I have been a fan of American Idol since the 4th season never failing to watch it every week. I don’t see the big hullabaloo when they have changed the judges because at the end of the day, it is still a good reality TV show. So this season looks promising because for the first time a Filipino is going to the finals! Both my mom and I have agreed that when Jessica has made it into the final 12 and even though she sings like there’s no tomorrow every week, we thought that she wouldn’t be an American Idol because, of course, she’s Pinoy (half-pinoy anyway). We have predicted that she will go as far as 3rd place. But now she’s in top 2 and will battle for the title with Phillip Phillips next week. How cool is that! And…do I smell a conspiracy? A conspiracy of Filipino voters! Now that the voting system is more open (I don’t know how open because I don’t vote) and has reached the Philippine shore, I am predicting a Filipino idol instead of an American idol. I like Jessica better than Phillip only because I don’t like Phillip’s raspy style of singing. Sure he’s cute but… Jessica blows me away with her vocals especially when she sings ballad. I hope she stays away from upbeat too-old-for-her songs. I wish it was Joshua who got in so there will be a battle of diva-esque voices!

Anyway, stay tuned!

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1. AMERICAN IDOL SEASON 8 IS BACK!!!!
2. American Idol 2009 Champ
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Day 4

The day started very hectic with us getting lost trying to figure out where the rendezvous point was and almost getting left behind by the tour bus. After a moment of panic, a 5 minute mad sprint to the meeting point, we were able to catch the bus. Then rest of the day it was easy peasy because the tour company catered everything for us (except for lunch).  Before hitting the motorway to go to those far-flung tourist spots (or highway as we called it) the bus navigated around London city and we were able to do a little bit of sightseeing tour of the city. We sat on the right side of the bus (facing the driver) which afforded us great views (too bad for those people seating on the left.)

Windsor Castle

This castle was a working castle meaning the royalty use this place to perform certain functions and events and sometimes even stay here. Hence we weren’t allowed to take pictures of the interior of the castle. Boo. The tour guide gave us only 1.5 hours to tour this place. It wasn’t enough because 15-20minutes were already spent on the ticket line.

Tip: spend the whole day here. Not only was the castle very pretty but the town around it was charming too.

We saw Queen Mary’s Dollhouse which was humongous and very pretty. Then we headed to the state apartments which blew me away because they were grandiose and spectacular. My mouth was wide open the whole time oohing and aahing each room. It was really fascinating to learn how extravagant and wealthy the royal people were. From floor to wall to ceiling, everything was opulent. They even had a gold room! We also visited St. George’s Chapel which didn’t wow me much after being impressed by St. Paul’s Cathedral. I guessed we felt we had enough of cathedrals. Moreover, if you missed the changing of the guards in Buckingham Palace, they also performed this ritual in the castle.

Before we headed back to our tour bus, we grabbed a bite at E.A.T – which was sandwich to-go place. They served cheap but satisfying food here.

Stonehenge

One of my must-see in England was the Stonehenge. I had been dreaming of traveling to this place after learning about it in elementary school. And then here I was, standing on this mystical place.  We were given 45 minutes to ruminate the ancient stones which was a long time and we maximized it by taking pictures of the stones in every angle. It looked small from the place where we stood because the central area was barricaded and tourists were only allowed to walk around it. Because my mom was an architecture graduate she was really amazed about the construction and the origins of Stonehenge. We enjoyed our time here immensely especially it was a good day without a lot of crowd.

Stonehenge may looked like a pile of stones on top of each other but what amazed me was how the ancient people piled these together and that they even dug a hole in the ground to place one third of the vertical stones so that it wouldn’t topple over. Very very interesting and smart, I might say. Up until now the researchers hadn’t figure out what these stones were for. 

