London, England: Planning Your Way to an Unforgettable Experience
What to Expect
Language
English and while we speak the same language, we loved the accents as much as they loved ours. My daughter in particular thought it was fascinating to listen to the children playing at the park. She said she could just sit and listen all day.
Currency
Pounds sterling £
We used a combination of cash and credit cards while we were in England. It was easy to use Google Wallet/Apple Pay and tap for purchases.
Safety
Mind the Gap: In addition to the reminder to mind the gap as you get on and off the tube there were lots of warnings on the trains about pickpocketing and being cautious in high-traffic areas. We wore our backpacks on our front when the trains were crowded but didn’t have any trouble. We felt quite safe walking home from the train at night and didn’t ever feel uneasy.
Local Customs
Tipping is fairly similar to home with 10-15% when eating out in restaurants and slightly less for taxis.
My daughter commented that you could tell how friendly a city was by someone’s reaction to her smiling at them as she walked by. Let’s just say that in Windsor one smile was met with a frown, although I’m sure many lovely people live there?
Cell Phones
This is not my area of expertise, so I asked my husband to take this one. When we arrived in London, we picked up SIM cards from a local convenience store. This gave us local numbers and a data plan to use while away. We chose Lebara as it worked all through Europe and was less expensive than the offerings at the airport for travel SIMs. If you go this route, purchase the SIM card at a convenience store and then sign up for a plan that works for you online to get the best deal. We did this for all our phones, teens included, as we wanted to be able to connect if we got separated. We used WhatsApp to text and talk with family back home. Don’t forget your power adapter to plug in.
When to Visit
Weather
We visited England in mid-July and were met with a mixed bag. Temperatures were cooler than in Canada ranging from 20-23°C/68-73°F with a mix of sun and cloud and a few showers. It was great weather for all the sightseeing and walking we did, and we were glad to have an outfit with us for the cooler weather. We only got well and truly soaked one day while trying to eat our lunch outside. We found ourselves huddled under a doorway with a stranger for a good 5 minutes before the sun returned.
Getting There
We flew from Victoria to Calgary and then directly to London, Heathrow arriving in a windstorm, Mary Poppins style, at noon local time after about 10 hours of flying. The kids were amazing, they probably did better than the parents. We chose London as our jumping-off place for our European adventure given the flights, weather, and language. We were also aware that we were travelling in Europe during the summer with all the business it would bring.
For each of our European stops, we arranged a pick-up and drop-off from the airport. We were met with someone holding a sign with our name on it and could get our bearings and a few local tips to start. This was well worth the peace of mind and ease with our luggage. It often cost only a little more than public transit as we were a group of seven. I would highly recommend this when travelling with kids.
Local Holidays
While we didn’t visit London over any holidays, I always have a quick look at what is happening when we are visiting. This time we happened to be lucky enough to visit over a rotating transit strike. We were able to plan for a pick-up service on that day and avoid the trains. Many shops were closed or had reduced hours on Sundays. We caught onto this pretty quickly and made sure to plan ahead.
Location, Location, Location
We chose to stay in Windsor for our week in the London area and loved it. The town was quaint, safe and had a small-town feel with lots of interesting things to see and do. We chose Windsor for its proximity to the airport, access to day trips, proximity to London (about 40 min by train), and the cost savings to similar accommodations in central London. The only downside was that Windsor is not part of the London Underground. We needed to take an additional train to Paddington Station to connect. While this was relatively easy it did come with an extra cost on the days we visited London.
For our days in London, we purchased a full zone day pass on the Underground for about 15£ each. The tube and busses were straightforward to navigate once we arrived but were a bit of a mystery to sort out when planning from home.
Day Trips
As I’ve shared in my blog everyone gets to pick something they want to do on our holiday, so we had a few interesting day trips to make these ideas a reality.
- Explored Legoland Windsor, a short 15-minute bus ride from town.
- Rented a van for a day and drove to Stonehenge, the Salisbury Cathedral and visited the Roman Baths, we had lots of fun navigating things on the other side of the road.
- Visited Warner Brothers Studios to see The Making of Harry Potter.
Random Bits
We found it tricky to find public bathrooms in central London and while apparently there is an app for that too, we didn’t try it out. Instead, we planned our days a little differently and made sure to use the facilities at the museums and attractions we visited. It is worth noting that not everywhere had sufficient bathrooms to accommodate the volume of summer visitors and our visit to the British Museum was overshadowed by the time we spent in the queue for the ladies’ washrooms, not once but twice. No such crazy line existed for the men’s, just saying.
