Trip Report: Syllytexan's European Vacation -- LONDON
Jun 22nd, 2005, 08:16 AM
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Trip Report: Syllytexan's European Vacation -- LONDON
Howdy and thanks again to everyone in the forum for helping me plan my very first trip to Europe. We just returned on the 18th and it was a great success! Just wanted to give y’all some info about my trip in the hopes that it will help someone in planning their vacation. Happy trails!
Day 1, June 6, 2005
We arrived at London Heathrow airport an hour later than scheduled but at 7:20am still had plenty of day left to start the London leg of our European vacation. It was easy to find our way from the terminal to the London Underground station, and we hopped on the Piccadilly line since our hotel was located along this route. It was an easy 40 min ride to Gloucester Rd. station…just make sure you mind the doors, mind the gap, and mind all the stairs you have to drag your luggage over. Packing light pays off, but the London Underground is fairly luggage friendly and there are more escalators here than in the Paris metro.
We arrived at the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum after a slight detour. There is another Holiday Inn close by, and you will actually see it first when you emerge from the Gloucester Rd. station. We mistakingly entered this hotel first. The lobby looked nice but I have read some not so nice reviews about this one. When we arrived at the correct Holiday Inn, we were told we could check in early for a room with 2 twin beds vs. the double room we had reserved. Fortunately our travel companions had checked in the day before, so we opted to wait until 2pm to check into our double room and stored our luggage in our friends’ room. If you don’t have the added convenience of knowing people already checked into the hotel, the hotel will store your luggage for you while you go sightseeing. I used the hotel lobby’s bathroom to freshen up and found it to be large and very accommodating. It was just weird using the rotating cloth hand towel to dry your hands after washing.
Our friends had chosen to check in early the previous day to catch some ZZZ’s and get over their jet lag. When we saw their teeny tiny room, we were worried that our room would be the same. We were relieved to find a nice sized room. The bathroom was a bit tight, but everything was pleasant and clean. We had air conditioning, a hairdryer, iron, and tea/coffee maker. The bed was a true double sized bed (not 2 twins pushed together) and pretty comfortable. The hotel is located a leisurely 2 min walk from the Gloucester Rd. tube station, and there is a grocery store and Walgreen’s type store located in the building adjacent to the tube station. There is also a convenience store located across the street where you can purchase two 1.5L bottles of Evian water for ₤1.00. You can withdraw cash at the nearby Barclay’s Bank ATM (if you bank with Bank of America, I think Barclay’s is one of their foreign partners and you will not get charged the ATM service fee). The Holiday Inn Kensington Forum is located in a very pleasant part of London and within walking distance to many things. It is not as busy as some of the more “touristy” places and is a relaxing place to return after a busy day of sightseeing. For the price, location, and amenities, I would definitely stay here again.
We decided to take it easy on the first day and bought tickets for the Big Bus Company’s hop-on hop-off bus for an overview of the city. Ours was the brown bus, not the red one. I’m not sure what the difference is between the two, but this one suited us fine. Don’t hesitate to hop on and hop off various buses to find a guide you like as some of them have more amusing commentary than others. You can buy the tickets from the driver and the ticket is good for 24 hrs. Included with your ticket is a one way 20min river boat ride and access to all the walking tours led by the group. Arrive promptly for the walking tours. We kept arriving 5-10 min late and the groups were long gone. Our attempts to catch them enroute were futile. Also, keep in mind the buses start running at approx 8:00am and stop running at approx 6:00pm. So, if you find yourself some distance from your hotel at the end of the day, you may need to get a cab or take the bus or tube home.
We stopped in Leicester Square to buy theater tickets in the evenings. Everyone wanted to see Mamma Mia, but discounted tickets for this show were unavailable and the price was more than we wanted to spend. We gave up a 70’s Swedish band musical for a 70’s British band musical and paid ₤25.00 pp to see Saturday Night Fever. It was the worst decision we made on our trip. I wish we had done a little research into this before we made our decision. Otherwise, we would have seen Ewan MacGregor in Guys & Dolls or even David Schwimmer in Some Girls for the same price. I still can’t get all that pelvic thrusting out of my head, and as much as I loved the Bee Gees before (my dog is named Beegee) I will never be able to listen to their music quite the same again.