Bath

All I knew about Bath was in the romance novels I read when I was a teenager. Now I found out that, Bath, was simply amazing. It was a beautiful town with beautiful well-preserved architecture and landscape. My jaw literally dropped when our bus entered the city and got a great view of the whole town. We were signed up for the tour of the Roman Bath temple/museum. It was educational and the Bath water wasn’t smelly. They even had you try to drink the bath water which we didn’t do hearing that it had sulfur. My mom took home Bath crystal salts for bathing as souvenir.

What really enthralled me here was the city itself. It was a quaint and picturesque little town. They had shopping stores in preserved buildings and it was fairly easy to walk around this town if you wouldn’t mind the cobbled steps. Since we were only here for 1.5 hours we were only able to tour the vicinity around the Roman Bath museum. Bath Abbey was nearby and it had fee to enter it. Bath was also famous for Jane Austen whose two novels were based on this city.

If you have more time here, you could try an afternoon tea at the Roman Bath Pump Room or indulge in the Roman Bath spa. An outlet mall was only 30-minute drive from here.

This concluded Day 4 for us. We finished at around 7pm and the bus dropped us off near Victoria Station so we only had to walk back to our hotel.

Related posts:

1. London trip: D-I-Y
2. My London Trip: Day 3
3. London trip: Day 1 and 2

My aunts are always fountain of good advice. I always go to them if I have questions and they give me really good answers. When it comes to money, they are the best in being resourceful, getting the best bargain, being thrifty and saving up. So that’s where I heard about the great interest rate at Provident Credit Union. I’ve never thought of putting my money in small banks maybe because they’re few and are located only in one state. I always go for bigger banks that I believe will last a long time (well that didn’t happen with Washington Mutual and Wachovia as they have gone bankrupt.)

At Provident Credit Union, their Super Checking Reward account boasts a whopping  2.26% APY high yield dividend for up to 25k. That’s a lot considering other banks have only 0.10% at the most. I have already thought that I am getting a good deal with the APY of Capital One at 0.60% but apparently not. Other benefits of this checking account are: it’s a free account, a minimum 25usd to open one and no maintaining balance, free check card, and ATM surcharge rebate.

Well they say nothing in this world is for free and they’re right. The 2.262% APY only applies if you meet these 3 requirements: use the debit/check card 10 times in a month, either have direct deposit or 1 automatic bill payment per month, and enroll in electronic statements. So for those of you who don’t like to keep track of such things or don’t like to do online banking, maybe this isn’t for you.

If you’re interested in opening one, you can head out to the nearest branch or apply online to bypass the 10USD membership fee and get the first box of checks free.

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One of my must-do in London is to take an afternoon tea. Afternoon tea is an English custom started by the Duchess of Bedford on mid-1800s where English people eat a light snack before dinner. It is usually composed of tea, pastries, and light sandwiches. If you’re going to research about afternoon tea you may also encounter the phrase “high tea”. The difference between the two is high tea is more of a working class meal where much heavy food fare is served.

When I first looked for a place to take an afternoon tea in London, I saw great reviews of the one at Harrod’s. Then I saw the price and was shocked that it cost 28GBP a person! Since this was my first time to experience this tradition, I decided to be more practical with it. I found the Levin Hotel Le Metro afternoon tea for a reasonable price of 13GBP per person. I found similar price in other places but the reviews weren’t satisfactory. When we got to London, I kept seeing afternoon tea everywhere and I was so eager to try all of those places. But I would remember the time when I was at the Hampton Court Palace and bought a victoria sponge cake which I didn’t enjoy because it was dry and crumbly. It was one thing to just take an afternoon tea in a cheap place and another to experience it in a good place. A good quality afternoon tea would make the experience more enjoyable.

The Le Metro restaurant which was part of the Levin Hotel was located near Harrods. My mom and I only had a brunch in anticipation of taking an afternoon tea later that day. The afternoon tea started at 3pm and we arrived there exactly at that time, starving and tired from the morning’s expedition. The restaurant was small and intimate, not very touristy. The tables and chairs were a bit crowded. There were not a lot of customers eating at that time. Although prebooking was recommended (I was booked for 430pm), they accepted walk-in especially if it wasn’t crowded anyway.

