London Town

[Harry]

If you come here for the game be prepared for massive traffic jams. I don't recommend trying to learn to drive on the left in this kind of traffic. Also keep in mind taxis/uber get pretty expensive with the traffic delays. It cost well over $100 to take a taxi from the airport to Victoria Station as traffic was heavy. The weather then likely won't make the game time the easiest to tour the city. It will be cool, cloudy & often windy. Still the best way to get around is the Tube. Learn their subway system ( it's easy) and you can get around quickly. Transfers can involve long walks. It's old, so it's not disability friendly. You can have a great time here, but do a little research first. If you want to splurge they have great theater and a reduced price ticket shop near Trafalgar Square. You could also try the Scottish Beef. I like a little place called Boyd's. It's a hotel resturaunt but has great beef. Travel light and you can take a train/subway connection from the airport to near your hotel. If you're all in on the game book a hotel early that's near the stadium. Food prices are higher than the states. Flying in Saturday (always overnight departing on Friday) would be exhausting even if you can sleep on the plane. Loaf the day you arrive if you can afford it. Try for a hotel/breakfast package. Lots of Starbucks here and a McDonalds on many corners & at many train stations. People are great and very helpful. Accents can be a little tricky. One last tip; be careful crossing the street. US citizens typically look left when crossing. Here you have to look right as that's your inside lane. In tourist areas, they print it on the street at crosswalks.

 

[Garthshort]

Thanks, Harry, for a great report.

 

[schutd]

Was just in London. Love that city. Lived in NYC for 12 years, so I used to abhor those hop on hop off double decker busses that tourists use to traverse the city. My kid really wanted to take one in London. It was awesome. Will never poo poo them again. Great way to sight see for 2 or 3 hours if you don't feel the need to dig deep into each destination.

Food in London has come a looooong way since the days of boiled beef. Look up The Dove if youre in the Kensington area. One of the oldest bars in London and has an awesome patio that looks over the Thames. Great pub lunch, too. Also, wander thru Borough Market. Have to see it, and eat everything. Neals Yard Dairy, too. Walk to the Globe from there, and then to The Tate Modern. One of the best museums in the world.

While I agree with Harry and the subways are the easiest, the cabbies have to go thru intense training to ensure they know the streets in London and can be a nice alternative when you just need to get there without thinking about it. Had some good UBER experiences and had some equally bad ones with drivers who obviously havent had the kind of training the cabbies must have.

Have fun! Wish I could be there!

 

[Stout]

I didn't know you were based in London, Harry. Just there for a visit?

 

[Harry]

No, I'm in Florida these days. Got a chance to do a little job in London and decided to stretch it into a London/Paris trip. I took the Eurostar through the Chunnel for the first time. It's awesome. It's hot as blazes over here. You've also got soldiers with automatic weapons just walking around the streets. Other than that it's pretty much life as it always is. I'm pounding thru sidewalk cafes and Grand Marnier crepes. Doing tons of art viewing. Went out to Giverny today to see Monet's home with all the lilies!

Being a Cardinal baseball fan as well it's a good time to be as far away as possible. It just occurred to me to give a brief overview to fans considering coming to the game. I'll probably post a little more if anyone shows an interest.

 

[Cardsfanstl]

Been to London many times and fully know the traffic situation. Tubes are great way to get around.

 

[iRobot]

Yea, first time in London the Tube was intimidating but its so easy once you get the hang of it.

 

[TruColor]

I agree re: the Tube. I've been there a few times myself - last time was this past January - and I love the freedom it gives you. Wouldn't ever want to drive there...my parents lived in Egham, Surrey for a year, and avoided driving at all costs. The frequent two (or sometimes three) lane roundabouts could kill you.

 

[iRobot]

Wife and I went from South Kensington to Heathrow by Tube. Flew to Amsterdam, stayed for a week.. took train down to Hook of Holland, hopped on a ferry boat and went back to England. Landed at port (cant remember name lol) .. hopped on train that transfers to Tube, back to Heathrow and home. Public transit is amazing and surprisingly quick/efficient.

 

[nidan]

Public transit is amazing and surprisingly quick/efficient.

In and around London, not so much everywhere else

 

[Shane]

In and around London, not so much everywhere else

Im here in London now and my first exoerience with the PT has been less than stellar... we were told we could get anywhere with public TP and do it quickly and effectively... welll we go to pick up the train out of Gatwick to get to our hotel.

