Going To London in a couple of months

So I'm just trying to get a locals view or somebody who has been there before as to what to do when I am there. I do have some stuff I plan on doing for the 13 days I will be there the plane ticket shouldn't be a problem, I'm trying to get hired with an airlines and if that works out then I am on easy street. I did find the hotel I want to stay at I can't remember the name of it but it's like an apartment and right across the street from the Andaz hotel which has a tube station underneath it and the area seems to be pretty decent. Only bad part is that the hotel is about $3500 for my entire stay. Anyway here is the list I have so far. I saw somewhere it said it would be a good idea to get an oyster card over the internet so I'm going to do that too. I have also never been outside of North America before so this will be my first international trip.

london eye
www.premiumtours.co.uk...
www.sightseeingtourslondon.com...
cruise thames river
tower of london
London Duck Tour
London Rock Music Tour
Jack the Ripper Tour and London Ghost Walk
Jack the Ripper tour with ripper vision
Skip the Line: London Dungeon
forbidden planet
The Vault Hard Rock Cafe Rock Memorabilia Museum

I had a bunch of other places on google earth that I lost, but they were mainly music stores just to browse through. and then a bunch of markets I wanted to go to also. I'm not entirely sure about visiting other places at this time I do want to go to Bath, otherwise I think I'd rather stay in London just to kind of get a feel for everything and when I come back I can explore a bit more. Sightseeing wise not too interested in the big tourist areas, I do want to see Trafalgar square, Tower of London and I think that is it for the big touristy places, For the restaurants I did go to trip advisor and pick the restaurants I found interesting.


fish! kitchen
Sea Shell of Lisson Grove
Masters Super Fish
Laughing Halibut
wagamama
herman ze german
feng shang princess
la gelatiera
bone daddy


I love fish I could probably eat it the entire time I was in London but I do want to try other kinds of foods as I am in Alaska and we don't get alot of good international food so it would be interesting to me to try some different stuff. I'd like to try shwarma too and I couldn't find a restaurant that serves it but I'm sure one is out there. Anyway any and all suggestions for my trip will be appreciated. I'm looking forward to going to London (hope everything works out). I think the place I am looking forward to is the vault under the Hard Rock cafe as from what I have read for a fee you can get your picture taken with I think there are 3 or 4 guitars but the 2 I remember is a Jimi Hendrix guitar or a Kurt Cobain guitar, and as much as I like Jimi I think I want to get the Kurt Cobain guitar in my hands. Oh yeah I also have like 3 or 4 markets I want to go to also and I believe the spitafields market is very close to my hotel too which will be cool. The one store I want to try at Spitafields Market is Gold's market which I saw it on a Samantha Brown travel show and it looked pretty cool. I think it's a smaller store that sells only English goods. I know they had honey mead and I think some teas and it looked pretty interesting.

Check out St. Martin in the fields Chapel at Trafalgar Square! You can Make Brass Rubbings in the basement for a few pounds and have lunch in the Cafe in the Crypt. Its some fun for an hour or two and you get to take home a souvenir you made yourself!
Trafalgar Square also has The National Portrait Gallery and many fine statues as well as Nelsons Column!

St Martins In The Field

Visit Camden market for a totally unique kinda place with a great food market as well full of every kind of food you can imagine. Get a picture taken with the punks for a pound as well!

Hi op

If you are looking for diversity in food then by all means visit england

We cater and produce for all parts of the earth

I mean, our government lets anyone live here, so naturally there is all sorts of
ilegal resiments, i mean immigrants...sorry i mean travelers that stay here until....until the system is milked
taken advantage of....sorry i mean till they have everything thats entitled to them...oops sorry wrong thread
sorry wrong lifetime...

Originally posted by clintdelicious
Visit Camden market for a totally unique kinda place with a great food market as well full of every kind of food you can imagine. Get a picture taken with the punks for a pound as well!

Yep come to Camden. I live there

You will find shwarma served in more or less every High Street in every district of London.

