Going on a trip to London

Do they still do afternoon tea at Harrods? Used to go there a lot. Nothing quite like it. No matter how you're dressed (well as long as you're actually decent lol), the waiters treat like you you're probably an eccentric millionaire.

IdiotsRUs said:

Do they still do afternoon tea at Harrods? Used to go there a lot. Nothing quite like it. No matter how you're dressed (well as long as you're actually decent lol), the waiters treat like you you're probably an eccentric millionaire.

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I so want to test that to breaking point. Clown costume maybe?

We tested it pretty hard the day I went with the bike club.

Not push bikes, I'll note. Lesser places than Harrods had turned us away. The waiters were fine (well, except for calling me madam, but I let them off). Got a few funny looks from the posh ladies in the corner...I suspect they'd never seen a 6'5" hairy biker trying to drink a cup of tea with his little finger sticking out.

IdiotsRUs said:

Got a few funny looks from the posh ladies in the corner...I suspect they'd never seen a 6'5" hairy biker trying to drink a cup of tea with his little finger sticking out.

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You're not 6'5". Or hairy.

Years ago, a friend and I found a pub in (or just off) Leicester Square called The Hog's Head. It was a great place. If you find it, give it a go.

I'm not. My boyfriend at the time was.

Duke of Argyll, Argyll St right by Oxford Circus is a nice pub. Do nice pub grub too, and it's right in the centre for everything.

IndigoScript said:

Thank you all for your tips, especially the ones about vouchers, they're really appreciated! I'd never find out about them myself. I have a question about Oyster cards (again): are they eligible for the 2 for 1-offer? We'll be using Oyster cards for the London Underground, they're not the same as the National Rail ones correct?

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If you want to enter the Tower of London (for example) using a 2-for-1 offer, you need a paper National Rail ticket to the nearest train station. The FAQ says that Oyster cards and other Underground tickets are not eligible.

IndigoScript said:

Thank you all for your tips, especially the ones about vouchers, they're really appreciated! I'd never find out about them myself. I have a question about Oyster cards (again): are they eligible for the 2 for 1-offer? We'll be using Oyster cards for the London Underground, they're not the same as the National Rail ones correct?

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You need to buy seperate Oystercards. It's like with Tunnelbanan in Stockholm - it's a public company, so you have by buy seperate tickets/cards. National Rail is like our SJ, a completely seperate company that handles regular trains and commuter trains. Like SJ handles the commuter trains in Stockholm, while someone else handles the underground.

IndigoScript said:

Sounds like you'd need at least a month to scratch the surface of all there is to see in London...

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Oh, yes. I lived in Epsom, just outside London, for years - and I didn't even scratch the surface. And of course, the surface ripples and changes all the time.

Parametric said:

If you want to enter the Tower of London (for example) using a 2-for-1 offer, you need a paper National Rail ticket to the nearest train station. The FAQ says that Oyster cards and other Underground tickets are not eligible.

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You just need a ticket to any London train station, actually (at least that was the case in March). (But yeah, not a ticket for the Underground.) And they don't take your ticket, they just look at it, so you can get 2 for 1 at a bunch of different places.

If visiting the Tower and wanting to see the crown jewels, be aware that there is often a massive line to get into them, certainly during peak times. When we went, we walked past the line, decided it was too long and went to look at Henry VIII's codpiece instead (there was a special exhibition with all his armour on display inside the tower). When we emerged it was about half an hour before closing time for the crown jewels exhibition and there was no line at all so we quickly jumped in and pretty much got a private viewing...

Learning to navigate the tube is a difficult skill to pick up (luckily I was born in the NE and the Metro system is smaller but similar and we survived the Paris underground on our Honeymoon and that while drunk on cheap wine...) but totally worth it in terms of making travel cheap and easy. Not fun if you are a claustrophobe, though. Some of those tunnels are small...

A walk through Hyde park is always a nice and romantic thing to do. You can also do a nice park walk through St Jame's park from the Palace.

But also remember that some Tube stations are quite close to each other. But not on the same line. So it might take you two trains to get to a place that's actually 500 yards away and around the corner.