Planning a trip across the pond, tips/suggestions/whatever

[Timan Veteran]

So I'm getting serious about planning a trip across the pond, to Great Britain. This will be my first trip aboard, and going to use this time to explore the usual tourist things, see the sights, and meet up with the god awful :rofl: Neowin staff & members if they're still willing. So need some input...

Current dates planned, May 6-13~ not looking to spend too much, so if something can be done on the cheap side, the better.

1. Flying from Norfolk, VA to London, I'm sure I'll have to stop somewhere else along the way, but whats a good time to buy a ticket. Currently running about 950$. Also whats a good airline.
   
2. Now, I would like to see more than just London. Only reason I'm specifying this place, its seems to be the easiest one to plan for. So what are some good places to check out? Is it worth it to take a 2-3 more days and goto Ireland/Scotland?
   
3. Any recommendations on reasonably priced hotel? Don't plan on staying in a hostel or bed and breakfast. There are so many to choose from, so many with low and high ratings, getting a bit lost at what to pick.
   
4. Transportation, everyone is telling me stay away from taxis. So is it worth it to get an Oyster travel card?
   
5. Hows the weather during the time listed above? shorts? short sleeve? umbrella (joke)?
   
6. What are the must see places, museums, football games (if they're even going on at that time), architectural bits, etc?
   
7. Then lastly, what are just some tips in general, I know it'll be a bit on the expensive side, with the dollar being crap. Also what type of charger would I need for my gadgets? Worth getting a pay as you go simcard when I land, or keep my current carrier?
   

Hopefully that wasn't confusing, but any help would really be appreciated. I am really up for anything. Maybe we can get a Neowin meetup setup or something :p who knows.

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

Don't go on The Titanic II :)

[Hum]

Dress warmly.

[Detection]

In London pretty much everything is expensive, people saying to avoid taxis, I would say avoid the underground

If you have a bit if cash then London can be great, but for a cheap holiday it wouldn't be my first choice, there are places like Madame Tussauds wax museum which was pretty cool last time I was there, The London Dungeons I remember being good, was a long time ago though

You can jump on a tour bus for a few ? and see all the main attractions in London though

Always take an Umbrella to the UK :p

Scotland can be a beautiful place to visit, especially the borders imo, never been to Ireland

[jakem1]

Get an Oyster card and add a weekly travelcard for zones 1 and 2 to it. You'll then be able to travel on all buses, trains, trams in central London for the duration of your stay. I think you have to pay a ?5 deposit on the card but you're entitled to a refund when you leave.

It's hard to say what the weather will be like in May - some years it's warm and some it's cool. I would probably expect temperatures in the mid to high teens (centigrade). As Detection said you should always carry an umbrella but make it a small, light one because it doesn't rain that much or that heavily in London and you probably won't need it.

If you do plan to travel outside London then be prepared to spend a lot if you take the train. Train travel in the UK is terribly expensive.

London can be expensive but museums and art galleries are free so you an see a lot as a tourist without spending too much. Some of the top galleries/museums are:

• The National Gallery
  
• The National Portrait Gallery
  
• British Museum
  
• Tate Modern
  

I'd also recommend seeing Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, take a cruise down the Thames, maybe go on the London Eye, Tower Bridge, St James's Park will be lovely in May. There's loads to see and do. To be fair, a week's not a long time to spend in London because there's so much to do. I probably wouldn't try to go anywhere else in such a short time.

London's a great city to walk around because it's flat and it's full of winding streets full of surprises. The 88 bus is a great alternative to a tour bus because it passes through all the best bits of central London for a fraction of the price - of course there's no commentary :). Football is expensive and it can be hard to get tickets to at short notice. I'd buy tickets now if you really want to go.

I hope that helps and hope you have a great trip.

[Tom]

Manchester.

I'm pretty much the only attraction here.

[Redmak Administrators]

Amsterdam

[Timan Veteran]

Amsterdam

Where 2$ gets you some fun with the admins...

[Timan Veteran]

snip

Awesome suggestions,

Now what about outside of london, I'm up for going anywhere.

[Tom]

Good airline - British Airways / Virgin Atlantic.

Tips: Don't buy anything like electronics whilst you're here. They're miles cheaper in the US. Stay away from taxis as they can be expensive, however if you feel the need to go to somewhere directly, search for private hire firms - they're significantly cheaper than the black cabs (which charge by time, not distance).

If you want to get around on the train you can check prices here: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

Places to see: There's a pretty good science and technology museum in Manchester. Few other ideas of what to do there here: http://www.tripadvis...er_England.html

[The Evil Overlord]

REMEMBER!!! We drive RIGHT hand drive cars, mostly manual transmission, on the LEFT side of the road :p

[Hum]

Manchester.

I'm pretty much the only attraction here.

