Had a very enjoyable weekend in London with my wife and grandson , got to see plenty , Tower of London was most enjoyable , and HMS Belfast , we took advantage of the 2-4-1 offers as advertised by someone here . For lunch we went to the Lord Moon on the Mall , pleasant lunch for 3 of us only 19 pounds including drinks not bad at all for central London. The all day tube ticket for £5.10p for an adult was also a snip and the youngster traveled free all day to. After the sight-seeing we made our way to Covent Garden to see the street entertainers, all in all a brill weekend.
P.S we stayed at the Kings Cross Travelodge handy for Euston station and the tube , nice and clean large family room , £75 a night for the room but I have just booked 2 nights at the Covent Garden Travelodge in May for just £49 a night , not bad eh ...Paddy

Paddy - At Easter I've booked following Travelodges - 2 rooms for one night at Kings Cross Royal Scot at £26 (for show & sights) followed by one night in Oxford Peartree at £15 followed by one night on the M4 in Wiltshire (for Longleat) for £15. Total for 3 nights / 6 rooms (5 people) = £112. (and Longleat entrance normally £88 i've booked via Tesco Clubcard!

Paddy - watch out at the Covent Garden Travelodge there's two seperate entrances (not sure if there aren't two seperate buildings to be honest). We stayed there in February and stumbled in at 4 in the morning (Been to the Superbowl Superbash Party!) only to find when we got into the lift that someone had stolen the top 9 floors. Had to exit the building, turn a corner and cross the road to the other entrance to find a lift to the 9th floor


Glad your trip went down well

What kind of state were you in Boothers ?... Don't worry i've been worse for wear far too many times!

There are two seperate buildings. They opened a new Travelodge around the corner and originally called it Travelodge High Holborn but for whatever reason they now call the two buildings Travelodge Covent Garden. Everyone checks in at Covent Garden but some people are given rooms in the newer hotel around the corner.

Hello everyone first time poster here!

Me and my girlfriend are planning on travelling to London from Glasgow, for the first time on our own, to see my favourite band Less Than Jake, as they are playing all of their albums over 6 days.

The venue for these gigs will be the London Astoria.

So i was wondering where would be the best, closest and cheapest place to stay. And also what would be the best way to travel to the Astoria over the 6 days?

Cheers

The Astoria is right by Tottenham Court Road Tube so if you go on http://www.laterooms.com you can do a search by tube station to find nearby accom.

Try http://www.travelodge.co.uk and see if they have any £26 Saver Rooms as they are the best value (if there's any for your dates), Travelodge Covent Garden is a short walk from Astoria.

Also in easy walking distance is Russell Square so any of the hotels in that area would be fine. The cheapest in this area are Astors Mueum Inn (a backpackers hostel) or The County (cheap rooms but none en-suite), mid priced have a look at http://www.imperialhotels.co.uk as all of their hotels are in this neighbourhod.

If you don't mind being a bit further out then Kings Cross area is good for budget hotels, it's about 30 mins walk from Astoria or a short tube/taxi ride away. A couple i like around there are http://www.comfortinnkingscross.co.uk they have good rates if you pre pay or http://www.crestfieldhotel.com which is small, friendly and has the bonus of a 24 hour bar!

Thanks very much mate, very helpful

Although one slight problem I've just noticed that the gigs will take place at "Astoria 2" and not the normal "Astoria"

Would this effect anything?

Cheers

Hi

Well i've not been to Astoria 2 but i know it's close to The Astoria. Think it's pretty much the same, they do gigs and club nights but it's a much smaller venue.

Hi Everyone,

I hope you can help. We're flying to London for a wedding reception tommorow and staying at the Travel Lodge Liverpool Street. We would like to do something on Sunday with our nearly five year old as the last time we were in London with him he was only 2 and can't remember it.

We've thought about something like the London Dungeon, as he is pretty nuts and doesn't scare easily. He loves everything gory and bloody lol. But I'm wondering if that will be too much even for him.

Obviously I don't want to have to get up TOO early on Sunday as will probably be a bit fragile, but the itinerary we have to stick to, to get home is as follows;

6.00pm be back at hotel to collect bags
6.30pm Stansted Express from Liverpool Street
7.15 - 7.30pm Check in at Stansted (check in closes 8.30pm) I've left an hour for train delays etc.

So, do you think we should do the dungeons? Other options are, London Eye, then a quick jump on the tube to see Buck Palace or Bus Tour. I think he would be too bored with the bus tour as he is adhd and completely hyper, but he has said he would like to "see where the Queen of England lives". lol.

Just need some help with what we can do, as although i'm quite confident on getting on and off underground etc, I have no idea about how long it takes to get anywhere.

Thanks in advance.