Spitalfields has a great antiques / clothes / collectibles market. It's also right next to BanglaTown where you will find rows and rows of Indian Restaurants with people standing outside hawking for business and Brick Lane which has a lot of good shops and some great Bars

If you are interested in art the you could try the Saatchi Gallery or the Museum of Modern Art. The National Gallery (In Trafalger square) is gigantic but tiring to get round

The British Museum is pretty amazing if you would like to take a look at all the stuff we stole from everyone over the centuries

Wishing you a wonderful trip when you go!

I would recommend the Planeterium at the Royal Observatory (I haven't been for years, it used to be in the same building as Madame Tusseauds (sp?) last time I was there):
www.rmg.co.uk...

The National Gallery is well worth a whole day... my fave paiting there being The Execution of Lady Jane Grey:
www.nationalgallery.org.uk...

British Museum is also very good:
www.britishmuseum.org...


Sadly Covent Garden has been completely commercialised, and is now just full of the same stores are you get in any shopping centre or high street... this used to be my fave place to go shopping (also Carnaby Street has gone in the same direction). Camden Market might still be good, but I haven't been for over a decade so make no promises:
www.camdenlock.net...

If you get to plan well ahead... you might want to look at other options too, instead of just consentrating on London... if you book well ahead you can get cheap train tickets to go to other places - like Edinburgh in Scotland, or if you don't mind spending a lot of time travelling you can get cheap bus tickets by booking ahead. If you need a cheap hotel for a night Travellodge is just about the cheapest, and they got gotels all over. Don't expect luxury. Hahahaha. If you don't mind paying a little extra there's Premier Inn, which is a little nicer.
www.travelodge.co.uk...
www.premierinn.com...

Have fun!!!

Originally posted by redbarron626
Check out St. Martin in the fields Chapel at Trafalgar Square! You can Make Brass Rubbings in the basement for a few pounds and have lunch in the Cafe in the Crypt. Its some fun for an hour or two and you get to take home a souvenir you made yourself!
Trafalgar Square also has The National Portrait Gallery and many fine statues as well as Nelsons Column!

St Martins In The Field

that's awesome. I think I've heard about the cafe in the crypt.

Originally posted by clintdelicious
Visit Camden market for a totally unique kinda place with a great food market as well full of every kind of food you can imagine. Get a picture taken with the punks for a pound as well!

yes Camden Market is on my list, Saw a few travel shows that went there and it looks pretty awesome. I think there are some music stores around there too and some vintage clothing stores which would be cool but shirt size is about 1 size smaller than it is here. There is another market that I wish I could find again but there is a bunch of food stalls and I know they have pizza there and maybe kebobs? have to see if I can find it on youtube again .

Originally posted by davespanners

Originally posted by clintdelicious
Visit Camden market for a totally unique kinda place with a great food market as well full of every kind of food you can imagine. Get a picture taken with the punks for a pound as well!

Yep come to Camden. I live there

You will find shwarma served in more or less every High Street in every district of London.

Spitalfields has a great antiques / clothes / collectibles market. It's also right next to BanglaTown where you will find rows and rows of Indian Restaurants with people standing outside hawking for business and Brick Lane which has a lot of good shops and some great Bars

If you are interested in art the you could try the Saatchi Gallery or the Museum of Modern Art. The National Gallery (In Trafalger square) is gigantic but tiring to get round

The British Museum is pretty amazing if you would like to take a look at all the stuff we stole from everyone over the centuries

that's cool I'll have to check and see if banglatown has a website or something. Spitafield has a place called Giraffe I think that looked pretty good. I have a thing for restaurants that have weird names it's like I see a weird name and it calls out to me. I eat alot on vacation but that's because I mainly walk everywhere. The last time I was in Vegas I walked about 7 miles my first day there. I might try the British Museum it would be interesting to see all that stuff. That's why I want to go to Bath to see the Roman Baths.

Originally posted by aspiechick
Wishing you a wonderful trip when you go!

I would recommend the Planeterium at the Royal Observatory (I haven't been for years, it used to be in the same building as Madame Tusseauds (sp?) last time I was there):
www.rmg.co.uk...

The National Gallery is well worth a whole day... my fave paiting there being The Execution of Lady Jane Grey:
www.nationalgallery.org.uk...

British Museum is also very good:
www.britishmuseum.org...

