Advice Please from Past Travellers
As it gets closer to the start of our big adventure I need some approximate time advice from those who have done this tour in the past. I realise what I'm about to ask will not have any definative times but getting approximate times will help us greatly in our planning of our free time in London. Ah! So much to see so little time available. Using the trip planner .....
1. On Day 12 we leave Windor Castle to arrive in London at the Royal Horseguards. Can you tell me what time did you arrive in London approximately?
2. On day 13 after a Morning tour including Westminster Abbey and a bus tour we have a free afternoon before the dinner at the Tower. What time approximately did the morning tour finish and where were you dropped off? AND What was the departure time from the Hotel for the Tower dinner?
We have an extra day and a half in London after the tour ends so we will see most of the things on the top of our "to see" list but as this is likely to be the only time we will be in London we just want to get the most of the little time we have available to us - hence the questions.
Thanks in advance for your help and as always I look forward to your responses.
1. On Day 12 we leave Windor Castle to arrive in London at the Royal Horseguards. Can you tell me what time did you arrive in London approximately?
2. On day 13 after a Morning tour including Westminster Abbey and a bus tour we have a free afternoon before the dinner at the Tower. What time approximately did the morning tour finish and where were you dropped off? AND What was the departure time from the Hotel for the Tower dinner?
We have an extra day and a half in London after the tour ends so we will see most of the things on the top of our "to see" list but as this is likely to be the only time we will be in London we just want to get the most of the little time we have available to us - hence the questions.
Thanks in advance for your help and as always I look forward to your responses.
0
Comments
However, for your extra day and a half, I suggest you go to the London Pass website and think about getting a two day London Pass with a Travel Pass. Check the list of attractions and see if the places the pass gets you into are on your GoTo list. You pass the ticket purchasing queues and can get in for no additional fee. There are also some restaurants and other areas you can use for reduced fees. This pass does not work for the London Eye. Check with the Royal Horseguards concierge for tickets there. You can also go to the London Eye website and get tickets there. It is a bit confusing. You can get open tickets, reserved tickets for open times, and reserved tickets for specific times. I just got our tickets at the hotel.
The travel pass will give you unlimited transportation on the Tube and on buses and trains. You may not need it, but it is worth a try. The nice thing about the Travel Pass also, is that you just go through the gates and don't have to stop at machines to buy tickets every time you want to ride the tube. They have different pass charges for different zones. Most of your travel, I would guess, is in Zones 1 and 2. If you make one or two trips out of those zones you can just buy individual tickets. Heathrow is NOT in zone 1 or 2. I plan on renting a flat in June and July of 2015 and will make sure I get some sort of unlimited travel pass for that time. They don't sell the London Pass for that long of a time. If I have guests I might buy a week long pass. I found it useful the other times I have been in London, including the three extra days we spent after the E,S, & W trip.
Hope this helps a little. Enjoy your trip. It is a good one.
www.londonpass.com
If you are going at a time of year that Buckingham Palace is open, I was there for the first time on a visit to London last Early September but you definitely need to book tickets well in advance.
We loved the Globe theatre, go on the first tour of the day if you can when it is quieter. Or even get tickets for a play there, the insider tip being, don't get tickets for directly opposite the stage because if you sit there you could be blasted by afternoon sun , get side view tickets.
We tried to visit off beat places like Spencer House, yes ancestor of Princess Diana, but that place is only open Sundays and not all year, but we loved it. Duke of Wellington's home, Aspley House is also a top attraction.
The underground War rooms where Churchill hung out during the war, everyone loves that place.
We wanted to visit the newly renovated Dickens museum and Sherlock Holmes home but ran out of time, maybe next time! If you are visiting during Chelsea Flower show, during May, it's the best show in her world, but need to get tickets in advance.
London Eye, great views, we did not get tickets in advance and only a short line, but also depends on whether you are visiting in the busy summer season.
