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London Trip Report
We left for London on May 1 2007. We had an over night flight on BA. We purchased our tickets 8 months in advance so we got a good price. The flight was an 8 hour direct flight from Tampa FL to Gatwick. There was this lady on the flight who was extremely rude from the start. During the flight she started drinking quite a bit. Then we noticed that she started taking some sort of perscription pills.
About an hour later she stood up in the walkway and fell backwards. She never even tried to catch herself. She bumped her head and caused quite a stir on the plane. After that she finally fell asleep. When our plane landed at Gatwick at 8:00 am London time she opened the overhead compartment and hit me in the head with her bag and her grandmother's cane. Needless to say I was ready to "loose my rag" (new British saying I learned) with her. But I was just to tired. But it is americans like her that give the rest of us a bad reputation. We took the Gatwick Express into Victoria Station. We got our tickets with a 50% discount thanks to codes from Fodor's. We decided to take a taxi (black one) to our hotel. It olny cost 4 pounds. We arrived at our Hotel The Crowne Royal Plaza St. James in the Westminster area. We used priceline another fodors suggestion and got our room for $115.00 american including VAT . Which for London is fantastic. Hotel is beautiful-staff very friendly and helpful. I would recommend it. We met our american cousin and her British Husband for lunch at the Bank Westminster. The food and atmosphere were great. Our cousins then gave us a small tour of the city. We went back to our room at 5:30 pm and fell asleep. We slept until 9:30 pm and thought we goofed big time by falling asleep early but we did fall back asleep at around 10:30 pm and slept until 7:00 am. Next our first day in London without being in a jetlag coma! |
Can't wait to hear the rest! I had to laugh out loud about the crazy lady on the plane. I think she flew home with me from Hawaii one time...
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ttt
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Hi it looks as if this is going to be a good report.
Interesting your comment about he loud American woman - yes your right she does give you guys a bad press, some Brits do think that the American people are larger than life, louder than a fog horn and dress in bright garish colours and wear baseball caps all the time (possibly even while making love) BUT BEFORE YOU EXPLODE WITH RAGE Us Brits are often seen by the world as Beer Swilling, drunken, long haired hooligans with long union jack shorts down to mid calf wearing sleevless vests with at least 3 tattoes and finally with a very limited vocabliary which has a greater us of the F word than any other country. SADLEY THERE ARE THESE PEOPLE ON BOTH SIDES OF THE POND. SOLUTION - you keep your lot and we will send you ours - I think that i have that right :-) |
You mean you paid $115.00 for the room that on tripadvisor is $469.00??? Please, please tell me how you did it-I must not know how to properly use priceline, could you please tell me how - we have a trip coming up the end of May and I would love to get thAt kind of deal. Thanks for sharing...all your story
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Great report, wolverine. Keep it coming.
Leslie, take a look at www.betterbidding.com and www.biddingfortravel.com for some guidance on how to use Priceline. London is one of the great cities. I got the Waldorf Hilton for $120 per night inclusive of VAT and service. |
yep - you can often get 4star rooms in London for less than $100 on Priceline. cmcfong gave you the links you need to study.
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Hey Blightyboy I do take offence. I insist my dh take off his ballcap in bed.
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yes but does he still chew the gum LOL
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The woman on the plane sounds like my friend's now deceased mother who went to London, rented a flat & never left it. Just kept ordering cases of wine to be delivered.
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Good start, wolverine. Looking forward to more . . .
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Not to hijack this thread, but in the unlikely event that it is sunny when I'm in the UK in June, what kind of headwear am I permitted in lieu of a baseball cap? Am I right in thinking that my cowboy hat might be slightly more out of place?
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Did you see any nice tea cups at the Tower!
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wolverine 8910 - Nice start. Looking forward to more.
Sandy |
twk
cowboy hat will be just fine, it will allow the pick pockets and muggers to identify you easily, leaving the rest of us alone and with our cash and rolex watches. go for it |
We've been round the houses several times on the baseball cap question. You will see plenty here on the natives.
What you might not see much of are the rather larger shaped kind in rather thicker shinier fabrics (I don't know else to describe it), and then only on teenagers who want to be thought of as a bit gangsta (so, not a good look for anyone over about 25). A non-stereotypical alternative might be one of those floppy fishing hats. But you can wait till you get here and see if the sun is shining with sufficient power (huh!), and if necessary get something from a street stall. |
cmcfong is correct should have mentioned that we read those web pages before doing priceline. Again thanks Fodorites.
FLmom-yes I brought one back for my favorite sister-in-law!! AS for the British/American comparison-I found the Brits an example we Yanks could learn alot from--just my opinion. |
Good one blightyboy I worked hard for my rolex, oops I mean timex.
