England Trip Report- London (Part 1 and 4)

Heathrow Express, Elizabeth Line or Circle Line?

In our past trips, we have taken the Picadilly Line to Central London. It’s an hour long trip and the trains get crowded, but we get seats, as it is the beginning of the line, and it’s cheaper than a taxi. If we needed to take a different Tube line, we transferred at Hammersmith, since the transfer is just a walk across the platform to the other side.
Since our last two visits to London, the Elizabeth Line and Heathrow Express were built and we decided to give those a try.

Heathrow Express is expensive at £25, but it offers a £10 advance fare, (£6.65 with National Rail Senior Card), so it was cheaper than the Elizabeth Line at £15.50. The advance purchase, non-refundable tickets were good for any ride that day, so the only downside would be if our flight was delayed more than 8 hours, and we landed after midnight, making those tickets unusable. We wanted to try it, so that we could speak from experience.

Senior Rail Discount vs Two Together Discount on National Rail UK

In my planning and research, I was debating between the National Rail Senior Discount and the Two-together Discount. The Senior discount costs £35 each or £70 initial outlay. The Two together card costs £35. We did the calculations of our train trips for the month, with and without the discount senior rail cards. Even after paying £35 each for the senior discount card, we still saved a substantial amount of money on fares. The other factor was that the Two Together discount cards could not be used on London Transport.

We were able to buy a digital rail card in advance of our trip. We had to download the Railcard app on each of our iPhones, upload a digital photo and pay the fee online to obtain the digital card. It was easy to do online from the US. At the train stations, the ticket agents did ask to see our senior railcards and more importantly, our picture on the card. We did have an incident at Euston where my wife’s picture would not come up on the app, and they wouldn’t accept it. we had to buy a full fare train ticket for her. Later, I discovered she had her phone in Airplane mode, to prolong its battery life. Once I turned that mode off, her picture reappeared. I can’t explain it.

Oyster Card vs Credit Card on London Transport

The debate over whether to use an Oyster Card or a tap in/out credit card still rages on this forum. But I decided to go Oyster Card because I could add the National Rail Senior Discount to it and get 1/3 off the price of tube travel and 1/3 off discount on the daily cap. You can’t get a senior discount by tapping a credit card. My decision was further cemented when someone on this forum sent me their two Oyster cards for free saving me the £7 (now £10) each outlay.

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Reading notes: The planned itinerary and notes are in italics. My comments and what really happened follow in regular font. Also, you can click on the links to go to the websites of the places mentioned.

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**Day 2*

17:30 hrs. Arrive LHR. Get through Passport control with luggage. 1 1/2hours enough time?

Take Heathrow Express to Paddington Station ( 4 departures per hour) advance tickets purchased

Take Taxi/ Uber to hotel OR Tube to Kings Cross and walk to hotel and check in

19:30 ish Make decision about dinner. Too Tired? Eat at hotel? Fast food? Go straight to bed?*

Once we arrived at Paddington Station, we took a taxi (because we had luggage and were jetlagged.) I know we could have taken the Tube from Paddington to Euston/St. Pancras station and then walked to the hotel, but I also knew from previous trips to London, that the Tube has lots of steps and we were not keen on lifting our suitcases up or down the steps. so we splurged for a taxi.
The official black cabs take contactless payment, including credit cards and our taxi had a sign both outside and inside the cab stating that they did accept them. Our cab had a payment terminal in the passenger compartment and I just tapped my card.

My cab ride from Paddington Station to our hotel 2 miles away was £21. A reasonable price, I felt, for London. Traffic was heavy, but the official black cabs can use the bus lanes, while Ubers cannot. I do not know if an uber is cheaper, but from the train stations, walking to the taxi stands with lots of taxis in line was very convenient.

