Have never been to London, and am dying to go. Can't take much time away from work now, but maybe a long (three or four day) weekend. I know that is not nearly enough time to see London, but it would be a start. I would be coming from Dallas. Am concerned about the feasibility of taking such a long trip for a relatively short amount of time - considering length of flight (American has direct flights from DFW which take 9-10 hours) as well as time difference. Don't know whether it's an adequate amount of time to see some sights and have fun, or whether I'd be too jetlagged to enjoy it. Any thoughts/experiences would be appreciated.

IMHO 3 days wouldn't be easy - but if you can swing 4 days -- go for it. At least are starting from DFW and you don't have to transfer through it (AA ended up giving me and my friend vouchers to compensate for a DFW fiasco.)

You can priceline a hotel.

The first day will be a bit tough - but you should still have enough energy to take one of the hop-on-hop-off bus tours and see at least the outside of all the major tourist attractions. Days 2, 3, and hopefully 4, will be easier and you can see a lot in a couple of days.

Click on DESTINATIONS above to give you some ideas for a short London visit.

The only thing I can say, as a Brit, is that I have taken several long weekend visits to both Washington DC and New York which are approx 7 hour flights. A lot of people "pop over" the pond for weekends and think nothing of it.

Logistically, you'd have to consider the time difference and work out your best flight times (it's easier for us to head east than it is for you to head west as we get the benefit of extra time at the start of our break where you'd have to factor in jet lag at the beginning - if that makes sense). Perhaps the easiest thing is to take a day flight on a Friday so that you'd arrive in the evening in London. Your body would tell you it's only lunchtime whereas it would really be 7 or 8pm. However, next morning you'd be fine for a nice long weekend.

You need at least a 4-day weekend. Depart Friday night, arrive Saturday morning. You'll be tired all day Saturday, but have at least Sunday and Monday for sightseeing. Fly back Tuesday, work Wednesday. That's the minimum time you need to make it worthwhile.

Doh! Got my east and west mixed up!

AR: I'm pretty sure there are no non-stop daytime flights from DFW. One can connect through Chicago but you'd have to leave DFW very early in the a.m. and not get into London until nearly 11 p.m. That would be even worse IMHO than the normal redeye overnight flights.

dfwtrips: Whether a 3-day trip is reasonable mostly depends on whether you can sleep on overnight flights. if not - then the longer you have "on the ground" in London the better.

Yes, I agree that would be worse if there are no direct flights.

Agree with others that you'd need at least a 4 day break minimum.

The other way round, we normally take 4 days - but direct flights (and slightly shorter flying times) make it a lot easier.

I vote against the hop-on/hop-off bus tours. You spend an inordinate amount of time waiting for the next bus to pick you up. The itineraries don't make much sense, as they do a lot of backtracking (read their maps).

The best way to see London on your own is to buy an Oyster Card and load it with enough Pay As You Go cash for four days of bus fares (£3/day) plus enough to get from the airport and back (£4 worst case). Then map your own tour: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/pdfdocs/cen_bus.pdf

There are direct flights to Gatwick, but they are overnight. The one I'm looking at leaves DFW at 6:50PM and arrives at 9:55AM.

Actually, on the arrival day one won't be hopping off all that much so waiting for the next tour bus really isn't an issue. For first time visitors, not having a commentary means usually not having <u>any</u> idea what they are riding past. And if that isn't enough, you can't see nearly as much from a regular city bus as you can from the open top tour buses.

So the regular TFL buses are great for getting around - but not for sightseeing.

dwftrips: W/ a 09:55 arrival you will be in central London by about 11:30/noon (or earlier if you don't check luggage). If you book a hotel near Victoria Station (there are TONS in the immediate area) you can leave your bags even if your room isn't yet ready. And you can jump on one of the sightseeing bus right outside the station.

