London & vicinity
 

We've just returned from 2 weeks in London and vicinity and want to share our experiences . This forum was again helpful as we planned our trip !

# Even in 2 weeks , you just cannot 'do it all' ! Prioritize what you want to see and do before you depart . We used Rick Steves London and Eyewitness Travel London in planning our days activities . Remember the London weather and identify plans for rainy days and plans that require clear weather !

# We stayed at the Sanctuary House Hotel on Tothill Street.........location , location , location !!! We were 2 blocks from Westminister Abbey . This is an excellent hotel and the Staff is outstanding .

# For us , the Travelcard was the way to go (remember those extra passport photos) .We did no tubes but extensively used buses and the 2 for 1 deals paid for the cards ! We found taxis to be affordable when that was needed !

# Simply Airports made our arrival & departure worry-free at a small expense . There is no better to go to/fro Heathrow in our experience !

# We did a Cotswolds tour with International Friends - great tour and excellent Guide !!
The small group was an added benefit in our opinion !

# 4 restaurants to mention were : Santini , il Convivio , the Bank , and Roux at Parliment Square . There are many others but we enjoyed these !

# I would be glad to share more details with anyone interested ! We'll now focus on Paris and the Rivers of France for a next adventure !!

Rob

Hi REBELRPR,

Thanks for the excellent summary of your stay in London. Agree:" you just cannot 'do it all' "

Happy to hear that you were satisfied with the Sanctuary Hotel - I have considered it in the past. Good for you to master the buses - you must have studied the schedule beforehand.

"We did a Cotswolds tour with International Friends" By any chance, was that the tour of Downton Abbey sites with Debbie who lives in Oxford? If so, I took that tour which was the highlight of my recent ten days in London.

Good luck planning your sojourn in Paris too...

Hi rebelrpr. Did you book the trip to the airport with Simply Airport from London or prior to leaving home? We will need to travel to Heathrow from the Victoria Station area for a 10:00 am flight on a Saturday. Don't know if it's better to take the express train from Paddington.

Latedaytraveler , our guide was Mike from Chicago and he was terrific and entertaining

NE , you can call or email and Simply Airports will pick up at your hotel......cost us 26 pounds....door-to-door , ain't bad !!!

REBELRPR, did your tour include lunch at the SWAN? I thought that place was delightful. Of course, we went on a beautiful June day.

No , our tour did Stratford-on-Avon , Oxford , Stow on the Wolds and driving through the Cotwolds . We did lunch on our own in Stow....found a neat lunch place there !