In a December posting, I outlined the difficulties of trying to plan 3 1/2 days in London (with my mother) using the London Pass (which we have for 2 days) and the Great British Heritage Pass (which we will already have used for the earlier segments of our England trip). Now, however, I've decided to forget about the constraints of the passes and just figure out the best way to fit in our must-see's, even if it means not getting the full value of the passes (lesson learned!):

Tower of London
Westminster Abbey
St. Paul's Cathedral
Cabinet War Rooms
Windsor Castle

Also, in spite of some suggestions to the contrary, Mom really wanted to take a double-decker bus tour, so we've found a promotional code that allowed us to get tickets fairly cheap, actually, so now add a HOHO tour to the list : - )

I was thinking we could use the bus tour to get to a couple of the sights, but I'm struggling with trying to get to both the Tower and the Abbey upon opening (as many Fodorites recommend), and still fit in the bus tour and Windsor. We'd also like to get a cruise or two in there, possibly as a means of transport between Westminster and the Tower.

Unfortunately, my best itinerary seems to necessitate eliminating something - probably Windsor. Here's what that version looks like:

Wed. 5/25 - arrive into Paddington Station, staying at Luna Simone near Victoria. Westminster walk that afternoon/evening, ending nr. National Gallery - stop in if open

Thurs. 5/26 - Get full value of bus tour: Do their Changing of the Guards walking tour (I know, I know, but this is only if we miss Windsor)..., full bus tour circuit, use "free" cruise to go to Greenwich in afternoon (?)

Fri. 5/27 - Westminster Abbey at 9:30, take verger tour, lunch, Cabinet War Rooms in afternoon, back to Abbey at 5:00 for evensong

Sat. 5/28 - Get to Tower before it opens (London Pass will get us fast track entry anyway), straight to Crown Jewels, Yeoman Warder tour & the rest; bus to St. Paul's Cathedral in the afternoon, stay for evensong

Any ideas on how to fit Windsor in??? All comments and suggestions are welcome!

Sorry -- but Windsor simply won't fit on any of your London days.

How about going to Windsor before arriving in London? That is really the only way. Don't know where you are coming in from -- but instead of going straight to London, take the train to Windsor. Spend a few hours seeing the castle and town and then continue in to London. You don't really have much scheduled on Wed. so use it to see Windsor if it is a must.

Thanks Janis - We were planning to arrive from Penzance that first day, which means we wouldn't arrive in London until mid-afternoon, so the only way to add Windsor at the front-end would be to shorten our stay in Cornwall. We may just skip Windsor altogether this trip.

I didn't mean cutting any time from Cornwall. I meant taking the train from Penzance to Windsor. It takes about 5 hours from Penzance to Windsor. So if you leave say around 9AM, you'd be in Windsor by 2PM. Have 2 or 3 hours to see the Castle and still get to London before 6PM.

So -- you could either get to London by mid afternoon and miss Windsor, or get to Windsor by mid afternoon and get to London a few hours later. No impact on your Cornwall time . . .

Janis - I appreciate your comments; however, after I posted this, we had a rather dramatic change of plans! We have decided to save Cornwall for the next trip, when we can devote more time to it, and instead are hiring a car for a week to do a loop from Winchester (where we are visiting a friend as well as the beautiful city and cathedral), including a bit of Dorset, Salisbury, Bath and the Cotwolds before ending in Windsor. We've found a nice-looking B & B in Windsor to stay for several nights, which will allow us to see Windsor, day-trip into London (which suits us), and have easy access to Heathrow.

So - after months of painstaking planning, we have scrapped half of our original plans. It's okay, though - planning is much of the fun for me, and I feel like I've learned an awful lot already without having left yet on our trip.

I may well be back with new questions - and hopefully will have something constructive to contribute after we return from our trip rather than always being on the asking end!