Because we were only in transit to our first destination of Manchester, we found a hotel near the Euston Rail station, where we would catch the train to Manchester the next day. We chose The Pullman London St. Pancras because it was walking distance from Euston Station and the British Library was right next door (we could see into the courtyard from our hotel room window) and it was reasonably priced (for London). It was a lovely hotel.

We opted to eat a quick dinner across the street at Pizza Express, thinking it would be a fast, take-out, pizza slice place, but it was a nice, sit down restaurant, with wine glasses set up at the tables. There were lots of patrons eating there as the pizza was very good and reasonably priced. Perfect for our first night in the UK.

Day 3

***9:00 Coffee and croissant at Café IFO British Library

9:30 British Library (2 hours)

Walk back to hotel (if time, see Staircase at Saint Pancras hotel)

Noon: check out of hotel, walk to Euston Station

12:30 lunch somewhere in Euston Station

13:30 Train to Manchester***

We slept through our alarm clocks, so we awoke at 8:30 am and began the mad rush to get ready for our day. We like getting to venues early or at opening time, because it is less crowded.

Our hotel bathroom shower had no doors and was a half glass divider with an open space into the bathroom. So water always seems to escape the shower area. But in our case, the shower drain was clogged and we didn’t notice it until the water had over flowed the shower area and was flooding the rest of the bathroom. To make matters worse, the shower handle was one where you had to position exactly in the middle or it wouldn’t turn off and we couldn’t figure it out.

So we called the front desk and told them to come up quick. The water was now starting to flow outside the bathroom onto the hall carpet. We called again in a panicked voice. This time the maintenance person arrived to turn off the shower. He checked the drain and it was not clogged. He went and got a plunger and plunged the toilet and the shower drain began draining. By this time, the front desk sent up a representative, and a security guard and housekeeping was called in with towels to soak up the water.

We dressed quickly and left our bags in the room and said we would be back by checkout at noon, leaving housekeeping to clean up the mess.

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We walked one block to the British Library, only to see a long line and the doors were closed. It was after 10 am, and the library should have been open. We went to the front gate and talked to the security guard. It was bank holiday and the library would open at 11:00 am. We had no idea that it was a bank holiday. We didn’t think we had enough time to do visit the British Library properly, so we decided to get a coffee and croissant at the starbucks across the street (they did accept my starbucks app on my iphone) and we walked over to the Saint Pancras hotel to see the famous staircase and took some pictures there.

As we walked back to the hotel, the library doors had just opened and the line was starting to move. My wife said I could wait in line and quickly visit the treasures room, while she went back to the hotel to get ready to check out by noon.

The line did move fast. But with a hundred people ahead of me, I was certain the place would be mobbed. But when I finally got in and went to the Treasures room, there was only a handful of people there. Where did these hundred people go? I assume they went into the reading room and found a seat to study. I quickly perused the Treasures room in fifteen minutes and left. Maybe next time, I’ll spend more time here and find out where everyone went.
We walked over with our wheeled luggage to Euston Rail Station and encountered the sea of travelers standing in the large empty concourse, all looking up at the train board waiting to see what platform their train had been assigned to 15 minutes before departure. Once the platform was assigned, people were rushing quickly to the electronic turnstiles and scanning their QR ticket codes. I will say, the British know how to queue and everyone did so without incident. We would use Euston Station several times during our day trips, and frankly I loathe that station.

As we had some time before our platform would be announced, we took the escalators down to the busy Euston Tube station. We found a TFL agent by the fare gates, who used her special code at the wall ticket machines to put our national rail card senior discount onto our Oyster cards. We now had 1/3 price discounts off our TFL fares and daily caps with some exceptions as we would find out later.

