Need some budget travel tips..........

[Darth_Kitten]

for my upcoming trip.

I'm thinking of keeping my eating out down to a minimum. (London restaurants are expensive)

Any other tips for overseas travel? Things to remember? :)

[MorningGlow]

1. Eat in pubs--good food, cheap

Spend time in parks and traveling the Tube to go to other cool places to walk around--minimal expenses. Don't miss Speakers Corner--wackadoodles gesticulating wildly while perched on wooden crates are always fun and free.

[fizzgig]

2. i agree with morningglow

pubs are way cheaper and damn tasty

the british museum is free (or was when i was there last)

[Darth_Kitten]

3. I'm there mostly to see the sights, museums, etc.....

so that's in my favour. :) I'll do a little shopping but things I see that maybe I can't buy at the time or are maybe too expensive can wait until I get home (lots of places are online anyways!)

I want to get things I really can't get here.....certain books, prints, things like that.

:)

I'll definitely grab some pub chow. I'm also thinking of maybe going vegetarian for parts of the trip, you can still eat hearty for less. :) And maybe I'll pick up some curry and noodles as well. :)

[MorningGlow]

Ooh thought of something else

St. James Church, I believe it is--near Piccadilly--they have a kind of flea market in their courtyard at night, and you can go in the church basement and do brass rubbings of headstones and such from their churchyard (they've recreated them in metal so the originals won't be harmed). I did one of a medieval knight. I wonder where it is...hm...

Anyway, St. James is near a lot of bookstores that have prints as well. Lots of fun to go from bookshop to bookshop all in the same area.

Also, for food--get Indian. Great stuff.

On edit: Alas, the brass rubbing center is no longer at St. James--it was moved to St. Martins-in-the-Field at Trafalgar.

[Darth_Kitten]

5. Cool! Cafe in the Crypt.....

GOT to check that out. :)

[Darth_Kitten]

7. It still is!!

I'm really going to be in my element there. :)

[MorningGlow]

8. Is it really! Great!

I googled it to make sure I had the right location and a NYT article said it had moved. Maybe it was temporary--there are always renovations going on. Fantastic--it's a fun place.

If you're looking for a good pub, I can tell you the one that has the best lager in England (personally tested, albeit highly unscientific and subject to the limitations of our travel plans of course--and my friend and I went north to York and Whitby and west to Bath and Glastonbury and all over London to find the best lager but alas nowhere else): Across Piccadilly, opposite the side of the Ritz Carlton, is a short sidestreet. It's in there and they usually have a sandwichboard out on the sidewalk advertising their lunches. I can never remember the name of the pub, although I've been twice. But trust me--it's great. The only thing that dismayed me the last time I was there was they called their chips "fries" to attract the American contingent from the Ritz. They should never cave like that!
:rofl:

[Duncan Grant]

4. Look for a pasty shop near Tottenham Court Road station. Great for the food budget.

Use what money you save on a nice dinner!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasty

edit: subject line

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. Dress as a street urchin, and people will take pity and give you food.

Or, possibly, kidnap you to work in the textile district for the rest of your life; but most likely you'll just get fed.

Londoners love street urchins. Especially if you can find a young apprentice to a cooper or a cobbler.

[RebelOne]

9. Get a train pass (BritRail, I think) here in the states before you leave.

Trains are horribly expensive. And stay in bed and breakfast lodging.

[kay1864]

10. Here are my tips:

1. Go to Paris instead. London is the most expensive city in the world. Lots of inexpensive restaurants and hotels in Paris. Food is a lot better too.

2. If that doesn't work, then buy the guidebook Rick Steves' London. Rick is famous for traveling on the cheap.

3. For the same price as a hotel room, you can rent a small apartment with a tiny kitchen for a week, that will save on breakfast and perhaps dinner. Some rent for less than a week.

[grace0418]

11. Rent an apartment instead of a hotel room. There are tons of websites

for this now, and you can get lots of pix before you rent. Just google vacation rental London or whatever city. This usually works out much cheaper and more fun for a few reasons.

1. The apartment will be in a regular neighborhood. So the surrounding shops will not be overpriced tourist traps. And you'll feel much more like a local.

2. You can pick up groceries and eat at home or pack picnic lunches. We usually eat a healthy breakfast at our rented flat, then decide what meals we want to eat in restaurants. Either we have lunch out at a restaurant and we eat dinner at home. Or we pack a picnic lunch then have a nice dinner at a restaurant (or even get carryout). This saves lots of money and is really quite fun. Perusing the goods at local markets is very interesting and allows you to try all kinds of local favorites. And there are a million carryout places (or takeaway, I should say) in London where you can get cheap eats and bring them home. The Indian food there is out of this world! YUM!

I remember there were plenty of times in London where we didn't feel like a full-on meal in a restaurant, but we were tired and didn't want to nibble while we walked somewhere. It was so nice to get some food, head back to our flat, eat, watch some British tele, make some tea, put our feet up for a bit, then feel refreshed and ready to head out again. It is possible to do that while staying in a hotel, but it feels 100x homier and more relaxing in a real home.

3. You can buy big bottles of water and other beverages and keep them in your fridge at home to fill your bottle that you're bringing with you. It's cheaper than buying a way overpriced single bottle of water at some tourist attraction.
3b. Same rule applies for snacks.

4. There aren't a million people to tip, like at a hotel. You usually have to pay a one-time cleaning fee, but it's easier to budget than all the tips you have to give hotel staff.

5. This isn't really money-saving, but it is a wonderful feature of many apartments: laundry. A lot of apartments you can rent will have a washer and dryer in the unit (it will be listed or just ask). Which means you can bring less clothing and just wash it. When you're lugging your bag from airport to train station to tube station or whatever, you'll be soooooooo much happier to be carrying half the amount of clothes you usually bring. We're going to Italy in a few weeks and we're taking just carryon bags, and they won't even be overly full.


Good luck and have a great time! London is a blast!

[Darth_Kitten]

15. Well, I'm leaving in 3 days so will not change my plans......

I'm staying at an inexpensive B & B.

I can eat supermarket and cheapie food to save some costs. :)

[huskerlaw]

12. I was in London this summer...

and yeah, it's killer expensive.

Unfortunately, I can only echo what others have already said. Pub food is cheaper. If you can, find a hotel with a continental breakfast...then you've got one meal already taken care of.

We stayed at the St. Giles Hotel near the Tottenham Court Road station and it was relatively cheap, without being skanky. It's also centrally located, just get a pass for the Underground and your transportation is taken care of.

If you're at all interested in musical theater, hit up Leicester Square for discounted tickets. I *HIGHLY* recommend Wicked. It's fabulous, and the person who plays Elphaba (the Wicked Witch) in the London cast is phenomenal.

The museums are free...and world-class, obviously.

If you're totally new to the city and don't know where things are located, I recommend popping for a sightseeing trip on the original London bus tour (or similar). You get to ride around the city on one of those infamous double-decker buses, and you get a really good feel for the layout of the city. Also, you can hop on/hop off as many times as you want for free...and the ticket is valid for 24-hours. Also, the vendors that sell the bus tickets sometimes have deals for tickets to other tourist traps...err...sights. ;) We started our tour at Trafalgar Square, the far corner, by the statue of the lady with no arms. It costs about 17 pounds. http://www.theoriginaltour.com/

Have fun! :D

[Darth_Kitten]

14. I'm staying at a B & B with a good breakfast.......

and it's very near where you stayed.

[Parche]

13. London

Stay away from naked Englishman............:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :hi:

Have your hotel stays prepaid......?

I always tell my clients to pay by credit card mostly :hi: