<p>My 16 yo son is currently doing a year abroad in France. While we plan to visit France – Provence and Paris – around the holiday season, I also am planning to fly over on my own in late February to LONDON and have him meet me there. </p>
<p>(H has another plan for that week involving sports, spring training, sunny weather and the Mouse. I have seen the Mouse too many times recently to want to go yet again. I am going to Londinium to see my Francophile/Anglophile S!)</p>
<p>I was in London once upon a time – way before kids. I want to start planning – but I am not quite sure where to start. So – what should I consider “must sees” for a London first time teenage trip? Any suggestions on where to stay? I’m partial to the Hyde Park area simply because that’s where I stayed on my previous trip and still have a sense of the area – wouldn’t feel totally lost there. What about some travel outside the city? Any suggestions?</p>
<p>Currently not sure how S will travel from Provence to London – it may be via Chunnel train, or it may be by air. I am letting his host family and local program director figure out that part.</p>
<p>Ahhhhh. Where to begin? Depends on what your interests are. A 16 yr old boy is not going to want to miss the Tower of London and the London Dungeons. The changing of the guard, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben. A tour of the city by Big Red double decker bus is a must. I wouldn’t go to London without seeing a show. Spamalot would be highly recommended. </p>
<p>Outside London would have to include Stonehenge. Cantebury was a favorite of the boys. I also really enjoyed Cambridge. I could spends weeks there and never run out. The one thing I never got to do was the Potteries in the north.</p>
<p>Let me know if you have specific interests. I lived in England for three years and have visited many times since.</p>
<p>My MIL was from a village near Bradford. I’ve been there – but I don’t think that’s in the cards for this trip. I think my S would like to see some Harry Potter type sites … and I do need to ask him just what he wants to see and do. </p>
<p>Right now I feel very concerned about finding a reasonable and safe hotel – and also understanding what the weather is likely to be like.</p>
<p>I second the Tower of London. Windsor castle is nice too. It’s fairly easy to see most of the London sites by foot (not Windsor castle - that’s out by Heathrow airport).</p>
<p>The weather in London is about the same almost every time I’ve been there - overcast and raining, sometimes harder than others. It’ll be colder in February but winters in London usually aren’t all that cold.</p>
<p>Tower of London - you can see the first female Beefeater! They always give a magnificent, entertaining history lesson in their tours. Also, the London Eye. It’s down in the area of Tower of London; try to look at the forecast and pick the day that has the best chance of not being foggy. </p>
<p>Regarding Stonehenge, when my D was studying abroad last spring, she went to Stonehenge, and thought it was rather boring. When I went to visit her and suggested I might go see it, she discouraged me from it.</p>
<p>My kids (D2 went to visit D1 over spring break) LOVED the tour of Stamford Bridge Football Stadium, where the Chelsea Football Club plays. They had heard it was a lot of fun, and were glad they did it.</p>
<p>nah, i’d skip the imperial war museum and instead go to the Tate Modern & Shakespeare’s Globe (within walking distance). Also, the British Museum is a must! Spend some time in Leicster Square/Chinatown as well as Covent Garden (been to Fanuil Hall in MA? This is where the idea came from to re-do old market places). Also, check out the Houses of Parliment, so fascinating!</p>
<p>The Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms are totally hokey but if you let yourself get into the spirit, they are great. Loved the sound effects.</p>
<p>Hampton court’s is neat, I love the maze, but I’m not sure I’d love it in February. My favorite place in London is Sir John Soane’s museum, but if it’s your first trip, I think the previous suggestions make more sense. I’m always cold in England. It’s not that it’s so cold, it’s just damp, even when it’s not raining.</p>
<p>I was in London in the Summer of 2005. I did a lot of research on <a href=“http://www.tripadvisor.com%5B/url%5D”>www.tripadvisor.com</a> before I went and I highly recommend it.
The Big Bus tour is worth it. You can hop on and off all day. Do it on one of your first days there to get a sense of everything.
We also went on a walking tour of Westminster Abbey that was unforgettable. The guide was great and the cost of the tour minimal. By taking the tour we got in the group line for the Abbey. We timed it so that we could hang around after the tour and get seats for evensong. If you get there early they seat you right in with the choir. Unbelievable. I wouldn’t miss it.<br>
We also enjoyed Phantom of the Opera. Nothing like seeing it in London.
Okay in the meantime, I got excited while posting and here is some information on the walking tours. The Jack the Ripper is supposed to be great too. </p>
<p>We were able to take 4 London Walks tours during our trip to London last month and we loved all four. If we are ever fortunate to get back we would gladly take as many as we could once again.
