Cool Britannia are the biggest and by far the coolest souvenir stores in London and the UK. They have the largest and best range of British souvenirs, novelty goods and fashion so that you can do all of your gift shopping for loved ones in one great location. Their flagship store is on the world famous Piccadilly Circus, steps away from Eros! Check out the official website for a wide variety of souvenirs in store and for ordering online, as well as ticket offers, tours, sports, and gifts. Store Information
(Piccadilly Store) 225 – 229 Piccadilly, London W1J 9HR Phone: 0207 839 7200 Store Hours: 9am to Midnight 7 Days a Week
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If you don;t do this important step, you may be in trouble once you get to the airport or your destination. Travel documents are just as essential as money for a trip. Read this carefully and prepare accordingly. Organizing Travel Documents As the time grow near for your exciting trip, there are a few things to check and to gather together to be prepared. The first thing you should do is make copies of all of the following items (I would suggest upwards of 5 copies each): • Itineraries • Passports and Licenses • Travel and Flight Documents • Hotel Arrangements and Confirmations • Packing Checklist After you make copies of each of these items, there are certain things you should do with them. First, leave a copy with a family member or friend who is close to you. That way they know where you will be, and how they can contact you if there is an emergency. Next, you will want to keep a copy of each with you on the trip. I would suggest maybe get a small accordion folder and separate the documents into groups. Along with these documents in the folder, keep your tickets, London Pass or sightseeing materials, copies of your driver’s license and passport. This folder should remain with you throughout the trip. Keep it in your day pack to carry around with you whilst in London. That way if you need a reference to where you should be, you will have it with you. Also. if you get into a situation where you need an ID, you will have many references. Also, by keeping it in your day pack, you will also be safe should you have to check your bag at the airport and you need your documents. Also, keep the rest of your copies in your actual carry-on luggage. After you make copies of each of these items, there are certain things you should do with them. First, leave a copy with a family member or friend who is close to you. That way they know where you will be, and how they can contact you if there is an emergency. Next, you will want to keep a copy of each with you on the trip. I would suggest maybe get a small accordion folder and separate the documents into groups. Along with these documents in the folder, keep your tickets, London Pass or sightseeing materials, copies of your driver’s license and passport. This folder should remain with you throughout the trip. Keep it in your day pack to carry around with you whilst in London. That way if you need a reference to where you should be, you will have it with you. Also. if you get into a situation where you need an ID, you will have many references. Also, by keeping it in your day pack, you will also be safe should you have to check your bag at the airport and you need your documents. Also, keep the rest of your copies in your actual carry-on luggage. They also make such a thing as a travel documents wallet. It has spaces for credit cards, licenses and IDs. It has storage for larger travel documents and a passport. Try looking on Amazon.com or some other site or store that sells purses, wallets, or travel gear. This may seem to some as needless waste of paper and time. But it could mean the difference between a great and smooth trip, or a bag and rocky transition trip. There of course many other options, but these are the few that make the most sense to me. For Rick Steves' tips, check out his website below.
