chelseaboy

Look at the Hoxton Hotel in Shoreditch. In your price range. 10 mins walk to Liverpool St Station which is in the City. From there it is easy to get to London Bridge, Borough, Southbank and you can get on the Central Line on the tube for the West End and Covent Garden etc. Shoreditch has a bit of a young vibe (which is great for me in my 61st year) I stayed at the Hoxton last month and it was v good
As for Cotswolds you can get there by train in less than an hour from Marylebone or Paddington on the main line. Winchcombe is an interesting place with Sudeley Castle. Many lovely villages and pubs and walks and if you want tranquil then it ticks the box. Enjoy

PalenQ

I always dreamt of staying in that seemingly Victoria wonder at St Pancras - right in front of the station. Awesome! It is also a spa of some type I hear!

janisj

>>As for Cotswolds you can get there by train in less than an hour from Marylebone or Paddington on the main line. Winchcombe is an interesting place with Sudeley Castle. <<

London to Moreton-in-Marsh takes 90+ minutes and then it is either local buses or cabs or walking to get to other villages/towns. Winchcombe is not easily reached from London by public transport - train to Cheltenham - then bus into Cheltenham proper - then another bus to Winchcombe.

(sort of nit picking but . . . 'Cotswolds' isn't a place. Either <i>the</i> Cotswolds or its an adjective like Cotswold village, or Cotswold stone, etc.)

Tulips

<<Could you quote in GBP as $ could refer to the currencies of a couple dozen countries>>

It is so much easier if you just quote the budget in the local currency of the place you are visiting. Not all posters on Fodors are American. I don't know the exact dollar/pound rate.

Anyway, I like the Marylebone Hotel, near Marylebone High Street. Lovely area, not too touristy. You may find a room for your budget if there's a deal. Bloomsbury is good too.

Tulips

<<Could you quote in GBP as $ could refer to the currencies of a couple dozen countries>>

It is so much easier if you just quote the budget in the local currency of the place you are visiting. Not all posters on Fodors are American. I don't know the exact dollar/pound rate.

Anyway, I like the Marylebone Hotel, near Marylebone High Street. Lovely area, not too touristy. You may find a room for your budget if there's a deal. Bloomsbury is good too.

chelseaboy

janisj you are correct it is nit picking

MissPrism

Janis, I remember being impressed by Adirondack and Rocky ;-)

I remember an American writer friend asking me about how you describe them, adjectives etc.
I said that the Cotswolds are a range of hills and you use exactly the same terminology as you would for any other range of hills or mountains.
So, "a village in the Cotswolds/Adirondacks", "a Cotswold/Adirondack village".

chelseaboy

This is bizarre. I try to make a helpful comment using "Cotswolds" as in the original post "London/Cotswolds" and I get an English grammar lesson on the naming convention for ranges of hills. Of course they are the Cotswolds, the Rockies, the Adirondacks

Anyway I'm off to get a life

PalenQ

chelseaboy coming back after a 4-year hiatus and now chased off by a Fodorgarch's nit-picking - deja vue all over again!

chelseaboy

Yeah, I love being "told" about my homeland by friends on here

Im sure everyone is trying to be helpful but there is some rubbish spouted on here about tube trains being difficult (it was extended out to Heathrow for a reason), car journeys from Heathrow only taking 45 minutes into C London (in your dreams) and lessons on "the Cotswolds"

Point missed on my post was that there are alternatives to Bloomsbury and Kensington. The eastern side of London (note: not only the "East End" wherever that is) has many interesting places, hotels and restaurants

The point of travel is trying different things as well as adhering to what we know. So when I go to the US I try different things, as I do when I travel anywhere. Sometimes I like them, sometimes I do not. It is about different experiences and a varied aspect on life's literal and metaphorical travels

Ho hum. I'm off for another 4 year hiatus methinks before I get embroiled in the depths of some more tosh from my US friends on whether the UK is a Christian country or not. God forbid (haha)

PalenQ

I get embroiled in the depths of some more tosh from my US friends on whether the UK is a Christian country or not. God forbid (haha)>

Well ask David Cameron, who said that yours was a Christian country about that!

PalenQ

chelseaboy - if still here could you elaborate on your comment on car journeys only taking 45 minutes into London - IME that could well be the minimum time in optimal conditions and could take much much longer - even though the experts here on private car transfers always claim it is the quickest way in - what is your experience to mock such a time?

Thanks

janisj

>>even though the experts here on private car transfers always claim it is the quickest way in - what is your experience to mock such a time?<<

Almost no one says a car service is the quickest way - where did you get that? I said a car takes 45-90 minutes depending on time of day/traffic. For straight forward journeys the tube often IS the fastest. But as I said, a car service is (by far) the easiest mode when you take into account the slogs at both ends of the tube journey and transfers. I frequently take the tube in but a car service IS easier and not very expensive in the scheme of things.

I made a gentle correction of the Cotswold usage (and even copped to 'nit picking) and get a really angry reaction? And of course PQ piles on and trots out his stale 'Fodorgarch' . . . I thought you vowed to retire that????

PalenQ

The fastest way in is the Heathrow Express to Paddington then taxis which are steps away from the HEX train terminus, to your destination. Tube if on a direct line can be about as fast but most folks will need to change Tube lines - a hassle and takes time as well as facing crowded trains in central London.

janisj

>>The fastest way in is the Heathrow Express to Paddington then taxis which are steps away from the HEX train terminus, to your destination. <<

Very likely not.

After the HEX you have to queue (often a loooooong queue) for a taxi and then onto wherever. But even if it is a few minutes faster -- it is a VERY expensive option.

PalenQ

https://www.heathrowexpress.com/tick...iscounts-deals

Well it can be surprisingly cheap with these always available it seems discounts.

thursdaysd

None of which are of the slightest use to an occasional traveler going solo. I stay in Bloomsbury and take the tube. When AA flew into Gatwick I stayed near Victoria, but I much prefer Bloomsbury.

janisj

No PQ -- it isn't surprisingly cheap. Even w/ the odd discount, unless one is staying right AT Paddington there is the extra ££ for a cab ride. (And if you say >> just take the tube from Paddington << . . . IF one was willing to take the tube, they'd take it all the way in from LHR in the first place and save a ton)

sofarsogood

A useful article outlining the various ways to travel between London's airports and the city.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/tr...and-Luton.html

Note the phrase regarding the Heathrow Express "there are four far more cost effective ways to get to Heathrow Airport…."

sums it up really

PalenQ

One wonders how the Heathrow Express stays in business - being so over priced and going nowhere of use to nobody! weird!