12 hours to live in London

[nbs2]

I will be in London on 12/21, but unlike Chip, I don't have three days there. My wife and I are flying to India and have a layover in London from 9am to 9pm. I've been reading through some of the London threads, and think I have a hold on what I should do. I was wondering if someone could give me an opinion of my plan/suggest changes.

I figure we will arrive and get through customs and take the tube to downtown: 1.5 hours. we can go see all the usual sights of the eye, palace, westminster, etc., stopping to get lunch at 11:30 or so at boots and finding a park to eat at: 6.5 (8) hours. find a square to feed the birds, hopfully for tuppence(?) a bag: 0.5 (8.5) hour. walk around london and find a chipshop from which to grab dinner 1 (9.5) hour. take the tube back to heathrow and sit in the airport waiting for our flight - we should get back about 1.5 hours before the flight.

it's really a rough sketch - for the most part we both like to wander around new places and see what we can see, but i always try to see "major" attractions because you never know when you will see them again while taking some time to wander and get a flavor for the city. other than the trip to/from the airport we will probably walk the whole day, unless an all day pass would be about the same price.

i know chip just drained most of you of good ideas, and that i should feed off of those opinions, but i really hope i won't need to find a place the night

 

[Applespider]

Funnily enough, I helped an American family who were en route to Israel with this last time I was on the Tube back from Heathrow.

All day pass is the same price if you're on the Tube so you can hop on any bus/Tube.

Would suggest the following: Buy Zone 1-6 Travelcard and get on Piccadilly line at Heathrow, get off at Hammersmith and transfer to District and Circle line. Get off at Westminster; you'll see the London Eye (book ahead online and you could have a ride on it), Parliament Square, Westminster Abbey. Stop at a Pret or an EAT for lunch - much better than Boots!

Walk up Whitehall, you'll see Horseguards Parade, the Cenotaph, Downing Street. Cut through at Horseguards Parade and you can get into St James Park to see Buckingham Palace. Walk up Pall Mall to Trafalgar Square. From there you can go to Piccadilly Circus/Leicester Square, perhaps stop in at a gallery etc. Go for something to eat in Soho etc and then get the Tube back from Piccadilly Circus to Heathrow.

 

[gwuMACaddict]

Pret?! Waggamammas!! for a quick bite

 

[0098386]

Pret? Waggamammas? BOOTS. £3 meal deal with an Innocent drink. Selfridges do nice food but is there one in London?

 

[Blue Velvet]

Selfridges do nice food but is there one in London?

Is there what! Oxford St... amazing pastries.

nbs2: Sounds a good plan and Applespider's suggestions are sound but do factor in additional time and a 'B' plan for that return trip to Heathrow. One tube delay or breakdown (which happens often) will make your dash to the plane a fraught one.

 

[nbs2]

Pret? Waggamammas? BOOTS. £3 meal deal with an Innocent drink.

That's why I need to go to Boots. When I was interning for SNP, I used to go there almost everyday for lunch with the girl I was dating at the time. Only exceptions were for GoSushi and the canteen.

Applespider, thanks for the better breakdown of things to do. It's always hard to figure out the terrain when you use a tube map to plan things.

BV, that's someting I hadn't considered. Other than the gobs of money that the Heathrow Express would cost, what would be a good plan B? Also, how long should I expect it will take to get through security and all that? My only prior experience in London was at Gatwick and it took all of 20 min - but that time I only had time to go outside the airport, look at the strange cars driving on the left and then go back in.

 

[Nickygoat]

Stop at a Pret or an EAT for lunch - much better than Boots!

I couldn't possibly recommend EAT - but maybe I'm biased

Go for something to eat in Soho etc and then get the Tube back from Piccadilly Circus to Heathrow.

If you want a chippie try The Fryers Delight on Theobalds Road. It's a bit low rent to look at but the fish & chips are excellent. Plus, it's about 5/10 minutes walk from Holborn tube, where you can take the Piccadilly Line back to Heathrow.
Reading the title of this thread in the "new posts" search I thought it was about what you would do if you only had 12 hours left to live, and what would you do

 

[Blue Velvet]

BV, that's someting I hadn't considered. Other than the gobs of money that the Heathrow Express would cost, what would be a good plan B? Also, how long should I expect it will take to get through security and all that? My only prior experience in London was at Gatwick and it took all of 20 min - but that time I only had time to go outside the airport, look at the strange cars driving on the left and then go back in.

Plan B? Heathrow Express or cab if time is tight. The cost of these is less than overnight accomodation if you miss that plane.

I haven't flown a lot recently but aren't most people asked for a 2-hour check-in these days for long-haul international flights from the UK? I'm sure that someone else will confirm that for you...

 

[Nickygoat]

Plan B? Heathrow Express or cab if time is tight. The cost of these is less than overnight accomodation if you miss that plane.

I haven't flown a lot recently but aren't most people asked for a 2-hour check-in these days for long-haul international flights from the UK? I'm sure that someone else will confirm that for you...

