Help with London/England Trip please

[dietcoke]

Just booked a spontaneous trip to London 10/29-11/4. I'm piggybacking on a friend's work trip. She will be in Derby, England 10/26 - 11/1. I can stay at her hotel for free if I choose.

Arrive London Heathrow Tuesday, 10/30 at 8:00 a.m.

(I need to fill Tuesday, Wednesday and part/all of Thursday).

Friend will be done working and back in London Thursday, 11/1 at 3:00 p.m. 

Thursday evening we will see a play.

Friday we are taking the train to Paris for a quick day trip.

Saturday we plan to walk around London together and see all the big sights (Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, market, Big Ben, The Tate, The Shard, Picadilly Circus).

Sunday we head home.

So for Tuesday, Weds, Thurs, do I travel to Derby and stay in her hotel (for free).. or spend a night or 2 in London alone?  Or something else? 

I kinda want to do the Warner Bros. Harry Potter thing there (friend won't want to do that on our day in London together).  I also kind of want to possibly go to Liverpool to experience some Beatles history.  I want to do as much as possible, but not overextend myself on my couple of days there.  I don't mind spending the hotel $ for 2 nights alone, but would obviously rather keep costs down(ish) too.   TIA

[mbcdefg]

I liked the National Portrait Gallery. I wish I had also gone to the Victoria & Albert, and the British Museum.

How about taking a train out to Windsor for the day? We did a bus tour to Windsor (plus Bath and Stonehenge) on our first trip but we only got an hour or two to look around before we had to get back on the bus. If I ever get back to London I definitely want to do a full day trip to check out more of the castle.

The bus tour was through Evan Evans and it was enjoyable, but like I said you don't get much time to explore Windsor and Bath (and too much at Stonehenge IMO). But it's a good way to get a quick look at the three sites if you don't want to tackle public transit on your own. 

If you get to Windsor Castle you could view the Duchess of Sussex's wedding gown: www.rct.uk/collection/themes/exhibitions/a-royal-wedding-the-duke-and-duchess-of-sussex/windsor-castle 

How about Kensington Palace?

Have tea somewhere. 

St. Paul's Cathedral

Guided boat tour on the River Thames (we did this as part of the London Pass package)

Royal Observatory in Greenwich (we got there via the boat tour)

We did some aimless walking in the Brick Lane area and kept finding cool little shops and cafes, random markets, street food, etc.

[tacokick]

We liked doing a final day/night in Windsor. It isn’t far from the airport and the castle was fun. It’s a cute town to walk around in too!

[erbear]

I'd stay in London. Derby would be a tough place to fill 3 days alone.

[neonpink]

I’d stay in London. I would also do the Harry Potter your since your friend isn’t interested. Also stop by Kong’s cross station. They have a platform 9-3/4 and a store. I bought a niffler stuffed animal and a copy of the philosophers stone.

The city will start to be decorated for Christmas and it is gorgeous.

[bullygirl979]

I'd stay in London. Also, I feel like your Saturday is way ambitious. I just got back from London and we did Tower of London, Westminster Abbey tour and Rick Steve's Westminster Walk in a day and we were RUSHED. Like, two of us telling our friend in the Tower of London that we had to leave NOW if we wanted to make it to WA. I think we were at TOL for 3 hours (including spending an hour at doing the Beefeater tour which was WELL worth it) and we literally didn't see everything. If you are going to check a box and see the highlights, then you can probably do it. But I slightly regret packing three things in to that day. Just some food for thought.

Which market are you going to? We did Borough and loved it. We also did afternoon tea, the National Gallery, Churchill's War Room, a tour of the Globe theater and loved it. Windsor was nice as a day trip, as well. We did it in the morning with CWR tickets for 3pm and we were rushed at Windsor.

ETA: forgot to mention that Big Ben is completely under construction right now. You can see the face of the clock but the rest is completely covered by scaffolding. Throwing it out there in case it changes your itinerary.

