I wanted to start off talking about the first half of my trip, which is when I was in London. Specifically, I wanted to share three of my must know hacks/tips for one's first time in this huge city. While this was my first time in London, I learned sooo much, so I wanted to share some information if you ever plan on going! Since there is a lot to write about from my most recent trip, I decided to break the posts down so that there is not too much to read at once.
1. Do NOT Underestimate the Size of London
I definitely wish I knew more about the scope of the city prior to going. While I did extensive planning prior to my trip, I honestly over planned each day (yes, that is possible). I did try to plan different areas for each day to minimize the walking, but no matter what, you will do a ton of walking, especially if you want to make the most of your stay. According to the health app on the iPhone, we walked 8-10 miles each day, and even walked an whopping 16 miles one day. If you're not as keen when it comes to walking, I highly recommend learning and using the tube (London's underground train system) in order to reduce the amount of walking you do. We walked a good portion of our trip to see the most of the city, but our feet were definitely killing us by the end of our 6 days there. Additionally, our hotel gave us a FREE cell phone to use while on our trip since they knew we were not from the country! So, we were able to use the GPS on that phone (and not worry about our international data) to travel all over the city. While walking can be a pain, especially in rainy London, I recommend doing it since you really experience the city as a true Londoner
2. Use Golden Tours for all your Excursions
We decided to book our entire vacation through a travel agency, so our plane tickets, hotel, transportation, etc. was all pre-planned for us. Since it was my first time traveling to Europe, as well as my boyfriend's, we figured we would plan our trip through an agency just to make it a little easier. It worked out great! Our travel agency actually gave us $400 towards our excursions, which was amazing! Everything was through Golden Tours, which is a huge tourism/excursion agency in London. We got to choose all the tours and day trips we wanted to do in advance through their website. They have hundreds of options, as well as packages to save even more money. Additionally, they also have three locations throughout the city, so you can always book a tour the day of, and go there for any questions you have. I loved all of their tours! We did a day trip tour to Stonhenge, Oxford University, and Windsor Castle (I will do a whole post about these locations!), a Beatles walking tour, a Jack the Ripper walking tour, and the hop-on, hop-off bus. This touring agency provides a great experience with great prices and great service!
Golden Tours will even give you free ponchos when you're touring an open-top bus in the pouring rain!😜
3. Do not be Afraid to do Alternatives
One of the top things on our list to do was the London Eye since it is one of the biggest attractions in London. For those of you who do not know, the London Eye is essentially a giant Ferris wheel (do not call it a Ferris wheel when there...they get offended) that provides the "best view" of London. However, the line for this attraction is INSANE. The day we went to do it, the worker estimated we would be on line for 5 hours. So, we decided against it. Although we were upset, I looked up other locations in London to get a whole city view. The Shard instantly came up, so we went there instead. Let me tell you, I am sooo glad we did The Shard instead of the London Eye. There was no wait at all, the view was a lot higher than the London Eye so of course it was spectacular, and we were able to stay up top for however long we wanted. It was essentially the Top of the Rock or the top of the Empire State Building, but in London. It was an amazing experience, and I highly recommend going to The Shard instead of the London Eye! Do not be afraid to do alternatives since in some cases, such as this one, the alternative is a lot better than your initial plan.
I hope you enjoyed these 3 pieces of information about London! I will be doing more London Travel Guides since we did so much while in this beautiful city! I will also be doing posts about my trip to Paris in the near future. If you have any questions about your upcoming trip to London or Paris, feel free to email me at thelongislanderandbeyond@gmail.com
Many more posts to come(:
~Ashley
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