London trip planning, advice please
 

My girlfriends and I are celebrating our 30th birthdays in London this year. We will be there between June 22 - July 1. We are renting a flat with Farnum & Christ in Notting Hill on Pembridge Crescent for the entire 9 nights. We are flying the JFK to Stansted flight with Maxjet.

None of us have been to London and would like to balance touristy activities with enjoying some local type flavor. I have developed a very loose plan based on what I have read in this forum over the past week. Please critique/add to/edit my itinerary:

Day 1: arrive Stansted 7am, head to flat get settled, get tickets for open top tour bus. I have done this in Paris and Madrid and really enjoyed it as a way to get over jet lag and get oriented in the city and see a few major sites.

For the rest of the trip we plan on using the tube exclusively and will buy a week pass.

After this I don't have anything planned on various days, but would like to do the following:

Tower of London (crown jewels and yeoman tour) -- will try to arrive early as suggested on this forum.

Ceremony of Keys -- sending off for tickets. Any advice as to what to do in the area before this?

London Eye

Westminster Abbey

Parliament -- the flat leasing agency can arrange for us a private tour for $100 USD. Apparently we would be allowed access to areas that are not available to the public. Does this sound worth it?

Should I chose between Hampton Court Palace and Kensington or do both?

We are not major museum enthusiasts, but I would like to look at a few interesting collections. Any advice on something particularly fascinating/unique/British?

Shopping: Portobello Road Market, Harrods, Marks & Spencer (has been recommended by several locals).

Parks: we really like parks and plan on visiting several. Any special recommendations? (Especially for a picnic?)

Pubs: I have pin-pointed a few with high ratings at the FancyaPint site in our area. We would also love to do a guided pub crawl of interesting and historic pubs. Any advice?

Theatre: I am a Shakesepeare enthusiast, but probably alone in this. If I feel brave I might go catch a play alone, any advice? Otherwise we were thinking of seeing Mary Poppins. Any comments?

Food: We would like to eat out as little as possible and as our flat has a fully stocked kitchen we plan on shopping early. I have located a Tesco grocer near our flat. Is that a good place to get all that we need (eggs, bread, deli meat, condiments, wine, etc) But for a few special occasions we might grab a bite to eat out. Any recommendations for reasonable eating in Notting Hill? We have one person that is a picky eater.

Day trips: I am thinking of Bath and Oxford. Can these both be done in one day comfortably? (We wake up pretty early) Considered Stonehenge, but have read it is overrated and disappointing. Any further advice?

That's about it for now. Does this sound reasonable for 9 days? We really want to be able to relax and spend time together too. Any tips on what things can be combined and done on the same day, etc would be much appreciated. Any further suggestions would also be appreciated.

Thanks so much!

Chandra :)

You have done some really good homework and your planning is a really good start. The only thing I would do next is start grouping/framing the activities and check with your gfs as you guys are truly the only ones who can say whether it is worth it or not.

You will find out soon enough that disappointments are often tied to wrong expectations, i.e. I don't consider Stonehenge a disappointment because my expectations were from the get-go that I was not going to be able to "climb the stones" nor even get too close. Hence, I was not disappointed. I could tell other people (who apparently did very little research) were.

A word of advice; keep it loose. Draft a daily itinerary by grouping and alternating types of sightseeing/activities, but definitely do not stressed about it. Weather, health, "bad hair" days, it all comes into play (specially with females...), so just get details on hours of operation and costs for the MUST SEEs and let it all unraveled....:-D

laustic, we'll be in London during that time as well (June 21 to July 1) and staying in our beloved Farnum-Christ Covent Garden flat we've now rented about 10 times. Were you copying us? LOL. And aren't Farnum and Christ nice to deal with?

Regarding Mary Poppins -- if you want to see it I suggest calling the theatre now and getting tickets. We tried numerous times during our December stay and there was no way -- other than standing in cue for returns which we did one day without success. So we already bought our tickets for June. Need information on how to do that? I'll be happy to provide.

There are plenty of Shakespeare options and many are likely to be available at the official free standing TKTS booth in Leicester Square. Anthony and Cleopatra at the Globe Theatre could be fun. Taming of the Shrew at the outdoor theatre in Regent's Park would be great fun (even the others might go for that?), or Midsummer Night's Dream at the Barbican.

I also just got tickets to the delightful comedy Hay Fever starring Dame Judi Dench and Peter Bowles. There may be half price tickets available last minute at TKTS, but I wouldn't count on it, so we're seeing that on June 30.