Yup 2 hours is about right. Doesn't take that long to check in but but security is taking a lot longer these days. As is immigration into the UK - they actually seem to be looking at passports these days - even for flights from inside the EU. Everyone gets done.
The price of progress

 

[nbs2]

If you want a chippie try The Fryers Delight on Theobalds Road. It's a bit low rent to look at but the fish & chips are excellent. Plus, it's about 5/10 minutes walk from Holborn tube, where you can take the Piccadilly Line back to Heathrow.

Reading the title of this thread in the "new posts" search I thought it was about what you would do if you only had 12 hours left to live, and what would you do

Thanks for the advice. Food and value are rated high...exactly what I'm looking for. Now to convince the wifey...

I admit, the thread was sort of supposed to mislead a little. I find that I have the best ideas when I think about what I would want to do in a place if I only had x amount of time to live.

 

[nbs2]

Plan B? Heathrow Express or cab if time is tight. The cost of these is less than overnight accomodation if you miss that plane.

I haven't flown a lot recently but aren't most people asked for a 2-hour check-in these days for long-haul international flights from the UK? I'm sure that someone else will confirm that for you...

Well, it looks like Mary Poppins and the bag lady going to have to sucker some other kid into feeding the birds. That and walking fast sound like the only way we will get to see the 'London essentials.'

 

[floriflee]

Mmmm...chips.....

Thanks for the advice. Food and value are rated high...exactly what I'm looking for. Now to convince the wifey...

The wifey is convinced as long as it comes wrapped in some sort of greasy brown paper or newspaper. It's vacation...I'm all for splurging on SOME junk food while we're away...

 

[fitinferno]

Plan B? Heathrow Express or cab if time is tight. The cost of these is less than overnight accomodation if you miss that plane.

I haven't flown a lot recently but aren't most people asked for a 2-hour check-in these days for long-haul international flights from the UK? I'm sure that someone else will confirm that for you...

I have to ask, are you going to be flying out of Terminal 4 for the trip back to Indiana (as I know a lot of the flights to US seem to tend to use that Terminal)? The tube path to it is under construction still, if I'm not mistaken, which should be taken into account because then it requires all the darned rail replacement stuff...which can sometimes take a bit of extra time.

You could also just cheat and get off at 1, 2 or 3 and use the Heathrow Express as your connection since connecting w/it is free...

 

[nbs2]

You could also just cheat and get off at 1, 2 or 3 and use the Heathrow Express as your connection since connecting w/it is free...

The flights to India/Washington DC are both out of Terminal 4 if I remember right. But, I don't understand what you mean about connecting with the HE. I remember reading that there are some issues with taking the tube from T4. I was under the impression I could walk to another terminal and take the tube from there. Is that wrong? And if so, how else can I go about doing this. I think the best way to gauge the return will be to see how long the trip into downtown takes and then add 15-25 min just in case of problems. Is that a good idea?

 

[fitinferno]

The flights to India/Washington DC are both out of Terminal 4 if I remember right. But, I don't understand what you mean about connecting with the HE. I remember reading that there are some issues with taking the tube from T4. I was under the impression I could walk to another terminal and take the tube from there. Is that wrong? And if so, how else can I go about doing this. I think the best way to gauge the return will be to see how long the trip into downtown takes and then add 15-25 min just in case of problems. Is that a good idea?

That's probably not a bad idea...I don't remember exactly how the connections within the terminals are. It's easy to get around from 1, 2 and 3 to each, but I can't recall how easy it is to get from those to the 4th one by walking...I don't think you can walk it (it'd be a good thing to google search to double check)

The connection with the HE would mean that instead of getting off at Hatton Cross for the bus transfer to Terminal 4, you'd just continue on to the 1, 2, 3 stop and then go and find the HE (basically your option of taking the tube from another terminal to the 4th). It will connect to Terminal 4 and you can ride it for free if you're getting a connection such as that.

This will help you out a bit: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-centre/press-releases/press-releases-content.asp?prID=233

It is a very annoying situation...I'll be visiting Chicago in a lttl over a week...and with 2 large pieces of luggage and a carryon, I don't look forward to the fact that the tube won't go straight to Terminal 4!

 

[nbs2]

...This will help you out a bit: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-centre/press-releases/press-releases-content.asp?prID=233
...

Ok, so I took a look around the tfl site (and from what I can tell, taking luggage would be really nightmarish - i'm sorry). I'm just confused about the cost of the day pass according to the "TravelCard" section is £6, while according to the "Tube" section it is £3.30. The travel card appears to let me use the bus and all the other travel goodies, which I don't expect we'll need. The tube on the other hand refers to the "Group Day Ticket" which I imagine is for groups larger than 2. So, what am I buying? I guess it shouldn't be a major issue, but when I think about spending $10/person for a Metro ticket I'll use for two journeys, it seems like a lot.

 

[Applespider]

A Group Tube Day Ticket (£3.30) is only for groups of 10 or more travelling together.

The single fare from Zone 6 (LHR) to Zone 1 (middle of town) is £3.80 (x 2 to get back obviously)

The off-peak Travelcard is £6 (so it's cheaper) and lets you hop on a Tube/bus later if you want to (useful if it's raining or if you have more time than expected and find time to say head along to Tower Hill to see Tower Bridge or the Tower of London, or along to St Pauls to see the cathedral).