We were seated to our table and was asked about our tea preference. My mom chose chrysanthemum while I chose moroccan mint. A few minutes later our dishes arrived on a two-tiered serving dish. We were dismayed that it looked few. But we set that disappointment aside and began enjoying our afternoon tea. 

We had two sets of everything – each for my mom and myself: three different types of sandwiches, that famous scones and the clotted cream and raspberry jam on the sides. Clotted cream which sounded exotic was actually cream butter. There were three different kinds of pastries: macaron, chocolate cake and lemon bread. Our tea was refilled every time.

I didn’t know if we were hungry and tired but the food was delicious. The sandwiches were great-tasting ( nothing extraordinary but good) – having salmon, cucumber, and ham fillings. Both my mom and I enjoyed the scones with the raspberry maison and clotted cream. The scones were soft and warm. The maison was a perfect complement with the cream and scones. Yummmm. The tea we picked out was a bit weird for us. I liked the mint flavor in my tea though. My mom’s tea was a bit light and bland for my taste.

By the time we finished with the scones, we were so full! I couldn’t believe these  small snacks could fill us up quickly. We hadn’t touch our desserts yet! We decided to eat the macarons being small and had the rest of the others to-go. The macarons were ok. Nothing special. It was orange flavored. It didn’t compare to the one I bought from the French patisserie, Laduree, in Covent Garden.

When we asked the waitstaff to pack up our remaining desserts, she was a bit confused and had to ask the chef if they could do to-go. In all my research about London, somehow I didn’t find out if it was bad manners to take home the leftover food. Being Chinese, we didn’t want to waste those foods. Hey they were still good for breakfast! The waitstaff returned with our remaining desserts wrapped in an aluminum foil. I asked for a paper bag to put it into but she said they didn’t have it. Luckily we had shopping bags so we put the food inside. I believed it was really a major faux pax to ask to take home leftovers.

Anyway, this concludes my afternoon tea. It is a good experience one I would like to try again. My advise is to look for a reasonably priced restaurant with good quality afternoon tea food – that way it will be all worth it!

No related posts.

Day 3

This was the day when our legs really gave out and we burned a lot of calories. So it was a beautiful cold day. We started out first at St. Paul’s Cathedral because that opened at 830am. May I tell you that St. Paul’s Cathedral was one of the most beautiful churches I had ever seen! Unfortunately I only had photos of the exterior of the building because photography inside the building wasn’t allowed. This was a must-see place in London. The highlight of this place was the Whispering Gallery, which could only be reached by climbing 257 steps. But the reward was worth it. The place was so high and the view from the top was amazing. The painted ceilings were spectacular. We rested for few minutes on top before going down again. Fortunately the Stone Gallery and the Golden Gallery were under construction so that saved us additional hundreds of steps up.

We exited the cathedral to go to the Globe Theater crossing the River Thames via the Millennium Bridge. I thought this was a long walk but it wasn’t. It was a pleasant walk on the bridge which was famous for being one of the scenes in the Harry Potter movies. We saw school kids sitting on the bridge drawing their surroundings for their art class. Just a few steps away from the other end of the

bridge was the Globe Theater and fortunately we arrived just in time for the next tour presentation. The Globe Theater was an ok place. It was a bit disappointing to find out later that it was only a replica and not the original Shakespeare theater house. The tour presentation lasted 30minutes and the place was small to tour around. I guessed this would be a good experience if you actually watch a play in it.

After that tour, we stopped a bit for lunch near the London Bridge before going down to the Westminster Abbey. The London Bridge bridge wasn’t really that fancy bridge that the rhyme alluded to. It was just an ordinary concrete bridge.  The Millennium bridge and Tower Bridge were more impressive.

We hopped off the Westminster Station where we saw the Big Ben, London Eye and the House of Parliament in their full glory. Big Ben was a spectacular sight! Make sure to walk to the middle of the bridge to take a photo of it.

