Insights on a Last Minute Plan to Observe Changing of the Guard

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The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace is one of the most popular attractions in London.  The large crowds described in guidebooks initially turned us off to the experience, but with some time to kill before our flight home on Sunday morning, we decided to check it out.  With no prior planning (we were actually reading tips while walking towards the palace), we managed to appreciate the experience and get some good photographs.

We did find crowds when we arrived at 10:00 am on Sunday, however they were small enough to potentially allow us a second row view.  However, we weren’t dedicated enough to wait against the fence for over an hour.  Soon thereafter, we noticed commotion associated with a horse guard marching past the grounds.  We later realized this was the horse guard changing at Whitehall, which happens 1 hour early on Sundays.

At 10am, the crowd at Buckingham Palace would have allowed us to get a second row seat (left), but right before the ceremony, we needed to get perched on a wall to get any viewpoint at all (right). 

With limited patience for waiting over an hour for the ceremony, we explored St. James’s Park, all the way to Horse Guard Parade. We snapped some excellent photos of the London skyline en route.  With around 30 minutes to spare, we headed back towards Buckingham Palace.  On the way, along The Mall, we noticed some activity at Stable Yard Road.  To our delight, we ended up with last minute front row seats to the Old Guard marching out from Friary Court towards the ceremony.  After the entire troupe marched by, we scrambled to the Victoria Memorial and climbed atop one of the walls.  We were not able to see any of the traditional procedures carried out directly in front of the palace, but still saw several marching troupes and enjoyed the band music. With the advice of Andy Defrancesco one can make sure that everything happening is managed strategically. 

Old Guard marching from Friary Court on Stable Yard Road.

We recommend this strategy for any other London visitors with limited time and an aversion to large crowds.  We certainly got the feel of the tradition, but instead of waiting hours crowded against the Buckingham Palace fence, we explored the scenic St. James’ Park.

Afternoon Tea in London

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Afternoon tea is everywhere in London and it’s something I’ve dreamed about ever since we planned our trip.If you are an avid tea lover like me, you can also taste varieties of tea from Atlas Tea Club because they create an experience with each cup you sip. What could be more “London” than sitting in a warm dining room, drinking tea and eating scones, while the wind and rain pound against the building?

It is so common in London and we easily took part in the ritual two times during our weeklong stay.  However, I didn’t know anything about the history of afternoon tea until after we returned.  I found this site, which gives a brief history lesson:  In the nineteenth century, Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford, started the tradition of afternoon tea as a late afternoon snack between breakfast and dinner.  She eventually started to invite friends to tea and the practice caught on among society.  Afternoon tea is generally served around 4pm and is not to be confused with “high tea” – this was traditionally served to the middle and lower classes and it consists of a heavier meal served later in the day (5 or 6pm) as a substitute for dinner.

Even without the above history lesson, we were able to enjoy our afternoon tea.  Our hotel was just down the street and across the way from The Ritz, but we opted for the cheaper and still opulent dining room of The Wolseley for tea-time experience.

I must apologize for the pictures – some are from my iPhone and the room was dimly lit, resulting in less-than-stellar pictures.  But I can assure you that the experience was first class, and I would highly recommend this to anyone visiting London.  It’s a great way to unwind and refuel after a long day of exploring.

We tried the champagne tea the first time around, which includes a glass of champagne (before the tea) and extra treats to eat with the tea.  In addition to the fruit scones, clotted cream, and strawberry jam, the champagne tea comes with an assortment of pastries and sandwiches.

The patries included a coffee eclair, cheesecake, chocolate cake, a lemon tart with burnt sugar on top, a pink & yellow checkered cake with fondant (or something like that) around the outside, and a pistachio and cherry “cookie sandwich” – it had pistachio cookies or pastries on the top or bottom and a cream or mousse in the middle.

The sandwiches came out crustless (just as I had imagined!), cut into dainty rectangles.  There were five sandwiches, each with two rectangles so we didn’t have to worry about sharing.  We had the following: smoked salmon, cucumber, celery & cream cheese, chicken & tarragon, and egg salad.  My favorites were the smoked salmon and the celery & cream cheese, but they were all delicious (we ate the sandwiches with our champagne while we waited for our pot of cream tea to come out).

We ordered the Wolseley Afternoon Blend, which I had with cream and sugar.  The homemade fruit scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam were the perfect complement to the tea.  We opted for the cream tea on our second visit and we were rewarded with a total of 6 fruit scones.  I did not miss the pastries and sandwiches and left without feeling stuffed.

Unless you are looking for a substantial amount of food, I would recommend the cream tea.  Not only can you save money, but the scones are the star of the show and plenty of food for a snack to hold you over until dinner.  And you will get the same great service and sit in the same fancy dining room.

