Trip to London

[colleency]

I will be in London for 5 days at the beginning of November. I'm trying to get a homestay/bed & breakfast because we don't have much money and because it seems fun. (I hesitate to say "quaint," but I AM going to be a tourist, so I can hope. )

The homestay company that I'm looking at is called "Happy Homes" and they say that most of their locations are in Chelsea or Kensington.

I'm looking at a tube map, but I can't find the areas.

Does anyone either know a station in this area or have a suggestion for a homestay location? We are also looking at a place in Finsbury Park. I've found all these places on the internet.

Thanks!

[badunnin]

I'd use Sloane Square for Chelsea. Currently, my map of London is on holiday with my parents, who will be back Friday. I would suggest, however, investing about $7 in a laminated map of the city (available at bookstores) that has the city districts on it, as well as tube stations.

[Beth H]

Kensington is a fairly large area of London, I think. We stayed in South Kensington right near the South Kensington tube stop.

Here is an interactive good on-line map:

http://www.thetube.com/guru/index.asp

I think the Gloucester Road/High Street Kensington and several other stops are also in "Kensington." The tube stops in London are fairly spread out so that there can be a decent walk to get to a stop depending on where you are staying.

I also would strongly suggest investing in a laminated map - probably the one badunnin is referring to is the Streetwise series. These are excellent. You can pick up tube maps (small ones) at any of the tube or train stations.

[Leisa M]

Have fun on your trip.

[colleency]

Thank you! I've spotted them now!

As I get closer to the trip, I'll start asking for restaurant recommendations for London and the Heart of England area. We're staying in Rutland for 4 days.

I'm so excited! First trip to Europe.

[Beth H]

I'll be interested to see what other people suggest for restaurants -London is pretty expensive (as I'm sure you've been told). The least expensive bets are Indian places and other Asian cuisines. There is a noodle chain there called "Wegamamas" where the food runs around the restaurant on a conveyor belt.

We also ate at several other London chains - nothing spectacular, but enjoyable. My DH and I wanted to spend our budget on stuff other than food, so we weren't looking to be wowed by the food.

[badunnin]

Originally posted by Beth H
I'll be interested to see what other people suggest for restaurants -London is pretty expensive (as I'm sure you've been told). The least expensive bets are Indian places and other Asian cuisines. There is a noodle chain there called "Wegamamas" where the food runs around the restaurant on a conveyor belt.

We also ate at several other London chains - nothing spectacular, but enjoyable. My DH and I wanted to spend our budget on stuff other than food, so we weren't looking to be wowed by the food.

I'd be interested as well. When I was there, I was staying with a friend, so we didn't eat out much. IMO, England isn't the country to go all out (financially) on food. While you will find more exotic cuisine from the immigrant population, I never found an "English" dish (apart from the one pork and apple pasty I had that had a knock-your-socks-off flaky crust) that blew me away. I found the English cuisine to be homey and heavy - great for the type of weather they are famous for (I was there in March, too). My parents left Wales for London this morning - I'll be interested to hear what they have to say.

[sunberst]

Originally posted by Beth H
Kensington is a fairly large area of London, I think. We stayed in South Kensington right near the South Kensington tube stop

i stayed in west kensington (i think it is considered west) right by the earl's court stop. i liked it there. we stayed in a small hotel that was really cute. i would stay in that area again.

the tube is so easy to navigate & takes you everywhere! it was so easy to hop on at the earl's court stop & ride into piccadilly circus or out to harrod's or anywhere else!

[Guest]

We were last in London over the winter holidays and dining there is top notch. Other than tea, scones and the English breakfast, I don't know if we ate anything distinctly "English", but the food is very good. There is a vast array of restaurants of every price range that offer good food. We have had quite good Mexican,which totally blew me away. I thought it would be awful, but was pleasantly surprised. We have had good Indian,Middle Eastern and Chinese food in London. I researched by going to Chowhounds and scrolling through the international message board - http://www.chowhound.com/boards/intl/intl.html

Some people have mentioned Wagamama, which is a wonderful, smoke free restaurant - http://www.wagamama.com/ There are a number of locations throughout the city. We ate dinner at the one off of Oxford Street twice on our last trip. I don't think Wagamama has the conveyor belts, but I am pretty sure Yo Sushi does.

