Hi H,

Whenever we have visited London it has always been "unusually hot".

If you can afford a hotel with AC, get it.

((I))

I'm sweltering in Edinburgh right now, and would love some good American a/c! I've lived here almost 6 months and still am not used to going without it - of course, everyone says this is atypical weather so maybe it's not usually an issue.

I would very much recommend looking for somewhere with a/c - you won't find it anywhere else, so you might really appreciate it at the end of the night (we went to the movies the other night and there was no a/c there either! quite a shock after growing up in the US).

"Did your grandmother have air conditioning?"

No, and she didn't have direct distance dialing, indoor plumbing, the internet, ticketless travel, etc.

So what, Hop-a-long????

The only &quot;limp wimps&quot; I see on here are the ones who haven't figured out that <b> availing yourself of modern conveniences doesn't make you weak</b>

Tell you what, next time you travel anywhere long-distance try walking or going in a non-jet plane...and we'll see you when you finally show up.

We were in London this July and June of last year and you definitely need a/c in the UK in summer. It was not only very hot, it was very humid. Even our hotel a/c barely kept us cool.

Second, We just spent 2 weeks in Scotland in July and it was very warm/hot almost everyday. There was no a/c in any of our small older style hotels, but we surely would have liked it. It wasn't that bad during the nights because Scotland cools down quite fast in the evenings so nice breezes came in through the windows. So you can do Scotland without ac, but not London or probably England.

We brought a couple sweaters with us to Scotland and only needed them on the ferrry rides.

Ginny

It's a personal choice whether you seek out hotels with A/C or not. And it's a personal choice to risk whether you can &quot;live&quot; without it.

All I can say is that in Germany, having A/C at home is highly unusual and we simply do without. I doubt everyone in the country is going to go out and install A/C after one miserable summer. The European energy infrastructure probably couldn't support it anyway.

Thankfully it cools off a bit at night. You open your windows, crank up a fan, get a tall glass of ice water, put a cool washrag on your forehead, and live with it.

I find it far more likely that after 10 years or so of this weather, we will all start taking a siesta in the middle of the day like the smart southerners (of both Europe and America) because it will be too darn hot to do anything else.

Do I miss A/C? Heck yeah. Can I live without it? Of course.

Hi--we were in London in May of &quot;98 before all the recent European heat waves received so much press. I can tell you that we most certainly did need AC even then w/o abnormally hot conditions, so I think the safe answer to your query is that in July, you do need it to be on the safe side.....

PS I agree that some posters can be nasty w/their responses, altho some may consider it &quot;humor&quot;. However, it is hard to imagine that you have somehow missed the incredible coverage that London's recent heat wave has been receiving, esp in light of the fact that you are planning a trip there...

HeleneW,

Please accept my apology for my inappropriate sarcastic remarks.

Hopscotch

There was one time when I could have used an AC. That was in Nimes in July. Actually I would have been happy if there were only screens on the windows. The mosquitos were screaming savages.

I don't have aircon here at home in the south-east of England (few people do) and I can live with a few uncomfortable nights. However, if I'm going to a city centre in summer I make sure we have air-con. At home I can do a lot to cool the rooms down a bit but in a hotel room there is little you can do. For example, the last 4* hotel I stayed in in London had a gadget that stopped the windows from opening more than an inch. Thank god for the air-con!

&quot;we were in London in May of &quot;98 before all the recent European heat waves received so much press&quot;

I think this is definitely a case of the British press cranking this heatwave up to suit themselves. Having lived in London for 12 years now, I can certainly remember several summers with heatwaves. This weather really isn't that unusual. For me, nothing will ever compare to the heat I experienced in New Orleans when I visited one July years ago. What we have here in London is a piece of cake compared to that.

Having said that, my father and I just attended the Open golf in Liverpool. We paid &pound;96 for EACH of our rooms to stay in a dive in Chester. No aircon and barely any breeze. Not impressed. The hotel overlooked a canal so you can imagine... Anyway, our solution? We popped into Argos and bought fans for &pound;12.99. Problem solved.