From there we walked towards Westminster Abbey, the abbey where Prince William and Duchess Kate got married. As far as the place went, this was a letdown. It looked old and depressing inside. It was full of crypts of famous people and I wasn’t impressed with seeing crypts. When I saw the wedding coverage of Prince William and Kate I couldn’t help wonder why that abbey was so bright and clean and the one we went to was dark and littered with crypts. Anyway at least I got to say that I was able to step inside that church where the royal people got married. Oh we were not allowed to take pictures inside so I couldn’t show you how gloomy the interior was.

From the Westminster Abbey, we took a long walk to Banqueting House via the Whitehall street. We could have ridden a bus but we didn’t know how to read the bus route yet. Along Whitehall Street we saw the Downing St. where the Prime Minister lived (you couldn’t actually go inside that street), the Horse Guards Palace where there was really guards…on a horse and finally the Banqueting House. We rested a bit in that house since the only highlight of that house was the Reuben painted ceiling. 

Because we were so tired and wanted to rest for a moment, we decided to skip going to the Monument, which was a blessing because we would have climbed more than 300 steps to reach the top of that building. So after our rest, we headed down to the Tower Bridge via the Tower of London route, which was a mistake because it was a longer route.

The Tower Bridge was really impressive up close. A lot of people mistook the Tower Bridge for the London Bridge. They were 2 entirely different bridges but the Tower Bridge was the one depicted in ref magnets, postcards, and other souvenir items. We went to the exhibition and walked the walkway to view the city of London. The walkway was that middle horizontal area of the bridge. Unfortunately that time the lift to the walkway was close so we had to climb up 207 steps. After quick photo-op here, we went down (via a lift, thank God!) to the bottom of the bridge and got out. We skipped the museum and gift shop here because we had to go to the Tower of London, which was closing in 30 minutes.

The Tower of London was quite fairy-tale like from the outside with turrets and all but the inside was a different story. The only highlight here was the Crown Jewels exhibit. Unfortunately that exhibit closed early so weren’t able to see the Jewels (this was actually one of my travel bucket list ) After finding out that I couldn’t see the Jewels, I lost interest in the place. We still wandered around the tower and took some photos. It wasn’t really pretty inside because it was modernized much and compared to the Windsor Castle (the fanciest castle I saw), it was bare and dry.

Our day full of climbing steps didn’t end in the Tower Bridge. Later when we went to have dinner at Covent Garden, we exited the Covent Garden Station. Upon getting off the train, my mom and I were puzzled why people were rushing to the lift. So we decided to take the stairs because the lift was so crowded and taking too long. 193 flights of stairs later we finally realized why people were so eager to take the lift. So here’s a tip: if there’s a lift, use it! After having our dinner, my mom and I sluggishly went back to our hotel to pamper our feet for the day’s hard work. I couldn’t believed we climbed almost 700 steps!

We used London Pass to gain entry to all the sites we went to see that day. So another tip, buy a london pass!

Related posts:

1. My London Trip: the overview
2. London trip: Day 1 and 2
3. The benefits of the London Pass

It was true that London was a very expensive city. So before I left for London, I scoured the internet looking for discount tickets and lowest priced tours. To wit here were the cheapest price I saw and spent for my trip:

So what is the London Pass? The London Pass is a sightseeing city card – like a credit card with a computer chip inside – which gives you entry to a choice of over 55 popular tourist attractions in the city. It can be bought for different duration from 1 to 6 days. Other benefits include: skip the line pass, free guidebook, discount in some theater tickets, shops, and restaurants, and free audio guide in some tourist spots. Combining it with a Travelcard, the London Pass can be used in public transportation even riding the boat on the River Thames. Go to their website and check out the list of tourist spots that it covers.