(Days 3-9) For a trip report on Manchester and the Lady Teal Canal Barge Cruise- go here (coming soon)

(Days 10-16)For a trip report of our week in the Lake District, go here(coming soon)

(Days 17-19) For a trip report on our short time in Liverpool Go here (coming soon)

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Day 19- Return to London from Liverpool

*14:43 hr. Train from Liverpool to Euston Station (2.5 hours)
17:15 arrive Euston station from Liverpool
Tube from Euston to Tottenham Court Road station (TCR)
Walk 2 blocks to Radisson Blu Hotel Bloomsbury and check in

Hotel Location decision. What area to stay? Bloomsbury

In past trips, my wife and I have stayed in Mayfair, South Kensington, Earls Court and during my college days I couch surfed in Brixton (during the 1981 riots). We decided to stay in the Bloomsbury, an area we hadn’t stayed in before and because it was near the British Museum, one of our bucket list items. It was a smart decision and we recommend the area for returning travelers. It is not the place for newbies to London.

Radisson Blu Hotel

Having chosen our neighborhood, we booked our hotel, the Radisson Blu Bloomsbury hotel on Bloomsbury Street. It was the perfect location. It was a five minute walk to the Tottenham Court Road (TCR) tube station, the stores and the hustle-bustle of TCR. It was one block walk to New Oxford Street and bus routes and one block from the British Museum. If we were walkers, we could have walked to the theatres in Covent Garden. Our hotel room on the top floor was large, air-conditioned, and quiet despite the traffic below, and it was reasonably priced for London.

I know the prevailing wisdom is to book hotels direct, but my wife uses Hotels.com and we have not had any problems. We book at least 6-8 months in advance and we always book refundable and free cancellation, because who knows what can happen in 8 months. Yes, it is slightly more expensive to book refundable vs non-refundable, but we think the small price difference is worth it and we have had situations in the past where we did have to change plans and cancel our lodgings.

We always check closer to the travel date to see if the prices have gone down but it’s been our experience for London hotels that the price goes up closer to our travel dates. As an example, we booked a refundable rate of £300/night. Two months before our trip, the non-refundable rate was now £750/night.

We decided not to pay for the hotel breakfast as part of our stay because it was too expensive. we also knew the surrounding area had lots of eateries and breakfast places nearby and I had hoped to try several of them. But next door to the hotel was a family run café called Salt and Pepper. The breakfasts were good and decently priced and we were so intrigued by the personable and extroverted waitress from Naples who spoke English with an Italian accent, that my wife didn’t want to go elsewhere and we ate breakfast there every non-busy morning.

Our initial schedule had us attending a pub quiz and pub food dinner in the evening, but the pub sent us an email two days before our arrival in London informing us that quiz night had been cancelled because of the UEFA Europa League finals.

So without a set dinner plan, we wanted something easy and light, and we decided on Dim Sum.

We found a Taiwanese restaurant called Din Tai Fung, known for its steamed dumplings.

As we walked towards TCR, I could not help but notice that the area was multi-cultural. More diverse than I remember when I first visited in 1981. Lots of young people. And bicycles! Green colored Lime brand e-bikes. Bikes with small tires that folded up to carry on the tube. Lots of them. All riding along New Oxford Street and Bloomsbury Street (that had a bike lane) dodging taxis and double decker buses. And all doing typical bicycle rider things, like running red lights. Almost hitting pedestrians in the crosswalks, etc.

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*Din Tai Fung Restaurant*

The restaurant was located in the Centre Point complex, which is a 34 story tower and block of shops, offices, restaurants and the OuterNet, next to the entrance to the TCR tube station. The restaurant had a modern décor and glass windows overlooking the plaza and New Oxford Street from the second floor. On a Tuesday night, it was full of young urban professionals still dressed in the office clothes all eating dim sum. I saw one guy whose embroidered logo on his shirt said Glaxo smith Kline. And later I found out that lots of corporations have offices in the Centre point complex at TCR. The restaurant had automated robots on wheels carrying dirty dishes to the kitchen that the wait staff had loaded onto them. Then another robot approached the wait staff with clean dishware.

