August 14-20 (hopeful minimum?) to work around the WorldCon Thunt is wanting to try to attend, and my non-availability of up to August 19 due to my 30th birthday...)
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So!
A lot of you have shown interest in visting England. Of course, it's an expensive trip especially for those of us in North America. But hey, we'd have a year to plan it out and budget.
Now, I have NO problem at all with sort of coordinating it - I love London to pieces. Hostels are the cheapest way to stay in London, but I know that some people are not very comfortable with them. I don't know which hostels in London are good or not as I've not stayed in them, but I've always managed to pick out a pretty good one (and I allllways read up and select ones that do not have a party atmosphere as I like to be able to sleep as I wake up early!) . Anyway. Depending on numbers, we'd be able to get a room book for just us. (most hostels have 4, 6, 8, etc people per room.) I've also already done the whole "sharing a hostel room when people arrive and leave on different days" so I've already been used to emailing hostels with complicated itineraries.
I'd likely be in England for a few weeks, because I'd be wanting to spend time with my friends who already live there and would need to make a trip out to Bristol to visit one of my besties.
Dates: I can ONLY go anywhere in July or August. If people wanted to come and they aren't super comfortable with travel, it'd be easiest if I arrived at least a few days earlier so that I could get totally familiar with the location of the actual hostel. And then I could let you know EXACTLY how to get to it from any of the airports. So I'd recommend arrival dates to be sometime after July 7th. Wears has already said that August for him is typically spend at his sisters, so July would be best. Of course, if it doesn't work for others then I'm sure we could trrrry to get Wears to rearrange his summer next year
Budget: Ok. There are loads of things to do in London. Budget-wise, Oyster cards and food and alcohol and souvenirs. I would HIGHLY recommend an oyster card, and I'd find a hostel in Zone 1, so you'd only need a zone 1-2 pass. Getting it for a week is best because it is so easy to use it. (Of course, you'd have to put some cash on it.. or purchase a different ticket at the airport, since those are CERTAINLY not in zone 1 or 2!).
Free things in London:
Natural History Museum. This is a MUST because we are all geeky and it is my favourite museum!
Science Museum (conveniently located next door to the Nat. His. Museum)
V&A Museum (right across the street from Sci and Nat His!)(I am not a fan of this museum but you might be!)
Imperial War Museum (forget where this is, and got no interest in going to it again, but it's also free and it is a really good museum)
British Museum (it's got the Rosetta Stone!)
Tait Modern (art)
National Portrait Gallery (I have spent multiple occassions wandering through there at Trafalgar Square while waiting for someone... have also napped there because I was tired and someone was running late!)
Tait Britain (not sure if I've gone in there and forget where it is!)
Big Ben and Westminster Abbey (exterior, you have to pay to go inside Westminster)
London/Tower Bridge (everyone wants to see London bridge, but really, they're thinking of Tower Bridge because London bridge is in either Arizona or Arkansas! The one in London is preeeeetty boring)
The Thames
All the parks (Regent's Park, Kensington, Hyde Park, St. James - if you're a good long walker I can take you for a nice long hike/walk starting at Leicester Square or Trafalgar Square and go for a walk through St. James (with pelicans!) to see Buckingham Palace, then through a bit of Hyde Park and then through Kensington. Or, alternately, start at Kensington and go through until you're in Trafalgar Square where there's a nice little pub and lots of places to eat around there!) (But Regent's Park is my favourite one because Queen Mary's Rose Gardens are gorgeous)
Baker Street (pay to go into the museum which I've never done, but I just like walking past 221B Baker Street as I go to Regent's Park!)
Camden Market (it's gorgeous!)
Portobello Road Market (this is my favourite and only open on weekends.. it's an antique market and I go there for 9am to beat most of the crowd!)
Borough food market (yummmmmmmm)
Globe Theatre (can actually get fairly well priced tickets there, but you can see it from the outside even if you don't go in or to see a play!)
King's Cross Platform 9 3/4 (I still haven't found that. I went when they were doing construction and got soooooo lost LOL)
British Library (it's huge!)
Harrod's (Ok. So it's very expensive inside Harrods. but the food halls are amazing and it's fun to play "find the price tag!" in the women's clothing section. But there is a very annoying perfume section RIGHT at the door that is near the tube station, so be prepared to cover your nose and follow me through that section asap!)
Checking out various neighbourhoods
Things in London that cost money:
- Brick Lane Curry (if you come to London with me, this is an experience. It is deeeellliiccccious and if you don't like spicy, korma is very sweet and I almost always get it with coconut rice because it is JUST SO GOOD). It's a great street with loads of really good (and cheap!) curry houses. And if we go and have dinner at a more traditionally North American time of around 5pm, we'll get better deals because it's not busy then Never go in unless they offer you at least a free app and a free bottle of wine between two people. At LEAST.
- Tower of London (no way around that one... can't see too much from the outside)
- going into Westminster Abbey
- London Eye (I will refrain from doing that with you, but Southbank is one of my most 'home' areas and I will gladly chill on the bench near the buskers... or go have a nap in the RFH - which I have done many, many times.....)
- Theatre (but, if you go and just get tickets in Leicester Square you can usually get pretty cheap ones, and who doesn't enjoy going to see at least ONE play while in London?!)
- going inside St. Paul's Cathedral (I think. I was only inside for Christmas carols one year)
- seeing the prime meridan costs money to go stand on it - can't get inside. But you can see it. And Greenwich is quite lovely!
- Jack the Ripper tour
Eeerm. Other things which really cost money I've forgotten about. haha.
Places Outside of London for day-trips if desired:
- Stonehedge
- Bath (honestly, the Roman Baths are awesome, but this is such an adoreable city and it has got my favourite restaurant in it - a tapas bar! I love it!)
- Brighton
- Oxford (I went to visit Kenneth Grahme and C.S Lewis's grave. There's also the Eagle and Child where CS Lewis and Tolkien went a lot. It's cute. I have not yet gone to visit Tolkien's grave as I've only spent a day there and it was further out. ALSO there is a very lovely pub which I'd HAVE to go back to. Yes. I went to two graves, two pubs, and went to see some really cool temp science display in my day there)
- Cambridge (I've not been there yet actually, so no idea)
Anyway.
Those are the sorts of things I can think of off the top of my head currently. Can usually get a lot done in a day in London if you're awake early and ok with a good chunk of walking. I usually opt out of the tube if I can help it, but I can obviously adapt myself to that!)