Lets consider my trip. I bought a 2-day adult London pass for 61GBP. I was able to use this card on Days 2 and 3 of my trip. Since I had an oyster card, I didn’t buy the pass with a Travelcard. Here were the sites I went to with the London Pass and the corresponding entrance fee without using the London Pass:

As you can see I saved a lot from using a London Pass. Not only that, there was discount available on some theater tickets, restaurants and shops which I forgot to use when I was in Crest of London and St. Paul’s Cathedral. The skip the line feature wasn’t applicable to us because it was the low season but this would be highly recommended when you’re going to travel during the summer touristy months. I would also like to add that this pass would be better for travelers who could cover a lot of attraction sites in a day. I was supposed to do that but my mom and I got tired after the 4th tourist spot and we had to take a break and skipped a tourist spot. Furthermore a lot of these sites closed at 5pm so it was really a race against time and fatigue when I wanted to maximize my London pass.

Before I end this article, I’m going to let you in another secret tip: buy the pass at Globe Trips because they sells it cheaper than the London Pass website.

Related posts:

1. London trip: D-I-Y
2. My London Trip: the overview
3. London trip: Day 1 and 2

I am now officially an aunt after my sister gave birth to a cutie baby girl last friday. She is such an adorable baby with the famous Pe family big squeezable cheeks! Nicknamed Leely, my mom has her picture on her Ipad and she often gazes at her distracting her from her usual Bejeweled game routine. We sometimes skype with my sister just to see the baby sleeping (or most of the time hear her crying). Babies are so fussy. I mean it’s hard to really know what they want and calm them down. And they a week old baby does nothing but sleep, cry, eat, poop, pee, sleep, cry, eat, poop, and pee. I want to see her playing already. Oh well. Unfortunately I won’t be able to visit her anytime soon so I’ll content myself with pictures of her in my sister’s facebook. Isn’t she so precious?

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Day 1

We flew to London with Virgin Atlantic and arrived at London Heathrow airport a day later than US time. We sat on economy seats and it was pretty cramped. Food wasn’t too good. Toilets were not cleaned well and it was a tiring flight for me because I didn’t get any good sleep. I was surprised with Heathrow airport how old looking it was. It was comparable to the NAIA Terminal 1 in the Philippines. After getting our luggages we immediately headed to the Underground Terminal to take the subway train to the city. In that terminal we also bought oyster cards to be used for the whole trip. The underground system of London was very easy to understand. But it didn’t stop me from taking the wrong train. The trains had luggage space and it wasn’t too crowded in the terminal station. Anyway we arrived at Victoria Station and pedestrians were kind enough to point out direction to our destination.  We were so tired and jetlagged by this time but the excitement of finally being in London  fueled our wakefulness. After leaving our luggages in the hotel, we headed straight to Leicester Square (pronounced as Lees-ter) to get my London Pass tickets. After a relaxing late lunch at Cafe Koha, my mom and I walked towards Trafalgar Square and from there walk to Buckingham Palace via the Mall. We saw Nelson’s Column, the impressive Admiralty Arch, then walk past St. James Garden finally stopping at Buckingham Palace. The Palace wasn’t wow-ish for me because it looked like an ordinary government building. It’s not a fairy-tale kind of palace. I got to see the balcony where Prince William and Kate kissed though. *wink*

So after the photoshoot at the palace and the Queen Victoria’s Fountain, we walked down the Constitutional road to view the Wellington Arch. Boy that was a loooong walk! The Wellington Arch wasn’t impressive as the Admiralty Arch so we were quick to leave the place. The jetlag was bearing down on us and coupled with the cold and rainy weather, we were so tired that we decided to go back to the hotel where we crashed and didn’t wake up till the next morning.

Day 2

Our itinerary for the day was Hampton Court Palace and Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum for the day and hopefully the Queen’s Gallery if we can make it. Many of the tourist sites opened 10am so there was no rush getting ready. However it was a 40minute journey from Victoria Station to Hampton Court Palace so we left at 920am.