The dumpling making area was enclosed with glass walls, so you could see the cooks making them. The cooks were dressed in white industrial coveralls and face masks and head covering looking like surgeons in an operating room (or a hazardous waste disposal team)

We tried the steamed dumplings, siu-mai, wonton soup and vegetables with prawns and two soft drinks. All delicious. The tab was around £60, with service charge included. And for the remaining time in London, that seemed to be the average, if not low end, price of the dinners we ate at restaurants.

I would note that every sit-down restaurant we dined at added a service charge, so I did not feel compelled to add or leave a tip.

Afterwards, we went to see if we could find the Banksy artwork that we noted on Google maps. And it's there, covered by plexiglass. But the artwork has been defaced with stickers that said “Fake” and you can no longer see the original artwork.

*Day 20

8:00 Tube from TCR to Sloane Square Tube station and follow the crowd to

8:30 am Chelsea Flower show ( 6 hours)

Tube or taxi back to hotel

18:00 hrs. Dinner Dalloway Terrace (reservations w/ cancellation fee)*

London Underground

We love the London Underground. It’s efficient, fast and the best way to get around London. And as travelers, it’s the best way to see the locals and get an idea of the fabric of the town. During the nine days we were in London, the Underground was our daily routine. A traveler who doesn’t ride the Underground at least once can’t claim that they have visited London or have any insight into how Londoners live.

So today, we left the hotel early to get to another bucket list item- The Chelsea Flower show. Fortunately, the scheduled Tube Strike for today was called off, so we were able to take the Underground to Sloane Square. As we came up the escalator to the exit of the tube station, there was a big sign showing us the walking route to the flower show entrance. As we left the station, we realized there were no fare gates and we had not tapped out with our Oyster cards, so we went back into the station and found the yellow circular card reader to tap out and then followed the crowd to the entrance. It’s not obvious where to tap out, so I’m sure others have made this mistake.

Sloane Square

My wife, upon seeing we were at the Sloane Square tube station said jokingly “let’s go shopping afterwards.” I did not understand her joke and she explained that Sloane Square is one of the most posh and prestigious areas in Central London with stores like Chanel, Dior, and Cartier. She said that Princess Diana had a flat here and was known as a “Sloane Ranger”- which stereotypically is an affluent, upper class woman of old money lifestyle and fashion.

“How do you know this?” I asked. She said she reads Royalty magazine at the library every month.

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The bus ride – hot as Hell

On our way back from the flower show, I decided to take the bus back so that we could walk to the actual Sloane Square so she could see the area. The square itself was packed with people, most of them under the shade trees in Sloane Square. Flower show refugees, I assumed. Some of the stores had large floral displays outside their stores as part of the Belgravia in Bloom festival that coincided with the Chelsea Flower show.

We boarded the #19 double decker bus and the lower level was packed. We went upstairs and got a seat. From up here, we could see the stores and their floral displays as the bus slowly made its way up Sloane Street. The bus route went by Hyde park and Piccadilly street to TCR and I thought it would be a good way to see the sites and get out of the heat, which today was reaching a record heat temperature for London.

But I was wrong, it was not a good way. It was the worst way possible. There was NO air conditioning on this old double decker bus and even with the small windows open, the bus was sweltering hot. The traffic was terrible and it took almost 45 minutes to get to TCR, when the tube would have taken 15 minutes at most. By the time the ride ended, we were sweating profusely.

My wife told me in no uncertain terms, that we were not to take the bus again in this heat, if the tube was available.

Chelsea Flower Show

The flower show was a bucket list item for my wife and we arranged our vacation itinerary around this event and the Leeds-Liverpool canal boat ride. We had purchased our tickets in late September 2025 for the May 2026 Thursday public entry and we ended up spending 5-6 hours here.

My wife was in 7th heaven as she meandered from exhibit to exhibit, naming all the flowers and plants she recognized and taking pictures of a flower or plants she didn’t recognize and then using her iPhone Photo app with its AI feature to identify the plant.
Of course, she couldn’t buy any plants or seeds, as they would never pass an agricultural inspection at our home airport, but the plants were for sale. She stopped at the David Austin English Roses booth to see the new Sir David Beckham rose that was unveiled at this year’s flower show. “A highlight”, she said.

