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...

ttt

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

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.

Hey Blightyboy I do take offence. I insist my dh take off his ballcap in bed.

yes but does he still chew the gum LOL

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.

Good start, wolverine. Looking forward to more . . .

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?

Did you see any nice tea cups at the Tower!

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.

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.