Husband and I are thinking of going to London next year!!

What are you thoughts/recommendations/airline to fly/etc.

Thank you!!!

My husband and I went last September and had a blast. We used frequent flier miles and flew direct from Houston to Heathrow. Hopefully customs at Heathrow has improved - we waited about 2.5 hours to get through a verrrrrrry long line.

We stayed near South Kensington as our friends recommended the area for a better hotel deal off the beaten path. We hopped on the tube and got around just fine. I highly recommend getting an Oyster card.

Some of our favorite (favourite) places were:
The British Museum (my second favorite place)
Buckingham Palace (we got to tour it because the Queen was away at Balmoral)
Hyde Park
Trader Vics
Parliament (do the tour)
Tower of London
London Bridge
Strolling along the Thames stopping at pubs OFTEN
Trafalgar Square
The National Gallery
St. Paul's
Westminster (my absolute favorite part)

If I had to do it over again I'd skip Harrods.



[This message has been edited by prisschris (edited 6/14/2010 2:41p).]

[This message has been edited by prisschris (edited 6/14/2010 2:42p).]

Thanks so much prisschris!

Hopefully it all pans out and we can go because I've always wanted to go.

=)

And right now it looks like if we take British Airways we can get a flight around $850 roundtrip.

Lived in London for about a year - South Kennsington/Chelsea. Great city to visit. Living there is a different story. Go see a show on the West End. Canary Wharf is a good area to hang out. Try the British War Rooms. For me, with my ADD, I just like to walk around and take-in the different sites.

Get tickets to a play in a small theater if you can. Superb.

Any tips on where to stay and in what areas?!!

Grosvenor House - Hype Park

My favorite hotel is the Renaissance Chancery Court. Use Marriott points or get them!

Great location.

Flying there will be the cheap part of your trip. Be prepared to spend a lot of money on hotel and food.

I've stayed at Columbia Hotel at Lancaster Gate twice, and it's very clean and safe for the price. It's definitely not new and luxurious, but the money you'll save will be worth it. Plus, there's a yummy free breakfast.

Things worth doing:
Tower of London (worth the money)
Westminster Abbey
Hampton Court Palace (30 min train ride out of the city, but so interesting)
British Museum
Oxford Street (shopping in stores we don't have here)
National Gallery
St Paul's Cathedral
See a show at West End (you can buy discounted tickets the morning of at the TKTS booth in Leicester Square)

If you have time:
Kensington Palace
Changing of the guard (get there early or don't go)
National Portrait Gallery
Portobello Rd Market (Saturday morning in Notting Hill)
See a play at the Globe Theater

Overrated (just my personal opinion):
London Bridge Experience (ended up being a haunted house)
Tower Bridge
Picadilly Circus
Texas Embassy

And a few reminders:
Londoners make dinner reservations, so be prepared to be turned away from nicer restaurants or wait a long time if you haven't booked a table

Buy a pass for the Underground (unlimited use per day) for Zones 1-2 and you will likely save money on tube fare

Take the Paddington Express train from Heathrow and then a cab to your hotel - it's worth it if you have lots of bags. Tube stations do not all have elevators/escalators and lugging suitcases up stairs is no fun.

Don't forget the Tate and Tate Modern Museums.

I think Harrod's is pretty cool for the first timer.

Imperial War Museum is something the boys (husbands and/or sons) would enjoy.

If you have any football (soccer) fans in the family, you can get to the grounds for Arsenal/Chelsea/Fulham/Tottenham/West Ham pretty easily. They all have club shops that should be open for retail sales. If you want merchandise to teams a little less well known in the US, Queens Park Rangers and Dagenham & Redbridge are a couple or smaller clubs found in London.

Just get on the tubes and go. And don't forget, "Mind the Gap".

anyone else have to wait this long in customs? flying into heathrow next tuesday morning

I had about a 5-10 minute wait in customs

Shiner Bock:

Where are you going over there, staying, etc.?

I didn't see this on anyone's list, but I found it quite interesting: the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms. They've maintained most of it to look like what it did during WWII, it was really cool to see where decisions were made during the War.

SB, your concerns over UK customs MIGHT be unwarranted. If your flight arrives rather early, shouldn't be a problem. Later in the morning and you'll be competing with folks from other international flights. Heathrow can get a little busy at times.

I've flown into Heathrow 3 times, never had to wait longer than 30-45 minutes. Too bad BA doesn't fly into Gatwick from the US (at least from DFW). In my opinion, Gatwick is a jewel of an airport.

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Shiner Bock:

Where are you going over there, staying, etc.?

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Well i have some friends that live over there in a town called Coventry (near Birmingham) which is about 90 miles north of London. I'm stayin in that region for 3 days visiting Stratford and Warwick....with good people, and free housing to boot!

Next, we're going to travel down to the southwest coast of England to Devon for 4 days...2 days in Exeter, and 2 days on the coast. I'm not really much of a touristy person, so I think I'm really going to like the country atmosphere, backroad pubs these places have to offer. We're stayin in local B&B's at these two locations.

Finally, to take pictures, i'll be in london to round out the trip before i make the quick swing home. This could be swapped around and done on the first day...not so sure yet. Like I said, I don't think London is for me, but i'd be remiss not to stop and check it out.

Gonna be a great trip...locals to show me around and FWIW, pretty dang pocket friendly. Good to know people .

[This message has been edited by Shiner Bock (edited 6/16/2010 3:23p).]

