Are you adding on any days before or after? It seems a crime to cross the Atlantic and miss London, especially as your plane may land/depart from there. Granted, I'm biased as I was born there and consider it the centre of the known universe, but still. London.
We're leaving the night before so we can get to Heathrow early morning. We'll be able to spend a bit of time in London before the boat leaves. I'd really like to be able to see a bit of the city, as it's been at the top of my Top Ten Travel Destinations list since forever ago.
So you're getting into Heathrow in the morning, want to travel into central London and still need to be in Southampton by 5? Eek! That's one humungous day! If you've already done your research and know how you're getting around, you won't need the following, but just in case...
It can be quite a trip just getting from Heathrow into London. It's not the cheapest option, but I'd strongly recommend the Heathrow Express, as it's the fastest. Taxis aren't particularly quick (no road traffic is in London) and are eye-bleedingly expensive.The Tube is the cheapest option, and of course is a tourist attraction in its own right, hard as that is to imagine to natives, but it can be horrendously slow. I've taken two hours on occasion to get into Central London (although it should usually be faster than that).
Once in central London, bear in mind that what isn't obvious from the map and the Tube map is how slow it is to get anywhere. Walking is slow on crowded streets like Oxford St and anyway most places are too far apart to walk. Taxis are slow and you can literally walk faster than the buses. The Tube's mostly the fastest way to get around, and while it's easy to use (although I'd study the map first, especially if you're trying to deal with it after a transatlantic flight) it can be slow, especially in the rush hour. The difficulty is that you can never tell how long it's going to take - when I was living in London I used to leave an hour and a half early for every appointment, and I would either turn up for it ridiculously early or late. The other option, if you want to do the standard sights, is one of the open-topped tourist buses that go in a circuit all day and you can jump on and off at whichever places you want to see. (They're faster than the usual buses as they don't have so many stops.) If want you want to see is more esoteric, I'd recommend that with a restricted time you prioritise only the top one or two things you're most interested in, otherwise you're likely to spend most of your time in transit. And leave yourself heaps of time to make connections - I can't emphasise enough how slooooow it can be. You don't want the chocolate fountain to leave without you.
This is wonderful advice and I can't thank you enough for it. For all of my enthusiasm about London (and Europe in general), I admit that I've never been there and that my intellect for transatlantic travel is limited. I appreciated the insider's insight. We'll make something work!
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Date: 2008-01-14 01:17 am (UTC)Cork is awesome -- make sure you shit Temple Bar in Dublin if you can
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Date: 2008-01-14 01:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-14 01:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-14 02:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-14 02:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-14 03:36 am (UTC)It can be quite a trip just getting from Heathrow into London. It's not the cheapest option, but I'd strongly recommend the Heathrow Express, as it's the fastest. Taxis aren't particularly quick (no road traffic is in London) and are eye-bleedingly expensive.The Tube is the cheapest option, and of course is a tourist attraction in its own right, hard as that is to imagine to natives, but it can be horrendously slow. I've taken two hours on occasion to get into Central London (although it should usually be faster than that).
Once in central London, bear in mind that what isn't obvious from the map and the Tube map is how slow it is to get anywhere. Walking is slow on crowded streets like Oxford St and anyway most places are too far apart to walk. Taxis are slow and you can literally walk faster than the buses. The Tube's mostly the fastest way to get around, and while it's easy to use (although I'd study the map first, especially if you're trying to deal with it after a transatlantic flight) it can be slow, especially in the rush hour. The difficulty is that you can never tell how long it's going to take - when I was living in London I used to leave an hour and a half early for every appointment, and I would either turn up for it ridiculously early or late. The other option, if you want to do the standard sights, is one of the open-topped tourist buses that go in a circuit all day and you can jump on and off at whichever places you want to see. (They're faster than the usual buses as they don't have so many stops.) If want you want to see is more esoteric, I'd recommend that with a restricted time you prioritise only the top one or two things you're most interested in, otherwise you're likely to spend most of your time in transit. And leave yourself heaps of time to make connections - I can't emphasise enough how slooooow it can be. You don't want the chocolate fountain to leave without you.
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Date: 2008-01-14 01:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 12:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-14 03:07 am (UTC)I am so so so so so happy as well!
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Date: 2008-01-14 03:13 am (UTC)