<p>Any tips from repeat travelers and/or London residents would really be appreciated:</p>
<p>(1) Getting from Heathrow to my hotel, which is very close to Traflagar Square, can I easily get a taxi? It’ll be at about 7-8 am on a weekend morning, if that matters? I really don’t want to be getting on a train and struggling to figure out where I’m going while having the hassles of luggage. How much would a cab cost, on average? </p>
<p>(2) Calling home–is there an easy way to do this? I don’t have an international cell phone and I’d imagine that the hotel rates are astronomical. Are there calling cards? </p>
<p>(3) Foreign exchange–can I presume I need to exchange dollars for pounds at the airport [I’d imagine this isn’t like Canada where people will take US dollars if they must]? How much would you exchange? I’m going to be there for 11-12 days, so I’ll have regular meal and taxi expenses around town [any real fancy expenses for meals and the like will be with the firm and be on the credit card]. I don’t even have a ballpark idea of how much cash I need. </p>
<p>Anything else I need to know?–anything that’ll make life easier, any attraction that I MUST make time to see?</p>
<p>Here’s a dumb question–its safe to drink tap water correct? I know that sounds stupid but all my international travel in the last 5 yrs has been to Asian nations where you don’t drink tap water even in the most luxurious hotels in modern cities.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Yes there are calling cards. You shold be bable to find one that costs 5 cents a minute.</p></li>
<li><p>If you have a minimum of luggage, take the train. Not only is the cab ride expensive (40 pounds plus tip), the traffic in London is hellacious. You can always catch a cab to your hotel when you come up out of the station. It is not hard to figure out how to get to Trafalgar Square. Take the Picadilly Line (dark bluye line) to Leiceister Square.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>*Go to your bookstore and buy a Streetwise London map. From that, you will be able to figure out where your hotel is and where the station is. There will be a tube map on the back and you can familiarize yourself with which train you are looking for at heathrow.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You can exchange money at the airport. Check your bank card too–it all likelihood, you will be able to use your bank card at most London ATMs. *Hint–take out larger sums as the bank fees are a bit high.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes, you can drink the water in London but your hotel will have bottled water.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Not to Miss List:</p>
<ol>
<li> Theatre</li>
<li> British Museum</li>
<li> Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park, St Jame’s Park, Kew Gardens, Regent’s Park</li>
</ol>
<p>Most local corner ‘dairy’ shops and newsagents will have them–they will be advertsied on sandwich boards outside the shops. Internet bars have them too. Ask for the one that is the cheapest to the US.</p>
<p>More advice: Think, do you know anyone your age who is living in London? Eamil them and see if you can arrange a get totgether.</p>
<p>Otehrwise, London is a ‘pub’ culture. Londoners go into the pub after work to have a pint and chat up their friends–and visitors. If you don’t see a happening pub near your hotel–ask your concierge or your business partners for a few recommendations. A hostel pub and pool bar might be a good start.</p>
<p>There are thousands and thousands of twenty-somethings from all over the world living in London. It might be fun to meet a few and share a few stories.</p>
<p>I’ll be heading back on Wednesday. Take the Heathrow Express to Paddington, then take a cab to the hotel. The cheap phone cards are available from the post office. There is a pretty good spread among money vendors at the airport and some charge as much as 6% commission. VISA and MC both now charge 3% on every transaction in a foreign country. Use the tube, it’s great. Tube maps are available in all the tube stations, hotels, guide books, etc. You can get your very own wall sized tube map (poster) from the Transport Museum in Covent Garden (great place to people watch on Sat/Sun afternoons). Sofra’s Resturant is near Trafalgar, very good middle eastern (Turkish) food. Very reasonable. Rule’s is close also, much more expensive, been there for 200 years or so. Don’t miss the British Museum, got to see the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles. The National Gallery is right on Trafalgar and is wonderful. Regent Street for shopping. Hamley’s is the world’s best toy store. Fortnum and Mason on Piccadilly is great (see the food court, I eat there at least once every time) as is Harrod’s. Email for more.
