Will be going to London to visit the wifes' family mid June. We will first be going to Peterborough for a few days then to Grays for the remainder. What are the must see/do things while there besides the obvious?

This will be my first trip abroad, so any tips would be appreciated. We will be flying AA since they had a great offer.

Does "mid-June" mean that you'll be in London on June 13? If so, you should consider going to see the parade up and down the Mall to and from "Trooping the Colour," the official birthday celebration for the Queen. The ceremony itself takes place on Horse Guard's Parade at 11:00 a.m. but it requires a ticket, so you are out of luck for that. However, all the units (footguards, bands, cavalry, and artillery) march from their barracks, past Buckingham Palace then down the Mall to Horse Guards for the ceremony, then march back in review (complete with flyover and the Queen stepping out to the balcony to take the salute (she also rides a carriage to and from Horse Guards for the ceremony). Beats the heck out of changing of the guard.

When you go to the Tower of London, get there just before the opening so that you can buy tickets and beat the crowds. If you are there at the opening, you can proceed directly to the jewel house and see the crown jewels without having to wait in line. If you postpone this at all, you may have to wait in line for hours. After seeing the jewels, you can then come back to the entrance and pick up the free Yeoman Warder's tour.

Since you're not a UK resident, you can't tour the inside of the Houses of Parliament (foreigners only get to do that in September), but, you can go watch a debate in the House of Commons or the House of Lords, and you can do this at night (the House regularly sits in the evenings--check the calendar to find out precisely which evenings they will be sitting).

We took a day trip to Oxford and Blenheim. You can go to Oxford by train, but the cheap day return tickets aren't available until after 9:30, meaning that you won't get to Oxford until after 10:30. We took the "Oxford Tube" bus line (strange name, but it is a bus) and by leaving just after 7:00 a.m., we were able to get to Oxford before we could have even boarded a train for London. We were then able to take a local bus out to Woodstock (where Blenheim is located) and be there just before the Palace opened at 10:00 a.m. After doing Blenheim, we took the bus back into Oxford and got to see Christ Church College.

We'll be there from June 16th-26th. We'll also be taking our 3yrold daughter.

Thanks for the tip about the Tower of London. On our way back from Peterborough, we're planning on stopping by Cambridge to check that out.

edit: Anything out of the ordinary about flying AA to London? My wife is still a British citizen also.

[This message has been edited by Bbatt99 (edited 4/8/2009 1:04p).]

As I understand it, AA has moved to Terminal 5 since I last flew into London, so no personal experience with that. Are you getting a rental car or taking public transport? Are you going straight to Peterborough?

big ben
parliament

We are going straight to Peterborough when we get there. We were thinking of taking a train up there and then getting one of the family to pick us up for the trip back to Grays. Then possibly renting a car to see the sights in London for the last 6days.

A rental car in London is worse than useless--it's an absolute nuissance. You only want to get a rental car for driving outside of London. It would be OK for the trip from LHR to Peterborough, and possibly for Peterborough to Grays, but for everything else, you don't want one.

Trains/busses the best way then? How much does one usually cost?

A train is going to run about $1,000,000
A Bus is going to run you about $250,000

they wont be nearly as bad of costs as parking/gas there. Ride the train around, use the "tube" in London for transport....

Parking at most hotels is over $100 a day

We spent 17 days in England 2 years ago. We used public transportation while in London and rented a car for a trip up to the Lakes District and over to Bath, Stonehenge, etc.

While the taxis and tube tickets can add up, the thing I was not prepared for was paying for parking EVERYWHERE! Even the smallest towns 3-4 hours outside of London charged a pound and hour to park. Insane. But it is worth it to see much more of the country than just London.

eat indian food.

London has the best indian food in the world.

I second everything other people have said. If your child isn't afraid of heights, I'd recommend the London Eye. It's a great way to get some awesome pics of the city, especially Big Ben and the Houses.

If you have time, you should check out a Shakespeare play at the Globe Theatre. Hampton Court Palace is a short train ride outside of London, and it's one of the great Tudor England palaces. There's also Greenwich, where you can stand on the prime meridian, which is pretty cool.

Whatever you do, you'll definitely have a great time.

Yes, if at all possible, avoid the British if you can.

On a serious note, The Tower of London was cool. Also, check out London Dungeon and The British Imperial War Museum.


TAF

[This message has been edited by RightWingConspirator (edited 4/10/2009 4:19a).]

Churchill Museum.

In Cambridge make sure you hit the pub where Watson, Crick, and whats-her-name pounded pints over the structure of DNA. Oh and have a pint there.
Punting (their version of floating the Guadalupe) through Cambridge was fun. It's actually like having your own Itialian gondola to tour the campus... Highly reccomend if you have good balance and some idea how to direct a boat.

You are getting great advice, if you want to avoid the mad house on the Trooping of the Colours go watch one of the rehearsals, they are impressive too.

See the Imperial War Museum.

Not sure if you have the time, but Stonehenge isn't too far away. It was well worth the extra drive to me.

Get a tour from a reputable tourist group. We saw the Tower of London, St. Pauls Cathedrial (Def. see this... I wasn't prepared for the WWII memorial to the US in there... awesome), and tea at Harrod's Dept. Store.

See a play in a really old theatre (I think we saw Phantom of the Opera in Her Magesty's Theatre or something like that). I'm not a play guy, but that was cool and not too expensive either.

Order the largest size drinks whenever possible because there are no free refills.

Travel by tube in London.

Oh, and see the London Eye.

Get a tour from a reputable tourist group. We saw the Tower of London, St. Pauls Cathedrial (Def. see this... I wasn't prepared for the WWII memorial to the US in there... awesome), and tea at Harrod's Dept. Store.

See a play in a really old theatre (I think we saw Phantom of the Opera in Her Magesty's Theatre or something like that). I'm not a play guy, but that was cool and not too expensive either.

Order the largest size drinks whenever possible because there are no free refills.

Travel by tube in London.

Oh, and see the London Eye.

Great Advice so far

My favorite was the Churchill Museum. Amazing what these people went through. I am also not a play guy but recommend going to see one. At least on one afternoon take the time to sit in a pub and talk to people. London people are very friendly. Also if some one asks tell them you are from Texas instead the states. This started numerous conversations for me.

I'm always from Texas first.

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll have to see what all we can fit in.

This is the right attitude!

I'm a South Carolinian first! I've always felt like Texas was the other state that "gets it"

You see Palmetto Trees on everything in SC, you see Stars on everything in Tx

Take tube to Baker St. station - great pubs, Sherlock Holmes museum, and just a couple blocks away is the Abbey Road crosswalk - a must pic but it takes some good timing - it's a pretty busy road.
The park at Kensington palace is very nice. A short bus ride to Stratford-on-Avon is worth it to see Shakespeare theater in his hometown.
Ditto Imperial war museum - especially the basement floor.

Big Al,

I think I've been in that pub before. We took a walking tour through the Jack the Ripper area of town and ended up at the Sherlock Holmes pub.

This was probably 12 years ago, but I'm pretty sure I've been there.


TAF

South Carolina gargles my balls.

I enjoyed Legoland (I think it's in/near Windsor?)--I was 16 then and had been to Legoland in Denmark when I was very young, so I very much wanted to see it. It did seem quite expensive though (that was in 1996).

I agree with the Sherlock Holmes stuff, if you're into him it's neat.

Also, I guess it's probably a corny touristy thing, but I loved Madame Tussaud's.

Is this a trick question?

Big Ben
Parliament