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/
One way ticket zones 1-6 = ₤3.80
One way ticket zone 1 = ₤2.00
All day off peak ticket (after 9:30am) = ₤4.70
Holiday Inn Kensington Forum
97 Cromwell Road
London, SW7 4DN
England
44-870-4009100
Booked online at Holiday Inn’s website
₤95.00/night, no breakfast
closest subway station: Gloucester Rd.
The Big Bus Company hop on hop off bus = ₤20.00
Tkts: The Official Discount Ticket Booth
www.OfficialLondonTheatre.co.uk
Wagamama
Leicester Square
Asian fusion noodles; good and cheap
Lunch prices ₤6.00-₤15.00
Victoria Café
Victoria Station
Fish & Chips: cheap but not good
Day 2, June 7, 2005
Big Bus Walking Tour of the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace: Our guide was entertaining and informative. We saw inspection of the new guards, marching up the Royal Mow (or is it Mew?), and the exiting of the old guards. The only thing we didn’t see was the actual changing of the guards, but this event dragged on for 20 minutes and was not very exciting. It was neat to see the “behind the scenes” events vs, parking myself in front of the palace gates early in the morning to get pictures of guards staring at each other. This walk was fun but it moves at a brisk pace, so make sure you have your running shoes or roller skates on! We also tried to the “Movie Walk” but found it pretty dull (or maybe it was just the guide). My friends and I are ages 29-31, and after 20 minutes of the walk we still didn’t know any of the movies he was talking about. I’m sure the walk got better later on, but we didn’t wait to find out. (side note: the walking guides don’t check for your tickets. So if your 24 hrs is up but you know the walking tours schedule, just show up and you can join w/o trouble. Just in case you find yourself with nothing to do one day.)
It was a beautiful day, so we decided to take a ride on the London Eye. It is an unexciting trip but a neat thing to do. When buying your ticket to the London Eye, you can also buy your ticket to the Tower of London for the same price you would pay for each individually. The benefit we were told is that you can “fast track” your way through the line at the Tower. However, when we went to the Tower there was no line so it did not really make a difference. I guess it was worth it to buy the two together to give you the added assurance that if there was a line you wouldn’t have to wait and to save you the trouble of waiting in line again to purchase a ticket. At any rate, when you buy the combo ticket you have 7 days to use the tickets and do not need to use them consecutive days. So save those London Eye tickets for a clear and beautiful day or evening.
The National Gallery is a free and beautiful museum with very clean restrooms. We stopped for a late lunch at the museum’s café. You can get the Trafalgar Tea for ₤11.95 which gives you a glass of champagne; tea/coffee/OJ; delicious raspberry scones; small slices of ham & cheese, smoked salmon, and cucumber sandwiches; and your choice of dessert (I got yummy banana walnut cake). It wasn’t the ceremonial thing you might have gotten with a formal British high tea, but I enjoyed it immensely. My boyfriend ordered the roast beef with potato cake & water cress salad, and it was so yummy everyone wanted a nibble.
We went to Harrods where we lost ourselves within the vast department store. It truly is an amazing place to walk through. So much stuff!
Great Indian dinner at Noorjahan which is walking distance from the hotel. I am normally not a great fan of Indian food, but I could eat this stuff everyday! Get the chicken tikka masala. We finished our evening by attending the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. If you get a chance, definitely write ahead of time to get your free tickets. It’s pretty neat to go to the Tower at night, and our guide was great story teller and made our visit sufficiently eerie. The ceremony starts at 10:30pm and last for approx 20min.
