#101 London

LONDON!! So just before Christmas I went on a trip to London, and I have only just got around to telling you about it. Sorry!

I went from Ireland and got the bus/boat over - it was cheap and it was good. The ferry was delayed by about 2 hours on the way over (bad weather), but I had two seats to myself on the bus (each way!) and we made regular stops at petrol stations so you could take a smoke break, pee, stretch your legs, grab a coffee etc. For the €53 it cost I can't fault it and would definitely recommend it! (Read more about it here; travelbanter.blogspot.ie/yes-it-is-cheaper-than-flying).

It wasn't my first time in London, but it was the first time as an adult so I could decide what I wanted to do! As you know I had a small budget, and I'm not fond of paying for things, so all of what I did was free! This included Camden markets, Big Ben and Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Tower of London and Tower bridge, British Museum, Harrods, Baker St, Buckingham Palace, Oxford St, Victoria and Albert Museum, looking at Christmas lights etc etc.

In fact, once you get your transport sorted (some form of Oyster card - it's not cheap but it's 100% necessary!) you can actually visit many of the major famous places in London for free. If you're thinking of going inside somewhere, check review sites ahead of your visit, as some of them will give you a good indication if it's overpriced and mediocre.

It being Christmas we also went to Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park. And it was wonderful! It was absolutely packed full of people, craft stalls, food stalls and amusement park rides. It really was a winter wonderland, and entry was free which was the best part!

I was lucky with the weather, and the day we decided to do the outdoors sightseeing (Big Ben etc) it was blue skies! I don't think you need a bus tour or to pay in to most things - you can pretty much find all you want to do quite easily once you work out the tube!

 

I cannot remember where this was!

 

British Museum (free!)

Harrods at Christmas

Festive ice skating 

Trafalgar Square

Big Ben

London Eye

Oxford St

Hyde Park Winter Wonderland

#98 London on the horizon

I'm going to London in a few weeks. I've been to London before, it was 5 years ago on my 18th birthday, and my older sister and I went for a weekend. We did the London Eye and the London Dungeons and we got one of those bus tours around everywhere else. It was the end of November and the Christmas lights were all up which was a nice touch.

Christmas!

So I've already been. But then I was only 18 and I was chaperoned by my older sister. This time I'm old and hardened and well travelled and I'll be with a friend (who I haven't seen for nearly 2 years, so you know it's gonna go down!).

London is horribly expensive, but then I've seen the major sites and I'll be with a friend who also happens to have a spare bed in her room which is wonderfully convenient!

Thankfully I'm a native English speaker and occasional viewer of Eastenders so there will be no language barrier to contend with on this occasion, and I think my biggest worry will be the currency. The pound-euro rate has more ups and downs than a rollercoaster, so even though I'm not going for a few weeks I've started eyeing up the exchange rates in order to try and get the best value.

The transport around London is pretty expensive, I'll probably be getting a £30 Oyster card, and travel within zones 1 and 2 (basically central London) has a max daily charge of £7. So (avoiding peak times!) it should be £28 over 4 days. Peak times are 6.30 am to 9.30am (easy enough to avoid I think) but again also from 4pm to 7pm, which is slightly more difficult to avoid, but by (Prince) George I'll try my best!

Not this kind of oyster though

#95 Yes, it is cheaper than flying

I'll be getting the bus to London (from Ireland) in a few weeks.

After searching through a few forums online, and after getting a similar reaction from anyone I've told - I would like to clarify and say that the bus is cheaper than flying. It is a fact.

Since I don't live in Dublin it will cost me €30 for a return ticket to Dublin Airport. A return air fare to London will be about €50, and then once you get to London you'll need a transfer to the city which will be about €20. So flying will now cost €100 total. With only hand luggage.


Now for the bus. Since it leaves from where I live, and arrives into the centre of London, there's no transfer fees. The bus ticket is €53 return. And I can bring as much luggage as I want. So what's the total cost? €53. Half the price of flying.

Apart from the price, everyone's talking about how long it takes. The bus leaves around 8pm and arrives 8am the next morning. So I acknowledge that it is 12 hours of my life gone, but it's all night time so realistically I should be sleeping soundly anyway.

"But flying only takes an hour". No sir, no it does not. That is a lie.

Anyone who has ever flown anywhere knows you have to get to the airport at least two hours in advance of your flight. And then there's the aforementioned connections - so for me it would take 3 hours to Dublin airport, and about an hour once I get to London. So that's 7 hours, and this would be probably during the day.

Oh, and there were a few who said I'd spend all my money at the petrol station stops buying food and coffee etc. Like, I'm travelling at night. I dunno about you, but I'm not one to tuck into meals at 3am. And even if I did buy coffee, I'd have to buy a lot for it to make a dent price wise in comparison to flying.


Now, if you lived in Dublin and only wanted to bring hand luggage then yeah, flying could work out about the same price as the bus. But, for me, getting the bus is a far cheaper option, and since I have very little money to spend on this trip, it's the only option.

Am I looking forward to sitting in close proximity to a stranger for like 7 hours (I get a 5 hour break while on the ferry)? Not really, last time I got a long distance bus (Oslo-Stockholm, night bus, took 7 hours) I had a friendly but odd woman fall asleep on my shoulder and it was terribly uncomfortable. But let's face it, it's €53, and I'd say I'll be getting what I paid for. If I had more money I would definitely fly, but the reality is that I don't, so I will be bussing it, and I will let you know how it goes.

(Oh, and before you say I could get the train - it's more expensive than the bus, and cheap is the name of the game).