A Trip to London takes Advance Planning
Geraldine Birch
June 27, 2008
Planning a trip to London takes some advance preparation if you are traveling on your own without the benefit of a guide or tour group.
Seeing London can be a challenge. With so much to see and do, you will need a Travelcard to get around the capital. A Travelcard will help you to move easily, quickly and economically around London´s Public Transport network. For those traveling into London from Heathrow Airport, the Travelcard can be used immediately when catching the Underground, or Tube, into the center of the city.
A one, three or six-day pass can be purchased on the Internet at www.londontravelpass.com. The cost for a three-day pass—delivered to you by mail if you order 10 days prior to leaving on your trip, or if you are leaving sooner, the tickets can be picked up when you arrive in London—is 26.05 pounds or $51.89 at the current exchange rate. With it, you zip through the gates for the London Underground without waiting in long lines to purchase daily tickets. It is also good for London buses, national rail trains, the Docklands Light Railway, and Tramlink.
Tip! Passengers boarding a bus in central London are now required to have paid for their journey prior to traveling, so having your Travelcard prior to landing in London is really handy.
Another tip when going to London is to contact your local bank and purchase British Pounds several weeks before your trip. As a bank customer, you will not pay a conversion fee that you would normally pay at a money changing station either at the airport or once you land. And it´s handy to have the British Pound ready to pay for transportation from the airport into London proper in case you decide to hire a cab.
London can be an expensive place. In addition to the cost of hotel and food, you will want to see many of the historic places London has to offer. After checking my Fodor´s and adding up all of the places I wanted to see, the price of the various venues seemed like a small fortune. The answer was to purchase a London Pass which is touted by the British Industry of Tourism as a cheaper way to see the sights of London. The pass can be purchased at www.londonpass.com.
You can purchase a one, two, three or six-day pass which will let you into 55 London attractions, including the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge, a catamaran cruise on the Thames River, and Shakespeare´s Globe Theatre. A three-day pass is 60 pounds. Considering that most entry fees such as the Tower of London are 16.5 pounds for an adult, the pass is a great money saver.
I have two warnings about the London Pass: It must be used on consecutive days, and you must plan your sightseeing before you arrive in London. It is a big city and getting from one attraction to another can take time. Plan to visit one or two sights a day, anything more than that can be exhausting. And when you are tired, it takes the fun out of sightseeing.
Finally, on your trip to London, if you want to check in periodically with those back home, then you need to get a cell phone that will allow you to access the States.
Some American cell phone companies can do that for you, but they are pricey and most require a contract. After much searching on the Internet, I found Mobal, at www.mobalrental.com, a phone company out of the United Kingdom that filled the bill.
The price was cheap enough--$49.99 for the phone, a charger and a nice little plug-in adapter kit which can be used with other devices like an electric shaver or hair dryer —and they delivered the phone by FedEx within four days. The phone will work in 150 countries, it is yours for life to use whenever to travel outside of the United States.
All you need do is activate the phone once you land overseas and you are in contact with friends, family and business associates for $1.25 a minute for calls within the U.K. or $1.50 per minute for calls to the U.S., charged automatically to your credit card.
The nice thing about Mobal is that you are not charged when someone calls you. The only thing you need to emphasize to your aging mom is the difference in time zones or else she might call you at three in the morning.
Seeing London can be a challenge. With so much to see and do, you will need a Travelcard to get around the capital. A Travelcard will help you to move easily, quickly and economically around London´s Public Transport network. For those traveling into London from Heathrow Airport, the Travelcard can be used immediately when catching the Underground, or Tube, into the center of the city.
A one, three or six-day pass can be purchased on the Internet at www.londontravelpass.com. The cost for a three-day pass—delivered to you by mail if you order 10 days prior to leaving on your trip, or if you are leaving sooner, the tickets can be picked up when you arrive in London—is 26.05 pounds or $51.89 at the current exchange rate. With it, you zip through the gates for the London Underground without waiting in long lines to purchase daily tickets. It is also good for London buses, national rail trains, the Docklands Light Railway, and Tramlink.
Tip! Passengers boarding a bus in central London are now required to have paid for their journey prior to traveling, so having your Travelcard prior to landing in London is really handy.
Another tip when going to London is to contact your local bank and purchase British Pounds several weeks before your trip. As a bank customer, you will not pay a conversion fee that you would normally pay at a money changing station either at the airport or once you land. And it´s handy to have the British Pound ready to pay for transportation from the airport into London proper in case you decide to hire a cab.
London can be an expensive place. In addition to the cost of hotel and food, you will want to see many of the historic places London has to offer. After checking my Fodor´s and adding up all of the places I wanted to see, the price of the various venues seemed like a small fortune. The answer was to purchase a London Pass which is touted by the British Industry of Tourism as a cheaper way to see the sights of London. The pass can be purchased at www.londonpass.com.
You can purchase a one, two, three or six-day pass which will let you into 55 London attractions, including the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge, a catamaran cruise on the Thames River, and Shakespeare´s Globe Theatre. A three-day pass is 60 pounds. Considering that most entry fees such as the Tower of London are 16.5 pounds for an adult, the pass is a great money saver.
I have two warnings about the London Pass: It must be used on consecutive days, and you must plan your sightseeing before you arrive in London. It is a big city and getting from one attraction to another can take time. Plan to visit one or two sights a day, anything more than that can be exhausting. And when you are tired, it takes the fun out of sightseeing.
Finally, on your trip to London, if you want to check in periodically with those back home, then you need to get a cell phone that will allow you to access the States.
Some American cell phone companies can do that for you, but they are pricey and most require a contract. After much searching on the Internet, I found Mobal, at www.mobalrental.com, a phone company out of the United Kingdom that filled the bill.
The price was cheap enough--$49.99 for the phone, a charger and a nice little plug-in adapter kit which can be used with other devices like an electric shaver or hair dryer —and they delivered the phone by FedEx within four days. The phone will work in 150 countries, it is yours for life to use whenever to travel outside of the United States.
All you need do is activate the phone once you land overseas and you are in contact with friends, family and business associates for $1.25 a minute for calls within the U.K. or $1.50 per minute for calls to the U.S., charged automatically to your credit card.
The nice thing about Mobal is that you are not charged when someone calls you. The only thing you need to emphasize to your aging mom is the difference in time zones or else she might call you at three in the morning.
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