You will have a wonderful time.

Neopolitain: Thanks for the theatre advice! I would love information on how to buy our theatre tickets in advance.

How funny that we are going to be there at almost exactly the same time in a Farnum and Christ flat! I thought perhaps it was you that I had taken the recommendation on for Farnum and Christ, but I looked back and it was actually Patrick's recommendation that sold me. So nice to hear another recommendation. Lisa has been really great to deal with so far. She really seems to understand our situation and what we want out of this trip. Most of the flats were out of our price range, but she went out of her way to ask one of the owners if they would open up a second bedroom for us in this normally one bedroom flat in Notting Hill. She has given great advice, etc. Have you ever taken the Parliament tour?

Viajero2: I appreciate your advice as well. I am usually not a very disappointed traveler. I just love being a new place and seeing new things. Thanks so much for your input.

Anyone else with any advice or suggestions?

Interesting. Patrick and I are realllllly close friends.

Realllllly close? A couple perhaps? :)

It sounds like you will all have a great time, and a loose plan always works best with a group. If you buy theatre tickets in advance (and in your case, the Ceremony of the Keys), that will provide some structure that you can build everything else around. Same if you decide to book a private tour of Stonehenge, or the like.

For collections, you might want to check out the Sir John Soane house. http://www.soane.org/ It is the house of a prominent London architect, complete with all the things he collected. On the first Tuesday of the month, they have evening candlelight hours (won't fit your dates, though).

Another small collection that gets a lot of mention is the Wallace Collection. http://www.wallacecollection.org/

Kenwood House (the Iveagh Bequest) is another house/art combination. Hampstead Heath was recommended to me as a nice area to visit.

The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace (separate entrance) has changing displays from the Royal collection, one of the finest picture collections anywhere.

On Wednesday evenings, the Victoria and Albert Museum has late hours, open until 10:00pm. When we were there, they had live music and cocktails in the atrium. Lots of young professionals were there.

The Dali Universe, right near the London Eye, is a different type of museum (especially attractive if you like Dali).

Tesco will be perfect for your needs - it's a supermarket/grocery store.

As for shopping, Marks & Spencer is kind of basic department store fare (something like 80% of British men wear M&S underwear). You might enjoy Sloane Square and the Kings Road area for a variety of shops. (I remembered reading about Princess Di hanging out at Sloane Square before her marriage to Prince Charles). We enjoyed it. Another fun area to shop is Covent Garden/Neal St. Also, be sure to go in Liberty on Regent. http://www.liberty.co.uk/

Neopolitan - thanks for the info. on Hay Fever - I love Noel Coward & Dame Judy, should be great! I'll also be in London around that time - June 30 to July 5. I noticed Derek Jacobi will be in Voyage Round My Father then so I'll be trying for tickets to that also.

laustic - cheapest way to buy tickets is to call the theater box ofice, give them a credit card number & pick the tickets up an hour or so before the performance. Look at http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/
for links to the theater websites - many have theater plans so you can see where the seats are. Or you could pay Ticketmasters booking fee.

I second the recommendation for the V&A - I love the dress section. If you like Chinese porcelain don't miss the Percival David Foundation on Gordon Square. For furniture, there's the Geffrye. For a different experience spend Monday evening at the http://www.dennissevershouse.co.uk/ And don't forget the river & canals for boat trips. Enjoy London!

If you go to http://www.theatremonkey.com/ you can see seating plans of all of the London theatres complete with which seats are recommended. I found this useful when I was booking our tickets in advance (use these charts and book with the actual theatre box office).

More suggestions for museums are the London Museum and the Churchill War Rooms. You can look stuff up on Google to see if it interests you.

Also, try london.walks.com to look ahead of time at what you might like--their pub walk might suit you--and buy a Time Out when you arrive for current things to do.

Laustic, a "couple" you ask? Well I have slept with him every day since I was born! Patrick was banned from posting here because (according to the editor who did so) correcting another poster's wrong information was the same as calling that poster a liar. Anyway, I now post the helpful posts that Patrick is no longer allowed to post.