[mrsukyankee]

That's WAYYYYYY too much to do on the Saturday. Unless you plan to stop, take a picture and then walk on, you can't really see all of that and actually enjoy it. I'd do 3 of those with lunch at Borough Market at the most.

There is seriously so much to do in London. Tons. Really cool stuff. I do new stuff every year and I live here.

Go to one of the many free museums

Go on a free tour - you can find them right outside of St Pauls (across the street on the way to the Millenium bridge)

Go on a London walk

You could even meet up with me and I'll take you around to look at the stuff a normal tourist doesn't see (I only work part-time).

[wildrice]

I agree if you want to go inside the Tower of London, I'd give it more time. How about spending some time there on your own and then popping by for a picture with your friend on Saturday? It's right by tower bridge, which is kind of fun to walk over and really beautiful.

I love the British museum. You could easily spend an entire day there -really you could probably spend several days.

I guess I am making an assumption you are even interested in museums, haha.

If you decide against the Harry Potter big tour, I took a Muggle tour (google it) a few years ago and that was fun. It was shorter, cheaper, but gave you a good look at a bunch of the sites and pointed out a bunch of places that inspired the books and/or where the movie was shot. It was fun.

I don't know anything about Derby, but if you haven't been to London I think you could easily fill a few days there so that's what I would do.

[Miss Phryne Fisher]

I would pick a museum and go there, then do your wandering or get a double decker bus.

I would pick the National Gallery (The Arnolfini Portrait is there, which was a dream of mine to see, it did not disappoint). If you are into museums, of course.

[dietcoke]

mrsukyankee,

Any cheap hotel recs? The whole reason I decided to go on this trip spur of the moment was Yay-Free Hotel for a week - but now I see that was shortsighted and will cost me more in hours and train fare to get to/from Derby/all touristy things I want to experience.

Thanks all!

[bullygirl979]

Have you looked on airbnb?

[dietcoke]

Oct 16, 2018 8:02:41 GMT -5 bullygirl979 said:

Have you looked on airbnb?

There are a couple of private rooms (with private baths) that look pretty good.. but my only concern with that is - I arrive at 8 a.m.... what do I do with my luggage until a 4 pm check-in? I suppose I could store it at the train station.

[mrsukyankee]

Oct 16, 2018 8:18:20 GMT -5 dietcoke said:

Oct 16, 2018 8:02:41 GMT -5 bullygirl979 said:

Have you looked on airbnb?

There are a couple of private rooms (with private baths) that look pretty good.. but my only concern with that is - I arrive at 8 a.m.... what do I do with my luggage until a 4 pm check-in? I suppose I could store it at the train station.

Definitely can store it at the train station.  Or ask if you can store it at the room/house.  Let me know where you are looking to stay/how much you want to pay and I can make some suggestions.

[dietcoke]

mrsukyankee,


I'll PM you the two airbnb's I'm looking at.

[alleinesein]

Oct 16, 2018 7:57:27 GMT -5 dietcoke said:

mrsukyankee ,

Any cheap hotel recs? The whole reason I decided to go on this trip spur of the moment was Yay-Free Hotel for a week - but now I see that was shortsighted and will cost me more in hours and train fare to get to/from Derby/all touristy things I want to experience.

Thanks all! 

Define cheap.

I usually stay near the Gloucester tube stop b/c it is convenient to a few museums (Nat History, Science, V&A), walking distance to Royal Albert Hall and it is a direct shot to LHR on the tube (Piccadilly line).  

I've stayed at The Villa Kensington and Park City Grand Plaza Hotel.  Both were under USD $200 a night and included breakfast.

[bullygirl979]

Oct 16, 2018 15:57:03 GMT -5 alleinesein said:

Oct 16, 2018 7:57:27 GMT -5 dietcoke said:

mrsukyankee ,

Any cheap hotel recs? The whole reason I decided to go on this trip spur of the moment was Yay-Free Hotel for a week - but now I see that was shortsighted and will cost me more in hours and train fare to get to/from Derby/all touristy things I want to experience.