LOL

[Detection]

You'll need a 230v > 110v converter thing with a plug like these for this socket for your adapters / chargers etc that you bring with you

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

but whats a good time to buy a ticket.

I'd say it's as early as possible.

Is it worth it to take a 2-3 more days and goto Ireland/Scotland?

Of course!

Any recommendations on reasonably priced hotel? Don't plan on staying in a hostel or bed and breakfast. There are so many to choose from, so many with low and high ratings, getting a bit lost at what to pick.

imho once I settle on the price bracket, the most important criteria when choosing a hotel is how "fresh" it is, in other words, how recently it's been built/renovated. It's two-three years max for me because there are so many to choose from :)

Then lastly, what are just some tips in general, I know it'll be a bit on the expensive side, with the dollar being crap.

You should buy the pounds locally before leaving, from the bank you are dealing with to avoid the fees. And if you pay with your USD only visa/mastercard, expect to see a 5% surcharge for each transaction. Another option is to withdraw cash from plastic once or twice when you are London (but it's riskier coz what if it doesn't work?). Also, make sure you have international blocking deactivated on your visa/mastercard. Oh and here's one more thing: if you have a 6-pin password on your visa, convert it to 4-pin.

Worth getting a pay as you go simcard when I land, or keep my current carrier?

Get a local one. Unless you have a special international roaming plan, the charges will be enormous (about a dollar per minute lol, and if you call back to the U.S or if you receive a call from home - $5).

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

Look @ Delta for transatlantic flights.

[HSoft]

Awesome suggestions,

Now what about outside of london, I'm up for going anywhere.

I'd recommend taking a day trip to France. You can either get the train from London or I preferred doing the ferry (train to dover then hop on ferry to calais. Ferry companies then supply a bus to take you into downtown calais). Lots to do there if you've never been. Used to live in Kent so done a day trip to France once a month (was cheaper prices than the UK, not sure if still is however).

Other suggestions within the UK would be day trips to Oxford, Canterbury and Reading. All within easy train distances from London.

[Haggis Veteran]

snip

If you do come up to Scotland wear warm clothes

ur still looking at between 10 to 15 degrees C in May if ur lucky, we have had ice and snow in May lol

[Timan Veteran]

If you do come up to Scotland wear warm clothes

ur still looking at between 10 to 15 degrees C in May if ur lucky, we have had ice and snow in May lol

Recommend me some places in Scotland? Hotels, Cities, Attractions...

[FiB3R]

The Science Museum is pretty cool, as is the The Sea Life London Aquarium. There's an arcade next to the aquarium too, (Namco Station), if that floats your boat.

Most portable gadgets don't need a converter/transformer, just an adaptor will do, so that it will fit our 3 pin sockets.

Something like this should see you right... http://r.ebay.com/XPXsZE

Obviously check your devices first

One of these wouldn't hurt either, if you've got lots of stuff to charge... http://r.ebay.com/UW32Pa

[Haggis Veteran]

Recommend me some places in Scotland? Hotels, Cities, Attractions...

Edinburgh: Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh Dungeons, loads of ghost walks, loads of history

Glasgow: loads of shops, i dont know much about the history of glasgow

Depends what you want from a hotel if its just a place to sleep you cant beat a Travel Lodge or Holiday Inn

most of them are between ?20 - ?50 a night depending where they are (all can be booked online)

You also have places closer to me in Stirling where you have Stirling Castle, the battle of bannockburn (where the scots humped the english ;) ) lmao

what sorta stuff u interested in seeing?

[HSoft]

Recommend me some places in Scotland? Hotels, Cities, Attractions...

Everybody goes to Edinburgh and visits Edinburgh castle, the cattlemart, royal mile etc. Lots of hotels very near Princess street to stay in (main street in Edinburgh and right next to the train station).

For most of the good places in Scotland to visit, you really need to hire a car and drive around yourself, places like Glen Coe, Spittal of Glenshee, Loch Ness etc.

If you're into golf then obviously St Andrews (even though personally I don't really like that place, smells of dead fish and seaweed).

Most anywhere you go you can easily just pull up to a B&B and get a fairly cheap nights rest. They're scattered everywhere.

[FiB3R]

Kings of Leon are playing at the O2 Arena on the 12th

My sex is on fiiiiirrrrrrrrre :punk:

[Timan Veteran]

Yea, Edinburgh is looking like to be a place to stop by for a day or two. Seems to have everything joe the tourist would like to see.

[Tom]

Yea, Edinburgh is looking like to be a place to stop by for a day or two. Seems to have everything joe the tourist would like to see.

I thought your name was Tim.

[jerzdawg]

Only thing I can help you with is the cell coverage... most likely you have Verizon or ATT. I can tell you that Verizon is a joke for international use, I pay for my dads cell phone and when he was in Germany he used 25 megs of data and I think it cost me $100 (and that was after I called Verizon to argue) the minutes were also bad $1 a minute or more. So def look into getting one local.