Coffee Republic
South Kensington
Breakfast: coffee and ham& cheese sandwich for ₤7.90
London Eye ₤12.50
Tower of London ₤14.50
Noorjahan
2A Bina Gardens
London
Indian cuisine
Dinner for four ₤100.00
Day 3, June 8, 2005
Lots of sightseeing: Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Millennium Bridge, Tate Modern Museum, Tower of London.
We grabbed a cheap lunch from Benji’s and ate our sandwiches on the steps of St. Paul’s cathedral. We decided to save our legs and hopped on the tube to the next stop for dinner at Khan’s of Kensington ( I LOVE British Indian food!) We topped off the evening by enjoying some warm beer at the local Simond Pub.
Westminster Abbey ₤8.00 + ₤4.00 for guided tour
St. Paul’s Cathedral ₤8.00
Tate Modern Free
Khan’s of Kensington
3 Harrington Rd.
South Kensington
020-7584-4114
Indian cuisine
Dinner for four ₤60.00 (with wine)
Day 4, June 9, 2005
We enjoyed a nice 20 minute walk to from our hotel to Kensington Palace and once we were in the park it was approx a 15min walk to the Princess Diana Memorial (which doesn’t open until 10:30am).
We stopped along the way at Café Deco for coffee and breakfast pastries and liked it so much we stopped in again on our way back to pick up lunch for the Eurostar chunnel ride to Paris. We boarded the 12:09 train to Paris from Waterloo station. Arrived in Paris at Gare Nord at approx 4:15pm and checked into our Paris hotel by 5:00pm.
Eurostar London to Paris
Purchased 2nd class tickets with reservations in advance at Rail Europe for $90.00pp + $7.00 premier train fee; no charge for handling fee for purchases over $280.00
Thoughts on London: it’s very clean; everyone is very polite; it is very quiet on the trains (no one talks); it doesn’t get dark until 10:30pm; it was very cool (temperature wise) when we were there –lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s; pretty easy to navigate; just make sure to look for traffic coming from your RIGHT when crossing the street.
OK, that’s it for now. I’ll be back shortly with more about my trip. Cheers!
Day 1, June 6, 2005
We arrived at London Heathrow airport an hour later than scheduled but at 7:20am still had plenty of day left to start the London leg of our European vacation. It was easy to find our way from the terminal to the London Underground station, and we hopped on the Piccadilly line since our hotel was located along this route. It was an easy 40 min ride to Gloucester Rd. station…just make sure you mind the doors, mind the gap, and mind all the stairs you have to drag your luggage over. Packing light pays off, but the London Underground is fairly luggage friendly and there are more escalators here than in the Paris metro.
We arrived at the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum after a slight detour. There is another Holiday Inn close by, and you will actually see it first when you emerge from the Gloucester Rd. station. We mistakingly entered this hotel first. The lobby looked nice but I have read some not so nice reviews about this one. When we arrived at the correct Holiday Inn, we were told we could check in early for a room with 2 twin beds vs. the double room we had reserved. Fortunately our travel companions had checked in the day before, so we opted to wait until 2pm to check into our double room and stored our luggage in our friends’ room. If you don’t have the added convenience of knowing people already checked into the hotel, the hotel will store your luggage for you while you go sightseeing. I used the hotel lobby’s bathroom to freshen up and found it to be large and very accommodating. It was just weird using the rotating cloth hand towel to dry your hands after washing.
Our friends had chosen to check in early the previous day to catch some ZZZ’s and get over their jet lag. When we saw their teeny tiny room, we were worried that our room would be the same. We were relieved to find a nice sized room. The bathroom was a bit tight, but everything was pleasant and clean. We had air conditioning, a hairdryer, iron, and tea/coffee maker. The bed was a true double sized bed (not 2 twins pushed together) and pretty comfortable. The hotel is located a leisurely 2 min walk from the Gloucester Rd. tube station, and there is a grocery store and Walgreen’s type store located in the building adjacent to the tube station. There is also a convenience store located across the street where you can purchase two 1.5L bottles of Evian water for ₤1.00. You can withdraw cash at the nearby Barclay’s Bank ATM (if you bank with Bank of America, I think Barclay’s is one of their foreign partners and you will not get charged the ATM service fee). The Holiday Inn Kensington Forum is located in a very pleasant part of London and within walking distance to many things. It is not as busy as some of the more “touristy” places and is a relaxing place to return after a busy day of sightseeing. For the price, location, and amenities, I would definitely stay here again.