We took Strictly Confidential, Jack the Ripper, Westminster and Old Westminster. All of the guides knowledgeable and helpful. It was far more interesting than a bus tour and being able to see things close up without being dependent on traffic like a bus was lovely. There was no way we would have been able to walk those same walks without a guide.
There is no better way to see London. Their website is <a href=“http://www.walks.com%5B/url%5D”>www.walks.com</a>.</p>
<p>One last thing. When we went on the Westminster walk we got to the meeting point (outside a tube station) about 45 minutes early. Just as my daughter was complaining when the guide showed up she told everyone that not everyone waiting was going to be able to go on the tour. She starting giving people a number and because we were there early we got a number. So if you go on one of the walks, get a snack and wait at the meeting point a bit early.</p>
<p>Tower of London, British Museum, Imperial War Museum, Museum of Natural History if he is interested in that, Victoria and Albert if you can get some free time on your own or if he is interested in it (see Web sites). Also: Maybe the giant ferris wheel. Just walking around the various squares in Chelsea and Kensington. Theater one night if there’s something you both want to see. Hampton Court is an easy suburban trip and probably worth it if you like palaces–and again, easy walking distance from station.</p>
<p>If you have time for train trips, Stonehenge/Salisbury OR Canterbury are great suggestions. Canterbury is massively crowded in summer, so February probably is a much better time to go. Cathedral is walking distance from train station. However, Stonehenge is wonderful and if you are going there you might just as well also go to Salisbury–I think town is somewhat prettier and less mass-market than Canterbury and the cathedral is lovely–still looks like a Constable painting. Relative absense of crowds at Stonehenge in winter may make it especially evocative. But you know if you don’t have time for outside-London trips you will do fine with Westminster Abbey, which is also a magnificent cathedral with tremendous historical importance. Time will probably be at a premium for you–train service is still quite frequent and prompt by American standards–also fairly expensive.</p>
<p>Maybe think about staying in Kensington/South Kensington area. South Kensington is a good tube station (three lines) and Harrington Road and those streets combine bustle with some degree of neighborhood feel.</p>
<p>My teenage boys loved the Cabinet War Rooms, Imperial War Museum (there was an exhibit on the Blitz that they particularly liked here), Tower of London and Madame Tussaud’s. If anyone is a true tennis fanatic, a trip to Wimbledon for a view of Centre Court and a small museum there (yes, we did this in a February trip years ago).</p>
<p>If you have a chance to spend one night out of London, head on the train to Bath…esp. if your son has had to read any Austen. It is a World Heritage site and one of the most beautiful cities anywhere. Have tea at the Pump Room and let your son try ‘the waters’ – just for the look on his face. </p>
<p>As for London, I second the Hampton Court idea. It is on the ‘Tube’ and very interesting. They’ve gone to a lot of trouble and expense to make it understandable to tourists and the best part is that you get two time periods for the price of one! Both Henry VIII and William and Mary hung out here. </p>
<p>Kensington Palace (Queen Victoria’s childhood home) is right in the heart of the city but very peaceful. I’m not sure if the Orangery/Tea Room will be open in Feb. Speaking of which, do stop for tea every afternoon. It refreshes you from a hard day and fuels you up so you can keep going. I’d skip the pricey fancy places (like Harrod’s or the Savoy) and find little personally-run tearooms. They seem to cluster esp. around ecclesiastical areas. </p>
<p>You can tour Buckingham Palace if the Queen is not in residence…check the website…but I think the carriage museum is open all the time. Another slightly ‘off the beaten path’ place is the Burlington Arcade – it’s Regency England come to life. If you can’t go to Bath, go here. Look for the beadles in frock coats and the signs that tell you what behavior is expected. </p>
<p>In the evenings, I would take taxis if looking for specific places to dine or visit. It will get dark early and you don’t want to be wandering around trying to find that restaurant ‘just up the road’. The streets in London were never planned – sometimes they change names right in the middle, then change back only now going east/west instead of north/south – nor do the numbers always follow logically. Taxi drivers can get you there swiftly and the expense is worthwhile if you want to arrive in a timely and unfrazzled manner. <em>Definitely</em> worth it if you are trying to make a show. </p>
<p>One last recommendation – go to the Travel Channel and look up Samantha Brown’s trip to London. She gave lots of good information – including where to stand for the best view of the Changing of the Guard.</p>