At 9 am, when we arrived, we could easily walk and make our way to see the show gardens. We had to purchase the show guide for £18 in order to get a map of the event. A rip off IMHO, considering you have to pay £140 for admission. A map should be included in the price.

As the day wore on, it was getting hot and there was no shade, so we walked into the 12,000 square meter tent pavilion and saw all the garden exhibits. As it was England, most the exhibits were English Garden type vignettes. It’s not something we can do in California because of the drought. Still my wife had a wonderful time as I dutifully followed her around.
AT noon, we paused for lunch and now the event was overcrowded and packed tight with people bumping against each other as they tried to make their way through the crowd. We got some food at an outdoor vendor and we stood for a few minutes before we saw a couple vacate part of a table and we swooped in to sit there. Then another couple took the other two chairs and we had a wonder conversation with them.

By 3 pm, we had all seen all that we could manage to see in the extreme heat and elbowed our way through the crowd to the exit and to Sloane Square.

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As a bucket list item, we did it and I’m glad it made my wife happy. If I’m going to be critical, of the show, I would say the lack of any planning for hot weather, like providing water misters, free water drinking fountains, and more seating in shaded areas and more shaded areas would have been nice. But I guess Brits aren’t used to planning for extremely hot weather. Because of the crowds, the heat and poor crowd planning, I will always regard this as a miserable experience that I would not want to repeat. So there, I’ve warned you.

Dinner at Dalloway Terrace

Dinner was around the corner from our hotel at the Bloomsbury hotel in a restaurant called Dalloway Terrace. Its website makes it appear to be a high end, snooty type place, so we dressed up as best we could with our limited travel clothes. But it was all for naught. This place requires a deposit upon reservation and a cancellation fee for no-shows, so I was surprised to see Tech-bros wearing T-shirts. It’s an outdoor terrace restaurant, so the weather was perfect to eat outdoors on the terrace. The food was good and it was a nice experience that I would happily repeat again.

At dinner, my wife quizzed me (to keep me sharp for our quiz nights), “Do you know who Mrs. Dalloway is?” “She’s a character in one of Virginia Woolf’s novels.” “And what is the link of Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury?” “Oh, c’mon, give me a hard one. Woolf was a founding member of the Bloomsbury group which started in her home in Bloomsbury.” “have you actually read any novels by Woolf?” “Do they have any sex in it?” “No,” “Then no.”

Day 21
10:30 British museum entrance (free tickets obtained in advance)
11:30 am British museum around the world tour ( 90 minutes)(tickets purchased in advance)
12:15 Afternoon Tea at the British Museum (reservations and paid for in advance)
Afternoon: More British museum and/or a Visit to a Designated post office nearby to trade old £20 notes for new money
16:30 tube to Waterloo Station, Visit Leake Street graffiti tunnel
18:00 dinner nearby
19:30 Witness for the Prosecution- County Hall (2.5 hours)
22:00 Tube back to Hotel

British Musuem

A relaxed morning, with breakfast at Salt and Pepper. We walked over to the British Museum and the security line moved quickly. Our 10:30 am Admission was free, but tickets were required. But we also paid for a guided tour at 11:30 am. And we are glad we did. The museum is large and has lots to see, so in our limited time (and attention span), the 90 minute tour was just the right amount of time to show us the highlights which included the Rosetta stone, the Lewis Chessmen pieces, and more, ending with the Parthenon marbles (formerly the Elgin marbles).

Our guide used a microphone to broadcast to their wireless headsets and they were necessary to hear him because of the crowds. It was a good tour with lots of good information. He went overtime after another tour member begins asking if Greece has asked for the Parthenon marbles back. He handed her a pre-printed brochure that discusses the issue and continued with his spiel carefully using the term “Parthenon marbles” instead of “Elgin marbles” and after 15 minutes over the 90 minutes, we left because we had reservations for the afternoon tea in the great Court Hall that we paid for in advance.