We decided to take it easy on the first day and bought tickets for the Big Bus Company’s hop-on hop-off bus for an overview of the city. Ours was the brown bus, not the red one. I’m not sure what the difference is between the two, but this one suited us fine. Don’t hesitate to hop on and hop off various buses to find a guide you like as some of them have more amusing commentary than others. You can buy the tickets from the driver and the ticket is good for 24 hrs. Included with your ticket is a one way 20min river boat ride and access to all the walking tours led by the group. Arrive promptly for the walking tours. We kept arriving 5-10 min late and the groups were long gone. Our attempts to catch them enroute were futile. Also, keep in mind the buses start running at approx 8:00am and stop running at approx 6:00pm. So, if you find yourself some distance from your hotel at the end of the day, you may need to get a cab or take the bus or tube home.
We stopped in Leicester Square to buy theater tickets in the evenings. Everyone wanted to see Mamma Mia, but discounted tickets for this show were unavailable and the price was more than we wanted to spend. We gave up a 70’s Swedish band musical for a 70’s British band musical and paid ₤25.00 pp to see Saturday Night Fever. It was the worst decision we made on our trip. I wish we had done a little research into this before we made our decision. Otherwise, we would have seen Ewan MacGregor in Guys & Dolls or even David Schwimmer in Some Girls for the same price. I still can’t get all that pelvic thrusting out of my head, and as much as I loved the Bee Gees before (my dog is named Beegee) I will never be able to listen to their music quite the same again.
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/
One way ticket zones 1-6 = ₤3.80
One way ticket zone 1 = ₤2.00
All day off peak ticket (after 9:30am) = ₤4.70
Holiday Inn Kensington Forum
97 Cromwell Road
London, SW7 4DN
England
44-870-4009100
Booked online at Holiday Inn’s website
₤95.00/night, no breakfast
closest subway station: Gloucester Rd.
The Big Bus Company hop on hop off bus = ₤20.00
Tkts: The Official Discount Ticket Booth
www.OfficialLondonTheatre.co.uk
Wagamama
Leicester Square
Asian fusion noodles; good and cheap
Lunch prices ₤6.00-₤15.00
Victoria Café
Victoria Station
Fish & Chips: cheap but not good
Day 2, June 7, 2005
Big Bus Walking Tour of the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace: Our guide was entertaining and informative. We saw inspection of the new guards, marching up the Royal Mow (or is it Mew?), and the exiting of the old guards. The only thing we didn’t see was the actual changing of the guards, but this event dragged on for 20 minutes and was not very exciting. It was neat to see the “behind the scenes” events vs, parking myself in front of the palace gates early in the morning to get pictures of guards staring at each other. This walk was fun but it moves at a brisk pace, so make sure you have your running shoes or roller skates on! We also tried to the “Movie Walk” but found it pretty dull (or maybe it was just the guide). My friends and I are ages 29-31, and after 20 minutes of the walk we still didn’t know any of the movies he was talking about. I’m sure the walk got better later on, but we didn’t wait to find out. (side note: the walking guides don’t check for your tickets. So if your 24 hrs is up but you know the walking tours schedule, just show up and you can join w/o trouble. Just in case you find yourself with nothing to do one day.)
It was a beautiful day, so we decided to take a ride on the London Eye. It is an unexciting trip but a neat thing to do. When buying your ticket to the London Eye, you can also buy your ticket to the Tower of London for the same price you would pay for each individually. The benefit we were told is that you can “fast track” your way through the line at the Tower. However, when we went to the Tower there was no line so it did not really make a difference. I guess it was worth it to buy the two together to give you the added assurance that if there was a line you wouldn’t have to wait and to save you the trouble of waiting in line again to purchase a ticket. At any rate, when you buy the combo ticket you have 7 days to use the tickets and do not need to use them consecutive days. So save those London Eye tickets for a clear and beautiful day or evening.
