Need urgent help with possible London trip in Sept.
 

I think the time may be here!! I need your help! My hubby and I are seriously thinking of going to London in Sept. Yes, it?s short notice, but I think we can do it! We?re thinking of going on Sept. 26th out of Chicago on a direct Air India flight into London Heathrow on a night flight. Anyone flown Air India before?

I have researched a package deal through offpeaktraveler.com. The packages range from $1488 to $1850 for two with air, hotel, transfers, and insurance. The prices vary by hotel. I have the hotel list and I?d like opinions on the neighborhoods:

Mina House
Neighborhood: Bayswater
Tube: Paddington, Lancaster Gate

Columbia Hotel
Neighborhood: Bayswater
Tube: 15 minute walk to Paddington

Tria Hotel
Neighborhood: Notting Hill area
Tube: 15 minute walk to Paddington

Jarvis Marylebone Hotel
Neighborhood: Marylebone, Baker Street
Tube: Marylebone, Baker Street

Barkston Gardens
Neighborhood: Earls Court
Tube: Earls Court

Gresham Hotel
Neighborhood: Westminster (North of Hyde Park)

Holiday Inn Bloomsbury
Neighborhood: Bloomsbury
Tube: Russel Square

Any info anyone could give me about the neighborhoods would be most greatly appreciated as I have done little research to this date. All hotels are Tourist Class or Superior Tourist Class rated. It?s our first trip to Europe and we?re both a little scared. Any advice to quell our fears would be appreciated as well!!!!

I am also considering a package deal (all day) to Stonehenge and Bath for $110 each person. Is this a realistic price or should we book it when we arrive? I HAVE to see Stonehenge!! Any opinions on that or Bath??

What other must sees do we need to check out if we go to London????? I?m sure I?ll have more questions once I dive into all the books I?ve checked out from the library if we do decide London is the place!

How is it taking the Tube? Safe? Expensive? What is the average cost of a meal (not fancy)? I know the conversion is not in our favor as they are still on the Pound, right? Any info about reasonable places to eat would be good, too. I know, I?m asking for a lot, but I need help!!!

Thanks in advance for the info on the neighborhoods which I most need to narrow down our search!!!!!

Tia

Hi Tia:

I hope you enjoy your holiday. I have stayed at the Columbia Hotel many times in London. I believe there are actually 2 tube stops closer to it than Paddington. I believe that Bayswater is closer and it's either Queensway or Lancaster Gate which is down the street. The hotel is an older hotel, so not sure what you are looking for. The neighborhood used to be fine, but I haven't stayed there in a few years, so someone else may know better than me if it's gone downhill. As far as the tube goes, you will be quite safe and won't have problems.

Ah, Air India! - brings back memories. We flew to London on Air India quite a few years ago. Best airline food I've ever had (obviously, you have to like Indian food). What I remember most, though, was that they piped Indian music into the cabin all...night...long. Now, I'm interested in other cultures as much as the next person, but I thought my brain was going to explode halfway over the Atlantic. I have to believe they have abandoned this practice, but just in case - take earplugs.

Can't help much with the neighborhoods as we've stayed in Kensington the last couple of times. Stayed in Earl's Court years ago in a dreadful place, but it was too long ago to be relevant.

IMO food in London is very expensive for what you get. I think you have to know London awfully well to eat good food at reasonable prices there. We generally stick to pubs and ethnic restaurants - still, compared to eating in France or Italy, for example, I always feel I've overpaid.

The Tube is excellent and not expensive.

The hotels you've listed crop up frequently on package trips usually at the low end of the price scale. You can expect relatively spartan accommodations. The only hotel I have first hand experience with is the Holiday Inn Bloomsbury which (a couple of years back) was a dump. Bloomsbury is one of my favorite neighborhoods to stay in however. I'd axe the two Paddington hotels which are 15 minutes from the closest tube. You'll be doing a ton of walking as it is. Bayswater and Earls Court are perfectly fine neighborhoods and tend to have lots of tourist class hotels.

The Tube is very safe and very easy to navigate. Cheap too.

Do you have to take the trip with a package deal? Seems like you could do better on your own. United has a R/T flight from Chicago to London for under $550 in late September. Given your budget for travel and hotel, you could easily get a 3* and quite possibly a 4* hotel with one of the discount hotel sites or priceline.

Hi
You don't say how long the trip will be, so it's hard to say if the prices you mention are a good deal or not.

There are at least 3 good ways to search for hotel comments
Use the little search box near the top of this screen, type in the name of each hotel, click on United Kingdom, and see any past postings that mention the hotel

Another is, click on Hotels at the very top of this screen, it will take you to an area where Fodor's rates the hotels and also past customers have made their comments as well

Finally, try looking up each hotel at tripadvisor.com, a really useful site with comments on many hotels

Opinions on Stonehenge vary. I've seen it once, doubt that I will go out of my way to go again, for some reason I was less than awe-inspired.
I love Bath. It's gotten pretty commercial over the years, but if you do a little exploring you can see how very beautiful it is. That's an easy daytrip to do even without a bus tour.

I have a file on London and daytrips; if you'd like to see it, email me at
[email protected]

Air India gets a very very good thumbs up from me.

Best airline food I've ever eaten by a long shot - particularly strong vegetarian selection as you might imagine. Not all Indian food but an excellent choice, well presented.

No piped music on the several flights I've taken with them (London - Madras, London - Nairobi, London - Colombo)but excellent, attentive service and minimal delays/hold ups. Pretty relaxed about excess luggage allowance too... (however all flights prior to Sept 11th, if that might have any bearing on it.)

