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Anyone ever been to London?
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)
Posted by: BooRadley
I was watching the news on the falling air fare the other day, so I went to travelocity to see if it was true. It's mostly just domestic, but a lot of international tickets went down, too. I decided to take a weekend trip next weekend, and started looking for cool spots in the US to go, and settled on San Diego, but it turns out it's cheaper to fly to London, so I booked a flight and a room.
So now I'm going to London for the weekend for no reason and with no plans. Well, except to take pictures, because I'm a geek like that. Anyone ever been? What's the good stuff there? Any ideas on what I should definately see? I mean, there's the palace, Big Ben and stuff, but what else?
Posted by: taco_fox
How cheap was this ticket that you would just decice on a whim to take an overseas trip? http://corn.tacofox.net/cornconfused.gif
Posted by: Elfraj
I saw Phoenix -London for $249.
Get a hotel in the center of London. Great parks and great museums, monuments there. Get the Lonely Planet guide. Good info on hotels and things to do.
Posted by: BooRadley
I got the hotel in central london. I paid more than that for the tickets, about $320, but I've never been and didn't have anything else to do tnext weekend. I can make that much in one overtime shift.
I figure you're only young once, and the only thing that stands between me & seeing the world is airfare and time. And airfare is low right now.
I think I'll get the Lonely Planet guide, too.
Posted by: redwench
if you can, take one of the "special" tours they offer in london. generally historical, theyre themed. like a murder tour, might even have one just for jack the ripper. im pretty sure they have ghost ones too. they also have standard historical tours, of course. london has a few well known museums, as suggested above. some rather old cathedrals and the like.
didnt know airfares had dropped that much. jeez.........
Posted by: BooRadley
Yeah, Delta slashed their prices by about 50% on domestic flights, and a lot of other prices followed suit.
Posted by: 9:35
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Originally Posted by taco_fox
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on a 12 hour trip to get to rome with a layaway in amsterdam, i payed the same price as i would have for a 4 hour trip to california. and this was before the new price war that just started, so i imagine international airfare would be cheaper now.
Posted by: BooRadley
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Originally Posted by 9:35
with a layaway in amsterdam
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Schipol is the coolest airport I've ever seen. You could almost vacation there.
Posted by: Ocean
flew over london. from luxembourg (to rekjevic i think)
Posted by: Freak
check out the wax musuem, westminister abbey, tower of london, and pubs in picadilly circus. have fun
Posted by: 9:35
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Originally Posted by BooRadley
Schipol is the coolest airport I've ever seen. You could almost vacation there.
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i liked how the maps and signs told you how long it would take for you to walk to the particular specialty accommodation of your choice
like huge signs that would say massage parlor! four minutes! reading books! ten minutes! a petting zoo! holy shit a ****ing petting zoo is this way man! five minutes!
Posted by: BooRadley
And the whole pop-art feel of the place is funny. Plus, downstairs, the place is packed with good resturants.
Posted by: Jeddak
Lived in England from 1975 to 1977. Went to London many times. Great place but then I loved the country too but that seems so long ago..arg. 
Posted by: Oldcrocd
Boo
I lived in London from 1941 and worked there from 1956 until 1969. Was working there on and off from 1992 until 2002. How can I help you. What are your interests in particular?
I take it that you are going the weekend of 22/23 January?
Posted by: BooRadley
Actually, I'll be there the 23rd through the 25th. I work four 10's, so my weekends are Sunday through Tuesday. I'm mostly interested in photo ops. Good looking stuff. I have a fetish for urban decay, very old architecture, such as castles and cathedrals, and for bridges and rail.
There has to be some of that stuff in London.
Posted by: Oldcrocd
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Originally Posted by BooRadley
I'm mostly interested in photo ops. Good looking stuff. I have a fetish for urban decay, very old architecture, such as castles and cathedrals, and for bridges and rail.
There has to be some of that stuff in London.
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Yes well London abounds in that sort of stuff.
Try St Pauls Cathedral (In the City of London), Westminster Abbey(near Parliament Square. South of the Thames is Southwark Cathedral and a lot of Urban Decay around the New Cross and Deptford areas. Only a Short bus ride (too far to walk though)
Castles, you cannot better the Tower of London its nearly a thousand years old.
If you are really keen on photo ops, try rising before dawn and getting on the DLR (Thats Dockland Light Railway towards Beckton, opposite City of London Airport there are some wonderful photo ops and older buildings which are being restored gradually.
Bridges, the new Millennium Bridge and all the other bridges over the Thames should keep you busy for a couple of weeks. If you ae walking from Parliament Square head for the Embankment and Cleopatra's Needle (Large Obelisk) Walk along Embankment until you reach the City of London. This has some of the best Photo Ops you are likely to come across. Another early morning foray is required as the sun rises alon the river in the direction you will be walking.
Good luck and let me know how you got on.
