Cheers!

I'm one of those people who likes to try lots of new things. Enjoys excitement and adventure, but who wants to do it in some measure. Planned spontaneity as it were.

I'm pretty well convinced to go it alone. I don't want to avoid ALL things touristy, but if I only see 5 of the top 10 attractions in London, I'm not going to be too upset. I hate feeling rushed and like the idea of not making too concrete of plans and just seeing how it goes. I can pick a couple days to see museums and other top sites, maybe a walking tour or two and then spend the rest doing whatever. I can walk for days and after the NYC subway experience the Tube doesn't scare me.

Fortunately, I have a great public library system, so I've already gotten lots of guide books and I can get some of the Rick Steves' travel videos. Maybe I can make an initial itenerary and take Nina's advice about seeing how I feel about it and then adjusting it some. Then I can see what I really want to visit when I'm there.

Thanks again everyone! Very, very helpful and you've convinced me to give it a go alone.

Any further advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sounds like you'll be fine without any hand-holding. As an alternative to a hop-on/off bus tour, check out

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34535187

Unlimited bus transport is also included in the TfL Day Travelcards and (weekly) Travelcard Season Tickets.

April or May is fine. The daffies bloom around the end of March, presaging the (welcome) arrival of spring.

Stay in one hotel - everything in London is 20 minutes by Tube. By the way, there's a lot of interesting stuff within range of a day trip or two - look into the Days Out From London passes from BritRail.

At the VERY least, plan a full day to go downstream to Greenwich to see the good ship <i>Cutty Sark</i>, the National Maritime Museum, and the Observatory (where Greenwich Mean Time is manufactured). You can get there on the DLR or by river cruise. Just downstream is the Thames Barrier, which is nothing less than a spigot that shuts off the river off when the nasty ocean tidal surge comes upriver. The cruise is a good overview of a lot of history, in any case. You can also walk <u>under</u> the river to the Island Gardens DLR station.

msvg, I think it is a good reminder to some of us females that fellows can be anxious about traveling on their own also.

Reading your thread I agree with all the others. You will be fine traveling on your own. You have lots of varied interesting ideas as to what you enjoy.

IMHO you will be less lonely doing this trip independently that with a tour.
You seem very well mannered, outgoing, and already doing research for your trip.

Bet you get the travel bug really bad andon the way back across the pond you will be thinking &quot;hmmm, when shall I take my next trip to Europe&quot;.

Have fun planning this trip.

Thank you LoveItaly!

My mother would say it was good breeding, but only because she gets partial credit.

I am now the proud possesor of 5 video tapes/DVDs on London and 10 travel guides. I love my library.

Robespierre, you bring up an interesting question. A couple years ago I was looking at traveling to Paris. Obviously I didn't make it. But one thing I learned was that it's often better to purchase rail tickets/passes in the US. Are there things like that, and currency exchange that would be better done before going? Things that you get a better deal on buying them IN the US?

If I were to leave the city for a long day or two trip, besides Greenwich where could I go? The only knowledge I currently have, not having read the guides yet, is the TV program &quot;As Time Goes By.&quot; They went to the country every weekend. Any idea where that was? It always seemed a peaceful change.

Thanks again everyone!

In As Time Goes By, their country house was somewhere in Hampshire, a pretty easy distance from London. Their village always appeared to me to be more rural than the few bits of Hampshire that I've seen.

Your imagination might be stimulated by a look at the Days Out From London map on the BritRail site. Oxford and Cambridge are within easy travel distance, places like Portsmouth and Salisbury (Stonehenge) are a little further, and even Bath and Stratford-on-Avon, although beyond Pass territory, are well within a day. Rail passes can only be bought in the US, but London Transport day passes (or the 7-day Season Pass) should be bought in London. Don't change any money until you get to the UK. With your ATM or debit card, you get the best rate with a small transaction fee.

Did you know there are whirlwind tours of Paris in a day? Many, many options can be found in the brochure at

http://www.britrail.com/doc/Britrail...4_brochure.pdf

Hi
I have found the Steinbicker book &quot;Daytrips London&quot;, one of his series of Daytrip books, to be very helpful.
He offers transportation info, walking itineraries, and even small maps of each town center.

