Getting around, London

Favorite thing: Unlike our other European friends, in the UK and Ireland we drive on the left, so be careful when in London! The roads are so busy you'll have to be careful when driving on them or when crossing them.
Of course if you're from Ireland or Australia or another left-hand country you'll have no problem :D

Favorite thing: The best way to get to London if you have little time and little money, is to fly with RyanAir and use the Standstad Express. For very little money you fly to London Standsted and from there it is 45 minutes to the city centre with the train connection Standsted Express. 45 Minutes in which you can get a perfect impression of the English countryside.

Favorite thing: Generally I'd have to say 'watch out' if you are a pedestrian walking around London - especially if you are not used to places/cities with such congested traffic. In London you can often hear a car horn, this is usually when a pedestrian can't wait for a walk light or is crossing in the middle of the road - in London, on the road, transportation waits for no-one, so just be sure you look both ways and watch your step.

Favorite thing: The Millenium Bridge as it is properly called, is an impressive piece of modern engineering, although less spectacular than it's namesake - the Millenium Bridge across the Tyne in Newcastle.

Heaps of derision were initially poured on it as when it first opened the number of people traversing it, caused it to ossilate up and down - thus making it unsafe, if rather fun.

With the problems fixed it has created a very useful pedestrian link between Tate Modern and St Paul's Cathedral, opening a new an pleasing vista of Wren's Masterpiece.

Favorite thing: I only recently found out that a travel card is flogged to tourists that cannot be bought in London.

it is actually a little more expensive than a normal one (by about one pound 50p a day), but does entitle you to one-third off the use of the riverbus and 20% off these attractions :

London Dungeon
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
London Zoo
London Aquarium
St. Paul's Cathedral
Tower Bridge Experience
Cabinet War Rooms
Design Museum
Cutty Sark
Vinopolis
London's Transport Museum
Pollock's Toy Museum
Jewel Tower
Dulwich Picture Gallery
Florence Nightingale Museum
Wellington Arch
BFI London Imax Cinema
Dali Universe
Britain at War Experience
Apsley House
Golden Hinde
London Wetland Centre
Lord's Cricket Tours
Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum
Leeds Castle

For more info see : www.ticket-on-line.com

You would therefore just about re-coup the difference if you intended to visit just one of these places, but if your sightseeing list is more mainstream then just get a travelcard when your here (Five pounds 10p a day for all zones after 9.30 am)

Favorite thing: The London pass give you entry to a range of places. if you think of London as a kind of giant theme park then £23 for a day is quite reasonable.

A few tricks when you have bought the card

1) Pick a few places that are fairly close together to be able to use the card several times in the day

2) Don't waste time using the card on places that are free or cheap anyway

3) Remember that it often lets you get to the front of the queue

I used one (2002) and basically used it everywhere I could walking from Charing Cross to London Bridge on the South Bank - had a great day.

Highlights on this card include London Zoo, London Aquarium, HMS Belfast, the Globe theatre and the Cutty Sark.

Fondest memory: Always seeing something new - if they put a new kerbstone in where I live it is exciting.

Favorite thing: http://www.theoriginaltour.com/

Fondest memory: I am usually against organized tours, but I have to admit that Angie and I had a ball on this one. We had limited time in London as it was and wanted to utilize it wisely. Our thought process was that we could use the tour as general transportation and then go back to the places that we wanted to revisit. As it turned out, we just liked being chauferred around. There are two different routes, one with a live guide and one with a recording. We didn't have a preference, although the one with the recording seemed to go places that the other one didn't.

Favorite thing: For the first time visitor, the London Pass might actually be a pretty good deal if you find a 1/2 price offer like I did as it gives free entrance to many of the top sights in London (Tower of London, Hampton Court, St. Paul's, Windsor Castle) and avoids the queues at some places although I never found that to be necessary.

I purchased a 6 day pass at 1/2 price for my recent trip to London (unfortunately the offer has expired but I found it on the www.visitlondon.com website) and used it to visit all kinds of places that I wouldn't have seen had I not purchased it.

But to save money at full price you really have to do the math before you purchase, we would not have saved money on my husband's 3 day pass had it not been 1/2 price. It's not as good of a value as the Museum Pass in Paris nor does cutting the queues really add that much benefit.

Fondest memory: www.londonpass.com