Anything else I can help will let me know.
Derek
Posted by: BooRadley
That sounds good. Thanks!
Posted by: Gunslinger
Be sure you catch a concert of the Philharmonia of London or something at the Royal Academy of Music.
Posted by: BooRadley
There's an internet cafe around the corner from my pad, and it's only fifty pence a half hour. They have "pence" here. And the ****ing quote is above the number2 on the keyboard. And the ! is above the number 1.
Anyway . . . I left work at 3 yesterday. I was worried I wouldn't be able to get a cab to the airport, because we got about 3 inches of snow in a couple hours, and the plows in Fairfax suck. I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, and had some lunch. The plane was two and a half hours late getting in, though, because it was leaving from some snowed in place up north. I FINALLY got on my plane at like 8, and it took forever to get clearance to take off.
I managed to nap for a couple hours, two or three, on the flight, and got into Heathrow at somewhere around 8:30. I had no trouble with customs at all. I guess it must have been the goatee.
I managed to work out the Underground and took the tube (this is London slang) to my hotel. I tried to clean out my camera, but I couldn't, so all my pictures are going to have small particles of shit on them. Anyway, I walked through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, and went to the Kensington Palace, but they said no photography, so I didn't go in.
I walked along the Serpentine and the Long Water to the southeast of the park (I'm across the street from the northeast), and then took the tube (that's fun to say) down to the Thames at the London Bridge, then walked to the Tower Bridge, walked across that, then around the London Tower, and all around the area back up to the London Bridge again, crossed that, then too the tube to Westminster, and meandered around there, through the Victoria Garden, and across the Lambeth Bridge. Now I'm back at Kensington Gardens.
Now my feet are killing me, I'm hungry and tired, and I still haven't slept, except on the plane. I'm going to try to find a place to get a curry, then go get a hot shower and some sleep.
It's actually been really nice, too. The sun's shining and it's clear and reasonably warm (considering that it's in the teens or twenties back home, the 40's are nice). I like the place. It's no Amsterdam, it's not even New York, but it's nice, clean, easy to get around, and there's lots to do. I could live here.
Posted by: redwench
i want the curry.
Posted by: BooRadley
You'd regret it a few hours later. (It was tasty, though.)
Posted by: redwench
so boo, was britain da bomb?
getting good indian food in the us is rather an oxymoron. i want that curry.
Posted by: BooRadley
Haha. Yeah, I think there's no more traditional British food except Indian food. I think their colonization backfired.
And London was pretty cool. It's no New York, but it's pretty slick, just the same. It's highly accessible. The Underground has good, fast service, and it's the cleanest subway system I've ever seen. Hell, I'd go so far as to call it pretty. Well, pretty close to that, at least. Not nearly as many stops as somewhere like Paris or NYC, but more than a lot of other places. More than Chicago, for instance.
It's also pretty safe, as every inch of it is monitored by video with Big Brother himself keeping an eye on you at all times. I even got scolded (twice) for taking photo's in the Underground because it's against the rules. So I feel pretty safe on it (though I never got out of Central London -- it's probably different on the East End and down in South London).
There's plenty to do, lots of activity, and a lot of interesting history. There are plenty of parks and recreation, shopping and resturants, pubs and clubs. All of it accessible by the Tube. Tons of Indian and Asian food, too, especially Indian. Obviously everyone speaks English, which is a major plus when traveling.
The biggest drawback is that the US Dollar is in a rush to reach third world levels, so it's only worth half a British Pound. Prices are nearly equal, so what costs a Dollar here will cost roughly a Pound there, except that you have to spend two Dollars to get one Pound out of the ATM.
All in all I'd say it's very worth visiting, especially if you plan your trip better than I did, and it's probably very livable, too. If I could score a job and a Visa, I'd hit the road running to get there and stay for a couple years.
Posted by: Oldcrocd
Well Boo, so glad you liked our London and the kind comments. If you contemplate a longer trip let me know, maybe we can arrange to show you the countryside as well!
As you found the dollar has somewhat nosedived in recent months and scheduled to drop even further, depending on Dubyas plans for invading the world!
Posted by: BooRadley
A couple of pics from London . . .
Tower Bridge from inside the Tower compound.
http://booradley.homeip.net/photos/...es/DSC_0519.jpg
Big Ben & Parliament
http://booradley.homeip.net/photos/...es/DSC_0250.jpg
Kensington Gardens through some of the trees surrounding it.
http://booradley.homeip.net/photos/...es/DSC_0014.jpg
River Thames, Parliament, and the Millenium Wheel.
http://booradley.homeip.net/photos/...es/DSC_0265.jpg
It was a nice place.
Posted by: Fury451
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Originally Posted by BooRadley
What's the good stuff there? Any ideas on what I should definately see? I mean, there's the palace, Big Ben and stuff, but what else?
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SLICK CHICKS!!! 
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