I feel that if you become too dependent on aircon it makes the prospect of travel to other countries, where aircon is not the norm, less appealing. In my flat, I have a huge fan and if I position it facing away from the window, it draws the cooler air from outside and cools down the place considerably. I live in a Victorian mansion block and the hot water pipe - which is huge and runs the length of the wall in my hallway - STAYS ON ALL YEAR LONG. Ugh.

Anyway, the weather is starting to break I hear...

Where in the UK ?

As Pittpurple said, it's unusually warm in Edinburgh this summer - the one year in 7 when you can sit outside at night. (So shouldn't be a problem next year !)

So anyone staying here at the moment probably would appreciate AC - but I've never heard of a single hotel here which has it. The Balmoral is one of Edinburgh's top hotels and it doesn't have it; and judging by the open windows I see, none of the rest do either. Just because it would so rarely be needed, I suppose. And Brits are so used to/dependent on it. (I don't mean this to sound critical of Americans, but it's a fact that people are used to what they are used to.)

Before I moved here I lived in London for 10 years and I never heard of a private home with AC - I'd imagine it's probably just fabulously wealthy oil sheikhs with mansions on the Bishop's Avenue who'd have it.

And AC in cars here is a fairly recent thing, and generally only found in quite posh cars.

ok some julys are damp squibs, some are heatwaves. Get AC just in case. Oh, and if there is any kind of heat, factor in a +30f for travelling on the buses and +20f for the tube as neither have AC as that would entail rebuilding all the tunnels/ bridges in London ...apparently. In effect it was 130f/120f last week, so seriously, bring a towel.

oop thats 130f/120f on the buses/tube, not outside (97f).

Oops from me too - that should have been &quot;Brits are not used to/dependent on it&quot;, not &quot;so used to&quot;...

caroline_edinburgh:

&gt; The Balmoral is one of Edinburgh's top hotels and it doesn't have it &lt;

We just returned from the Balmoral where we stayed last week from Monday thru Wednesday. We had a standard room and it had a/c, and we turned it off at night because it was too cold.

We then moved to Cameron House at Loch Lomond which does not have a/c. Unfortunately, you could not open the window. But coming from a country with good engineers, I took my Swiss army knife and unscrewed the steel bar which blocked the window, so we got fresh air (before departing, I, of course, reinstalled the device.)

Traveller1959: I stand corrected. It didn't have it when we stayed there.

Did you not have a problem with midges when you opened the window at Cameron House ?

&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;
And AC in cars here is a fairly recent thing, and generally only found in quite posh cars.
&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;

i agree that widespread installation of aircon is fairly recent in UK cars, however, it has taken hold to the degree that it seems all but the very cheapest new cars are so equipped (similar to the US). I am speaking for england only - i'm sure it's different in scotland and NI. I am the butt of jokes in my office because i drive a car with no aircon (among other things).

it is clear the most people in england who can afford to drive a fairly new car expect it to be equipped with aircon. for various reasons this expectation has not extended to homes.

another example is the dishwasher...10 or so years ago, a DW was considered a luxury in england. now young working people expect a kitchen to be so equipped. times change and i don't see the benefit of putting down americans for expecting aircon in homes and hotels. different societies have different expectations for things...that's just life.

Caroline:

Not one single midge. Just wild rabbits, ducks and geese (not in our room).

walkinaround: well we don't usually have much need for AC in cars in Scotland ! When DH bought a new BMW (admittedly c.10 years ago) he opted for a clock instead :-) And I tried to stress I wasn't putting anyone down and that I realise different people have different expectations - Brits just don't expect AC in the UK. And although I'm sure I would have sometimes welcomed AC in my various flats when I lived in London (and indeed when visiting friends in the Caribbean), it never actually occurred to me that anyone had it in their homes, anywhere - until I met a Fodorite from Atlanta last year !

traveller1959 - v. glad for you !

It's so cold, windy and wet outside!!! Now that summer is over here in Munich, where do you store your AC??? You could use it for 3 weeks this year max., now it's fuc***** cold and it will stay this way. Global warming, hah.....