I second the Churchill Museum. It was a great experience that I would have regretted missing.

I would also suggest going to the Imperial War Museum. It was huge and had a ton of interesting exhibits. When I was there they had a 007 exhibit with a lot of props from the various movies.

If you are going to be staying a week or longer, you should seriously consider getting an apartment. Hotels in London are very expensive, and bein couped up in a small hotel room takes some of the fun out of the trip. On any extended stay, you're going to end up with a little down time, and some extra space will make you much more comfortable.

I did a trip report after our trip in 2007 that might have some useful ideas for you:

http://www.texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?forum_id=54&topic_id=900275

We are going the apartment route but are just in the process of making sure we find the right apartment.

I've have a very good friend that stayed at these apartments numerous times and cannot praise them enough.

http://www.londonperfect.com/

If you have any advice or anything like that re: apartments please let me know!!!

I appreciate you giving me the link to your trip report!

=)

http://www.citadines.com/

I've stayed in serviced apartments from Citadines in the UK and France (London and Paris) and have always been pleased.

And I definitely agree that serviced apartments are the way to go if you're going to be there for a week or more.

[This message has been edited by Aggie71013 (edited 6/18/2010 1:41p).]

Those folks have some apartments in Paris that have a big following on the Fodors travel forum. Probably could find cheaper accomodations if you wanted, but if the price works for you, I'd much rather stay at one of those places than any hotel you'd get for a comparable price (short of getting a deal on priceline). Just as an example, I looked at their Lancaster apartment, and it was more luxurious than the place we stayed stayed at in Westminster by about 350. But, you may want the plusher accomodations.

Be sure to pin down the exact location before you commit, and check out proximity to tube stations and major bus lines. If you're staying a week in Central London, you'll probably want to get an Oyster card and a one week travel card for zones 1 and 2, which will get you as far as Greenwhich.

lived there 5 years during my childhood... DON'T DO IT!

Also recommend Churchill museum! My daughter and I enjoyed the London Eye. Great views of the city! But do spend the extra for the "Champagne Flight" which allows you to go fast track and bypass the cues which can be super long. And they served us champagne and strawberries during the trip!

We stayed across the Thames from the Eye at the Charing Cross Hotel. It's an historic train station hotel and wasn't too expensive for the location. We walked to Parliament, Eye, Tower Bridge, etc. and a tube station is 1 block away. Also found, during our walkabouts, a small theatre with Val Kilmer performing "The Postman always rings twice" and got tickets for that evening. Loved it!

AggieLady:

Which airline did you fly?

tia

We used American frequent flyer miles, so not a help on that. I usually start by looking on something like Expedia just to get an idea of availability, specials, etc. but always check the airlines websites b/c they are occasionally cheaper. I've flown on most all at one time or another and I just fly coach because I figure cheaper means I can travel more.

ttt

If you're down around St. Paul's and looking for a Pint, try the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. Kinda of touristy at times, but an interesting place to spend a drink or two.

I used to take out of town guests there when I was living in Soho. The pub grub wasn't too bad either.

More details.

[This message has been edited by p_bubel (edited 7/13/2010 1:31p).]

I don't know what their schedule to London is these days, but on one of my trips there, I flew Northwest, and it was really great. I was a poor college student at the time, so I booked the cheapest flight I could, but on our Northwest flights, everyone had their own personal entertainment screen with several shows/movies/games to choose from. I haven't flown overseas in a couple years, but I remember American being somewhat behind the game as far as entertainment on long flights goes. But, that could have changed. Just wanted to give my 2 cents.

Just read through this thread -- seems to be quite a bit of useful information.

Has anybody been during late May/early June?

What is the weather like?

tia.

Wife and I just got back a couple of weeks ago. Stayed in the Kennsington Park area. Very nice and highly recommend. As for tours/museums:

1. Chruchill/War Museum- easily my favorite
2. British Musuem
3. Westminster Abbey
4. Tower of London
5. London Museum
6. Stonehenge- take the train

As for getting around town, take the tube, it's cheap and easy. Be sure you have plenty of money. The exchange rate was 1.6 to 1 when we were there. Harrod's was cool too. Be sure to do some shopping there. Have fun!

AggieWife09: The weather in late May/early June is, as with any other time in Britain, quite changeable. It could be sunny and quite warm, or it could be rainy and rather cool. Other than checking a forecast the day before you leave, it's pretty much a crapshoot, so pack for everything from 50s and chilly to 90s and muggy.

If you're concerned about accomodations without AC, many in London do not have AC. Usually, it's unecessary, but occasionally, it's very necessary. When we went in early June, we took an apartment no AC and had no problems weather wise, but it was very much a roll of the dice.

I agree with twk as far as weather goes. I've been in May and the weather was very mild, not hot but not cold. I wore a light jacket around and I was fine. I was fortunate to not have any rain on that particular trip, although it has rained on some of my other trips there.

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Stayed in the Kennsington Park area. Very nice and highly recommend

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Where exactly did you stay if you don't mind me asking?!?

Thanks twk - that's pretty much what we were told but I just wanted to double check with people who have actually been over there during the time we are looking at going!

Skip London; Just go to Scotland instead. Been to both and I will admit there are some cool things to see/do in London. But Scotland is oustanding! Get a Britrail/Scotrail pass and you can go all over the Highlands. They have an absolutely fabulous train system; not expensive either. Good luck!