How to get there, how to get around, where to find stuff and how to ask for it. These are tips from the local insider to make your stay here a breeze
If you only have a short time and want to maximize your use of it and see the West of England and a small part of Wales, this is a great tour.
Booking and information
Stumbling towards the tube at 7am, you make your way to the Haggis Adventures office near Victoria Station to book in for the tour. The tour starts on a Monday and ends on a Friday, giving you time to spend the weekend in Scotland or even pop over to Dublin, if you choose. Greeted by our enthusiastic driver and guide, Kenny, we all loaded into the bus, 24 of your best friends to be.
Before we get into the nitty gritty of what makes this tour so complete, let me mention that there is a fair amount of country to cover and that means stretches of up to 2 or more hours sitting on the bus with only a potty break in between.
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The dates for the 24th annual Diaspora London Music Village Festival have been announced, and the official lineup for this popular event will be released on June 23, so we’ll update you in this space.
The 2008 dates for this free festival in Hyde Park are Saturday July 12 and Sunday July 13, running from 1pm to 9pm each day. There will be 20 (as yet unnamed) acts over the two days, participating in music, dance, and spoken word performances. The acts are all London-based and from the Diaspora community, which basically means ethnic immigrants in any given place, and in this case, London.
Organizers promise the lineup will include African, Latin, Jewish, Asian, Kurdish, East European and Chinese performance styles, which will reflect London’s amazing immigrant community that is both celebrated and controversial at the same time (although not necessarily by the same people).
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Sticking with the well connected Kings Cross Station area here is a little blurb about Ashlee House, a hostel for the more quiet inclined backpackers.
Designed by Amsterdam 24-H architects about 10 years ago, initially you might get the sense that some updating might be in order and that there is a feeling of it being a little drab. However, Ashlee house is in a good spot and has a lot of potential, barely a 2-minute walk from Kings Cross Station and just round the corner from lots of shops and restaurants. Right by the front desk is a great board listing all the activities and tours available from the hostel. Even though it is one of the smaller London hostels with only 171 beds, Ashlee House also offers a laundry, family rooms and basic breakfast.
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Greetings and salutations, fellow travelers. Over the next few weeks I hope you will join me as I explore the UK and Ireland. During this time I will be writing thumbs up or down on the numerous London hostels and others scattered throughout these regions. Due to the high number, I was unable to stay at them all so these reviews are my initial take on the vibe, the cleanliness, how friendly the staff was and all that jazz. Feel free to comment, or if there is a hostel you want to hear more about be sure to let me know.
To start with we will wander around London for a few days, deciphering the tube maps, shouldering your way through crowds and taking in the sights.
Clink Hostel
Opened July ’07, this impressive hostel is built inside a 200-year-old courthouse. Unlike most places that would have gutted the law-related history in the building, Clink has made it their own. From the court room internet café (you want to sit in the judges chair) to the soon-to-be opened “cell” rooms with heavy duty doors and all, present capacity is 400 to 500. But May 2008 they hope to have their capacity up to 650, which makes it an ideal spot for groups. Alcohol is allowed and there is a bar being built as we speak. There is no curfew, and a basic continental breakfast. The beds all have a small locker under the bed, individual lights and a nifty little locker by your head for passports and small valuables. Some of the bigger dorms have high-tech pod-style beds, which for some, could be a little claustrophobic. The halls are painted bright colors and each floor is a different color (this helps when trying to find your room).
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At 1am GMT tomorrow morning Sunday 30 March British Summer Time will officially begin when clocks are put forward one hour making it 2am. This will mean that sunrise tomorrow will be at 6.41am compared to 5.43am today and the evenings will seem to stay lighter a lot longer with the sunset tomorrow being at 7.28pm.
Britain’s latitude means that the sunsets will keep getting later until the 21 June, the day with the longest amount of daylight during the year. British Summer Time stays the same until Sunday 26 October 2008 when the clocks go backwards one hour.
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By guest writer Sara Rossini
London: Pubs. Locals. Wine. Cards. Sheep? Most travelers experience London by staying in hostels, fighting the crowds at the Tower of London and drinking outrageously expensive beers – I spent a week outside London living on a narrowboat.
What is a narrowboat, exactly you ask? A modern narrowboat is a narrow (typically 7 feet wide) version of a houseboat made to fit the narrow canals of England and Wales. You can rent a narrowboat, just as you would a houseboat, and personally pilot your way through the many canals in the London area. You can choose to stay closer to the heart of the capital, or you can choose one of the many other distinct starting points in England. Similar to a houseboat, you can moor at one spot for the entire trip, or you can cruise down the English waterways exploring the picturesque countryside and discovering a new location daily. Narrowboat holidays on the canals make for an interesting and unique experience.
England has an extensive canal network, which connects to London’s River Thames providing an easy (although, not obvious) way to spend time soaking up the sights of London while enjoying a unique experience in the peaceful countryside. The most challenging part of each day is picking an activity: from day trips into London Proper, Warwick Castle or perhaps a quiet walk through the canal villages. Depending on the length of trip, travel ambitions, and starting location, the options are limitless of daily activities made available with England’s extensive public transportation.
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A new site called Cheaptravelscout.com has recently launched as part of this same network of travel sites, and they recently featured an interesting deal for cheap bus tickets from a new company that serves both the United States and the United Kingdom. You can check out the post on the Megabus company, and you might also want to sign up for the RSS feed for Cheaptravelscout.com itself.
The new site features a flood of travel deals from all over the internet collected in one place, so it’s a pretty good spot for anyone looking for ideas for …
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British people like to have the image of themselves as courteous and polite even if that image has taken a bit of a battering over the last few decades with anti-social behaviour, lager louts and football hooligans becoming more the norm. The use of of swearing and bad language, while always being present, seems to have become way more excepted in every day life, from kids using it to casual swearing on regular tv programmes.
Here’s a look at some of the most common swear words a visitor is likely to here on an every day basis, with some people almost in every sentence.
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Spring is here and travellers and tourists will soon be arriving in London in ever bigger numbers. For the first time visitor there’s a myriad of places to go and things to see once they get here especially if the trip is only short, maybe over an extended weekend. Here’s a quick look at some of the things people coming to London for the first time might want to know about or fit into their schedule.
Flights and Hotels
You’ve booked the airfare to London but what about the hotel room. The accomodation available in London is extensive and varied, not the cheapest, if fact expensive at the higher end but there are deals if you do a bit of searching.
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While Land Rovers are probably not suited for downtown London, they are quite popular (and useful) all over London’s suburbs. These beautiful and powerful British vehicles never go out of style and are high prized among collectors. Here’s a cool site that is nothing but Land Rovers for sale, also featuring free listings if you are selling a Land Rover yourself. Check it out if you are ready to buy a Land Rover or just like looking at these classic British vehicles.
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