We boarded the DLR train at the Victoria Railway Station to get to the Hampton Court Palace (with a transfer at Clapham Junction). We didn’t have to worry about purchasing tickets because we had our oyster card! We arrived at HCP ten minutes past ten, which is good because the palace opened at 10. We didn’t go to the ticket booth but walked directly to the entrance gate because we had London Passes which gave us free entry to the palace! Later I’ll tell you all the good stuff about the London Pass.

The palace was so pretty. The interior were not so after seeing Windsor Castle later that week. It was well-maintained and renovated – you won’t get too much historic feel here. We went inside the palace to view the state apartments but what truly enthralled me were the gardens. It was soooooo beautiful and expansive. I got to meet King Henry himself too! We also got in the maze garden which had me panicking because I thought I wouldn’t get out that place. Without any tactics or strategies we were able to arrive at the center of the maze and the exit too. Phew!

We brought some sandwiches which we ate at the garden with beautiful daffodils serenading our view. My mom and I shared a lunch at the Cafe. That place was busy with the lunch crowd. Before heading back to the station to go to our next destination.

It was important to stick to your train schedule because when we arrive at the HCP station, the next train to Wimbledon was another 15minutes. We had a tour guide appointment at Wimbledon at 230pm and we were able to leave HCP at 215pm. So anyway, we hopped off at Southfields Station and caught a bus (493) to the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum. Suffice to say we didn’t make our tour group and there wasn’t any later tours that day. We still checked in for free because of our London Pass and was able to visit the museum and Centre Court. (Note: it is essential to pre-book your guided tour of the museum.)

I was a huge tennis fan. I followed Martina Hingis career pre-Williams sisters. All  around Wimbledon they placed quotes from famous tennis players who played at the Wimbledon. It felt electrifying to be there even though the place was dead. I was imagining those tennis players that I know here in Wimbledon. For people not joining the guided tour, the only way you can view Centre Court was through a glass box. But…for us, we were sneaky and were able to enter and set foot at the bleachers of the Centre Court because some children were playing from the inside and opened the door for us. Hihihihi. From Centre Court we walked to Number 1 court. They looked..the same. After having our fill of the lawn courts we went to view the museum and the gift shop.  

It was such a cold day and after finishing the museum and boarding the bus and train, we arrived back to London center past 5pm. The museums were closed by then so the only thing to do next was to eat dinner. After dinner at Leicester Square, we walked around Picadilly Circus (I didn’t know how we arrived here) then went to souvenir shops to buy souvenir stuffs before heading back to the hotel.

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After a guilt trip from a medical rep (she raised her eyebrow at me for not taking enough vitamin supplements and fruits and vegetables), I decided drive down to Trader Joe’s to buy my weekly allowance of bananas. I don’t think I need more than that when I’m already taking vitamin E and B12. There is such thing as hypervitaminosis, you know. So I have the banana in my basket then I make a quick look around of the produce/fruit section checking if there is something more worth buying. Then I have spied on the heirloom navel oranges. I haven’t tried one before and I thought that I should buy some vitamin-c rich food because I hate my Kirkland chewable vitamin C (it is so big and hard on the teeth!) I never have the luck of buying sweet-tasting oranges.  I have bought oranges that made permanent grooves and lines on my face and my teeth screamed for help! I have tried the clementine oranges from this store too and they have been sour. But since these oranges are small, I think that they may be sweeter at least.

I had my first bite last night after dinner. The oranges were really really sweet! I loved it! I finished 4 of them instantly. My taste buds rejoiced and my teeth were pleased. There were about 12-15 oranges in a bag so I was thinking of going again later at Trader Joe’s to buy another bag. 

They say that the heirloom navel oranges are descended from Washington navel oranges, the best navel orange there is. All I can say is, I don’t care. I am going to buy another bag! There is no hypervitaminosis with Vitamin C since it’s water soluble and easily excreted by the body. Aside from Vitamin C, navel oranges in general are rich in antioxidants like beta-carotene, Vitamin B6 which boosts hemoglobin in the bloodstream, potassium which maintains electrolyte balance, calcium and magnesium.