Before you book flights, make sure that you find out when the UK's &quot;Bank Holiday Weekends&quot; are scheduled for in May. (That's what they call long weekends in the UK. I think there are two scheduled for May - 2 May and 30 May this year.) You probably won't want to be in London on those weekends, because everyone in the UK will be travelling at the same time - and these are often weekends that unions pick for actual (or threatened) strike action. Hotels might be more expensive. You also probably won't want to be in London on May 1, unless you're really interested in getting caught up in an anti-globalization type protest march that sometimes gets violent (and, at a minimum, is likely to involve a lot of central London shops, restaurants and attractions closing up early). May 1 is a kind of &quot;Labour Day&quot; in Europe that doesn't serve as a holiday but has become a common day for left-leaning protests. It's actually a very interesting spectacle to watch - but probably not ideal date to schedule one's short holiday to London around (very bad grammar, I know but it's early in the morning).

Robespierre, thank you for more great information. I'll take a look around the BritRail site.

It's funny that you should mention a Paris day trip. I had been kicking around that very idea. I could leave early from London, have lunch and wander a bit in Paris and then be back for dinner. It could give me a taste of Paris for a later trip when I have more time.

&lt;rant&gt;I see the post that was eaten last night but only on the compose page. So if this looks like a duplicate it isn't really.&lt;/rant&gt;

Elaine, I'll look for the book you mention. Thanks!

Kate, I am leaning toward the middle to end of April. Maybe 19/20 - 29th. Thanks for the heads up though, I hadn't thought to check on things like holidays.

Oh, and I also forgot to mention a hotel recommendation. You can search under my name for posts regarding London hotels. But one in particular I might suggest (moderate budget) is the Holiday Inn - Oxford Circus. It's NorthWest of Oxford Circus (very central) - a good location for tube connections, walking to theatre, West End nightlife, Piccadilly Circus, Regent's Park, Hyde Park etc (it's less convenient for South Kensington museums etc). It's nothing fancy, but it's a decent hotel and reasonably priced (by London standards).

Just out of curiousity does anyone know what's near the Gare du Nord train station in Paris? It's apperently the EuroStar terminus in Paris. Could be wrong.

If for the fun of it I made a trip from London to Paris, to overnight, what would be close to the train station? Any good hotels, food, things to do? Something to do for one day?

Not sure I want to do it but thinking about it. Need to break out the French lessons.

Thanks!

Nothing, really - the area around Gare du Nord is busy and on the sort of seedy side. But from there you can get anywhere by metro or taxi.

Don't go on a tour. Travelling in London on your own is cake. Especially if you're a guy.

I went on several day-long excursions with the London Walks company to Bath, Canterbury, Leeds Castle, the Cotswolds and Oxford. I highly recommend this company. It is also a great way to meet fellow travellers (I met a few Kiwis who invited me to stay with them if I'm ever in NZ). Going with London Walks makes everything so easy for you as they take care of all the travel arrangements. It's also ideal if you're planning a short trip to London as you can make London your home base.

I think going to Paris for a couple of days sounds like a great idea, based on the other things you've said. Since this is your first European trip London is a good choice since it will feel less &quot;foreign&quot; but once you get comfortable and you see how easy it is to get around, then a short trip to Paris would be perfect. Since I don't think you've bought your plane tickets yet you could even look into an open jaw flight coming home from Paris. That would save you the half day or so of travel back to London, and switching hotels another time. On the other hand if you planed to return to London you could probably leave your suitcase at your hotel and just take a small backpack which would make your trip to Paris that much easier.