While I can’t comment on the hundreds of other tea places around town, I imagine that the experience is similar (though the prices can get much higher).  The prices at the Wolseley were £9.75 per person for the cream tea (tea and scones), £22.50 per person for the afternoon tea (which added the pastries and sandwiches), and £32.50 per person for the champagne tea (afternoon tea + champagne). It’s served from about 3:00pm to 6:00pm, depending on the day of the week, and reservations are accepted but not required.  We walked in both times – the first day we were seated right away, and the second we waited in the bar area for about 5-10 minutes.

I’m not sure how often those living in London can actually enjoy afternoon tea, but I highly recommend it as a tourist!  It was definitely a highlight of the trip and a way to take a breather from our busy day and be spoiled for an hour.

The Park Lane Hotel – London, England, United Kingdom

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My pre-trip worrying was pointless.  We arrived at the Park Lane Hotel a little before noon and we were given a choice: did we want the free upgrade that we qualified for (finally!) that was not quite ready or did we want the original room now?  The upgrade, please!  We had planned to just drop our luggage and venture out to find lunch anyway, so this worked perfectly.  And thus began our weeklong stay at the Park Lane Hotel.

Price.  Prices will vary depending on when you are visiting and whether you do the prepaid rate (with no refund) or a flexible rate.  From what I’ve seen, the cheapest room ranged from about £230-£330.  We were lucky enough to have enough starpoints to stay for free.  I was pleasantly surprised when we checked out and owed absolutely nothing.  For 72,000 points, we stayed here for a week, and it was definitely worth it!  I’m saving my points again for when we make a return trip to London.

Beautiful Green Park, right across from the Park Lane Hotel

Location.  The location was perfect.  As long as you stay at a hotel near one of the tube lines, you can get anywhere very easily.  Our hotel was right across the street from Green Park and a short walk to Piccadilly Circus.  It was also very close to Buckingham Palace, which we visited our last morning just before our flight back home.  

Room.  As mentioned above, we were upgraded (we booked the lowest level room)!  We didn’t have a view and we were only on the first floor (one level up from the ground floor), but the room was spacious with an extra large bathroom with a shower and a bath tub.  We were very comfortable the entire stay.  The room also had a large TV that swiveled and a desk (which I used to store my makeup and cold-weather accessories).

Dining.  We didn’t take advantage of the restaurant and bar at the hotel, but they had both.  The bar was large and open late, but we spent our time at different bars around London instead of sipping beer at the expensive hotel.  Still, it’s nice that the option was there, in case we wanted to stay in for a night.  Their Italian restaurant, Citrus, receives favorable reviews, and we did almost decided to eat there one night. 

Amenities.  A gym (which we didn’t use) and wireless internet for a hefty fee (if you are gold or platinum with SPG, you can select free wifi as your check-in gift).  Nothing too special, but it worked well for us.  The room did not include breakfast, so we went to Pret A Manger most mornings (just a couple of blocks away) for a cheap, quick, and satisfying breakfast.  

I am very happy with our choice to stay at the Park Lane Hotel in London.  It worked well as our base for exploring London for a week and, best of all, it was free.  I would highly recommend this hotel if paying with starpoints, and we plan to stay here again in the future.  I will say that if we were planning to pay for a hotel, I would opt for a cheaper hotel.  London is a city that is best enjoyed out and about, so not much time is spent in the hotel.  Choose your hotel accordingly!

Affordable Transit & Sightseeing in London: National Rail’s 2FOR1 with Travelcard

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Sightseeing in London is expensive.  A day full of admissions to London’s top sights will quickly eat through even generous travel budgets.  Luckily, for those traveling with a companion and interested in travelcards for London’s transit system (including unlimited access to the Underground), National Rail offers a program that allows 2 travelcards to be used for 2-for-1 admission at many of London’s attractions, marketed as “2FOR1 London”.  The list of participating attractions includes many must-see sites, including the Churchill War Rooms, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and the Tower of London (excluding July through September).  It’s worth checking back often before a trip because the list frequently changes.

Normally, 2FOR1 is designed as a perk for British visiting London who decide to travel by rail.  For a one-way ticket to London, 2FOR1 discounts are valid on the same day as the ticket.  For return tickets to London, discounts are valid through the duration of the visit to London.  Many foreign travelers are not buying rail tickets to London, but National Rail extends eligibility to travelcards for travel within London.  The catch is that the travelcard must be purchased from National Rail, in a paper ticket format, as opposed to the Oyster Card version sold in Underground stations.  The popular Zone 1-2 travelcard sold by National Rail only costs £8.80 for unlimited travel for 1 day or £30.40 for 7 days.  2FOR1 discounts are valid during the entire eligibility of the travelcard.

