Moving to London for 1 Year: Tips on what trips to take, and when?
 

So I'll be attending LSE for 1 year starting this fall and I am really looking forward to taking out some time for travel.

I would really appreciate if you guys could take a look at this and tell me when would be the best time to go (taking into account special festivals or cheap tickets/hotels and whatnot), and which trips would best be done as short trips on the weekend or during UK holidays, what would be better as a longer excursion, etc.

I'm going to have one month off from Dec 9 to Jan 9 and another month off during Easter. I'm also thinking about leaving early to travel for 2-3 weeks this September, and it's still an option to travel around next summer. But I will definitely be in London from late September 2011 to late June 2012.

Here is a list of places I would love to go to (obviously I can't go to ALL of them but would like to do some!)

-Moscow and/or St Petersburg [I know some Russian]
-Odessa, Ukraine (random, but my family is originally from here)
-Prague
-Paris (a friend can meet me for a weekend)
-Vienna -- can stay with a relative
-Cyprus
-Malta

and I'm also interested in any easy-to-make UK excursions, like Stonehenge, Bath, etc.

As for what kind of trips I usually take, I'm interested in ancient art (especially Near Eastern) & 19th century lit, and often plan my trips around eating at good restaurants, or going to performances (almost anything.. musicals/opera/rock concerts/acoustic/ballet).

thanks!

Yes, Bath is a very easy day or weekend trip from London. The actual baths are fascinating and the Georgian architecture of the town as a whole grand and impressive.

For your Uk list I'd say think about Cornwall (St Ives, Mousehole, Newlyn, the Minack theatre on the cliffs, and one of the gardens). Though this would need a fair amount of time - long weekend at a minimum - definitely not doable as a day trip.

If you like ancient/classical art and opera you might want to consider adding an Italian city to your list. Ditch Cyprus if something needs to go.

Thames festival in September is on of my favourites.

Don't forget about Scotland and Wales. Bruges and Brussels would make a nice long weekend, too.

When we first moved here we went on all sorts of day trips with www.walks.com Here is where we have been:

- Bath
- Cambridge
- Oxford
- Stonehenge/Salisbury
- Cotswolds
- Canterbury
- York

As for weekend trips, pretty much anything in Western Europe is 2-3 hour flight (Russia I am not sure about) so anywhere really is ok for a short trip. Obviously the further in any direction you go the more time it will take. We've gone to Berlin for a 3 day weekend with no problems. Paris is simple to get to on the Eurostar (www.eurostar.com book your ticket 3 months in advance for best price).

As for when the cheapest time to travel - off season tends to be cheapest (over winter) however if you plan and book ahead its easy to get cheap tickets on www.ryanair.com or www.easyjet.com and even on www.ba.com - be careful about extra changes and luggage restrictions on cheap airlines.

Right now Glastonberry (sp?) is on in the UK. But there are music festivals on almost year round here - most are in the spring and summer.

Good luck!

I generally search on skyscanner.net for cheap holiday ideas - the advantage is, unlike other price comparison sites I've used, you can just put in a starting point with no destination, or a destination but search across a whole year, so it's a good way to see where you can fly to and the cheapest destinations/times. I find it's not always the best for places low-cost airlines might not fly to or "complicated" flights (changing planes etc.) but you can always try a couple of different websites.

Bear in mind it may take some time getting a Russian visa and perhaps be complicated doing it from the UK. I went on a work visa in 2006 and had no problem getting it issued from Prague, but an English friend just went and she couldn't do it from here in France, she had to send her passport to the UK and get her parents to help out. There are various agencies that can help, but some advance planning and research will be needed. No visa needed for the Ukraine for US citizens though (I think, I'm not one) - I'm going in just over a month :) I would tend to go a bit longer to these destinations, as the flights are likely to cost a bit more but you might find a deal.

Moscow & the Ukraine are going to be the biggest problems as they are the ones that will require visas - and they tend not to be the easiest to obtain.

You month long winter break is also problematical as much of mainland Europe will be distinctly chilly. I'd be tempted to push the boat out and head for Egypt or India unless you like winter sports.

Within the UK the main season is between Easter and the end of October though city centre places will be open throughout the year.

Also don't assume that good events are going to be expensive - many of the best things I've ever seen have been free or had a small (under £10) charge.

US citizens can stay 90-in-180 days visa-free in Ukraine. I agree Russian visa is a tough one and also very expensive, and requires an invitation from a 'host' in Russia, such as your hotel. Cost for US citizen is from around £105 for a 7-day service, £184 for next day service, plus the cost of invitation (which varies but typically around £20).

Bookmarking to borrow some ideas. :D

Just to add to the Russian Visa information, the rules changed in the last year (a bit more actually) which dictate that you can only obtain a visa in the country of which you hold a passport. Living in the UK, the exception is if you hold a Right to Abode, Entry Clearance or UK passport, then you can apply at the embassy processing centre (not at the Embassy itself) or have an agency do it for you. If you don't have any of the above, then you'll need to get the Letter of Invitation (easily obtained from a hotel, but the catch is you have to book before you start the visa process) to hand in with your application.