As for recommending London neighbourhoods I'd plump for Bloomsbury or Bayswater personally, for no other reason than I happen to like them best. Try searing Bloomsbury in the search option and you'll get a wealth of responses as it seems to be pretty popular with alot of the board users here.

Anyway... have a great trip, and don't get stressed.... London's a friendly place!

Dr D.

Tia, I have not flown Air India but have heard their flights tend to be crowded (lots of kids) noisy & can get a bit pungent-both from food & people. I think you can do just as well with another airline in Sept & find hotels on your own for as little as $70-80/night. The package hotels tend to be ones that don't get filled because they're not well located or not good places. And if you get there & it's a dump you're stuck.

BA was just having a 4 day sale. It may be over by now but check around.

If you're on a tight budget, $220 sounds very steep for a day to Bath & Stonehenge. What tour co. is this from? It's easy to see Bath on your own by train. Stonehenge is more problematic. Evan Evans & Astral are the 2 cos. mentioned msot often for these tours. Astral has a Stonehenge, Avebury, Old Sarum & Salisbury Cathedral tour for 52 GBP including a pub lunch. Type stonehenge tours in the text search here for lors of infp.

$220 (Almost £140) to get to Stonehenge - heck, you could rent a car for a day and save more than $150 including the entrance fees for Stonehenge. Plus you could visit Avebury and Salisbury and be back in London in time for dinner. $110 pp is ridiculous . . .

A reason so many people think foreign travel is expensive is because they take these types of day trips/tours and think they are saving money.

If you didn't want to drive you can get a cheap day return train ticket to Salisbury and a local bus to Stonehenge and save even more than by renting a car.

janis, I love the way you tell it like it is. I was thinking that same thing.

Tia, the price of $220 for Stonehenge and Bath is too expensive.

Evanevans (http://www.evanevans.co.uk/) is a well known tour company and they have the same tour for 50 pounds per person ($160 for 2) and will pick you up at or near your hotel and take you to Victoria Bus Station where the tour starts and drop you near your hotel on return.

I don't think the suggestion to rent a car for a day is viable. You will waste time at the car rental office, have to plan your route and drive on unfamiliar roads on the left side. Not a good idea.

Taking the train to Salisbury and a bus, leaves from the station, to Stonehenge is an alternative to the Bath/Stonehenge tour. When you return to Salisbury you can walk to the Cathedral and around a typical English market town.

If I had to chose I'd go to Bath. There is only one Roman Bath as well preserved and there is other interesting architecture, the Circle, Royal Crescent, Pulteney Bridge.

Stayed in both Bayswater and Kensington areas before although both nice areas I prefer Bayswater - I love being so close to Kensington Gardens and usually walk there every day. Getting to Notting Hill (great pubs there) is easy as is taking the buses to Oxford Street (great shopping).

There are some decent restaurants in the Bayswater area too.

Some comments about the hotels you have listed. I don't know all of them but I hope this helps.

The first 3 you list are small 2 star hotels. Bedrooms and public areas will be SMALL. The Tria is not the most convenient for the tube. The Tria is about a 10 min walk from Westbourne Park tube, which is not on the best line for a tourist in London.

The Barkston Gardens is a resonable 3 star in a quiet residential square about a 3 min walk from the Tube. Rooms at the front are the largest. This would be a pretty good option depending on your expectations.

The Ramada Javis Marylebone Hotel may be your best option. A pretty good location and it benefits from being part of a chain. It is a modern hotel lacking in character though. It is a short walk to Marylebone station & Tube as well as Baker Street. It used to be called the Harewood Hotel.

Hi Tia,

You have gotten great advice so far, but I'll through in my 2 cents:

1) I stayed in the Marylebone area when I was in London, and really liked it. I don't know about that particular hotel, though. Bayswater area is also convenient. Earls Court is a little farther out of the way of things.

2) I agree with the others on the Bath/Stonehenge. If you only have 1 day, I'd take the train to Salisbury, then the short bus ride to Stonehenge (this is easy, really). Stonehenge takes about 1 hour to see. Then go back to Salisbury, and walk around this wonderful little town and see the awesome cathedral. Then take the train back to London. Easy, and much cheaper than the bus trip.

I loved Bath, but in one day I'd just do Stonehenge/Salisbury. I don't think you'd be disappointed.

3)The tube is safe and easy. You can buy weekly passes that are not very expensive considering how much you will use them. They are also good on the buses. You just buy the passes when you get to London.

4) Yes, England is expensive right now. To eat reasonably, you have quite a few choices. Pubs are always an option. Also, there are sandwich shops all over London (Pret a Manger is one), that have sandwiches on wonderful baguettes for about 3 GBPs. And if the weather is nice, buy picnic stuff (bread, cheese, fruit etc) at a grocery store and hit one of London's wonderful parks.

5) Some of the things to see/do: Tower of London, British Museum (and/or V&A, Tate, Tate Modern etc etc etc), Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral, Big Ben (photo op), Shakespeare's Globe Theatre if you like Shakespeare, the parks, Windsor Castle or Hampton Court Palace (both a short train ride from London), the London Eye, the theatre, shopping on Oxford and Regents St, Covent Garden etc...this is obviously not all inclusive and others can probably come up with a week's worth of things to do that I haven't mentioned!

Have fun, and if you don't mind my asking, why would you be "scared" to go to London?

Karen

Also for food - eat at ethnic restaurants - they are cheaper than others. I ate wonderful Indian and Middle-eastern food while I was there.

Hi Tia,

One more vote for doing some research on this. You can still get good airfare for late Sept.

Take a look at the Edward Lear Hotel, near Marble Arch, about 80GBP/nt dbl ensuite w/bkfst.
http://www.edlear.com/