Ross</p>
<p>THE tourist site for a first trip is the Tower of London. They have the Crown Jewels, armor, history. The Beefeaters tour of the tower is great.</p>
<p>If you haven’t guessed, London is my favorite major city. Very easy to get around.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the info. Just graduated law school and started my first real job and now weeks later I’m being thrown into a long business trip so I’m looking for all the advice I can get. I have a feeling this is going to be a rough couple of weeks–taking trains with luggage at 6 AM is not my idea of a good time, in any city… Thanks for the advice though; keep it coming if there are other ideas.</p>
<p>Don’t miss visiting the Inns of Court!!! If you plan to try out a pub or two, go to one near the Inns and/or Old Bailey. You might want to catch a trial. It’s just important to note they won’t let you in if you have a camera or cell phone with you; at least that was the rule the last time I went. See this site:</p>
<p>You can find out a lot from the main page of this web site. </p>
<p>If the firm you are working for has a London office, check with it. If that’s not the kind of firm or work you do, check Martindale for London offices and see if there’s anyone from your law school. E-mail and ask advice.</p>
<p>Thanks for the Inns of Court idea and the idea of checking with the London office. My firm has a significant presence in London [though I won’t be working out of their offices, but rather a clients office], but I could certainly check with them re: logistics.</p>
<p>It’s a long way from Heathrow, and traffic is bad. I agree that the train to Paddington is really convenient and inexpensive. And at 6am, it should not be crowded. Once out of the station, you can hail a cab to Trafalgar Square.
Other places to visit besides those listed above: The Tate Gallery, St Paul’s and Covent Garden (there’s a wonderful cheese shop in Neal’s Yard), Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, the Millennium Dome, the British Library. If you like shopping, Regents Street, Oxford Street and also Knightsbridge. London is a very walkable city. You should have plenty to do and see.</p>
<p>see if there’s anyone from your law school. E-mail and ask advice.</p>
<p>That’s a great idea–as is the Inns of the Court and the pubs around the courts. ASk around your home office–does anyone know someone in the London office who could show you around a bit? Does anyone know a theatre buff inthe London office who might be able to recommend a play to see? Even one or two nights out with someone your own age will make a huge difference in your appreciation of the city. If you get one or two contacts, it will be worth it! Here’s a hint–buy them dinner or a theatre ticket so that next time you go to London you’ll be warmly greeted. ;)</p>
<p>Far from being a rough coupla weeks–you are about to got to one of the world’s greatest cities, aj.</p>
<p>if you think that you are going to make more than a couple of international phone calls in your life, but don’t expect the calls to be long, considering buying a $49 int’l phone. You then own the phone forever, and only pay a simple $1 per minute to call almost anywhere in the world. No monthly fee, no minimum. If you only talk for one minute a year, you only pay $1 per year. This also has the advantage of your family being able to call you in case of emergency. We’ve had this for about 3 years now, for our occasional int’l trips, and it’s been great! A calling card is cheaper if you are going to do a lot of talking, but this is much easier to use.
<a href=“http://www.mobal.com%5B/url%5D”>http://www.mobal.com</a></p>
<p>You can rent a cell phone at The Link in Heathrow or Gatwick. It’s a pound a day and all incoming calls are free from anywhere. I don’t remember outgoing, but you can Google Adam Phone and see the details.</p>
<p>There is a subway line from Heathrow into London. DON"T TAKE IT, take the Express. The tube stops a hundred times on that run and it takes way too long.</p>
<p>My bet is that if aj is asking about phone cards it’s because there is a gf back home? (Don’t know a boy who would worry about calling his mother or friends…) ;)</p>
<p>A colleague of my H’s went on vacation to Europe for a week. The boss gave her a cell phone with instructions to call back everyday! If the cell phone is for business, the company should spring for it.</p>
<p>Another idea is text messaging. You can rent or buy a phone and send a text message or email to someone back in the US if his/her cell phone accepts text messages. It’s the cheap way to keep in touch --on our plan, international text messages are 15 cents each–and with the time difference, it is often the easiest. (Note: you can not take a standard US cell phone to the UK–it won’t work there. ) It works well for the “I’ve arrived safely in the UK” or “hmm…I’ve got a couple hours to wait for my flight home…is there anything you’d like from the duty free?” type message.</p>
<p>Since you work for a law firm I would assume you have this part covered, but I will give you the advice anyway. When you go through immigration to enter the country (England), do not tell them the purpose of your visit is “to work.” You must tell them you are there for “business meetings.” If you are going to work, then you need a work permit and if you do not have a work permit they will send you back to where you came from! I know people that had this unfortunate experience, and I was always astonished that they were not forewarned by their HR people.</p>