When it comes to sightseeing, how you get to your sight is the biggest decision. Other than the hotel, this is the biggest decision to make when planning out your sightseeing adventures. I hope this part of my book helps when you are planning your trip. Transportation London is known for the big red double-decker buses. But, it is not as some people believe, the only way to get around London. London has probably the best known subway system in Europe. It is called the “Tube”, although you won't see signs for the Tube, you will see the word "Underground. It is probably the fastest way to get around London. You just have to make sure you get on the right train on the right line. Another way to navigate around London is the public bus system. With either a paper ticket or bus pass, you can hop on and hop off when you want. Believe it or not one of the cheapest ways to get around is in a taxi. The big black taxis are highly regulated by the government and the fares are reasonable. The drivers of the taxis are highly trained in the knowledge of London. You can strike up a heavy conversation with a cab driver. Tell them about your tour schedule and just maybe they can give you some helpful tour secrets on London. Of course, the cheapest way to navigate London is…walking. If you plan your itinerary smartly as explained earlier, you can easily walk from one destination to another. Biking is also very popular. There are several bike rental spots around London. Do your research and find one with good rates. There is also one way to get around that no one thinks about. You can take a ride on a river boat. There are several piers along the Thames. You could take a river tour from Westminster pier all the way down to Greenwich and back, or hop off as you wish. The one thing you do not want to do is to rent a car for London. You will pay very high prices and then you will have the absolute nightmare of finding somewhere to park. Most places do not have tourist parking spaces or garages. Only rent a car if you are leaving London for a side trip to Bath or Cornwall or some other part of the country. London is just entirely too congested to have need for a car. Now let’s talk about transportation payments. One of the most commonly used methods of payment for London transportation is called an “Oyster Card”. It is a blue card that can be used for the Tube, buses, Railways, and most other methods of transport. The only thing it can’t be used for is taxis. It is a prepaid card that you use instead of a ticket. You can load it up online or at a tube station. When your credit runs out, just top it up. For info on the Oyster Card check out the website by clicking on the link at the bottom. If you don’t want to get an Oyster card you can still go for the classic old paper ticket. You can pick them up at a ticket booth in a Tube station or other ticket office for other forms of transport. Earlier I talked about the London Pass. One benefit of this is you can opt for the London Pass with Travelcard. It gives you full access the Tube, buses, rail, River Boats, and other methods of transport (excluding taxis) throughout London in the time window you select. It is a bit more expensive to get the London Pass with Travelcard, but it is well worth it when you see how much you save on transport fees. I hope this is good information. If you want more info on London Transport, the Oyster Card, or Rick Steves tips, click the links below! Cheers!
You can do all the planning in the world on how to get to England. By that, I mean all of your plane arrangements, but the one thing people don't even consider is how to get into London once they arrive at Heathrow Airport. After all Heathrow is 15 miles outside of central London. That is where it can get expensive fast. If you look at the official Heathrow Airport website, they have a special section all about getting into London from the airport. I will now discuss the different options that they describe: 1. National Express - This is the option I shall be going for when I go to London. It is a motor coach service that takes you from Heathrow to the Victoria Coach Station in London. It is just a 1/4 of a mile south of Buckingham Palace. The reason I shall be going for this is because the hotel I will be going to is just a short five minute walk from the coach station. The ride is anywhere from 40-80 minutes, and the tickets are mostly under £10. They stop at different locations at each of Heathrow's five terminals. For more info check out the website via the link at the bottom. 2. Heathrow Express - This is the fastest option to get from Heathrow to London. It is a high speed train that runs every 15 minutes, that takes you to Paddington Station in the north west part of central London. Tickets are available online, at the station or on the train. The standard-class single fare is £26 on board or £21 in advance. Returns are £39 on board or £34 in advance. It is the perfect option if you want to get there fast and don't mind spending a little extra money to do it. 3. London Underground - London Underground's Piccadilly Line provides the most cost-effective rail route between Heathrow Airport and the capital. Journey time by Tube is under an hour and you shouldn't have to wait longer than ten minutes for a train, even off-peak. Heathrow has three London Underground stations – one for Terminals 1, 2 and 3, one each at Terminal 4 and Terminal 5. Underground tickets are available at all stations. The single fare to central London (Zone 1) is £5.70. A one-day Travelcard, giving unlimited travel in Zones 1 - 6, costs £17 (Anytime) or £8.90 (off-peak). For the time tables, check out the website at the bottom. 4. Taxi - This is by far the most expensive method of transport into London. It is also the most private. London taxis are available outside each terminal. The cost to central London is £45 – £70 and the journey time is approximately one hour. If you want more privacy on your journey and can afford it, the taxi is you method. All of these methods are great ideas. But some may seem better than others. The bottom line is worry less about how long it takes you to get into London, and more about how much money it takes you. For example if you hotel is in Westminster, if you take the Heathrow Express, which drops you off at Paddington station. You are going to have to spend more money to take a taxi or the tube to your hotel. That is why, for me, I shall take the National Express coach, because my hotel is only a short two minute walk from the Victoria Coach station where it drops you off. Save time, save money, do your research about where you specifically have to go once your in London. A good well thought out method of getting to you London destination will pay off in the end. Cheers!