We finally determine the route we have to take and head to platform 4 to pick up our train to east croyden... its 11 the train arrives at 1126 well at 1120 it pops up that our train is delayed.... no explanation or an eta just delayed... Not knowing we wait about 20 minutes after the original eta and some nice british couple informing us to go to platform 2 and pick up the other train going that way arriving at 1149... so we run to get to platform 2 and it actually came.... we take that train a 20 minute ride to our connecting thornton heath heath train which is a 1225 ETA and we take that one to the the requirwd stop.... get off there and find out there is no closer stop to our hotel and we must now walk 1.5 miles to the hotel or get a cab ... ughhhh talk about annoying... it took us an hour and 40 mintes to go 10 miles on the train and then had a 20 minute walk with all luggage after that.... After the 10 hour flight.... im hoping my PT experiences improve as we stay here longer...

 

[nidan]

If you are near a Tube station and want to go to place near one like in central London you are fine.

Elsewhere you can likely be SOL, I had to put up with that growing up for years

Gatwick is NOT 'in London'

 

[iRobot]

In and around London, not so much everywhere else

Yea, I dunno. Like I said, I went South Kensington to Heathrow, flew to Amsterdam, went down to Hook of Holland to Harwich.. and back to Heathrow using public transit (train, tube, ferry, airplane) without issue.

 

[nidan]

Heathrow =/= Gatwick

And south Ken is about as connected as is possible

And once you get further out ... forget it. It's like spokes on a wheel emanating from London. I remember as where I grew out was as far out as the furthest tube stops [ie well outside London]. Unfortunately it was dead center in the gap between spokes ie Absolutely damn useless for tubes

 

[WildBB]

Im here in London now and my first exoerience with the PT has been less than stellar... we were told we could get anywhere with public TP and do it quickly and effectively... welll we go to pick up the train out of Gatwick to get to our hotel.

We finally determine the route we have to take and head to platform 4 to pick up our train to east croyden... its 11 the train arrives at 1126 well at 1120 it pops up that our train is delayed.... no explanation or an eta just delayed... Not knowing we wait about 20 minutes after the original eta and some nice british couple informing us to go to platform 2 and pick up the other train going that way arriving at 1149... so we run to get to platform 2 and it actually came.... we take that train a 20 minute ride to our connecting thornton heath heath train which is a 1225 ETA and we take that one to the the requirwd stop.... get off there and find out there is no closer stop to our hotel and we must now walk 1.5 miles to the hotel or get a cab ... ughhhh talk about annoying... it took us an hour and 40 mintes to go 10 miles on the train and then had a 20 minute walk with all luggage after that.... After the 10 hour flight.... im hoping my PT experiences improve as we stay here longer...

It'll get better once you get your bearings and some rest. ENJOY!

 

[Linderbee]

Im here in London now and my first exoerience with the PT has been less than stellar... we were told we could get anywhere with public TP and do it quickly and effectively... welll we go to pick up the train out of Gatwick to get to our hotel.

We finally determine the route we have to take and head to platform 4 to pick up our train to east croyden... its 11 the train arrives at 1126 well at 1120 it pops up that our train is delayed.... no explanation or an eta just delayed... Not knowing we wait about 20 minutes after the original eta and some nice british couple informing us to go to platform 2 and pick up the other train going that way arriving at 1149... so we run to get to platform 2 and it actually came.... we take that train a 20 minute ride to our connecting thornton heath heath train which is a 1225 ETA and we take that one to the the requirwd stop.... get off there and find out there is no closer stop to our hotel and we must now walk 1.5 miles to the hotel or get a cab ... ughhhh talk about annoying... it took us an hour and 40 mintes to go 10 miles on the train and then had a 20 minute walk with all luggage after that.... After the 10 hour flight.... im hoping my PT experiences improve as we stay here longer...

Update?

 

[Shane]

Update?

Yes i would say the public transportation overall is fantastic. But not because its super quick or easy(Im sure it gets easier the longer you are there obviously) etc.... But because the other option of driving is CRAZY.... Traffic and the driving there is insane.. You forget its a city of 12 plus million people. From that aspect alone you see why people use PT and applaud it.... My hotel was 9-10 miles from the main tourist hub/area of London and your easily talking a 45 minute to an hour drive in a car... For only 9 miles thats kinda crazy... I live 10.5 miles from work in vegas and I'm there in 12-14 minutes as perspective... But once you get there, there really is nowhere to park and if you do park it is going to cost you a fortune. So while PT still took us on average 40 plus minutes to an hour to get into London each day it was worth it and way cheaper then renting a car the entire time we were there. I did rent a car for a total of 3 days and drove to Hever castle and Stonehenge... TO go to the outer areas such as that I enjoyed it...

