London Warning or Danger Tips by Dabs

I'm sure a few American tourists have narrowly escaped being flattened by a big red bus by ignoring the signs printed on the street telling them to Look Right then Look Left.

Alternatively, you can just look in both directions like we did just to make sure nothing is coming to flatten you. Perhaps that's from years of experience with bike messengers in Chicago who never travel in the right direction.

Leave a Comment

This warning could apply to virtually anywhere in the world, I seem to see this particular con virtually everywhere we go and can't believe that there are still people who fall for this centuries old con. We happened to see this in broad daylight near Covent Garden on our last visit.

The basic equipment is three shells and a round object such as a pea, the con man has his ringer (always shifty looking fellows) pick the winning shell with the pea under it a couple of times, oohs and aahs come from the crowd and then the con man starts taking bets from unsuspecting tourists and taking their money in this sleight of hand.

A third conman is usually posted as a lookout, the game is always ready to travel upon the appearance of local law enforcement.

Another variation on this is three card monte, anytime you see a man with shells or cards on a paper box, feel free to watch from a safe distance but never ever plunk your money down, it's a sucker bet and you are sure to lose.

Leave a Comment

I've always known about the official 1/2 price theatre ticket booth in Leicester Square so I have never used any of the other surrounding ticket agents. The Official ticket office is the free standing building in the middle of the square clearly marked with TKTS.

But there are many other ticket sellers in the Square, at least one other of which claims to be the official booth. I have heard from other people that they have gotten less than desirable seats from these places and paid more than the 1/2 price booth.

Leave a Comment

I had the most uncomfortable 15 minutes one afternoon while trying to ride the Piccadilly line during rush hour (around 5:30 or 6 pm). People just keep pushing on the cars whether or not there was actually any room for them, adding to the mix was that it was rather hot in London, everyone was sweaty and of course all of the seats were already taken.

So if you are not a crowd person, you might avoid the tube at the busy times of the day, if I hadn't been in a hurry, I would have shoved my way off the tube and walked.

Leave a Comment

Many of the tube stations require navigation of stairs, the maps inside the tube are marked for which stations are accessible and the tube guru on the website attached has a wheelchair symbol for those that are accessible and also details where to go once inside the tube station.

Leave a Comment

Website: http://tube.tfl.gov.uk/guru/index.asp

Most of your budget hotels will not have air conditioning. I don't normally think of London as a really warm place, yet on the last several visits we have been really glad that we have had AC.

We had a particularly bad stay at a hotel on Cromwell Road near the Gloucester tube station several years ago where we did not have air conditioning and it was a rather warm early September. We opened the windows to get some air and realized that we would never be able to sleep with all the noise from Cromwell Road.

So we packed up a day early and left for Paris on an overnight bus (mistake #2 on that trip). Ever since we have booked through Priceline, have spent less money and stayed in MUCH nicer hotels.

But if you can't afford a hotel with air conditioning and are not willing to take a chance on Priceline, at least try to make sure you are not on a busy road.

Leave a Comment

In many restaurants and snack shops that have both take away and sit down dining, the prices for sit down dining can be more expensive.

We stopped by La Creperie de Hampstead's South Kensington location and thought since we were a tube stop away from our hotel that we would eat there instead of taking it back to the hotel. But I had happened to notice the prices on the takeaway menu and the sit down menu was almost double! L6 for a crepe seemed a bit steep so we got back up and ordered takeaway food.

I also noticed this at a bakery, although the price difference was not all that great.

Leave a Comment

Bring a good map with you or get one from your hotel, the free one our hotel gave us was actually pretty good. Twice we asked directions, once from a shop clerk and once from a man who appeared to be from the neighborhood, both times we were just a couple of blocks away and both times we were sent in the wrong direction.

On a previous visit we were up in Hampstead and we saw a guy on a motorcycle writing stuff down. We asked him what he was doing, he said that he was studying to be a London cab driver and was taking a practice test. Apparently it takes several years to become one because of all the confusing street name changes.

Leave a Comment