Hi readers, here is the next section from my book. This section is titled "Tickets and Passes". This is the smallest section of my book. It all dials down to one thing...save money! Enjoy...
Tickets and Passes London is site crazy. Buying dozens of tickets can get stressful and expensive very quickly. Luckily most “government funded” museums are free (British Museum, National Gallery, etc.), but a lot of places are not. I make a chart of the sites I want to see and I divide them between which are free and which require tickets. That shows what tickets I have to buy. I also divide them into subsections based on location in the city. What it all comes down to it, save money when you can. That way what money you save can be used for dinner splurges or for all those souvenirs you will bring home. I have found one sightseeing pass in particular to be the best idea. It is called the “London Pass”. It gains you access to over sixty London attractions and gives special discounts and offers on sites that are already free. You also have the option to get a London Pass with Travelcard. With this it gives you free use of the London Underground Tube system and bus system. Unfortunately, as you can imagine, not all of the sites you might want to see are not included. For me I get into the sites I want to see and only have to end up buying maybe one or two tickets separately. For example, the London Eye is owned by British Airways and requires a ticket and St. Paul’s Cathedral requires a ticket. It is well worth the money. For £108 for a six day pass and Travelcard, you get over £500 worth of sites. I hope this inspires your trip planning. If I were you I would really consider opting to buy the London Pass. Instead of dozens of separate fees and paper tickets, you get one fee and one card. Less stress on your mind and your wallet. For more info on the London Pass, click on the photo below to be linked to the Official Website. Hi readers, here is part two of my "Planning a Smart Itinerary" Chapter. This part is basically just my own personal itinerary that I will use when I go to London. I have spent four months working on an itinerary. Learning the routes, streets and memorizing the streets of London. After about 10 revisions, this is the final product, and I believe the best itinerary for myself to follow. This includes sites important to me. This is in no way to tempt others to follow. Others may want to visit other sites. I am just giving you a backbone example of how smart planning can pay off! So here you have it. The final part of the first chapter of my London Travel Tips book...
I will now give you an example of a smart itinerary. This is my personal itinerary. I shall list the sites and the part of London it involves, and give prices and whether they are included on the London Pass (which I shall discuss in a later section). The sites are listed in order of how they will be visited. My itinerary begins on a Monday and ends on a Sunday. Day 1- Monday (Westminster): · Westminster Abbey- entrance fee is needed, unless buying a London Pass, in which case it is free admittance. · The Queen’s Gallery @ Buckingham Palace- entrance fee is needed, unless buying a London Pass, in which case it is free admittance. · The Mall · Trafalgar Square and The National Gallery- National Gallery is free admittance. · Covent Garden- It being a Monday means it is antique day at the market. Check website for schedule of events. · Horse Guards Parade- No Admittance. Photo or video opportunities only. Changing of the Guard at 11:00 am. · Downing Street- No Admittance. Photo or video opportunities only. Day 2- Tuesday (Southbank/ The City): · Tower of London- entrance fee is needed, unless buying a London Pass, in which case it is free admittance · Tower Bridge Exhibition- entrance fee is needed, unless buying a London Pass, in which case it is free admittance. · Tate Modern Gallery- Free attraction. · St. Paul’s Cathedral- Ticket required. Not included on the London Pass. · Borough Market- Food market. Free admittance. Day 3- Wednesday (Bloomsbury/ Westminster): · King’s Cross Station- My purpose of checking out this premier London station is my being a Harry Potter fan. There is the Harry Potter Shop @ Platform 9 ¾. As well as a trolley disappearing into the wall at the platform. · British Museum and Library- Free London Attraction. I would suggest if planning this as a spot on your itinerary, prepare to spend at the least 3-4 hours at this museum. · Churchill War Rooms and Museum- entrance fee is needed, unless buying a London Pass, in which case it is free admittance. · Houses of Parliament- Free