Great Court afternoon Tea

The restaurant is on the second floor of the Great Court, which is an architecturally pleasing atrium with its latticed glass roof. The afternoon tea was your standard 3 tiered cake stand, so nothing special or unique. The restaurant is not elegant like the Ritz or Claridges, but then it’s not as expensive either. It was a good way to rest and get a little food to keep us going for the rest of the afternoon.

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After visiting the gift shop, my wife and decided to do separate activities for the afternoon. Since it was hot, she wanted to buy sandals because her feet were swelling, so she walked back towards TCR and visited several shoe stores and other shops.

Exchanging Old money for new notes

I walked to a post office on Southampton Row, a few blocks from the British Musuem, in in order to exchange an old £20 paper note that I had from 1981 and now was no longer legal tender..

It took a sharp eye to see the post office sign on the small stationary store. The post office was in the back of the store. I presented my passport, wrote down my address on a piece of paper and handed it to the clerk along with my old money. She entered the necessary information on her computer and I was given a new polymer £20 note. I was hoping to get a new note with King Charles on it, but it still had Queen Elizabeth.

At around 4:30 pm, we took the tube to Waterloo station. Upon exiting the tube station, I realized that I had lost my bearings. I didn’t know which way to go. So, I opened the compass app on my iphone to determine what direction was North and I walked south towards County Hall and the …

Leake Street Arches

If you have teens, the Leake Street arches are a must visit. This 300 meter long tunnel is full of graffiti and some of it is really good art. It’s a legal graffiti space and anyone can paint over a previous work to add their own artwork. While we were there, there was a tour group and the guide gave the tourists a marking pen and told them to add some graffiti to the wall and they did. But further down the tunnel, a woman had a box full of spray paints and we watched her spray paint an elephant over some existing graffiti and her artwork was really good.

Where the Tourists are

We had some time before our dinner reservation, so we walked over to the River Thames and to the London Eye. I’d been on the London eye many years ago, so I didn’t need to go up again, and it’s very expensive. If you want to know where all the tourists are, they are here. They walk from here to the Elizbeth tower for pictures of Big Ben and then onto Westminster abbey. And then to Buckingham palace or the other way around. As others have written, the Premier Inn at Waterloo or county hall are in an excellent location for first time tourists who have these sites on their bucket list and Premier Inns are more affordable. From Westminster pier, it’s an easy boat ride to the Tower of London.

Tourist Scams

But we were in this area to attend the theatre show Witness for the Prosecution at County hall. I made a dinner reservation at a nearby restaurant called Westminster Grill because it was convenient to the theatre. They didn’t care one bit about my reservation, but seated us immediately. Unfortunately, since it’s located where all the tourists walk by, it caters to them and IMHO, scams them. We watched the waiters present the bill to a table of a family of 4 with two screaming little kids and then ask the Dad if he would like to leave a tip, and I heard the Dad as well as other people say, “Just add 10%” or some other number. The waiter added the tip and the diner touched his card to the payment device.

When we got our bill, a 12.5% service charge was already added. So I assume the 12.5% had already been added to all the other tourist’s food bill. They never checked. The waiter said, “Would you like to add a tip?” I told him the service charge was already included and he said “that’s not a tip”. I said “Of course it is.” My wife doesn’t like me to argue with anyone because my lawyer (a**hole) instincts kick in and I can argue with the best of them. She told me to just give him a tip so we could go to the theater. I told the waiter, “OK, add £1 for a tip.” The disgusted look on his face said it all, but he added the £1.

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I will have to check my credit card statement later, to make sure he didn’t scam me by changing the numbers after the fact.