We took this tour in June 2013-
1. We had lunch in Windsor at the train station at Preta Monger (a chain sandwich shop and a favorite of our guide and soon one of our favorites) for a quick, simple, but good bite to eat. We arrived in London, passing, but not stopping, some notable places (Parliament/Big Ben, Lady Diana's flat in Chelsea, etc.) and arrived at the Horse Guards at approx- 1500. We checked in, freshened up, then walked across the Millenium Bridge, which is just behind the hotel, to the Jubilee Gardens and rode the London Eye. Unless you get tickets ahead of time the que can be quite long- but it is not so bad in the late afternoon. The Eye offers fantastic views of London. We crossed back over the river and walked around nearby Trafalgar Square and had a gourmet dinner at a local MickyD's. We turned in relatively early but a number of our group attended plays/musicals that evening- your tour director should let you know a few days early what is playing and help you get tickets.
2. On day 13 we had another drive-by bus tour of the East End (Nelson Monument/Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park, Prince Albert memorial, #10 Downing (not much to see), the US Embassy, etc. followed by a guided tour of Westminster Abbey. After Westminster, a number of us followed the local guide who offered to take us to the nearby "Churchill's War Room" museum- very interesting and well done- probably could have stayed longer- I would put this on a "must see" list. We walked back to the hotel stopping to see the mounted Horse Guard lads (and ladies) in front of (?) then ate lunch in a pub not too far from Trafalgar- had a typical "Pub Meal." Then strolled in an area (alley) of antique book shops near Trafalgar. We stopped at a Subway for drinks (it was the only place on the entire tour where we were able to get as much ice as we wanted- from a machine!). We returned to the hotel and prepared for our farewell dinner at the Tower. We departed the hotel for the Tower at 1815-1830.
3. We stayed an extra day also. After a leisurely breakfast the next morning we took the tube to the British Museum (some great Assyrian, Persian, Roman, Greek, Egyptian, etc. antiquities- Rosetta Stone, etc. you could literally spend hours and days there) then took the tube to the Notting Hill area and spent quite a bit of time strolling through the famous huge open air street market on Portobello Road. It was really interesting but since it was Saturday it was really packed with people! We had done quite a bit of walking, were tired, and didn't get back to the hotel until later.
Someone responded when one of our group said they were tired- "You were on a tour, not a vacation, so if you aren't tired, you didn't have a good tour." We were quite tired but ready to head home.
I liked Warwick Castle too. It is about 1.5 hours from London Marylebone station (direct shot). It is probably too far away to fit your schedule. They have a lot of "Renaissance" type entertainment. Churchill's War Museum, as mentioned, is a great place to see. Buckingham Palace was very enjoyable. After the tour, you can have a "spot" of tea on the back porch with 200-300 of your closest friends. Museums are many and wonderful. I have mixed feelings about the London Eye. I'm glad I did it, but it is slow and takes a lot of time and your "clock budget" is small. I probably won't do it again, unless someone who is visiting twists my arm hard enough. Picture possibilities are fabulous, but you have to take them through glass which gives small reflections. You have to wipe the glass off too--fingerprints, face prints, etc.
If you are taking this tour in summer, you will find the city quite busy and lines long. The concierge at the Horseguards will help getting tickets to some venues if you don't think you'll get your money's worth with the London Pass. We had some issues with a guest in the next room to us at the Horseguards (loud music and smoking). After trying to move us to a small room with no view (as opposed to our room with views of the Thames and London Eye), they moved us to the Penthouse Apartment for our final three nights. Wow!!! That was unreal.
Anyway, enjoy your trip. It is a good one. It doesn't sound as though you'll be in Edinburgh for the Tattoo. That was a great experience too. After the tour and our extra three days, we took a train to Liverpool for a few days and rented a car to drive on the wrong side of the road into Wales and visit with some family. We then flew to Shannon for the Best of Ireland tour.
Two great tours.
ndvb has some good ideas. I would have liked to see Warwick Castle, too. I believe it was purchased by the Madame Toussaud Company a few years ago, so has had the "Disney treatment" - well decorated and appointed- e.g. dungeons with realistic mannequin (wax figures) prisoners, and other paraphernalia. It is a bit far from London and will be busy this time of year.
