UK – London

I was brooding for a month prior to this trip. I was here six years ago on my first trip ever to Europe and didn’t want to go back. I made this secret vouch to not return to the same country, let alone the same city before I complete my Eurovaganza. But I wanted to meet an old friend and picked up something from her; I hesitantly bought the tickets and forced myself to pack and got on the bus to the airport. The thought of trying to find my ways in this big city depressed me. Boys, did I have a huge surprise waiting for me on my return trip to London?

Trip brainstorm

First, you should have a guidebook. There are a lots of things to do and see in London. The city is huge, and you can’t just wander without knowing where to go.

You need a week to explore and enjoy London to the fullest as a tourist. I was there for four days and felt like I haven’t even cracked the surface. There are three best ways to explore London:

1. Take an introductory tour of London and you’ll see the tourist attractions in the course of one day.
2. Think of London in term of neighborhoods. Choose one, explore it and move to another.
3. Stay here in longer and dig your way around the city. (This is best way to explore any city anyway.)

The open-bus tour , £25, is a bit pricey for budget traveler. While you can use the bus for 24 hours, you need to use it fully to make the money worth. If you want to explore other parts of the city not covered on the bus route, you’ll waste the money. A cheaper alternative is to join the 2,3-hour walking tour operated by New Europe Free Tour. They operate on tips alone, which you probably end up tip them £4 or £5. A classic tour will includes visits to Buckingham Palace, the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey, London tower, Trafalgar Square, House of the Parliament, Big Ben, Piccadilly Circus etc… and interesting and funny stories about historical and current events you probably won’t find out from guidebooks.

At night, chance are your friends or your feet will take you to Convent Garden, Leicester square and Soho where London’s nightlife begins. This area is packed with many restaurants, cafes, clubs, bars and theaters. During the day, this place is a mega shopping centers.

Cross over to the South Bank, south of the Thames river, and enjoy a ride in the London eye, a huge observation wheel which carries you up the Thames river. With the steep £17 admission charge, it’s best to use it during very sunny days to have the panoramic view of London. The experience was okay for me, but apparently other tourists disagree. (10000 visitors per day and 3.5 millions/year.) From here you can walk along the river, checking out various attractions along the river bank all the way to the City Tower.

I spent my first two night in Astor Hyde Park, a convenient location to visit the National History and Victoria and Albert museums. Nearby is Kensington Garden, a large garden where in the weekend people inline-skate, bike, jog or chill out. Noting Hill is only 10 minute walk from the north entrance of the garden. Portebello market, the world largest antique market, is a must-see if you happen to be in the area during the weekend. There are hundreds of colorful shops and stalls selling every thing from antiques, vintage clothing, crafts to ethnic foods, sweets and produce.

Camden town was one of the highlights on my trip. I didn’t know anything about this area. I came here because of a suggestion from my colleague and didn’t expect much. It was a discovery once I finally got there. I won’t say more and leave it to you to find out. You will love the place.

Most major museums in London are free including the National History museum, British museum, National gallery, Tate Modern gallery, Tate Britain, Saatchi, Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) to name a few. Definitely take advantage of this and set aside sometime to visit the museums. Museums in London are the most interactive museums I’ve been to in Europe. In V&A, you can participate in all kinds of activities to reinforce the knowledge you have just learn. for examples assembling a chair from the 18th century, putting on a hooped petticoat worn by English women in the past or examining ceramic pieces to see the difference between English and Chinese ceramic quality. This is the first museums where I saw signs read ‘please touch’ everywhere.

Italy might be the European country you might associate to football. Maybe on the national level, but on the club leagues, English Premier League is currently the best in the world. London is home to world’s top clubs Arsenal and Chelsea in addition to Tottenham, Fulham and Westham United. Tickets are priced from £ 25, but good luck getting them. You either need to book in advance, fork out a lot of money or know some locals to help you with this. Tickets are usually sold out especially for games played by Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and even Fulham. I was in London on the exact week the Premier League took a break due the Euro League cup and international friendly matches::bummer.

