London On Business - Take Two
Written: Apr 22 '00 (Updated May 17 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: interesting sights, nice people, no language barrier
Cons: expensive, cold, hard to navigate
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| my$.02's Full Review: London |
I went to London on business last week. I was in the city for 3.5 days. It was my first time to London, and I stole the occasional break between meetings and in the evenings to tour around a little. FYI: before I left for the trip I read “forkids” review entitled “London on Business.” I found the forkids epinion helpful, but in retrospect, I have some different and additional comments that I think others might find helpful.
Travel to and from the airport: On my arrival to London, I splurged on a hired cab/limo to take me from the airport to my hotel (courtesy of my employer). It was expensive – approx. $85 incl. tip for the 15 mile drive. I had plenty of excuses for this splurge: first time to London, first time for international travel in several years, arriving at 6:30am with luggage in tow, etc. etc. And, I must say, stressed and exhausted as I was upon arrival, it was nice to be greeted by someone holding a sign with my name and whisking me off to my hotel. In retrospect however, I might not choose this route again. The traffic is London is pretty horrific. Those 15 miles took close to an hour to traverse, and there is a better way …. About a year ago Britain Rail added a train that runs between Heathrow and Paddington Station in London proper. It’s a lovely train (I thought I’d accidentally boarded into first class), it takes only 15 minutes, and it costs only 12 pounds (equivalent to approx. $19 as of April 2000). This train is especially convenient when returning from London to Heathrow because many airlines allow you to check in and *check your baggage* right there in Paddington Station up to 5 hours in advance of departure. This allowed me to check in early, get my boarding pass and off-load my luggage, squeeze in a couple more hours of touring, and then catch the train to the airport without having to allot extra time for potential traffic snags. Fantastic! Side note: the train was extra convenient for me because my hotel, the Hilton Metropole, happened to sit a mere 4 blocks away from Paddington Station. You may not be so lucky – if your hotel is not nearby, you may either catch the Underground to anywhere else in the city (discussed below) from Paddington Station, or catch a cab.
Travel within the city of London:
Walking: I like to walk around new cities; I find I see more that way. Plus, I feel more comfortable that it will take me longer to get irretrievably lost by foot than by other forms of transportation. I walked a fair amount in London and enjoyed it, but there were three major drawbacks. First, some of the major tourist attractions like the Tower of London (where the Crown Jewels are housed) and the London and Tower Bridges are quite a distance from the main part of London and not really walkable unless you have all day and really great shoes. Second, this city is not laid out in any kind of logical fashion (no numbered streets or grid formations ala NYC) – make sure to get a map. Also, in order to ease traffic at some major intersections, some crazy engineer designed underground pedestrian passageways to cross the streets. Somehow a seemingly innocent four point corner is converted into a labyrinth with no less than 20 possible exits. I felt like a drunk gopher popping up from tunnels onto the surface of every corner except for the one I’d intended (at one point I ended up the sole person under the huge Marble Arch in the center of the traffic – could someone please write “Tourist” on my forehead in neon?) – it took me about 30 minutes to traverse 30 feet. Third, the cars and buses *do not slow down for pedestrians* And *they are coming from the wrong dam direction*. Luckily, some smart-ass Englishman predicted Americans’ difficulty with the driving on the left issue (or perhaps reacted to a few too many flattened tourists??) and wrote in big letters on the pavement of every intersection “LOOK LEFT” or “LOOK RIGHT”. I will admit, as patronizing as this command was, I found it invaluably helpful. A fourth drawback was the freezing weather, but that gets its own category below.
Taxis: As mentioned above, the streets in this city are quite confusing. Taxi drivers must study for two years and then take some sort of exam before becoming licensed (you may catch some drivers-in-training speeding around on motorcycles with clipboards propped in front of them). As a result, the taxi drivers are quite good, but, like most everything in London, fairly pricey. I couldn’t really get anywhere for less than $10 – a two mile/5 minute ride cost me 7 pounds/$12.
Buses: I’m sorry, I didn’t take any except for the tour bus (see discussion below).
The Underground: This is the cheapest way around town and it can be quite convenient. It’s not the fastest subway I’ve ever been on, but you don’t have to worry about traffic jams completely stalling your progress. I hate to admit that I found the system I little bit confusing only because in the stations I visited, they were kind of stingy with the maps and labeling of the trains coming through. As a result, I never felt a hundred percent confident I’d stepped on the correct train. I’m sure this would get easier with just a little more experience, but it wasn’t absolutely self-explanatory for a first time visitor the way some other subway systems I’ve seen are.
Renting A Car: As if the cockamamie layout of this town weren’t bad enough, it is filled with one-way streets and bizarre turn-around/traffic circles, it requires driving on the left-side of the road, and is plagued with traffic. I can’t fathom why anyone would want to rent a car in this town.