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Day 2
We are off to the British Museum. We had a coffee and danish at the little cafe under the walkway about 8 pounds for 2 people. We spent about 2 hours here. It is one of those places you could spend all day. We then decided to just walk along the embankment. We found a lovely cafe-Embankment cafe and got coffee. They had a beautiful courtyard to sit and enjoy your coffee and relax. The sun started to come out and people were laying in the grass just enjoying the day. We heaaded over to do the RIB Boat ride down the Thames. 52.00 pounds for 2. This was great!! The guide on the boat was knowledgeable and funny. Of course we lost the sun and the boat travels pretty fast..my ears about froze off..I am a florida gal after all. We walked more along the Thames afterward. We saw Cleopatras Oblisk and The battle of Britian Memorial. We also found Temple Church a service was starting so we didn't get to go in. We just wandered the city for quite awhile. Of course stopping at a few pubs. We started to head back towards the hotel to find something to eat. We went to The Albert 2 meals and a couple of drinks 18.86 pounds. Somehow we got turned around and lost our way for an hour. Found victoria station and took the tube to ST. James's stop. Thank Goodness we are totally ehausted. Of course the next day we realized that The Albert was on the same street as our hotel and not even 2 blocks away!!! I wish I could say we had 1 pint to many but we don't even have that excuse!! It was great just to walk around the city without a schedule and rushing from here to there. I would recommend doing this. |
On the vexed headwear question. Men should wear Bowler hats and women shouldn't be out in public in any case.
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In general, or just when you're around?
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Both - especially the latter.
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ooops not the British Museum. We went to the National Gallery.
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BTW: Forgot to mention that I'm loving the report. We'll be staying nearby, at the corner of Petty France and Palmer Street, so any and all details about what's around in that neighborhood is of great interest to me.
On the hat issue--if you folks saw my hairline, you'd understand the need for something to cover my scalp when the sun is out. If I went the bowler route, I'm afraid that I'd also have to buy the suit and umbrella, and this might make me an easy mark on latter stages of the trip, in Scotland. Of course, I guess the Tam O'Shanter and kilt is de rigeur north of the border, rigth? |
Thanks for the report, wolverine. I'm looking forward to hearing more!
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>>Of course, I guess the Tam O'Shanter and kilt is de rigeur north of the border<<
Only if you get the kind of hat that comes complete with ginger wig attached... |
Good report and good light hearted banter - keep it up it is fun as well as interesting
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If you wear a kilt you can pack lighter because you won't have to wear underwear. :)
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Thanks for posting this report as it has been very enjoyable to read.
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Day 3
Today we went to St. Pauls. It was absoutly beautiful. We climbed up to the wispering gallery. There was an event happening in the afternoon and they had a choir and musicians playing. It sounded lovely we just sat and enjoyed that for awhile. We stopped at The Red Herring Pub on Wood St. for lunch. 3 meals and a round of drinks 30.00 pounds. The food was very good. Next the Museum Of London. Only one quarter was open due to work being done. The work will be going on for quite awhile so if you will be traveling soon and you planned on visiting you may want to skip it. We went to The Comedy Store (in piccadilly)this evening. It was 37.00 pounds for 2. We had an excellent time. I would recommend it. Mainly locals not alot of tourists. The show was great and really funny. |
Maybe one of these would work? Or are only brain specialists allowed to wear these?
http://tinyurl.com/2x3qwt |
Day 4
Portobello Road Market: I found a couple of good deals here but it seemed a little over priced to me. The veggie and fruit section was really the best part. It was quite crowded and the police were handing out fliers to be on the alert for pickpockets. British Museum: It was crowded also as it was a Bank Holiday. We just saw the highlights. There were a lot of tour groups so it was hard to get close to a lot of the pieces. This is another museum that you could spend all day in. We stopped at a little cafe-The Bon Bonniere on Woodstock St. It cost 25.10 pounds for 3 lunches plus drinks. The food was quite good. We walked along Bond and Regent Streets window shopping. This was much better than walking through our American malls. We stopped for dinner on our way back to our Hotel. We stopped at the Buckingham Arms Pub on Petty France in the Westminster area. 2 Meals plus drinks 11.80 pounds. The food,staff and atmosphere were great. We met a nice older couple from Australia. We talked to them for 2 hours. They were on a 9 week holiday through the United Kingdom. They were very nice and we really enjoyed the conversation. We have had excellent weather and lovely adventures so far. London is a wonderful city. Tomorrow we are going to Hampton Court Palace. |
Funny how this cap issue is so over the top ... I see lots of locals in UK wearing caps all the time. So get the h..l over it. Remember, if you do not want to look like a tourist wear all black (including the underwear), never wear a cap, and for gods sake never speak as your twangy 'mericun accent will blow your cover. Might be best to hide you pearly whites as well, so never smile either.
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wolverine, I am continuing to enjoy your trip report. Did you plan where to eat ahead of time or just stop where you fancied? It sounds like you found lots of reasonably priced but tasty places.
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I too was surprised to see reasonable cost for meals. We are going in July and your report about crowds and costs is very helpful to me.
thereyet |
ttt
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Good report...
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May I ask what codes you used from Fodors to get the reduced rate on the Gatwick Express, or where to find the codes.
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For the questions about food we mostly stopped in pubs & little mom/pop type places that looked busy and was mostly full of locals..we didnt on purpose go to any fancy places because of the cost..alot of times we just walked around and found the cheaper cafe or pub...The Gatwick Express code was posted before we left so we pre-ordered 4 one way tickets online and just printed out the confirmation..do a search to see if the offer is still available
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