop make it quite easy to figure out how to get where you are going.

Thank you so much for everyone's feedback! I'm glad everyone has used the public transportation efficiently with no snags. The BUS! I will definitely look into bus routes. I think there's one right in front of our hotel. Thanks again! You've all made me feel WAY better.

The buses are great and as noted with just a little bit of homework you can do the same exact route as the hop on hop off buses (no commentary of course) at a fraction of the cost (As noted the #15 bus goes to a lot of places as does the #11) and they can be faster...example we're going to Victoria from the Bayswater area....circle line at Bayswater tube station? A slow torturous ride (any ride on the circle line is that) or district line to Earls Court and up and down transfer, also a pain in the petuna...but walk down to Bayswater Rd. and hope on the 148 bus....ah within minutes we're at Victoria then at Westminster and even to the Imperial War Museum or hop the 390 to the British Museum....but and it's a big but

It depends on the time of day. Sometimes, despite the congestion charge, the buses can be caught in a heap of traffic. At night, it's great and the bus is almost as fast as the tube but during mid day, well there are good days and there are bad days.

But if time is not a factor and you're just interested in seeing, there's nothing better than sitting in the front seat on the top deck of a double decker bus. Have lots of great pictures of the sites taken from that seat.

We were in London for the second bomb threat, though actually on a bus tour to Stonehenge that particular day. I have to admit the first couple of rides we took upon arrival in London I was nervous but the Tube was packed with people and running somewhat normally with the exception of a few closed stations. We did take the taxi a few times but I didn't really have the money for a lot of that in my budget. As the week went on we got more comfortable then the second bomb threat occurred on our last day. We took a taxi to the train station thought it would have been just a convenient by Tube. You just have to go with what your comfort level is.

You can click on my name for my trip report. We (Mom, two friends, me) went to London two days after the first bombing and spent a week there before heading to other parts of England.

We chose to do mostly taxis and buses, but that was mainly because long walks and stairs are tough for my Mom (knees).

The two friends rode the Tube several times, and I would have not hesitated to ride it.

The buses were OK, but we had some trouble figuring out where to pick up various ones - even when we asked (employees at Victoria Station, locals elsewhere).

Also, sometimes there were fairly long waits for buses.

But, our overall &quot;complaint&quot; (not that London could help this!) was that it was just too darn hot. And the buses not only aren't air conditioned, but the windows that open are only about 4 inches tall, at the very top of the bus. Extremely steamy, sticky, icky on the buses in July!

Since we were there immediately after the bombings, there was a LOT of police presence. Groups of uniformed people going &quot;purposefully&quot; from one place to another. And all carrying real weapons.

We didn't feel unsafe at any time - realizing, of course, that &quot;something&quot; could happen almost anywhere at almost any time.

We're going back in May - flying to London, probably a day or two there, then driving north (a stop in the Lakes and a couple of weeks in Scotland - I think that's the rough itinerary). This time my husband and I will travel with my Mom and Dad; so our London transport will be taxis and buses again.

My personal opinion is that you should be concerned enough to be aware of your surroundings, but relaxed enough to travel where you want to go.

Gayle

LOL Sheila...

Life is a risky proposition, in any event.

You're more at risk in the van/taxi driving you to the airport than you are in the Tube.

You can stay at home, or you can go to Baghdad. Everything else is a judgment call.

We arrived in London 3 days after the second round of bombings and really did not plan on using the tube. We never reconsidered going to London, though. We ended up using the tube once after we got really tired trying to get home one evening on the bus. The buses are fine to some extent; however, changes get tiresome and just forget about being on a main road during evening rush hour - you're not going anywhere.

We ended up on some long pilgrimage while trying to visit Abbey Road - too many bus transfers on the way there, and then on the way home, whenever we could finally get on the bus, it would stop at an intermediate stop and say, &quot;end of the line - everybody has to get out&quot;! This happened to us twice on the same route back to our hotel!That's when we ran down into the tube station for a much appreciated ride back to our hotel. We had spent about 3 hours of our day on a simple trip that would have taken minutes on the tube. We tried taxis also, but it was hard on the budget to try to do that on a daily basis (and hard to flag down a taxi, they were all full!)

Although I'm glad that we walked more than usual, and the bus can be a novel way to get around - you can certainly see more - I really missed the tube. I think I felt just as nervous on the bus, anyways.

Time in London is precious, and I really missed feeling like I had the option to get from one place to another quickly.