entry when Parliament is in session. Enter through the Cromwell Green Visitors entrance. Upon entering you will be asked if you want to visit the Lords or Commons. I would suggest the Lords, due to long lines to see the commons (plus once you finish over at the Lords you can wander over to the Commons). Expect long lines and long wait once inside. It is worse on Wednesdays when the Prime Minster is there for questions. The best time to go would be in the afternoon. · Thames River Cruise @ Westminster Pier- Ticket are required, unless you have a London Pass. The London Pass gives the bearer benefit of a 1 day hop on and off. I shall be taking a cruise from Westminster Pier down to Tower Bridge and back. A one way trip is around 30 minutes, roundtrip about an hour. If you want a longer trip, you can stay on all the way down to Greenwich. Day 4- Thursday (Hampton Court/ Kensington/ Westminster): · Hampton Court Palace- Ticket is required, unless you have a London Pass which then it is free. For transport you must take a train. It takes around 30-35 minutes by train from London. · Harrods Department Store- Largest department store in Europe in the midst of Kensington in West London. · London Eye- Ticket required. Tickets are sold through British Airways. Day 5 – Friday (Kensington): · Kensington Palace and Gardens- entrance fee is needed, unless buying a London Pass, in which case it is free admittance. · Natural History Museum- Free attraction. Plan to spend a good 2-3 hours. · Victoria and Albert Museum- Free Attraction. Directly across from the Natural History Museum. Again, plan to spend a good 2 hours. Day 6- Saturday (Windsor/ Piccadilly): · Windsor Castle- entrance fee is needed, unless buying a London Pass, in which case it is free admittance. Transport by train from London takes around 35-45 minutes. · St. James’ Palace- No Admittance. Photo and Video opportunities only. · Shopping in Piccadilly- (Fortnum and Masons, Waterstones, Lillywhites, Cool Britannia). · Piccadilly Circus- The famous square is a tourist flocking destination. Day 7- Sunday (Westminster/ Airport): · Changing of the Guard @ Buckingham Palace- 11:00am-12:30pm every day. Best to arrive by 10:30am for a good viewing spot by the gate at the Palace. · Head to the airport for home…. This of course is my personal pleasure list for London. I of course want to see more but like I said, you can’t possibly fit everything you want into one trip. If you don’t get to everything on your London Travel dreams list, don’t worry. Always assume that you will return. Like I say, once you visit London it will be your next mission in life to return. For Rick’s planning tips click on the link below. I hope you enjoyed my personal itinerary for London. I shall start chapter 2 soon.... Hi Readers, I am starting with Chapter 1 of my book. This chapter is called "Planning a Smart Itinerary". It is too big of a chapter to put into one post so I will put the first two paragraphs in this post. Enjoy....
Plan a “Smart” itinerary You know you want to see everything London has to offer, but you have to be smart. Unless you live there, it will be impossible to see it in only a few days…probably not even 5 years. Yes, it is that big! It is Europe’s biggest city after all. Start out by figuring out economically how long you can stay in London. I have given myself seven days. Obviously I won’t see much, but I can at least get some of the classic sites into that time window. But be aware…trying to cram too much into an itinerary will not work. Jot down the sites you most want to see. Pull out a map of the city, see what sites are in close proximity to each other. See how many sites you can see in one day. Devote each day to different parts of the city. For example, spend one day roaming through Westminster. In Westminster you have Buck Palace, Parliament, Piccadilly, etc. Another day could be for Southwark and the “City”. That part includes the Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and Tate Modern Gallery. Basically, go where you want, but plan it out. Don’t go from one end of the city to another in one day. Spread it out and plan wisely. Also, take into consideration when planning…what is free and what is not? Now that you have read this part, I hope it gives you enough basic knowledge to write your own itinerary. In the next post I will give you the rest of the chapter which includes my own itinerary. For now here is a link to Rick Steves' travel website, you can read his thoughts too, for planning a smart itinerary. Part 2 of this chapter coming next... |
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