Therefore I conclude, eat up!

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For people planning to travel to London, let me share you my insights of my recent London trip. First of all it was hard to find informative blogs about London. I was looking for a Londoner’s take on London – the food, the price, the places, etc. I relied heavily on the London guide books I borrowed from our public library. I even took the map with me to London (I didn’t see any free city maps available in the airport). As with every trip, I planned this vacation to the dot so almost everything ran smoothly for us during the trip. I even joked to my mom that I became her tour guide because I would name her the places which I remembered from too much reading of the guide books.  Our itinerary was a bit laid-back. Having learned from my “amazing race” in Japan, I became more lenient with my itinerary. However at the end of each day, our legs were still screaming for rest!

Time your vacation to London

When you’re going plays a big part of your trip because it would affect the weather, the opening/closing time of the sightseeing spots, the holidays, the crowd, and the cost. My trip happened mid-March – after winter and start of spring. It was cold – averaging 53F and it only rained once which according to the general consensus March had the least rainy days.  Since it was spring, the daytime had become longer so darkness fell at around 6-7pm. Hotels and airfares were cheaper that time because it still had the winter rate promo.

There weren’t a lot of people or tourists on that week. We came prior to the Olympics 2012 and before the Queen celebrated her Diamond Jubilee (but it would be nice to have attended these events.) A lot of the tourist sites we went to didn’t have a line so we breezed in and out of the buildings easily. Because they were preparing for the Olympics, there were many engineering works going around the city causing traffic and route diversions. Also at this time, some sightseeing spots were closed like the Buckingham Palace – bummer (tours happen only on Summer) and Kensington Palace (closed for renovations). The opening and closing hours were shorter too – instead of 6pm some sites close at 5pm. It was really important to research the opening/closing days and times of the places you’re interested of going.

Hotels/Accommodation

London was a very expensive city. I couldn’t find a really decent hotel in under 100usd for 2 people per night for 6 nights. Then I discovered Airbnb where I got my room (a very big nice clean with big private bathroom) for 95USD/night! The location was convenient because it was near the Pimlico Station at the Victoria area where the Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, St. James Park were few miles away. Plan to book your hotels near an underground station because it would definitely be  convenient to go around the city that way.

Travel Money

I would suggest that travel with your credit card preferably Visa or Mastercard (I read somewhere that American express wasn’t too popular). I withdrew money from the ATM with a big sign saying “free withdrawal service”  at the Victoria Train Station and it gave me the most ridiculous exchange rate! The market rate that time was 1.58 to 1.60USD to 1GBP. And the exchange I had was 1.68USD for 1GBP. Because I didn’t want to worry getting cash from somewhere, I proceeded with that transaction. It was a good thing that I didn’t get charge for withdrawal fee or commission fee from the ATM and conversion fee from my bank. I used Capital One which made true to its promise of no foreign transaction fee and withdrawal fee.

Almost all restaurants, pubs, stores accept credit cards. With my mom’s Capital One credit card, we didn’t have to worry about being charged a foreign transaction fee even for a small 10GBP purchase! Go Capital One! (Yes I’m endorsing Capital One for free *wink*)   The only place that wouldn’t accept credit cards would be the stalls or small shops in market fairs like the Portobello market. So bring cash if you plan on buying items from such marketplace!

Commuting

The oyster card was an invaluable tool to our trip. The fare you pay with the oyster card was cheaper than if you pay in cash. The card could be used in trains, subways, buses and with its automatic price capping, it would give you the lowest fare without you analyzing it. The maximum fare you will pay (for zone 1 and 2, off-peak) was 7.20GBP – regardless of how many trips you take that day which is the same price as paying for a London Travelcard. It had a non-refundable 5GBP deposit though. It could be bought in the airport and topped up in all subway stations.