Pret A Manger is a great place to pick up sandwiches for lunch. They are all ready made and amazingly good. Unlike any sandwiches I have found in the states. http://www.pret.com/flash.html

Have you done a search here for the old London threads? There are quite a few of them with a lot of good information. Here are some from the past year:
http://community.cookinglight.com/sh...ghlight=london
http://community.cookinglight.com/sh...ghlight=london
http://community.cookinglight.com/sh...ghlight=london
http://community.cookinglight.com/sh...ghlight=london
http://community.cookinglight.com/sh...ghlight=london

In planning our next trip to London, I came across London Home-to- Home which looked interesting - http://www.londonhometohome.com/. It is a bed and breakfast agency. I noticed that their listings have information about the tube and bus stops. Being close to the tube is really important to me when planning a trip, so that is one of our major considerations. We looked at Chelsea and Kensington for our next trip and both areas are super. You can't go wrong in either location.

[honeygirl1971]

I do research in London quite frequently, so let me know if there is specific information you are looking for. As for locations/tube info, I would try hard to stay within the central London area (area 1)since you will pay a lot more for Tube tickets if you are outside of the central area and have to go back and forth all the time. So, I would NOT go farther west than Earl's Court, for example.

I usually stay in the Russell Square area, which has lots of inexpensive B&Bs and is right near the libraries where I do my research. It's also very centrally located so you can walk to lots of things or hop on the tube for a short ride. That having been said, I really like the Kensington area (great shopping, V&A museum, even an inexpensive, cute tea shop I found) and end up going there often, so that would be a good place to stay too.

As for food, I can give you more specific recs, but maybe we should wait until it's closer to the time of your trip? Let me know if you want them now or not. I love Wagamama though--it's cheap, healthy, and delicious! I know London has good Chinese food, but actually I haven't found any that I love yet. Indian is another story, though--there are soooo many good, cheap Indian places, this is DEFINITELY a good option if you are on a budget.

London is really a wonderful city; do let me/us know what kind of information you would like and I will try to help.

[colleency]

Thanks for all the great information! I didn't even think to do a search. I spent all night last night looking at those links and previous postings!

Our plan right now is to drive around the countryside for 4 days, taking in Avon, Leceister, and maybe Bath.

Then we're going to take the bus or train to London (bus is way cheaper, but I do love a train ride). We plan to see: Victoria and Albert Museum, Imperial War Museum, Churchill's Bunker, Tower of London, Changing of the Guard, London Eye, and a Pollack's Toy Museum. If we can get that all in in 5 days!

We are on a tight budget, because we hadn't planned to go on vacation at all this year, but we couldn't pass up $100 each way tickets to London.

I want to get the B&B decided on and taken care of by mid-August, because we're going to Toronto on business, and I don't want the hotel decision hanging over my head during that whole thing.

So I'll probably be bugging everyone for more (cheap-ish) restaurant recommendations around September.

Thank you all so much!

[honeygirl1971]

Sounds like a great trip. I LOVE the V&A; it's a great museum. The British Galleries and Fashion exhibits are SO cool!

[sunberst]

Originally posted by honeygirl1971
As for locations/tube info, I would try hard to stay within the central London area (area 1)since you will pay a lot more for Tube tickets if you are outside of the central area and have to go back and forth all the time

i got a week long visitor's tube pass, so there was no worries about paying more for the different zones. i forget how much it was, but it wasnt too bad & i bought it right at one of the tube stations. i couldnt find any info on this though on thetube.com. maybe they do not offer this anymore? can anyone verify?

there is also something called a "london visitor's pass" (not what i got) which allows you to ride buses & the tube, and discounts on admissions to virtually every tourist spot. i believe this particular pass is pretty expensive though, but may be worth it if you are planning to go the touristy route.

[honeygirl1971]

The week pass is more if you want more than one zone, I believe. But if you (sunberst) were at Earl's Court you would have been fine with a zone 1 pass, I think. You need a photo for those passes, too, I think. You can also buy packets of discount tickets for zone 1 if you are staying in that area and won't be in London too long.

[MiMo]

I lived in London my junior year in college. The hostel we lived in was between the Russell Square and Holborn tube stops. There are so many little bed and breakfasts along the central London streets near the British Museum. You won't spend more than $100/night and all of them include breakfast...eggs, bacon, sausage, cereal, toast, juice, coffee, etc. I have a few recommendations if you want to PM me.

Just so you know, Chelsea and Kensington are great areas and very accessible by public transportation.

I have two friends who live over in London and I can send them any questions you may have for them to answer. Feel free to PM me.

Oh, by the way...you'll LOVE London.