Just returned from London yesterday and had a brilliant time! Had the most horrendous flight ever, it was 5 hours delayed taking off! I will never fly American out of Miami again! Stayed at the Hotel Russell, it was supposed to be a 4 star. The first room given to us, was a 2*. After one night the fuse blew and we were transfered to another room which was a 3* room. Saw aanother room in the front part, which was a soild 4*. It was a very schizophrenic place! Found 3 very good restaurants, Criterion, near Criterion theater, Sapori on Drury Lane and Porchette in Bloomsbury on Boswell. Tried Italian Kitchen and was major disappointed! Don't go! Toured the V&A wich I loved, and Imperial War Museum which was fascinating, and was one of the highlights of our trip. Saw Complete Works of Shakspeare, Anything Goes, and Blood Brothers. Loved the first 2, but did not care for Blood Brothers, it was just not my cup of tea. Did a day trip out to Dover Castle and was blown away by it. It is a "must see" IMO. Did a" super" tour of Westminster Abbey and found it tremendously informative. We were at the Abbey some years ago, but I wanted to do a more in depth tour. JoeG: Took justairports back to Heathrow and was very pleased by their service. I LOVE London and I can't wait to go back for a 2 month time period. FYI, Judy

Judyrem - Can you give me more details about the Le Meridien Russell. We are staying there the first of May. Thanks.

Flying out of Miami is frustrating, that's for sure, but why the resolution about American? If you refused to fly any airline that delayed flights that much out of Miami, you couldn't find any to fly. I was actually impressed when last year after boarding our plane in Miami for London, they had to totally deplane for another inspection. We were convinced we'd be there for hours and miss our connecting flight in London, but they worked hard, organized, and fast and in the end we were only delayed a little over an hour and a half, but then they made that time up, arriving almost exactly on time in London after all.

I'm curious how you assigned the star ratings to the various rooms? Are you talking about the stars representing size or furnishings? Star ratings for hotels have to do with the amenities the hotel offers, not how attractive or spacious any of the rooms are.

Barbara, it is not Le meridien Russell anymore. Itwa sbought buy another UK hotelier Royal National. It was not a bad place, but as I said the rooms varied tremondously. I ahve nevr been in a hotel with such a range of rooms! First room was not bad, but it did have a small double bed which was way too soft IMO. Bathroom was very small but nice. They did not doub le sheet the bed as they did in our "better" room.. The better room had a fridge and a nice queen bed. Bathroom was bigger and better, and the room was nicely decorated. It was a small, but nice room. If they give you a not so nice room, ask for another room. Someone did next to us while checking in. FYI, Judy

Patrick, we were supposed to leave at 7:50 pm, did not take off till 12:15am, no one made their connections! After finally taking off, we asked the stewardess, if they would give us a free drink for all the aggravation we put up with, she called the Captain and asked, and the Captain said no. I had a heated discussion with said stewardess, who then refused to sell me a glass of wine! I have NEVER been treated so shabbily in my LIFE! Needless to say my fellow passengers around me, agreed with me and I will include their names in my letter to American, stating what a horrendous flight we had. As for the Russell's star system, I bet the Russell itself, would have trouble assigning the number fo stars too! What a hodgepodge! Judy

Judy, do enlighten me on the differences between a 2*, and a 3*, and a 4* room..and all of them in the same hotel???
Sorry about your flight experience and I suspect the pilot of the aircraft has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not the crew can give you a free glass of wine or anything else. That ploy sounds more like a bit of passive aggression. Hopefully in your letter to American you named NAMES....and to think we are subsidizing these business bozos with tax dollars...

Judy,
Sorry to hear about your problems with your flight. Even though this happens with all airlines, it's no way to start a vacation. It seems to set up a process where things just begin to go wrong. We have had good experiences with AA. We are flying BA for the first time next week and I was mildly regretting not booking on AA. You never know.
How did you like The Complete Works of WS? Did you eat at the Criterion Restaurant before/after the show?
I've mentioned to my wife about seeing the Imperial War Museum and she thinks I'm joking.
Did you do a London Walk?
Glad to hear your experience with Just Airports was good. We are using them both ways. How was your return flight or shouldn't I ask?
JoeG

Judyrem - thanks for the info. I assume the hotel didn't give you any problem about having a Priceline reservation. I have reserved two rooms, one of the rooms needs to be a twin and one a double. I hope I'm not going to have trouble with that. Did you eat breakfast, or any meals, close to the hotel? Thanks.

