Is it worth it to visit London right now?
 

My husband and I are thinking about visiting London before we go to France next spring. I just read an article yesterday about the exhange value of pound being at a record 26 year high. We only wanted to go to London for a couple of days, but would it be worth our time and money? Should we wait on London, hoping we will get more for our money there in a few years?

You don't wait on London, it waits on YOU...

Seriously, of course you should come. You will never fully get to know the city, even when you live here so you might as well come for 2 days. Why wait? I think it's the perfect way to kick-start a holiday to the Continent. Have you never been before? No one comes to London to get their money's worth - it is simply a must see for the people and its history.

positano82 asked: "Should we wait on London, hoping we will get more for our money there in a few years?"

If anybody could give a reliable answer to that question, then we could all make fortunes on financial futures and be able to travel without worrying about prices.

If you really want to go, it will be worth it. If you don't, it won't.

Here's what I would do...figure out what your budget is. This is not dependant on currency exchange, it is dependant on what you are willing to spend. Research flights,there are also fairly independent of exchange rates. Look at Priceline and pick a hotel that matches your budget , also research the B&B option. Check out package deals (Travelocity, Expedia). Make an itinerary and map out what the costs will actually be for the trip. Adjust your souvenir budget, search here for restaurant recommendations that are in the price range you have , look at pub lunches, B&Bs would get you the breakfast meal,etc...

Unfortunately some people see an exchange rate $2/pound and think that means things are twice as expensive, or that the highest in 26 years means that it is Donald Trump expensive. It can be, but it does not have to be. I live in Canada, we've dealt with large exchange rates ($2.50/pound comes to mind) over the years and have not had to sleep on a park bench in St James Park..yet.

Hi P,

If you wait for a more favorable exchange rate, you might never go.

>We only wanted to go to London for a couple of days..<

That's hardly worth the bother. I'd give it at least 3 nights.

((I))

Agree with the PP . WE are going to London in 10 days. Exchange rates go up and down but the difference in the total cost of your trip may be just a couple of hundred dollars or less.
And Ira is right; if you go , make it more than 2 days. It is a great city!

Even though 2 buck pound gets the headlines the rate has been close to that for quite a while - don't let phsychological barriers deter you - you will spend perhaps 2% more this year than last few. You can easily economize on expected expenses as well.

When I go to London, I just have several days where I eat in less than high style.

Otherwise, expenses really are not that bad - considering you can get great bargains on accommodation with Priceline, you can choose the optimal TravelCard and travel all over London with ease and not that expensively, and the museums are mostly free.

I love the theatre, so scout out cheap deals - rarely paying more than 10 pounds for a ticket (although at this rate I don't see very many first-run musicals).

And if the dollar continues its slide, you'll kick yourself for not going now.

Yes, London is expensive. There are various work-arounds, like getting a hotel via Priceline and picking up food to go. Plus most of the museums are free. And the parks.

And there's so much to s

I meant to say there's so much to see in London.

If you can afford it now by all means go! Why wait? If it's only to get more bang for your buck there are many places in the world to visit besides London (and France) but they are not London and France...

Plus if you'll be travelling to France you've got less in travel expenses to get to London than visiting on a seperate trip in the future.

If the quite tiny fluctuations in the exchange rate over the past year or so really matter to you, then they matter to you.

London'll be around in five, fifty and five hundred years. Possibly in five hundred years time it won't have the world's cheesiest tabloids, best trained cab drivers, worst trained barstaff and best urban walks. But it certainly will for the rest of your lifetime.

Only you know how likely your finances are to be less sensitive to a couple of cents in the pound later in life. But your ability to predict your finances is infinitely greater than the ability of anyone on this board (or anywhere else on earth) to predict the dollar:sterling exchange rate.

I'd wait till the Torries get back in - David Cameron and then the pound will surely plummet back to pre New Labour rates.

I wonder when folks say "The £ is at a 26 year high against the $" yet don't worry that the € is at it's all time high against the $??

Don't look at $2 = £1, and assume that $1.36 = €1 gets you a better exchange. At this point France is just as bad a deal as England is. Of course, London is an expensive city whatever the exchange rates are - but you aren't getting much for your $ in France either.

And who know what the € or £ will be in a year's time. If you want to go to London - there are lots of ways to economize.

It's ALWAYS "worth it" to go to London. It's a fabulous city, and I love it there. I havn't been in about four years. I changed planes there year before last on my way to Copenhagen. I almost cried, I didn't have the any extra time to spend there. Hopefully, next year, I'll be back.

My guess is that the dollar will regain strength slowly against the euro and the pound. You will not see major movement in our favor until the US quite spending billions a year more than it sells overseas. Until we change our buying habits and quite buying everything made in China and sucking oceans of Middle East oil, the dollar will stay weak.

That is the way it is, and that is the way it is likely to remain.

If you wait for the pound to decline to where it costs $1.75 or less, you will wait a very long time.