Even though you would be arriving at Gare du Nord, you wouldn't want to stay there. Just hop on the metro (even better than London's tube!) and go somewhere nicer. Most people on this board (myself included) like the left bank. In a couple of days you could get a taste of Paris and know that you'd want to go back on your next trip.

msvb- something else we have in common, I love, love love my local library and rely on it heavily for language lessons and travel guides. If you go to Paris, why not stay over? Use the search here for hotels. But I think there will be plenty to see in London &amp; environs. I own an elementary french 6-cd program if you want it let me know.
I will echo robespierre and others, make one hotel your home base, most really are 20 minutes from the sites. You will be able to relax, get to know the staff &amp; rely on them for guidance.

I did not do a lot of the usual tourist fare. If you decide to go to Bath &amp; Stonehenge, do the full day( not half) as there will be highway traffic, but it is worth it. On my tour visit to Stratford upon Avon, I had the good fortune to meet a local on her way to services at the little cathedral where Shakespeare was baptised, and she showed me all around the grounds. That would make a nice day trip. I wish I'd taken the longer Thames trip.

Don't you love both the houses in As Time Goes By? If I had one, it would probably be more like the &quot;terrible flat&quot; in Truly, Madly, Deeply!

May I put in a good word for the &quot;touristy&quot; destinations in London---and everywhere else. The reason these places are considered &quot;touristy&quot; is because every visitor wants to see them, and every FIRST TIME visitor SHOULD see them. Don't NOT go to the Tower of London simply because everyone else there is a tourist! Don't forgo the British Museum because you're afraid you'll run into too many other Americans.

The big draws are also popular because they are interesting and fun. Repeat visitors to a city or town will want to see something different when they return; that's obvious. But, MSV60, I'll bet money that every person (not necessarily talking about people on this board, please understand,) who turns up his or her nose at the &quot;tourist&quot; destinations has gone to every one of them at least once!

And sometimes more than once. . . We met an American couple in Ostia in Italy who were so fascinated by the place that they were on their fourth visit. Yes, it's really a place for tourists. It's also wonderful!

If you don't like all the planning involved, don't be afraid to go on a tour your first time. Sometimes colleges offer more interesting tours/congenial groups than travel agencies. Unless you are very outgoing, or used to traveling by yourself, I would join a tour for at least part of the time. Just make sure that the group is interesting and well-informed. Who knows---you might meet a friend who will become the ideal traveling companion?

don't worry about what is right near gare du nord. paris is very easy to get around by metro (buy a card or a carnet of 10 tickets - discount). if you are light on your feet, you can actually WALK from gare du nord to many great areas in paris.

my favourite is the 11th arr. i work near there when in paris so maybe i'm biased - the area from bastille/marais/republic up to oberkamf. i am often alone here - dining, exploring, etc and i enjoy it greatly.

i don't recommend a day trip to paris from london (even though many people here may recommend it). take at least 1 or even better 2 nights. you will be in transit/waiting for at least 8 hours for the round trip...it is well worth it if you spend some time there but a waste for just one day IMO.

kswl- I so agree. Tower of London and many other sites are definitely worth a visit and attract tourists en masse precisely because they are so fascinating in history and structure. I was thinking more of wax museums, dungeon tours, ceramic factories, day bus rides that are drive-bys at speed, and other time-wasters that tours include, my opinion only, of course.

A big yes in general on the carnet of tickets, very handy and a good value, though perhaps not for an overnight trip.

kswl, thanks for your words. A bit of clarification on what I mean might be good. I'm not wanting to avoid places that tourists go, necessarily, I'm wanting to avoid places that are designed specifically for tourists.

When I was a young college student with little money, my wife and I went to the Black Hills, in S Dakota. Mount Rushmore and all that. Anyway, on of the places we saw that was heavily advertised was this &quot;story of the old west.&quot; We went and it was horrid. These little rooms in a dark dusty basement where the tour guide would flip a light switch and turn on a tape recorder so we could see mannequins dressed in period doing nothing. Then they'd flip off the tape recorder and light and we'd move down one room and do the same thing, for 45 minutes. It was way too touristy and not worth what we paid for it.

As Nina pointed out, that's what I want to avoid. I absolutely want to go to the Tower of London, Big Ben and all that. The old saying of &quot;tourist trap&quot; is what I want to avoid. If that makes sense.