Our first trip to London we booked with an appealing &quot;package&quot; over Thanksgiving weekend. Leaving Wednesday night, arriving Thursday morning and departing Sunday afternoon. We were beyond exhausted Thursday evening/night. Then, it poured down rain all day Friday and Saturday. We were miserably jetlagged, and the weather was awful, but we still managed to enjoy London enormously. We were actually just determined to cross it off out &quot;list&quot;, but enjoyed it so much, we returned the following May, AND September...

A ~7pm flight DFW-LGW is actually pretty good. It departs late enough and the flight lasts long enough that you should be able to get 5-6 hours or rest (if not actual deep sleep).

Last September, I flew CO from IAH to AMS at a similar time, and I managed to walk around Antwerp and Brussels for several hours in the afternoon and only napped on the train.

In contrast, it's a lot tougher if departing in the afternoon (not tired enough to sleep) or connecting on the E. Coast (too short a flight to UK).

I would wait until you can take some more time off of work - surely that will be soon?

In my opinion, a four night (and four days is three nights) trip here from The States is a waste of time, effort, and money. If I go to a city in Europe (I live in London) for three nights, I still feel it is never long enough. Furthermore, these city breaks are to places far smaller than London - think Brussels, Bilbao, Hamburg, etc. Flights to these places are only a couple of hours on average. I always like to spend at least four nights somewhere. After a nine hour flight, a week at the very least would be appropriate. What is the fun in exhausting yourself, and having to rush around? Save it until you have the time for a proper trip!

The person is right about how advantageous it is going from Britain to the United States for along weekend...my friends in London think nothing about jumping on a Thursday Am flight to visit me...we can go out in NY Thursday evening theatre or such and to them, it's just been a long day...they don't feel wasted at 2200 even though body wise it 0300 the next day...

Friday and Saturday shopping...we even sometimes can take in a Sunday matinee or more shopping (everything in NYC is open on Sundays and I mean everything)...hop back to EWR or JFK...catch a flight at 2100, be in London at 0900 the next day and be at work by noon...net loss of 1 day and one morning at work (I'd hate to be their boss on Monday morning however)...believe me it works and given the weakness of the USD the savings on shopping alone almost make it worthwhile (especially since they don't have to pay for lodging or most meals by shacking up with me)....and when they go into Target or Wal-Mart and see the prices, they nearly topple over in glee (not that either are top of the line stores) but to them being able to buy blue jeans for 7 quid, i pods for as little as whatever they cost, take in a first run movie for &pound;2.50 (first matinee show Saturday AM)....means that if it weren't for the fussy US immigration agents, I'd have their company at least once a month!

Before moving to Europe, when I still lived in Boston I flew to London twice for long weekends, both times four days, planning it so that it included one of the Monday holidays, President's day in February and Columbus Day in October. Granted, I lived near Boston so could just leave after work on a Thursday night but I enjoyed myself both times, going to the theatre, the Portobello Road flea market, all the Palaces, Windsor, etc. And since it was such a short trip I didn't try to adjust my sleep pattern, staying up the first day while walking around before the hotel room was ready made sure of that! But it's a feasible trip.

Non-Americans might not realize that many Americans have only two weeks vacation annually and sometimes not even that! So working around long holiday weekends is sometimes the only way you ever get to go anywhere.

Thanks, beaupeep...going over President's Day weekend is exactly what I had in mind. And I do only have two weeks' vacation, which is limiting. Glad to know a quick trip is doable...thank you!

Just don't even try to re-set your body clock on such a short visit.

Fortunately London is a 24hr city, so just count on being a night owl. Pretty fun, actually.

I've done it before and if you are ready to 'go', you'll be fine!

When I arrive in London/Paris/whichever city, I like to check in to my hotel as early as possible and shower and change clothes. That helps me 'mentally' start the day.

I would not recommend the hop-on/hop-off bus tours. The best first day activities involve lots of walking and fresh air. My easiest adjustment avoiding jet lag was our honeymoon - we arrived in Glasgow and spent the afternoon golfing. Felt great to be out and the fresh air helped avoid the draggy feeling. (is draggy a word ?)

be prepared to be on the go alot and make it worthwhile!

Excellent tip, surfmom - getting out and being active makes a lot of sense. Thank you!