Thanks I am really looking forward to it, if I am able to go in June I'm going to go to download. the Planeterium might be cool I'd have to look more into it.


Thanks everybody, there would have been alot I would have missed so I'm glad I posted. I'm hoping this is the first trip in a long series of trips. I was contemplating between London, Ireland, Japan, and the Cayman Islands. I'll go to all of those and more one day but I think London will be fun.

iv lived in london all my life

and i havent done a single thing on your list.....lol

peace

Originally posted by davesmart
Hi op

If you are looking for diversity in food then by all means visit england

We cater and produce for all parts of the earth

I mean, our government lets anyone live here, so naturally there is all sorts of
ilegal resiments, i mean immigrants...sorry i mean travelers that stay here until....until the system is milked
taken advantage of....sorry i mean till they have everything thats entitled to them...oops sorry wrong thread
sorry wrong lifetime...

did you know that we get paid by the UN, for every assylum seeker we accept

you think that has anything to do with why we accept them

Originally posted by thePharaoh
iv lived in london all my life

and i havent done a single thing on your list.....lol

peace

haha, Yeah I know how that is, people ask me if I've done stuff living in Alaska and I'm like uh not really.

reply to post by sandman441


Visit Camden Market (Camden Town Tube on the Northern Line) Weekends are the best time to go.
Don't let scam artists in town sell you cut price tickets to the museums. It sounds like a great deal until you get to the museum and find that they are all FREE ENTRY!!!!!
The museum of London is very interesting if you have time. (May not be one of the free ones actually lol)
Do visit the British Museum though, it is fab! You could easy spend half a day there. Brilliant and free!!
www.britishmuseum.org...
Liverpool Street is the big music street in London, where all the best guitar shops are. Off Charring Cross Road about a 10 minute walk from Trafalga Square
Get a river boat from Embankment to Greenwich - you can visit the old clipper The Cutty Sark en.wikipedia.org... And it is a lovely trip on the river. Greenwich has brilliant little shops and restaurants and a market too. You can also visit the Royal observatory while you are there and stand on the Greenwich Mean Time line which is inlaid in the ground in brass I think! And see the clock which sends out the time signal.... Don't miss it.
Tower Bridge and the Tower of London are worth a visit, and you can also visit St Paul's Cathedral while you are in that part of town.
Well worth the walk over London Bridge to the South bank to Southwark Market. Walk along the South Bank and will also find Shakespear's Globe Theater which is well worth a visit too. www.shakespearesglobe.com...
There is also a great Greek Restaurant just along from there I would recommend.
Visit Covent Garden market www.coventgardenlondonuk.com... for more shopping if that is your thing. Some good food there too actually!
One of my all time favorite places in London is Highgate Cemetery - the old side. You have to be taken in on a tour. www.highgate-cemetery.org... It is free but you are able to donate - the tour guides are all volunteers. Carl Marx is buried in the Public side and you can visit his grave there!
You can visit HMS Belfast now decommissioned and moored on the banks of the Thames en.wikipedia.org...

Have fun. I have not been there for three years now, but doubt much has changed. If I think of anything else I'll let you know.

Perhaps think about getting out of London for a day or two. Consider Brighton. On the South Coast, lovely place, ggreat pebble beach and brilliant markets and lanes for shopping.

Originally posted by sandman441
london eye
www.premiumtours.co.uk...
www.sightseeingtourslondon.com...
cruise thames river
tower of london
London Duck Tour
London Rock Music Tour
Jack the Ripper Tour and London Ghost Walk
Jack the Ripper tour with ripper vision
Skip the Line: London Dungeon
forbidden planet
The Vault Hard Rock Cafe Rock Memorabilia Museum

edit on 1-1-2013 by sandman441 because: (no reason given)

Out of the things on that list I've done all but 2 I think, Never been to the Hard Rock Cafe.
Someone bought me a "Duck Tour" for a gift once, it's kind of fun especially the bit where you drive into the Thames. But I did feel a bit of a twit driving through London in it

The London Eye is good on a clear day. If it's not clear it can be a bit of a bust though.

London Dungeon is good (mainly because of the actors), we often go there around Halloween. There is also another one opposite it now called The London Bridge Experience and Tombs which I personally think is better. It's the History of London with actors upstairs and quite scary downstairs.