Catherine x

hi - quite difficult to say whether he'd like it or not - minumum age is 5, so tells you something. If the weathers nice, you might consider a boat trip - if you get to St Pauls, you can have a look around there, and then cross the millenium bridge to the south bank where The Globe Theatre and tate modern are, and pick up a boat there. The tower of London is also more interesting than you would think for kids...

kev

And remember - the clocks go on an hour this Sunday....so you will have less time than you think

hope you still have a good day

Thanks very much for your replies. We had a lovely weekend.

We ended up taking him to the London dungeons after all, he was terrified but in a loving it kind of way, lol. I really wished I'd booked fast track passes though as it took us almost 1 1/2 hours to get in. Unfortunately I didn't know what time we'd arrive and your fast track is only a 1 1/2 hour slot.

When we came out we grabbed something to eat and caught the tube to Waterloo and walked round to the London Eye, again the queues were huge but we didn't have time to wait, so maybe next time we'll have a flight on that.

Took a quick walk over Westminster Bridge to let him see Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, then jumped the tube to Green Park. Walked down through St James Park to let him see "where the Queen of England lives" and then back to Liverpool St for 6pm exactly to pick up our suitcase and head back to Stansted.

I tell you what though, my feet were killing me!!!!!!

Catherine xxx

Ok, to put it bluntly, my sister has Level 4 cancer.........................

She asked me last month if I fancied a trip to New York, of course I agreed, but to get travel insurance it will cost her 20.000 pounds.....
Second best is London.....................then if she needs medical attention, she will be covered................

Now I want to make these couple of days in London the best that she could possibly ever imagine.....................so has anyone got inspiration for me please???

We will definately see a show.......................thats not a problem, but we want reccommendations for hotels, restaurants, special events or exhibitions.

We haven't set a date yet, but it will probably need to be sooner rather than later

Thanks in anticipation

We went to London a cuople of years ago and we bought the London Pass which gave us free entry to a lot of what we wanted to see. It included the Tower, a boat trip, St Paul's, various of the royal buildings, the Globe Theatre, all our travel and special offers for meals, coffees etc. We really enjoyed the wine tasting tour at Vinopolis.

Has she exhausted the insurance search yet? Have a look here and if there is no relevant info then try posting a query there as I'm sure that members have been able to get insurance in the past.

Sorry to hear about your sister.

I have merged your post with our London topic and you may find some ideas in earlier posts.

Re insurance. My friend had terminal cancer and wanted to spend the summer in Zante. She got some ridiculous quotes, but finally got cover for 5 months in Zante with Citibond for £68 (sixty eight pounds). However it may be far more expensive to go to the US with the high cost of medical bills there.

luci

Sad news vvv but what a great idea, taking her on a London break.

I don't know if you like traditional style or modern hotels but some of the best i've visited are...
Traditional -
The Montague On The Gardens
The Chesterfield Mayfair
Modern Style -
The Sanderson
The Soho Hotel

As for restaurants, have a look at capriceholdings.co.uk some of London's finest on there including The Ivy and J Sheekey. The Wolseley is also very nice and if she was a fan of Footballers Wives you could visit The Oxo Tower Restaurant (which often featured in the show).

Afternoon Tea at The Ritz is a really nice experience, anyone i've been there with loves it. The Sanderson hotel, mentioned earlier, has a couple of gorgeous/trendy bars, The Long Bar and The Purple Lounge. The Purple Lounge is supposed to be hotel guests and vips only but they'll often let you in if you ask at reception and i'm sure they would given the circumstances.

A nice treat on The London Eye is booking a private pod, you can even have a waiter serving you champagne and strawberries.

Have a great trip.

can i please pick your brains here.

myself and hubby have tickets to the ozzy concert at wembley on the 19th june. we have decided to make it a couple of days away for just us and are travelling down to london on the 18 and coming back on the 20. what i would like to know is your recommeondations for which area of london to stay in to make it easier to get to the attractions and to wembley also.

we were thinking about doing london zoo on the tuesday and perhaps a few places like the tower or the palace etc on the other days.

would it be worth us getting an oyster card or just daily rail passes.

altho i lived in london years ago i haven't been down there for years so can't remember a lot about it and getting around.

thanks in advance

I often stay around Bloomsbury/ Russell Square and i'd say that's a pretty good location. It's a nice neighbourhood for walking around and you've got the British Museum, British Library, Oxford St, West End, Coven Garden, etc all in walking distance.

For Wembley you need the Metropolitan or Jubilee line, one stop from Russell Sq is Kings Cross where you can change for the Metropolitan or you could walk up to Kings Cross or Euston Sq and pick it up there.

http://www.imperialhotels.co.uk have several hotels in this area and at the moment have a free 3 course meal for your 1st night if you book for 2 (details on the site, you have to enter a code when you book). If you really want to treat yourself have a look at The Montague On The Gardens, expensive but well worth it. Or if you're on a budget have a look at hotels around Kings Cross, it used to have a bit of a reputation but has been cleaned up alot over recent years.

I think Oyster Cards only benefit you if you're making several journeys, for 2 days you're better just picking up a day travelcard.