As for the other trips, all certainly doable. Paris is a neat weekend jaunt across on the Eurostar (book at least one month ahead to get good deals). Vienna is a short flight away, as is Prague. Both deserve at least 3 full days (maybe 2 in Vienna). Your holidays coincide with the Christmas Markets in Europe, so maybe have a look at this post http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-in-europe.cfm or at this Fodor's article: http://www.fodors.com/news/story_4231.html for some ideas on other cities you can visit. Well worth it!

Cyprus and Malta will not have beach weather as such, but will certainly give you a blast of warmth in the depths of a UK Winter, and there are often deals on during Winter for flights and/or accommodation to get some "Winter Sun", so keep an eye out for those.

Thank you everyone for these great suggestions, I will definitely incorporate them into my plans for travel this year!

Madamtrashheap, do you know if a typical UK student visa will count as a "Right to Abode" or "Entry Clearance" for a Russian visa?

>>the rules changed in the last year (a bit more actually) which dictate that you can only obtain a visa in the country of which you hold a passport.<<

This rule is not new, at least I can say from my own experience that this has been the case for 20+ years, you can only apply in your own country unless you have some kind of residency/work permit or other status in the country you are living in. This also applies to many countries, not just Russia & it also applies if you live in Russia as an expat and need to apply for a visa, eg for India. The visa rules vary by country and can also change without notice, what maybe OK in the UK might not be when applying elsewhere.

>>If you don't have any of the above, then you'll need to get the Letter of Invitation (easily obtained from a hotel, but the catch is you have to book before you start the visa process) to hand in with your application<<

All applications no matter which passport or residency status etc need a letter of invitation (except a transit visa), you obtain from the hotel when you make the booking. Hotels can charge a fee for it as some book to get the invitation then cancel the reservation. Best get some proper up to date advice from a visa company such as CIBT for your particular situation.

Near Eastern/Classical Art

Off the top of my head:
In the UK
- London: the British Museum (apart from the well known stuff,for Cyprus and for Egyptian art in the Roman period) Victoria & Albert (especially for Gandharan art), the Museum of London (for daily life stuff)
- Oxford Ashmolean (especially for Crete and Egyptology), Cambridge University Museum
- The Roman villas of south-east England
- The city museums of any formerly Roman city

The Berlin Museums

Italy:
Naples Archaeological Museum,Pompeii, Herculaneum, the minor sites around the Bay of Naples
Vatican Museums
Sicily, especially Piazza Armerina and Agrigento

Athens and Thessalonica
The Macedonian hinterland of Thessalonica

Turkey: almost anywhere, but especially Lycia

Egypt, especially the Cairo Museum

By comparison to all this, Paris is relatively thin

Assume Iraq, Libya and Syria remain unvisitable. Jordan remains visitable. Some good stuff in Tunisia

Are you doing an undergrad or graduate program at LSE?( My son is finishing up his grad school in London and my daughter finished her masters last year in the UK.)
My advice for you is to travel to alot of places on your "wish list" during off season from the UK. Easy Jet and other discount airlines have really great deals for long weekends and holidays online so sign up for their "deal newsletters".There are also some great bargains to be had if you have a guidebook ready for a last minute trip.
If you want to do weekend trips out of London I would recommend a great book called Daytrips from London by an author called Steinbecker?It has been around forever and offers you a brief guide,how to get there,etc. on various cities like Bath,Stonehenge,etc.I would purchase a Lonely Planet and Rough Guide Britain or United Kingdom guidebook.Then I would purchase a Western Europe guidebook and Easter Europe guidebook(from the same guides)in whatever your language is so that you will have these books ready and available to check and cross reference a "great deal" when they come-very invaluable.
The British Museum and the British Library have some great free programs that you should check into-also purchase a student Oyster card to get around on the tubes and buses(buy from your school).
I don't know if you have student housing but if you are living on your own I hope you get on it ASAP as it took us over 13 days last year at this time to find an apartment in London for my son. Everytime we walked into a place the letting agent would receive a call that it got taken. Good Luck!

Niomi -

you mention co-ordinating your travels with special events, festivals. etc. frankly there are far too many of them in too many places for us to mention them all by name.

but a few ideas - if you are going to Paris, try to go at the same time as an exhibition you want to see, AND get tickets in advance if you can. for example last year the queues at the Grands palais for most of their exhibitions were horrendous. however,for just €22 you can get a sesame jeune ticket, if you are under 25, that gives you unlimited entry to all their exhibitions.

see www.grandpalais.fr

in vienna, look at http://www.wien.info/en/sightseeing/museums-exhibitions

it looks as if next year they are going to be concentrating on Klimt so if you are a fan you should be in for a treat.

i'm sure that by doing a trawl of this forum, you can find similar resources for the other places you want to go to.

This advice is fantastic everyone, thank you!

dutyfree - I hope your children enjoyed their experience! I'll be doing a graduate program. LSE hasn't even given out housing yet so I'm not sure if I'll go private or not, but we'll see. Plus I'm still worrying about getting my UK visa!

Niomi-Both of my kids love living in the UK but the dollar versus pound has really taken a hit in their bank accounts.Good luck on your student visa-wait till you try and get a work visa!
We had good luck with Winkworth letting agencies-FOX is great but definitely really high end flats in Bloomsbury.