Joe, I HOWLED all through Shaksepeare. I loved that play! I even bought "I love my Willy" t-shirt . We did Criterion pre-theater and it was wonderful. It is one of Marco Pierro White's restaurants. We did the pre-theater menu(do before 6:30) which was a GREAT bargain IMO. It was a gorgeous resataurant with wonderful food and wine. Imperial War Museum was really much better than you can possible imagine! They even had a Women during War exhibit. Jonjon, I don't know how how they have 3 distinct levle of rooms, but they do! I gurantee that if you saw them, you would agree! The 4* stars has plasma TVs and hardwood floors and gorgeous furniture! Our first room had tired, worn looking rugs and wallpaper and a space heater because it got so cold, because it was down a dark drafty hall in the unrefurbished section of the hotel. Our return flight was fine BTW. Judy

Barbara, il Porchette was about 2 blocks from the Hotel and it was our true London bargain. Good basic Italian food and pizza. Had mostly a local college crowd, It had great food and service, but a small hole in the wall type of place that is quite fun! We also did Pizza Express for PX fix. Judy

I have to agree with the Complete Works comments. We saw it & LOVED it.Even the pouty teenage daughter couldn't resist it. Audience was all ages.
After I got home came across the video at a gararge sale for $1.00!!

I missed them when they came to a town near us on tour. They were doing "All the Great Books". Haven't seen "Complete History of America" but bet it's a riot too.They were alternating that when we were in London.

Joe,
Ditto on the Complete Works of Shakespeare, it is a howl. If you decide to go and have seats in the first few rows, you just may become part of the cast.

I actually enjoyed the Imperial War Museum, but I don't know that I would put it on my 'must-see list' for a first trip to London, just my opinion, mind you.
The museum needs several hours to explore.
The exhibits of the Blitz were especially interesting to me. I think I looked at every photograph and read every poignant letter and journal that was on display.

Last October, I finally made my way to the Cabinet War Rooms. You might be able to squeeze in the War Rooms on your Westminster Abbey/ Parliament walk -by day, but they too deserve some 'quality' time, there?s a lot of history there.

Your 5 days in London will fly by. There are so many major things to see and do and there are so many fascinating lesser known places to see, not to mention the joys of walking along narrow passage ways and getting delightfully lost ( all the while knowing that your trusty A to Z will help you find your way home. )

My brilliant suggestion is to start planning your second trip to London while you are on the plane returning home from your first trip to London.

Starspinners, we were in the second row center and kept on referring to me (who was howling with laughter) as the with the laugh from Canada. One of the reasons I liked the War Museum so much, was my Auntie was a WAC stationed in London during the war. Meant a lot to me personally. I agree that it can probably wait till your next trip to London. I finally did it on my fourth! Another restaurant I forgot to mention was Maggiore's on King street. It was good for pre-theater, but it was not as great as I had anticipated. FYI, Judy

Judy,
I have a friend who has a wonderful story Titled "Held Captive by AA". Basically they were delayed 5 hours out of London and were NOT allowed to leave the boarding gate until they nearly rioted! It was all too funny if you were not the one who needed to go to the bathroom or eat! One of the passengers went so far as to call the airport police and say he was being kidnapped!

On her next AA flight, she had gotten business class seats with a basinette (front row) to Portugal. AA messed up the whole thing and they wound up in the back in coach. On the flight home they actually threatened not to let the baby on and then told the parents that if they did not get on the ticket was void.... Now what do you do with the child! (After some screaming child was allowed on!)


However, in AA's defense any of the airlines can have a bad day.

The Russell Hotel does have three different types of rooms (that are all priced differently). The lowest level (and cheapest) is the Economy room, which is a smaller, unrefurbished room with no air conditioning. The mid-level room is the Standard room. We stayed in this type of room several years ago and it was very nice. The top level room is called a Contemporary room and these rooms are larger and all have 42" plasma screen TVs. There is good information on these room types on Expedia.

TTT for Russell hotel question.