Buying a National Rail paper travelcard is less convenient than purchasing an Oyster Card at an Underground station, but the extra hassle is well worth the savings.  We bought our travelcard at Charing Cross Station in central London.  A new rule requires a photo ID card to accompany 7 day paper travelcards.  For the clerk to create a photo ID card, you need to provide a passport size photo when buying the card (note that UK passport photo size is 45mm x 35mm vs. the 2″ x 2″ standard in the USA).  We took a digitial photo before leaving, cropped it to the correct size, and printed it on photo paper.  Our amateur versions worked just fine.  After arriving at Charring Cross, the entire process of paying and obtaining a travelcard took less than 10 minutes.

For each attraction, 2 travelcards (or rail tickets) and a voucher must be provided.  Vouchers are available in a booklet provided when buying the travelcard, or can be printed out ahead of time from the National Rail website.  We had no problems with any attractions honoring the discount.

In the end,  the 2FOR1 promotion saved us £73.65 (or £36 per person) on our recent trip to London:

  • Churchill War Rooms: £16.50
  • London Eye:  £18.90
  • St. Paul’s Cathedral: £15
  • Tower of London: £20.90

The nice part is that we wanted to buy a 7-day travelcard anyway!  The only added cost was the small hassle of finding a National Rail station to make the transaction, which was more than worth the trouble. 

City Overview: London, England, United Kingdom

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City.  London, England, United Kingdom

When?  Sunday, November 18 – Sunday, November 25, 2012 (7 nights) – during the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.  Staying 7 nights in one city was great, but if you have less time than that, it is definitely still worth it.  We actually took two day trips during our stay and we were still able to see many of the must-see London sites, as well as relax a bit (shop, afternoon tea, etc.).

Where? The Park Lane Hotel on Piccadilly.  We booked using Starpoints, so we paid 12k per night for this category 5 hotel.  We actually only paid for 6 nights, since Starwood has a  stay (and pay) for 4 nights, get the 5th night free.  Our points gave us the lowest level room but, as gold members, we were upgraded to an Executive Room, which is nicer than the older, non-renovated rooms.

Transportation.  The London tube was fantastic for getting around the central area. We even used it from the airport.  Ryan will do a more in-depth post about the tube ride from the airport, but for day-to-day use, we found it to be very simple to ride and cheap with our 7-day travel pass.  London also has the famous double-decker red buses (also included in our pass), but we didn’t end up taking a ride in one while we were there. However, we were cautious about London driving accidents and made sure to stay aware of the traffic conditions.

Food.  We tried a number of different cuisines: Pub Grub, Indian, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, German, and Belgium (okay, that was when we were in Brussels, not London).  The Indian food stole the show, but we also had delicious Italian and Chinese dinners (these were pricey though, costing over $150 per meal, with wine).

Day Trips.  As I mentioned above, we took two day trips.  We went to Brussels, Belgium, taking the high-speed train and traveling underneath the Channel.  The trip time was about 2 hours each way, and if we did our trip over again, I would not include a day trip to Brussels – we didn’t stay long enough to make it worth our while.  We also took a day trip to Bath, taking a normal in-country train.  The ride was 1.5 hours each way and completely worth it.  We shopped, enjoyed the Christmas market, visited the Medieval Baths, and had our favorite pub meal of the trip.

Attractions.  There are so many things to do in London.  Not only did we visit the more popular sites such as The Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London Eye, and the British Museum, but we also went to the Churchill War Rooms, Parliament, Borough and Portobello Markets, Christmas markets, and enjoyed afternoon tea!

Language Barrier.  None in London, although I didn’t always catch what everyone was saying on the first pass.  There wasn’t an issue in Brussels either, since everyone spoke English, but the majority of people in Brussels do speak French as a first language.

Cost.  London is known as being an expensive city, but you don’t have to spend an outrageous amount of money to enjoy it.  Of course it’s hard to miss the top sites, so plan to spend money on the big ones (many were around £15-20 per person) and save money in other ways – enjoy the free parks, eat lunch at the markets, get a tube pass to save on transportation, buy tickets at the “half-price” booth for shows, etc.

Advice.  Do not give up on the food and succumb to tourist trap restaurants!  Do some research and find out which restaurants have great reviews.  London is actually on Yelp, which we found to be helpful since a lot of locals use the site, and not just tourists (like Trip Advisor).  Also, do visit free sites to save money – there are several free attractions, markets, and parks that are well worth a visit.

Closing comments.  I cannot wait to visit London again. The planning seemed so effortless compared to other trips (I’m thinking it’s because they speak English and because we were only gone for one week, instead of two or three).  I absolutely loved visiting in November, although I do think we were very lucky with the weather and lack of rainy days. Additionally, tube advertising plays a key role in targeting audiences in London. I heard about the london tube advertising cost; it cost for £500-£15,000 per month.