Hotel: I stayed in the Hilton Metropole. It was a decent hotel. It had no personality either in the lobby or in the room, it’s clearly trying to attract the business traveler, not the general tourist. It had a nice, but not fancy room, business facilities, and a gym. The phone in my room never worked properly, I asked the front desk for assistance three times. Finally, they reported that they came up and checked it out while I was in a meeting. It still wouldn’t allow me to call out. I asked the front desk “It’s not fixed, did you try calling out on it?” The answer: “No, ma'am.” My response: “Ok. Well, hmmmm, my complaint wasn’t so much with its appearance sitting on the bed table, I was more concerned with its functionality …. Can you please come check it again???” Finally, the evening before I checked out, it was fixed. This experience pretty much sums up the service at the hotel – well meaning and nice, but generally slow and incompetent. Despite this flaw, I’d still recommend this hotel for its proximity to the Paddington Station and train to Heathrow – no other hotel in London could be as convenient for a quick business trip. One other note: if you mind cigarette smoke, be sure to reserve a non-smoking room and check-in early.
Food: The hotel food was pretty awful. I noticed that the English salt shakers had one single larger hole in the center of the lid (as opposed to the American shakers with multiple small holes), thus allowing a steady stream of salt to pour out. The need for such a design become obvious swiftly. The food in the restaurants was much better than the hotel. My hotel was in a part of town populated with Arab, Indian and other ethnic restaurants. I had a great falafel one afternoon, and very good Burmese food for dinner. I recommend trying out the ethnic restaurants. The English seem to have better luck with these sorts of foods than with more ordinary meats, potatoes and pasta dishes.
Touring: Since this city was hard to navigate and I had little time for exploration, I took Forkids recommendation and bought a ticket for a sight-seeing tour bus. It cost 15 pounds (about $22). I took the generic “red route” with all the major tourist sights, including the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abby, Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London. The bus allowed you to “’op on, ‘op off” but I didn’t have time to get off and explore much of anything. I was frustrated with my difficulty understanding the tour guides (due to both a poor sound system, and heavy accents). I did get a general overview of the city without any research or thought of my own, but I would recommend this bus only to business travelers like me who truly don’t have the time to figure out a better way to see the city. Also, note that the tour was supposed to take 1 ¾ - 2 ¼ hours. Due to unbearably heavy traffic, at hour four and still with several stops to go, I finally gave up, got off and walked the remaining 4 miles back home. Ug.
Shopping: Unfortunately, I found shopping in London a big let down. I saw lots of beautiful stores, including Harrods. But most everything for sale was available in the U.S., and for a lot less. The only thing interesting was a perfume store called Jo Malone – it sells a wider selection of Jo Malone products, and for much less, than is available in the U.S. (Yes, Jo Malone is the perfume that Oprah Winfrey raved about in one of her shows. I love the stuff, and I’m not afraid to admit I’m a fan of Oprah’s. What’s the diff? I already copped to liking Martha Stewart… ;-) )
[Note: Edit, added 5/17/00]Heathrow Duty Free Shopping: I forgot to mention in my original opinion the great Duty Free shopping area in Heathrow. Heathrow's Duty Free area is unlike any other I've seen. It's not just one "DFS" store, it's more like a small mall. It has about 15 stores, including a mini Harrod's, a MAC cosmetics, some other famous brand stores for specialty items like cashmere and foods, as well as a few large general stores with books, candy, perfumes, gifts and other goods. This is the *best* place to pick up tourist souvenir goods (especially if you want that Harrod's signature stuff). I saw most everything I purchased in London to bring back to co-workers at Heathrow's duty free area (teas, candies, chocolates, pens, etc.). They aren't giving the stuff away at Heathrow, but the prices are definitely better than the non-duty free prices I paid in town (sometimes by as much as 1/3). I wish I'd known about this before!!
Weather: I went in mid-April and, lucky me, it was unseasonably cold. It was supposed to be in the 40s-50s this time of year, but I got temp.s in the 30s plus a lot of rain. I recommend bringing a good warm rain coat, umbrella, gloves, scarf and hat. It can get dam chilly sitting on the upper deck of those tour buses without the appropriate gear.
Exchanging Money: As always with international travel, it’s generally best to pull the local currency out of an ATM with your U.S. ATM card. Your bank will charge you the normal $1-2 fee, but you’ll get the going exchange rate without any commission skimmed off the top. There are ATMs available at Heathrow, so you can grab some cash as soon as you pass through customs. Also, charge as much as possible on your credit cards – that’s even easier than dealing with local currency.
Jet Lag: Don’t forget to take some Melatonin on the plane and every night before you try to go to sleep. I wasn’t sure if this was helping me or not until the third night when I forgot to take it … didn’t get much rest that night! Also, drink lots of water!
All in all, it was a fun city to visit, even on business. Have a great time, and feel free to leave me comments or questions!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
my$.02
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Location: San Carlos, CA
Reviews written: 25
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