The National Gallery is a free and beautiful museum with very clean restrooms. We stopped for a late lunch at the museum’s café. You can get the Trafalgar Tea for ₤11.95 which gives you a glass of champagne; tea/coffee/OJ; delicious raspberry scones; small slices of ham & cheese, smoked salmon, and cucumber sandwiches; and your choice of dessert (I got yummy banana walnut cake). It wasn’t the ceremonial thing you might have gotten with a formal British high tea, but I enjoyed it immensely. My boyfriend ordered the roast beef with potato cake & water cress salad, and it was so yummy everyone wanted a nibble.
We went to Harrods where we lost ourselves within the vast department store. It truly is an amazing place to walk through. So much stuff!
Great Indian dinner at Noorjahan which is walking distance from the hotel. I am normally not a great fan of Indian food, but I could eat this stuff everyday! Get the chicken tikka masala. We finished our evening by attending the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. If you get a chance, definitely write ahead of time to get your free tickets. It’s pretty neat to go to the Tower at night, and our guide was great story teller and made our visit sufficiently eerie. The ceremony starts at 10:30pm and last for approx 20min.
Coffee Republic
South Kensington
Breakfast: coffee and ham& cheese sandwich for ₤7.90
London Eye ₤12.50
Tower of London ₤14.50
Noorjahan
2A Bina Gardens
London
Indian cuisine
Dinner for four ₤100.00
Day 3, June 8, 2005
Lots of sightseeing: Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Millennium Bridge, Tate Modern Museum, Tower of London.
We grabbed a cheap lunch from Benji’s and ate our sandwiches on the steps of St. Paul’s cathedral. We decided to save our legs and hopped on the tube to the next stop for dinner at Khan’s of Kensington ( I LOVE British Indian food!) We topped off the evening by enjoying some warm beer at the local Simond Pub.
Westminster Abbey ₤8.00 + ₤4.00 for guided tour
St. Paul’s Cathedral ₤8.00
Tate Modern Free
Khan’s of Kensington
3 Harrington Rd.
South Kensington
020-7584-4114
Indian cuisine
Dinner for four ₤60.00 (with wine)
Day 4, June 9, 2005
We enjoyed a nice 20 minute walk to from our hotel to Kensington Palace and once we were in the park it was approx a 15min walk to the Princess Diana Memorial (which doesn’t open until 10:30am).
We stopped along the way at Café Deco for coffee and breakfast pastries and liked it so much we stopped in again on our way back to pick up lunch for the Eurostar chunnel ride to Paris. We boarded the 12:09 train to Paris from Waterloo station. Arrived in Paris at Gare Nord at approx 4:15pm and checked into our Paris hotel by 5:00pm.
Eurostar London to Paris
Purchased 2nd class tickets with reservations in advance at Rail Europe for $90.00pp + $7.00 premier train fee; no charge for handling fee for purchases over $280.00
Thoughts on London: it’s very clean; everyone is very polite; it is very quiet on the trains (no one talks); it doesn’t get dark until 10:30pm; it was very cool (temperature wise) when we were there –lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s; pretty easy to navigate; just make sure to look for traffic coming from your RIGHT when crossing the street.
OK, that’s it for now. I’ll be back shortly with more about my trip. Cheers!
Jun 22nd, 2005, 12:54 PM
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Great report. I enjoy your format, very easy to read.
I'll be there in about 5 weeks, so I've made many notes. My husband really enjoys Indian food, so we'll try to find Noorjahan.
Thanks for sharing!
I'll be there in about 5 weeks, so I've made many notes. My husband really enjoys Indian food, so we'll try to find Noorjahan.
Thanks for sharing!