Liverpool Street is the big music street in London, where all the best guitar shops are. Off Charring Cross Road about a 10 minute walk from Trafalga Square

Don't you mean Denmark street? Used to be called tin pan alley?

reply to post by davespanners


Ooops! Yes, Denmark Street! lol (I got my JV Squire there!)

I told you it's years since I left London!

Don't forget Kensington Market on High St Kensington - also good

Originally posted by davespanners
Out of the things on that list I've done all but 2 I think, Never been to the Hard Rock Cafe.
Someone bought me a "Duck Tour" for a gift once, it's kind of fun especially the bit where you drive into the Thames. But I did feel a bit of a twit driving through London in it

The London Eye is good on a clear day. If it's not clear it can be a bit of a bust though.

London Dungeon is good (mainly because of the actors), we often go there around Halloween. There is also another one opposite it now called The London Bridge Experience and Tombs which I personally think is better. It's the History of London with actors upstairs and quite scary downstairs.

yeah the duck tour would be a little goofy but it will be fun I think,, Something different atleast. Hopefully it will be clear when I go on the eye, I have to see when I buy the tickets if I need to pick a specific date or not, is it better to go during the afternoon or at night?. That place looks awesome, I'll have to try both now. I heard the london dungeon was getting a makeover too I think it reopens in march?.

If you do the Jack the Ripper tour that is is Farringdon - you should visit Leather Lane market while you are there. Walk down to Hatton Garden which is the big Jewelery Centre in London. Alternatively get a bus up to Angel and there are loads of brilliant old antique shops to brows around there. And another big market actually lol The antique shops are better though, the market is very every day......

Originally posted by nothingwrong
reply to post by davespanners

 

Ooops! Yes, Denmark Street! lol (I got my JV Squire there!)

I told you it's years since I left London!

Don't forget Kensington Market on High St Kensington - also good

can you link me? The only one I can find is the south farmers market. I think the one you are talking about closed down in 2001 but I'm not sure on that.

reply to post by sandman441


en.wikipedia.org...

Sad - you are right they knocked it down. That is so sad. My wife and I got our noses pierced there many years ago. lol

Originally posted by nothingwrong
If you do the Jack the Ripper tour that is is Farringdon - you should visit Leather Lane market while you are there. Walk down to Hatton Garden which is the big Jewelery Centre in London. Alternatively get a bus up to Angel and there are loads of brilliant old antique shops to brows around there. And another big market actually lol The antique shops are better though, the market is very every day......

the leatherlane looks pretty cool I'll probably wander around there a bit. Angel I'm not sure if I found it right is it called angel market or angel lane?

Originally posted by nothingwrong
reply to post by sandman441

 

en.wikipedia.org...

Sad - you are right they knocked it down. That is so sad. My wife and I got our noses pierced there many years ago. lol

that sucks, It looked kinda cool. Sometimes I wish there was like time machine travel I'd love to be in the UK in the 60's.

reply to post by sandman441


Angel, in Islington, London

www.angelislington.net...

Great bars, restaurants and antique shops! lol

Yes, London in the 60's would have been so cool. Carnaby Street for example - don't know what it is like these days but worth visiting when you are close - Piccadilly Circus is just across the way from there.

London's parks are also worth a visit. Hyde park for example is lovely.

Originally posted by nothingwrong
reply to post by sandman441

 

Angel, in Islington, London

www.angelislington.net...

Great bars, restaurants and antique shops! lol

Yes, London in the 60's would have been so cool. Carnaby Street for example - don't know what it is like these days but worth visiting when you are close - Piccadilly Circus is just across the way from there.

London's parks are also worth a visit. Hyde park for example is lovely.

that looks cool, can't be too bad when the first restaurant I see is a burrito place. Found a Turkish/Lebanese place too, I've never tried their food either so that will be interesting. Yeah I will check that out I am going to picadilly circus for some reason or another I think there is a store there or something.



Keep them coming though I'm finding alot of places 13 days might not be enough now. I hope I don't get hit by jet lag too much I think it's a 10 hour difference. The other thing I'm going to do is bring a tablet and have all thee places marked on google earth.