I don't think my "English" is as good as ndvb- kind of like watching Downton Abbey- I'd say I understood only 85% of what I heard spoken in London, even less in Scotland and much less in Wales
I actually liked that the Eye went slow- gave us a chance to really scope out London "from the air". It is so close to the hotel- though it is across the river you actually look down on the Horseguards- so is too hard to pass up the opportunity. In addition to the Concierge, your tour director will tell you about a "cheap tickets" kiosk just up the street in Trafalgar Square that sells discount and same-day theater tickets. A number of our group got same-day tickets there at really good prices for major productions (Sir Spam A Lot, Billy Elliot, War Horse, etc.)
Speaking of Downton Abbey (Highclere Castle)- don't even think about making a trip there without tickets. It is only open selected dates due to the demands of filming and other events, so tickets sell out quickly, many months early. A number of limmo and bus tours offer trips to Highclere (and Oxford and other filming locations), but I don't think any of them provide tickets.
We also plan to fly to London for a few days to see additional sights before we fly to Shannon for the Best of Ireland tour someday.
Maybe you'll have Ron as your tour director- he has some famous friends
Like everyone we have different priorites on what is on our must see list but I do appreciate you all going to the trouble to give us further ideas to consider but with the approximate ETA's as outlined by Alan we can pretty much pencil in our activities right up to when Tauck pick us up from the Hotel and deliver us to St. Pancras station so that we can continue our adventure in France onboard Swiss Emerald.
Again many thanks and I hope when I open a roll call thread for this trip in a couple of months time that I find some of our future friends responding.
Rod
Just a thought.
ndvb -- I'll look into why the program is doing that. Thanks for the feedback!
-Tim
Before I begin my suggestions, let me say that the few days you have in London will not be enough. I've been to Britain three times and still look forward to going back. Since much of England can be reached on a day trip, the possibilities are enormous. I hope your trip will inspire you to revisit London in the future.
Some suggestions. Google them for more info:
Museums: The National Gallery and the Tate for art. British Museum and Library for history.
Kew Gardens, Hampton Court and Greenwich. All of these can be visited by train or boat on the Thames (separate trips, not really possible to do more than one per day). The boat ride is enjoyable (from Westminster Pier, right near the Royal Horseguards). The boat takes a while, so I would only take it in one direction. Any of these are a great choice.
Cabinet War Rooms - Churchill's wartime bunker. On Whitehall, very near the hotel.
Borough Market - an open air market with all kinds of gourmet foodstuffs. On the Southbank near Waterloo station.
London Theater - London has the best English language theater in the world (and much cheaper than New York). Visit timeout.com for listings. If you go to the Globe, book really early. The seats sell out months in advance and standing is no fun.
Buckingham Palace - The palace is open during most of the summer. Book tickets in advance.
Kensington Palace - Former home to Charles and Diana, currently home to William and Kate, and other royals when in London. Has nice exhibits in the public rooms.
St. Paul's Cathedral - Christopher Wren's masterpiece. Though you will visit Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's is very different (baroque instead of gothic).
Harrod's - Even if you're not a shopper, it's worth the trip. Don't miss the food halls.
Portsmouth or Brighton - day trips from London (probably a bit ambitious for the time you have). Portsmouth is home to the Royal Navy. It has HMS Victory (Nelson's flagship, the Mary Rose, and other museums and ships on display). Brighton is a seaside town, famous for it's Victorian pleasure pier and the Royal Pavilion, George IV's oriental fantasy palace.
High Tea - When in London you should have a proper tea. The Horsesguards does an excellent one (advance reservations strongly suggested). The Ritz, Harrods and Fortnum & Mason all have excellent teas. Full afternoon tea can easily be your lunch or dinner.
Apsley house - London residence of the Duke of Wellington (of Waterloo fame). If you like period homes this is a gem. Beautiful home and interesting artifacts. Lots of silver and china presented to the Duke by an adoring nation.
By the way, I wouldn't buy an unlimited tube pass. It's hard to make it pay. Instead order a visitor Oyster Card from transport for London before you go (tfl.gov.uk for more info). It gets you a discount and you can top it off as needed at any station. Good on trains, tube, busses and some boats.
Happy travels!