"London" a London Travel Page by Dabs

Just back from trip #13 to London, a couple of day stopover on the way back from Ukraine. We had the pleasure of meeting up for dinner with Jenniflower and her husband and doing all of our favorite things-eating chicken shawarma and fish and chips, spending beautiful sunny days walking through the street markets and catching a performance of La Clique at the Hippodrome.

My 12th visit to London was in late July/early August 2008, my husband and I took our 14 year old niece and 13 year old nephew for their 1st trip to Europe along with their mom, they seemed to enjoy everything we did, maybe they've been bit by the travel bug like their aunt and uncle. It was a great age to take them at, old enough to be interested in what they were seeing, young enough not to be too cool to be seen with their unhip aunt and uncle and mom.

Well, it's partly the fact that we accumulate miles on British Airways, many of our trips have been stopovers on the way to somewhere else in Europe and London is a free add on. Partly it's because there's no language barrier, museums, theater, transportation, menus are all in English.

But it's certainly more than that, London is truly my favorite city in the world, a place that I will never tire of. London was my destination on my first trip outside of North America and has been luring me back ever since, always with the promise of a new secret place to discover or a favorite to revisit. Plus I've met some of the loveliest people in London, they always make me feel welcome when I come back, Jen (Jenniflower) and Jo (jo104) have been lovely enough to arrange several VT meetings and outings on my various visits and it's always grand to see the two lovely South African lasses!

Since we tend to stop in London on our way to or from somewhere else, I finally planned two trips to London as birthday presents to myself where I didn't leave the UK, one in July/August 2004 and August 2005. Since then I've traveled to just the UK in January 2006 and January 2007 and with just a short 3 days in Paris on our July/August 2008 trip.

London visits
May 2009-stop on the way back from Ukraine
July/August 2008-accompanied by husband, niece, nephew and sister in law
January 2008-2nd visit with Kat (keida84)
May 2007-stop on the way to Venice and Slovenia
January 2006-big VT meeting in London in honor of Kat's 1st visit-see photos from the big meeting over on myGreater London page,
August 2005-stop on the way back from Budapest with hubby
August 2004-1/2 solo, 1/2 with hubby
May 2003-stop on our trip to Poland
July 2002-combined with a trip to Iceland
September 2000-stop on our way to France and Belgium
September 1999-combined with trip to Paris and Loire Valley
March 1995-visit with my husband
February 1988-solo trip, my very 1st trip overseas

Surely with the dismal exchange rate, some North American travelers may be scared off traveling to London. But with a little research there are all kinds of ways to save some money without compromising on the quality of the visit.

London has loads of terrific museums whether you are interested in art, science, or history and they are almost all free.

If you are traveling with a group of 2 people or more, there are all kinds of discounts at the castles, at many of the other attractions or on dining, the best offers are the 2 for 1 offers valid if you have a paper travelcard. If you are traveling with 3 or more people, there are some groupd discounts for train travel outside of London.

Priceline is the only way I book hotels in London, I get 4* hotels for a lot less than booking direct, my most recent stay was $75US + tax.

Theater tickets can be purchased even cheaper than you would find in NYC or Chicago at the TKTS booth in Leicester Square and usually with great seats.

London is a melting pot of different ethnic groups and you can find almost any type of food in London, most of the ethnic food is quite reasonably priced and available all over London. Most of our meals were under £10 or less per person, many of our lunches were under £5 per person.

And finally, some vouchers for restaurants, shopping, attractions and more