View From A Cretin

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Five Things I’ve Learned in London

London Montage
Some essential items when visiting London.

 

  1. The Oyster card is essential. For around 30 pounds you can buy a 7-day pass that allows you on any bus and tube stop. I bought mine on the first day and haven’t worried about it since. It is absolutely convenient to not think or worry about how you are going to get from one place to the next. Hop on a train or bus and head off to your destination of choice.

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  2. Rick Steves’ guidebooks are still the best. If you are planning your 1st or 50th trip to London, if you have the room, buy and carry around this guidebook. Rick Steves covers everything you need to know before you start your trip, what you need to get once you are there, and offers some of the best guided tours by book I know of. He also offers these guided tours as audio downloads so you can throw them on your ipod and head off to visit one of the city’s many museums.

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  3. It is possible to visit London on $50 a day. A couple years ago I spent a week in London and blew threw a ton of cash. Yes, London offers everything imaginable. But London also offers a lot of things for free. There are many museums, markets, walks, and people watching to do without spending anything. If you are on a budget, it can be done. If you can spend some extra cash, then I highly recommend the Tower of London, the hop on hop off bus tour, and catching a musical on the West End or a Shakespeare play at The Globe Theatre.

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  4. The British Museum never gets boring. How could it? The colonial British brought back riches from all over the world and while very controversial (see the Parthenon sculptures), it has allowed people from all over the world to come to one museum and see the history of the world. There is something to be said about walking through a museum and literally walking through time.

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  5. While it is possible to get around without a map, it is much smarter to have one. No map? Foolish. Do yourself a favor and get a London A-Z map book. If you still feel like getting lost, look at the map, select a destination, and then challenge yourself by trying to make it to that destination without pulling the map back out. Not so easy, is it?!

 

Is there something you learned in London that I haven’t listed here? Let me know in the comments below!

 

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