Tag Archives: London

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.

We’re Back: London in Pictures

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We’ve been back from London for about a week and I can’t even describe how much I fell in love with the city.  Everything was better than I expected: the flight, the hotel, the food, the weather, the sites, the tube, the shopping.  While we collect our thoughts and sort through the pictures, I want to share a few pictures to try to sum up the trip (impossible!):

  • Sites – Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the Tower of London, and so many more!
 
  • Food – pub food, Italian food, Chinese food, and Indian food (and more than that, but I can’t fit it all on this small collage)
 
  • Beer – we honestly didn’t have too much beer, but we had enough.  I rotated between beer, wine, and hot chocolate with baileys (at the Christmas markets)
  • Relaxing – afternoon tea, walking through the parks, and shopping
 
  • Day Trips – one to Brussels, Belgium and one to Bath, England
 
  • Harry Potter sites – we visited Platform 9 3/4 (not the actual one used in the movie, unfortunately) and walked across Millennium Bridge, which was destroyed by Death Eaters in the beginning of the movie Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
 
  • Markets – Borough Market, Portobello Market and Southbank Christmas Market
  • And just the smallest bit of rain – we seriously lucked out with the weather.  It really only rained one day we were there, with a few sprinkles here and there throughout the week. 

We can’t wait to share more details!

London Hotel Pre-Trip Worries

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We are able to make this trip to London, which is our second trip to Europe this year, because we are using Starpoints for our entire hotel stay (hotel = completely free).  From time to time I look at hotels on SPG and dream about traveling.  I happened to look at the London hotels and noticed that one, the Park Lane Hotel, was only 12k Starpoints per night, which seemed like a steal!  Ryan took a look and confirmed the great location, and we began to look into the trip a little more to see if we could actually afford it.  

Since our hotel was chosen for us based on affordability, I skipped the part of the planning process where I read reviews.  Well, after returning from Portugal and Spain, where we stayed at two Starwood properties, I decided to start looking up some information about the Park Lane.  I started on flyertalk, which I love to read because everyone there travels like crazy and is honest about the hotels they stay in and the airlines they fly.  Of course, I can’t usually relate because most are flying business or first class and have hundreds of thousands of hotel points, but it’s still fun to read.

In this case, I found myself horrified by the negative reviews of the hotel.  In some cases, travelers actually changed hotels mid-stay (and often moved to the much-nicer Le Méridien Piccadilly).  The reviews caution future travelers against staying at the Park Lane Hotel with it’s dated and noisy rooms, but mention that an upgrade to an Executive Room (the ones that were actually renovated recently) can be worth the low cost of the hotel.  Also, there are some reviews that were positive; it’s just that the negative reviews overpowered the positive ones.

So here I am, imagining that the room will look something like this (pictures taken from the SPG website):

But after looking through the traveler photos on Trip Advisor, I’m worried we might get stuck with one of the small, dated, noisy rooms, with an old hair dryer, a makeshift A/C unit (luckily we’ll be there in November!), paint peeling off of the walls, and dirt left in the shower.  

At this point, we are not changing our hotel.  Some of the positive reviews mentioned upgrades at the Park Lane – either because they have status with SPG and received the upgrade for free upon arrival or they were sent a deal before the stay where they could secure an upgrade by paying a certain amount.  We are SPG Gold, but so far that has meant little to us in Europe (no upgrade in Barcelona or Madrid), so I am not too confident that an upgrade will happen in London.  And since we’re SPG Gold, I don’t want to pay for an upgrade when, if available, we should be offered one for free.  Even if an upgrade is only £30 per night, it adds up to £210, which is over $300.  And we’re staying here for free.  That’s the whole point – it’s 100% free, no taxes, fees, or anything. 

With about a week and a half until we get to London, the best I can hope for is that our room will be fine.  We plan to spend most of our time away from the hotel, so a less-than-perfect room will definitely be acceptable.  That being said, we will be staying at the Park Lane Hotel for 7 nights, so I expect a clean and comfortable room, with a working hair dryer!  I can’t see myself demanding a new room, but I also don’t want to give in and settle for a room we are not comfortable in.  

There’s not much to do now but wait and see what the hotel and room are like when we arrive.  I’m hoping for the best!

 

London: The Extremely Detailed Itinerary

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Our London trip is fast-approaching, and while I’m not stressing over learning a new language or wondering what the weather will be like (I know it will be freezing!), I am completely overwhelmed by all of the must-see sites and attractions that London and the surrounding area has to offer.  For a first timer, a 7-night trip seemed more than long enough, until I realized that even with 7 nights, there is no way we could fit in everything (and do it well).  So, we decided to map out a detailed, tentative itinerary (to be changed while we’re there, I am sure!).  As a warning, this post is going to be lengthy and wordy, but hopefully it will help show how we came up with our plans. 

Ryan has been to London twice before, and so he has seen many of the major sites.  That being said, most of them are worth visiting again, so we really aren’t taking into account what he’s already seen.  I made a list of the top 10 sites we wanted to visit, as well as additional attractions and things to do.  The list is no where near exhaustive, but we had to start out with something manageable.  We tried to rank the sites in order of priority, but changed our mind as we were planning out which thing to do or see on each day. 

Here are the sites we considered: Tower of London*, British Museum*, British Library, St. Paul’s Cathedral*, Westminster Abbey*, London Eye*, Churchill War Rooms and Museum*, Tate Modern, Parliament*, and National Gallery*.

Westminster Abbey and other sites in London.

Here are the other attractions, areas, things we wanted to fit in (including day trips): Day trip to Bath and possibly Stonehenge, day trip to Brussels*, Hampton Court Palace, Kew Gardens, Windsor, Covent Garden*, Portobello market* (Notting Hill – Saturdays), a musical* (Les Mis is on the top of our list), Christmas Market(s)*, outdoor ice skating*, Greenwich*, the Docklands*, Harrod’s*, walks* (through the Westminster area, West End area, Southbank area), Hyde Park*. Continue reading →

Drinking with a View

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Whether we’re abroad or in our own city of Bakersfield, Ryan and I love to sip drinks and eat snacks while taking in a view.  I received an email this morning from Fodor’s with a link to an article about the 10 best hotel bars with a view in Europe.  It’s great timing because we’ll be visiting three of the cities this fall!

In Lisbon, the article recommends the BA Terrace at the Bairro Alto Hotel.  This was already on my radar after reading about it in a Trip Advisor forum post.  Since our Lisbon itinerary is fairly relaxed (we plan to do a lot of exploring in the different neighborhoods), there will hopefully be time for us to visit this bar and enjoy the fantastic view!

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