London - Last Visit 2016
We revisited London in March 2016, after my wife got us a deal on Virgins East Coast service from Leeds to London Kings Cross for only £10 return each. The journey is approx 2hrs 15mins, sadly the older trains are not very comfortable, although they do have power sockets if you wish to take a laptop/tablet.
The last time we visited in 2014 we went straight to the underground to buy a daily ticket, however on the way down we overheard someone saying you could use contactless bank cards, so after a quick search online, we knew we could. Using our bank cards was so much easier, simply place your card on the yellow reader at the gate and again as you exit each time you enter/leave the tube and it will automatically calculate the costs and charge your card, you’re better off reading it in more detail online, but my wife said it was cheaper than buying a daily ticket as it had a capped daily/weekly charge.
The underground itself is heavily relied upon by daily commuters, but yet is surprisingly outdated and in need of modernisation and considering the current heated debate over the new high speed rail line, I personally believe, that although we do need to plan for the future, at this time the money would be better spent on modernising the outdated underground, improving the road network nationally (especially considering the state or roads and increasing number of potholes) and most importantly improving flood defences, especially now, when all we've seen on the news recently was the devastation caused by those dealing with severe flooding.
Getting around London using the underground is fairly easy, there are plenty of maps to show you and as long as you think first, you can easy find the right platform and right train, however make sure you have your ticket/card to hand, as you will need it to get in and out of every station. Some stations are busier than others and in peak times you may find it easier to choose a less direct route, avoiding the commuters and be especially careful navigating around the tube network, as the escalators are steep (stand on the right, those in a rush will walk down the left side) and if you do have kids with you, keep them close, they will easily get lost in crowds.
We decided we wanted to go back to Borough Market and Covent Garden, but also added a few new places in as well. I’d already checked and planned our journeys, starting at Borough Market, then St Paul’s Cathedral, before going to Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and finally Marble Arch.
In February 2014 we started by heading to Tower Bridge, which was my favourite, it’s a very impressive structure and I guess the best way to view it would be on the river and if you have a head for heights, you can also go into the Tower Bridge Exhibition. South of the Thames near City Hall we looked back at the bridge, it’s a great place to stand back and admire it and in warmer weather I could have stood looking at the bridge for quite some time.
I won’t bore you by continuing on with a step by step guide, as you can make your own choices of where to visit and in which order. We will return to London in the future and next time we will look at some of the attractions like Madame Tussauds.
The places we have visited are Tower Bridge, Borough Market, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Hamleys Toy Store on Regent Street (7 floors full of toys for every age, including us big kids), Oxford Street, Covent Garden, St Paul's Cathedral, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Marble Arch photos below.
We revisited London in March 2016, after my wife got us a deal on Virgins East Coast service from Leeds to London Kings Cross for only £10 return each. The journey is approx 2hrs 15mins, sadly the older trains are not very comfortable, although they do have power sockets if you wish to take a laptop/tablet.
The last time we visited in 2014 we went straight to the underground to buy a daily ticket, however on the way down we overheard someone saying you could use contactless bank cards, so after a quick search online, we knew we could. Using our bank cards was so much easier, simply place your card on the yellow reader at the gate and again as you exit each time you enter/leave the tube and it will automatically calculate the costs and charge your card, you’re better off reading it in more detail online, but my wife said it was cheaper than buying a daily ticket as it had a capped daily/weekly charge.
The underground itself is heavily relied upon by daily commuters, but yet is surprisingly outdated and in need of modernisation and considering the current heated debate over the new high speed rail line, I personally believe, that although we do need to plan for the future, at this time the money would be better spent on modernising the outdated underground, improving the road network nationally (especially considering the state or roads and increasing number of potholes) and most importantly improving flood defences, especially now, when all we've seen on the news recently was the devastation caused by those dealing with severe flooding.
Getting around London using the underground is fairly easy, there are plenty of maps to show you and as long as you think first, you can easy find the right platform and right train, however make sure you have your ticket/card to hand, as you will need it to get in and out of every station. Some stations are busier than others and in peak times you may find it easier to choose a less direct route, avoiding the commuters and be especially careful navigating around the tube network, as the escalators are steep (stand on the right, those in a rush will walk down the left side) and if you do have kids with you, keep them close, they will easily get lost in crowds.
We decided we wanted to go back to Borough Market and Covent Garden, but also added a few new places in as well. I’d already checked and planned our journeys, starting at Borough Market, then St Paul’s Cathedral, before going to Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and finally Marble Arch.
In February 2014 we started by heading to Tower Bridge, which was my favourite, it’s a very impressive structure and I guess the best way to view it would be on the river and if you have a head for heights, you can also go into the Tower Bridge Exhibition. South of the Thames near City Hall we looked back at the bridge, it’s a great place to stand back and admire it and in warmer weather I could have stood looking at the bridge for quite some time.
I won’t bore you by continuing on with a step by step guide, as you can make your own choices of where to visit and in which order. We will return to London in the future and next time we will look at some of the attractions like Madame Tussauds.
The places we have visited are Tower Bridge, Borough Market, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Hamleys Toy Store on Regent Street (7 floors full of toys for every age, including us big kids), Oxford Street, Covent Garden, St Paul's Cathedral, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Marble Arch photos below.
The below map shows where we walked in London when we visited in March 2016, as you can probably tell from zooming in on Covent Garden, the i-GotU Tracker just draws a straight line from the last known point when it loses and regains the signal, so the lines end up being all over in a mess, we also didn’t use it to track our visit back in 2014, so I've manually drawn a line across tower bridge, but I couldn't be certain exactly what route we walked to and from there.