For tickets to Mary Poppins, call the Prince Edward Box Office directly. Just allow for the time difference and call between the hours of 10 AM and 4 PM. When they answer make sure you are speaking to the actual box office. Sometimes if real busy it will switch over to a booking agency.
Assuming you don't have special rates for calling the UK, here's the total number to dial from the US and it will cost less than 5 cents a minute:
101-6868-011-44-207-447-5400 (you could also replace the 6868 with 6400)

Following Theatre Monkey's suggestion and my own experiences in the Prince Edward, I'd try to get tickets in the stalls (orchestra to us yanks) -- Rows F to K, seats 5 to 28.
I was told to get a little "distance" on this show and with full choice of seats, I chose the two seats in the middle of Row J.

We once took a special Parliament tour, but it was arranged via a friend who works there in a fairly high position. I thought it was interesting, but not the most exciting thing we've ever done in London by a long shot.

Just a heads up that there is a lot of decent prepared food you can buy and take home. Marks & Spencer do some good food. The Chinese and Indian there is excellent.

Kensington Palace is IN London, Hampton Court is not. YOu can take a boat ride along to Thames to or from Hampton Court. It takes longer so I'd only use it in one direction.

Bath & Oxford are not a good combination for 1 day. Both are relatively large cities. There's lots of info already here on day trips from London. London Walks is a well regarded co. that does relatively inexpensive walking tours in town and also what they call their explorer days (daytrips). http://www.walks.com/

Had not heard of Maxjet. Hope you post a report on how it was. May I ask what you're paying for airfare?

Just to clarify, I didn't mean to get Chinese and Indian from Marks & Spencer (known as Marks & Sparks by locals) but rather that the Chinese & Indian food in London is quite good.

M & S is also a good place to change currency if you need some.

Neopolitan -- glad to see that you could step in after the "demise" of Patrick ;) Great advice about the theatre. I still have to make sure the other girls want to shell out that kind of money for a show.

I am starting to think we may skip the Parliament tour and save our money to do other things.

Mclaurie -- thanks for the tip about London Walks. I am certainly going to look into them for the Explorer days, sounds really reasonable. We might take 2 day trips (Bath and Oxford/Cottswolds).

About the flight, I had never heard of Maxjet either, but my friend found the deal $750 roundtrip out of JFK. They are an entirely business class airline and apparently running this special until the end of this month. It was cheaper for me to take a chance and do it this way than to fly coach out of Houston (which would have me driving from Austin to Houston in the first place). This way I can just fly into JFK direct from Austin. AND us girls can all fly together, whereas before we were all flying separately.

I will definitely post a trip report. I have had the benefit of so many others trip reports, it only seems right! I just recently posted a link to my February trip to Puebla, but no one has seemed interested so far. I guess interior Mexico isn't as hot a destination as the UK!

Laustic,

You and your girlfriends will have a wonderful time. I try to take an annual trip with my friends, even if it is just a weekend.

*Taking the tube is a perfect plan.
*Time Out is a good publication to buy when you arrive, for the weekly happenings.

I lived in London for about 5 months and I have some favorite things:

* Parliament: I took the private tour and it is worth it, in my opinion. You will learn a lot and see areas/rooms you wouldn't see otherwise.
* Museums: I love the National Gallery - it is huge and my attention span for museums is short, so I went about 10x's and spent time in each wing. The best part - it is FREE!
- Shopping: Portobello Road - make sure you do this on Saturday AM. I would suggest High Street Kensington (by Hyde Park) and Covent Gardens the best for clothes shopping. Camden Lock is another cool, off the beaten path outdoor shopping market (you kow the commercial with Kate Winslet for American Express?)
- Restaurants: Eating in is a good idea to save $. You should try fish 'n chips during your stay. Also, I like a fun restaurant Wagamama - also on High Street Kensington
- Parks: Hyde Park / St. James' Park
- Day trips: I liked both Oxford and Cambridge and Bath is a lovely town in the English countryside.
- Castles: Windsor Castle, Leeds, try to see one on your stay
- Also worth checking out: St. Paul's
- Theater

There is so much in London: Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, St. Pauls, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, National Gallery, Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Kensington Palace, theater, shopping, pubs - fun, fun, fun!

(Please excuse any type-o's - typing fast)

Enjoy and happy bdays to you all!

For the parks go to Kew Gardens and Hapmton Court. They would be about a day trip by bus and tube from central London.

Lots of great info from lots of posters more knowlegeable about London than I...

But, I have a pub recommendation that is right in the Notting Hill area. We really enjoyed the Churchill Arms. The pub is cool, but there is also a really good Thai restaurant in the back of the pub. Yes, sounds weird, I know, but we had a great and reasonably priced meal, and they served our drinks from the pub bar area.

Have a great trip! :-)