Going around London was easy because of its underground subway system. From Heathrow airport to London center (Victoria Sta.), it had only cost us 2.90GBP with an oyster card, off-peak price and took us 40minutes. We thought that the stations didn’t have elevators so we would tote our heavy luggages up and down the steep stairs. Only belatedly when we had to leave for the airport did we realize there were elevators or lifts (as British would say) at the end of each platforms. 

Bus or subways? We used both. Subways were easy to figure out (unlike in Japan) and platforms were easy to find. Buses were convenient because there were a lot of them. It was nice to use the bus because it would take a longer time to go to our destination meaning it would give rest to our tired feet. There were a lot of roadwork though so we hit traffic sometimes but not too bad. With double-deck buses, we were able to do some sightseeing too when we sat on the 2nd deck of the bus.

Walking around the city was good too although very tiring. We walked from Trafalgar Square to go to the Buckingham Palace then to Wellington Arch at Hyde Park. That was such a long walk! However the area was surrounded by gardens and interesting architecture so it was also a pretty long walk.

Travelling outside of London

The countryside of London was beautiful. There were rolling grassland with cute sheep and lambs scattered about the hills. For trips to the outskirts of London, I employed the services of Golden Tours. I booked 2 day trips: one – Windsor, Stonehenge, and Bath; two – Leeds, Dover, Canterbury and Greenwich. Because these places were really far, it was wise to hire this tour guide service to drive us there. The tour included our bus ride, tour guide and entry tickets to the places. The down side of these tours were the time for each place was only 1 to 1.5 hours – not enough to enjoy the place. For example, in Windsor Castle, we were given only 1.5hours to tour the state apartments. My mom and I just breezed through each room ooh-aahing each room for 3 seconds max. I would have loved to stay and linger a little bit longer in each room because they were so amazing! Much of the tour was spent inside the bus which really showed how far these places were. But I think this was the best way to go if you want to tour these places.

Food and Shopping

For food, cheap foods can be had in pubs and some restaurants. Most of the entree course was priced at 10-15GBP. The serving portion was a bit small enough for 1 person. Some restaurants offered course menu where 2 courses could be priced at 10.99GBP. We saved on drinks by ordering tap water. The tap water in London was drinkable (according to articles) so we didn’t have to purchase drinking water to use for our travel. One funny thing happened to us was we didn’t know that asking for takeaway box for our leftover food was not customary in London. When we had our afternoon tea, we couldn’t finish all of the pastries so we had to ask a doggie bag to take home. It would be such a waste to throw them. The waitstaff was puzzled with our request and had to ask the chef if they do that. So it was a bit embarrassing that we had to take home our leftover food wrapped only in aluminum foil because the restaurant didn’t have takeaway boxes or bags.  For shopping the prices were the same price as that of in the US but you would just be paying in pounds (today’s rate at 1.58). Like in Starbucks a frap was 3.20GBP in the US it was 3.20USD. Even London brands weren’t cheap like the Mulberry, Burberry, etc. Some stores had tax-free shopping sticker and foods didn’t get taxed too. If you had the London pass, you could get discount on some stores by presenting your pass. We forgot to use this when we bought something at Crest of London and St. Paul’s, where we could have 5GBP off and 10%off respectively for our purchases. For souvenirs, buy those items being sold in the tourist spots. They were prettier. Another tip, don’t buy souvenirs in Harrods but buy your Harrods souvenir in the airport where they sell the same things but cheaper price.

Free things in London

Most museums of London had free admission. We were not a big museum fan so the only museum we went too was the Victoria and Albert Museum, which was really pretty. I wished I could have gone to the National Gallery too. The audio guide in most sightseeing places were also free. London was full of big gardens or parks where you can just relax or have picnic. Open markets were free to go to and sold cheaper stuffs than those found in stores.

I’ll be mentioning more DIY stuffs as I write the story of my London trip. I hope the things I said here help though.

Related posts:

1. My London Trip: the overview
2. My trip to Macau
3. A side trip to Osaka