*le Sigh*

[moobyavenger]

Just dropped my mom off at the airport to fly to her home. I miss her already.

Made out like a bandit for Christmas. Ronnie was super happy with all of what Santa brought him as well.

Talking about going to London in March... any advice from the well traveled peeps?

Comments

[tudor_diva]

1. Purchase a Lonely Planet guide to London and most likely you can get one at Half Price Books. You can find good hotel deals in the guide and it will help decide what to see and do.

2. The earlier in March the better (I am assuming this would be during Spring Break) for better travel prices. I highly recommend British Airways, and they run specials at that time of year. But comparison shop as well. Continental and BA both fly Houston to London direct.

3. London is expensive. The Pound to Dollar exchange is generally 2 - 2.5 to 1, meaning 1 BPS will cost you $2.00 to $2.50. I recommend this site for currency exchange research: http://www.xe.com/ucc/ Generally though, prices look "the same" as in the States, only listed in pounds. So for instance, if you buy a candy bar here it will cost you $1.00. In GB it will cost 1 BPS. But you will actually be paying $2.00 - $2.50 for it depending on the exchange. IN GENERAL, whatever price is listed on something, multiply it by 2 to get a better idea of what you are actually paying for it in dollars. DO NOT exchange at the airport. You will get a horrible rate. Instead, exchange some here in the States to have when you get on the ground and the rest at a kiosk in the city. Here, you may have to call around to a few banks to do this but it can be done. More probably you would have to do it in Houston rather than Austin.

4. Depending on the duration of your trip, you can only visit a few sites as many will take the better part of the day, and if you go in March, the tourist crowds should be relatively light so you can see more. London and the surrounding area is basically one huge museum. I would see these sites as priorities (and not listed in any particular order of importance) and do the audio tour if one is available to get the most out of your experience. Its worth it:
a. Tower of London
b. Hampton Court
c. Westminster Abbey (this will take SEVERAL hours even without large crowds as it is essentially a cemetary with the largest group of famous dead people anywhere in the world.)
d. Bank of the Thames around the Globe.
e. The British Museum.
These should take up the whole week.

5. Take the train and The Underground EVERYWHERE, no cabs. Or walk when you can. Cabs are money vortecies. You can take the train from the airport to downtown and it will cost you a fraction of what a cab would cost. You need to map this out though and someone at the airline should be able to advise you which train to take, or the Lonely Planet guide will do as well.

6. That is the bulk of the advice I have for you. I would go with you if I could. I LOVE London. Heck, I spent two weeks there in '04 and only visited a fraction of what I wanted to see. But let me know if you have any specific questions on anything and I am more than happy to answer them.

Cheerio!

[moobyavenger]

OMG! Thank you! I have already forwarded this to my mom!

I have many question, but will pm you when we have consolidated everyone's questions!!!

Thank you soo much!