<p>very much depends on that the travellers like … how many old buildings? how many museums? theatre? soccer? Next time I go I will stay near Leichester (?) square (street players, etc) which is essentially the theater district. The London Eye is pretty cool. The Harry Potter tour is tough … it’s ecclectic stuff very spread out … King’s Crossing Station for platform 9 3/4 etc. If you are headed out of town going to Christchurch college at Oxford gets a feel for the country side while having major Harry Potter stuff (dining hall and grand stair case). The other place out of town not mentioned yet that works for lots of people is Stratford-on-the-Avon (Sheakespeare’s birthplace).</p>
<p>I love going to London … you really can’t go wrong.</p>
<p>Getting tickets to shows in London is EASY…check out one of the many websites before you go to see what you’re interested in. Occasionally there are shows that you have to get advanced tickets; but, as one person told me, Londoners frequently go to a play/musical like we go to movies in the U.S… walking up and getting a same-day ticket is common. And, there are discount ticket places too, but you need to stick with the one that’s sanctioned by the theaters—we were talked into getting tickets through one of the many storefronts on Leicester Square, and found that we overpaid. We were there several years ago (after 1st Harry Potter movie had been released, filming on 2nd had just started). We were in line for about an hour at the Wax museum, and one of the secondary characters (one of Malfoy’s buddies) was standing in line immediately in front of us. He told us all about the sets, etc. (said the food in the banquet scenes was really disgusting and cold and they had to keep redoing takes so that it was really awful by the time they finished!!!)</p>
<p>Another different kind of place good for an hour or two is the British Library - their version of our Library of Congress I guess. It houses a display of the Magna Carta, a number of early bibles, original Beatles documents, etc. and it’s all free.
<a href=“http://www.bl.uk/[/url]”>http://www.bl.uk/</a></p>
<p>Hotels in London and the rest of the UK are expensive. There are some inexpensive chains though but they comparable to a budget chain here and don’t have much personality -</p>
<p>There’s a Premier Travel Inn located in the old County Hall right in the center of London - I think next to the Wheel (the giant ferris wheel) and walking distance to anything in the center. It’s called, of all things, Premier travel Inn County Hall.</p>
<p>I’ve also stayed at a Holiday Inn in London - also walking distance.</p>
<p>Another option would be a B&B. Some of these in England are very nice and sometimes a better deal than the hotels.</p>
<p>I don’t know how many of you will be there but hotels in Europe in general are a pain. They tend to be geared around ‘singles’, ‘doubles’, and ‘triples’ and if you’re a family of 4 you’re often required to get two expensive rooms instead of one! Some hotels will accommodate 4 however such as the Holiday Inn. Pay attention to this point (number of people in the room) when booking a hotel there.</p>
<p>My D and I spent a week in London this past summer before she headed off to college…I’d been several times before, so this trip was for her and she was mainly concerned with Royal London so we did all the palace/castles that we could. Hampton Court was my favorite (I’m a complete Tudorphile), but it’s not directly “tubeable,” you must transfer at Richmond and bus it over, but it doesn’t take that long. Tower of London, also another favorite, and do the Yeoman Guard tour because you will get to visit some places that aren’t accessible otherwise.</p>
<p>Someone mentioned the London walks, and although D didn’t want to go on one, the do, I believe, offer a Harry Potter one. There are a few walking tour companies and I’m pretty sure at least one of them offers it.</p>
<p>We were also able to do a day trip of Stonehenge and I would say it’s not to be missed, but do go with one of the small bus tours (Astral Travels or something like that). Our guide was amazingly informed, and we were also able to visit Avebury and other prehistoric sites. The good thing is, you get to go behind the ropes and actually touch the stones. Only way to do it! The same tour company also offers day tours of Bath and a few others.</p>
<p>Something we didn’t do that was recommended but we just couldn’t fit it in is Dennis Severs’ House. They have a candlelight tour which is supposed to be a very unique, interactive deal that sounded really intriguing, but we weren’t there on the day it was offered. Also Sir John Soame’s Museum is supposed to be worth a visit (we just didn’t have enough time), and of course the British Museum.</p>
<p>I wasn’t wild about the London Eye personally. I’d try to catch at least one play, and the Covent Garden area is pretty happening.</p>
<p>I’m sure you’re prepared for how $$$$$$$ it is!!! We stayed near Gloucester Road tube station, and it was a pretty upscale area, with affordable lodging and a quieter area.</p>
<p>Feel free to PM me on specifics…hope you have a wonderful time!!!</p>