But trust me GET THE AUTOMATIC ****** if you do rent... Ive driven stick much of my life and have no issues.. But you throw it on the left side as well as the steering wheel on the right and driving on the left side of the street to me it is information overload on the brain especially when I'm trying to enjoy the sights of what I'm driving by as well.

 

[nidan]

Even I'm not nuts enough to drive in London

 

[Milgod]

Twickenham is ridiculously bad to get to and get away from. We really missed out by not getting Wembley.

 

[Lorenzo]

I concur with the others. Tube it. get an all day pass or better yet buy an oyster card online or at a station if you are going to be there more than a couple days...you get the most for your money that way because even the tube can get pricey if you try to pay for one trip at a time. As far as London I've traveled by train, underground, taxi, and bus and for my experience the underground/national rail is by far the most efficient way to get more time out of your day and won't hurt your wallet as much as cabs. Also the underground/rail is used by most Londoners so they are helpful and friendly. and as someone said they are very easy to navigate. If you are staying closer twickenham... or out of the city don't overlook the national rail. they connect with some of the major underground stations as well as can get you to anywhere in G.B. I would say to try to stay several days to get a good experience and try to go to one of the smaller towns near London or even somewhere else afar if you are feeling up to it. each place has it's own heritage and character and can easily be walked from a station. People walk in the city centres here. You will not get the full experience by trying to drive everywhere. I suggest to get a hotel by an underground or train station. one that is within walking distance. You don't want the hassle of commuting to an underground or train station. When I stayed in Greenwich I was within a 5 min walk from the city centre and train station. on the way there were multiple restaurants and shops it was great. Last weekend I stayed about a 15 min drive from heathrow to pick someone up from the airport and it was not so great because the stations were too far away from my hotel. Heathrow has a underground and rail station as well. I've yet to use it though. lugging your bags around on the tube would not be ideal if you have more than one bag. on the rail lines they have places to put your luggage. As far as the weather if you are walking about you will want to check the wind. it gets windy here a lot and in the winter months that is the big thing and cold rain. If you have been to games or lived in the northern states it is actually a lot colder in those places. but it's actually chilly enough to wear a light jacket today for some people.

 

[Harry]

The advice not to rent a car in London is sound. In fact it's almost impossible to park in any European big city. In Germany they often drive Smart Car sized vehicles and actually park the on sidewalks facing the street. It looks like a used car lot. They rarely have parking garages, so if you do rent a car be sure your hotel offers parking. Once you get out of the cities, parking is generally fine. Some of the second tier countries are easier. In Crostia I rarely had trouble getting a space. What can be hard is getting an automatic transmission. In Croatia the rental car manager actually gave me his car and begged me to take good care of it. Also bite the bullet and insure the car. They don't care about your credit cards insurance. They charge absurd amounts for damage. Don't think you can charge the damage & dispute the charge. The credit card won't back you on a foreign dispute including AMEX. You can't win. Still if you can go; go! It really gives you a broader view of your world.

 

[Lorenzo]

Absolutely it is worth it to go. And while you are here go to an English football match. You will never forget it.

 

[azmike74]

I tried to start a conversation with an ASFN member that is from London, but it says I can't start a conversation with that person So instead, I will just leave this here! I've also added edits to be more inclusive of Americans!

My wife and I will be in London from around October 19th to the 23rd, and I'm reaching out to people that I know are going to London, or are from that area. On the Saturday before the game, we're attending a function put on by the BirdGang Travel Club, but I forget where the event is. My wife has made most of the plans, so I'm not certain on all the arraingments.
Anyway, if you're attending that event, or the game, or like to drink at a pub, let me know; my wife and I love meeting locals (and American Cardinal Fans) to get advice on the good places to eat and drink. I really want to hit historic pubs with an authentic feel, and we would really like to have a Sunday Roast, except we will be at the game. If you know where some Yanks can get a proper Sunday roast, I'm sure my wife would be very grateful for the advice
If memory serves, we are staying near Kensington or Knight's Bridge, and my handle on Twitter is @Hutsnuts if you have a Twitter account and don't mind me asking food and drink advice when we get there, please pass your account handle along.
Thanks for reading and take care,
Mike

 

[londonpete]

As my name suggests , I am from London , so would be happy to help with anything.

Should we start a thread so whoever is coming to the game can share information , ask Qs about anything and everything , and have all the info in one place?
Will leave that to one of the regular posters, if you think it is a good idea.

I dont know if you guys are aware of of the UK NFL site - nfluk.com
Might be a good starting point.

There is pub designated for Cards fans as well - the Admiralty - which is near Trafalgar Square - so very central and near where the fan rally will take place.