Sample cost

Eat

Try English breakfast and English fish and chips, then move on to everything else. English cuisine isn’t the best in the world, but thanks to London’s multi-culture, exotic cuisines from every corner of the world can be found just anywhere.

Sleep

Book in ADVANCE. London is very popular to all kinds of tourists and travelers. I was there in March, and most hostels and hotels in centered location were booked out. The rooms which were still available had double and triple price tags. London is huge, and it’s likely that you will need to use public transportation to get to the city center and most tourist sights. I recommend to find accommodation within zone 1 and 2 for convenience. Also, the money that you think you save will be spent on buy tickets to get beyond zone 1 and 2. A single ride ticket to zone 3 costs £4.

Transportation

– London’s main international airport, Heathrow (LHR), is the busiest in Europe Other ‘London’ airports are located outside of London: Gatwick (LGW), Luton (LTN) and Stansted (STN). Keep this in mind when you have connecting flights from ‘London’. Allow about 2 hours for transport from one airport to another. Budget airlines such as easyJet, Ryanair, Wizzair, Germanwings operate only from these suburb airports (London-Gatwick, London-Luton, London-Stansted). From here, you can get to many destinations in Europe for very cheap.
– There are frequent 24-hour airport buses taking you to the city center or to another airport. There are a few bus companies. Prices are not fixed and vary with time. Book in advance to get the cheap deal. Maximum price for a single-ride is £17. All of them require you to choose to the time of your departure. If you miss your bus, your chance is up to the availability of the next bus and the mood of the bus driver. I booked my bus through Wizzair (partner with Greenline) because it cost less than buying directly from the Greenline and easyBus (sold-out) websites. The advantage was that I didn’t have to choose the time, and the print-out voucher didn’t show any. I just showed up. If you book a specific time, make sure to show up on time. My first Greenline driver was very nice, even called around to inquire about my address. The return driver was either an asshole just crave an ego boost. He turned down everybody who showed up 3 minutes late while the bus was not even moving. He harangued people by the same speech “Why did you show up late? If you can’t make it at 4, why did you book the 4 o’clock. You want me to hold everybody up?…” His favorite line “Seats subject to availability only” is rather ridiculous. The bus was nowhere near full as there was only max 15 people. He mood-swing allowed some people to get on the bus because they insisted while at the same time he told two non-pushy 20-something Asian girls to buy new tickets. They looked very naive and inexperience to me; I guess they would buy new tickets.

* easyBus: Cheapest out of the four companies . Boast fare as low as £2, but common prices are around £6,7,8. Easy web interface where you see immediately a list of departures and prices. Operate only between Luton airport and the city center. Book in advance as fares did sold out for my departures.
* National Express: This is the most expensive of the three. Maybe because this is the only company which serves all mentioned airports including services between them. I searched for different departures on the same period and found only one price of £15 one-way from Luton.
* Greenline Express: Fixed £13 one-way for Luton airport – London city center. £14.5 return for easyJet customers. At the spot, you pay £16. Service only Luton airport.
* Terravision: Services from Luton and Stanted. Expensive.

– The fast train Eurostar connects London to Belgium (Brussels) and France (Paris). The trip takes around 2 hours. There is no fixed price. The early you book, the better price you have. The price isn’t cheap, sometimes much more expensive than a low-cost flight. Don’t take this train all the way to your final destination unless you score a discount. Instead buy a ticket to Brussels or Paris and find a local train from there to your final destination.

– There are also coaches connecting London to other major cities in Europe. Prices are much lower (£28 vs. hundreds) compared to Eurostar, but of course the trip takes longer. For example, a trip from London to Brussels takes 2 hours by train and 9 hours by bus. Major bus companies: National Express, Eurolines, Megabus (domestic) and Greyhound (domestic).

For public transportation, I’m not sure the use of buying single-ride tickets or day-pass when you can buy a pre-paid Oyster card. You pay a deposit for the card and top it with credits (pay by cash or credit card). A single-ride via an Oyster card cost £1.3 and £1.9 if bought separately. If you travel a lot in a single day, the card will cap at the same price for a day-pass. The Oyster card is both flexible and cost-saving.

Guidebooks