Thanks all! 

Define cheap.

I usually stay near the Gloucester tube stop b/c it is convenient to a few museums (Nat History, Science, V&A), walking distance to Royal Albert Hall and it is a direct shot to LHR on the tube (Piccadilly line).  

I've stayed at The Villa Kensington and Park City Grand Plaza Hotel.  Both were under USD $200 a night and included breakfast.

I just stayed at the Park City Grand Plaza and was super impressed with it. Plus the location was great. We booked through expedia so got it cheaper but it didn't include breakfast. There was a great little cafe across the street from the tube station that had great (and cheap) takeaway breakfast.

[dietcoke]

mrsukyankee, alleinesein, bullygirl979,everyone else who chimed in.
Thanks for your help/suggestions.
I ended up staying 2 nights at the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum. It was right off the Gloucester stop on the underground. Very convenient location. Decent/nice hotel for the price.

First day (Tues), I arrived at hotel around 10 a.m. and my room was ready so I got cleaned up and headed out for the day, just walked around Hyde Park, toured Kensington Palace, breezed through the History Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum. Grabbed a grocery store sandwich for dinner because I realized I hadn't eaten anything that day other than a scone!

Second day(Weds), I saw the changing of the guards (I wasn't that impressed, idk) but I ate a fantastic brownie from a coffee cart there. I did a tour of the Royal Mews. I enjoyed that. Breezed through Covent Garden (because I was going to return later with my friend), went through the National Gallery (loved the impressionist exhibit), walked through Trafalgar Square, toured the Tower of London(very cool!) Went over to Westminster and walked by Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey(I was too late to do a tour). Ate some fish n chips at a pub and that was it.

Next day (Thurs.), I did a tour of the Warner Bros. Studio Making of Harry Potter. Pretty cool as a HP fan.
Met up with my friend, we ate at Burger & Lobster, went to Fortnum & Mason.

Friday, we took the earliest train to Paris and did a whirlwind tour of it. Breakfast at Angelina (best hot chocolate ever). Walked around the Louvre courtyard (did not go in), Toured Saint Chappelle (Beautiful), toured Notre Dam, walked around the Latin Quarters, ate a crepe, went up in the Arc de Triomphe, then to Eifel Tower. A quick dinner including french onion soup and creme brulee. Then back to the train to London.

Saturday, went to Camden Market, ate the best Venezuelan sandwich for lunch (omg so delicious), had hot chocolate at Said (omg so delicious) went to Covent Garden to shop/walk around. Then back to the area our hotel was in (Islington) to walk around, pub hop for a few beers and fish n chips again.

Busy, great, whirlwind of a trip, but I am so glad I went. Thanks for all your tips.

[neonpink]

dietcoke, Sounds like an awesome trip. How was the Harry Potter tour? I really want to go next time I'm there. I didn't have time to do it last year. I also didn't want to drag my family who doesn't care about HP to it.

[dietcoke]

Nov 9, 2018 10:05:59 GMT -5 neonpink said:

dietcoke , Sounds like an awesome trip. How was the Harry Potter tour? I really want to go next time I'm there. I didn't have time to do it last year. I also didn't want to drag my family who doesn't care about HP to it.

As single adult going alone, I breezed through it pretty quickly.  They said it would take 3 hours. I think I was there a bit less than 2. There were tons of interactive things (ride a broom, do some wand/spell things) that I skipped... as a grown up. lol.

But it was very cool to be in the Great Hall and Dumbledore's office, and see the real and actual costumes and sets. If you have time, do it, but, it was a bit of a time suck with the travel to get there, etc.

[mcsangel2]

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum on our 2010 trip!! You cannot beat the proximity to that tube stop (that serves three different lines). We'll probably stay there again next time we go.