Witness for the Prosecution

This Agatha Christie courtroom drama has been on my bucket list for some time. The stage in County hall is an old government meeting room, converted to a stage theater. The cheapest seats are the nosebleed seats up in the gallery. There are two pillars that obstruct the view of the witness stand from some seats, so I don’t recommend those seats.

The Jury box experience

I wanted to sit the jury box, not only because they were excellent seats, but because of my past career, this jury box would be as close to the real thing that I would ever get to. My wife didn’t want to sit there, so I got her a seat in the courtroom stalls in Row C, which are excellent seats.

Upon arrival, I was given my juror packet, which included two drink tickets, the souvenir program and a souvenir juror notebook and pencil. I was told be there by 7:25 pm, before the show started. At that time, an actress who was the bailiff and court reporter, came out and swore each of us as jurors as we stood and read the oath from a card. She told us, since we were now part of the show, to look for her cue to stand when the judge came in and to sit.

At intermission, the bailiff told us to rip two sheets of paper out of our souvenir notebook and write the words “guilty” on one and “Not guilty” on the other. After the closing arguments from the actors, she collected one of the sheets depending on our vote.

She had less than ten seconds to collect all of the votes, so I doubt she even looked at them. She gave the foreperson in seat #1 a pre-printed set of lines to read that announced the defendant not guilty.

(The vote is always “Not Guilty”, of course, as it needs to be to complete Agatha Christies surprise ending). The acting is excellent and the drama is very suspenseful. I know the show isn’t real. But they don’t even try to strive for accuracy. The two barristers sit in seats A1 and A19 across the stage from each other. So if you are in Seat A2 or A18, you’ll be seated right next to them. That location gives them quick access to the steps up to the stage to do their lines. My only complaint is that in real life, the prosecution would sit in Seat A1, closet to the jury. In this production, they put the prosecutor in Seat A19. Still, it’s a wonderful production. The jury also gets to take a bow after the actors. and this experience was one of the highlights of our trip.

At the end of the show, it’s was now after 10pm and was dark outside. We followed the theater crowd back to the Waterloo underground station and took the tube back to our hotel. We felt completely safe using the Underground late at night.

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Day 22
*9:30 Tube to Waterloo Station

10:00 am Train to Kew Bridge, short bus ride to Kew Gardens Victoria gate entrance

11:00 am Kew Gardens (6 hours). Closes at 5 pm

17:30 River boat cruise from Kew Pier to Westminster Pier ( 1.5 hours)

Tube back to hotel

Open for dinner*

Days Out 2 for 1 deal- train vs underground

National Rail has a Days Out 2 for 1 admission deal for Kew Gardens. We had to download a paper voucher beforehand and then take a TRAIN, not the Underground, to get there.

As I stated before, we like getting to places when they open, but to get there by Kew’s 10 am opening meant taking a train before 9:30 am and those fares were expensive. I also realized now that my senior rail card discount only applied to rides after 9:30 am and that included the underground.

So in order to save money, we decided that there was no need to be at Kew when it opened.

We rode the tube to Waterloo station and I had to buy two single senior discount tickets to Kew Bridge. There was a long line to deal with a real ticket agent, so I fully understand why everyone uses the self-service ticket machines. But I needed real rail tickets to show at the kew ticket booth. We did have to show our rail cards on our iphones to the ticket agent at Waterloo to get the discount.

t was a 30 minute train ride to Kew Bridge Station. We didn’t want to walk the half-mile to the Victoria Gate entrance, so we took a bus the short distance. There were no issues getting the 2 for 1 admission. So I was happy this discount worked.

Kew Gardens

Kew Gardens is a botanical garden and not a show garden, so there are no colorful displays. The gardens are privately funded, so the cashier asked us if we wanted to donate £5 and we declined stating we aren’t from the UK. She hit on us one more time saying the Kew Gardens work benefited everyone internationally, and a £5 donation would go a long way. This time I emphatically said “NO, thank you” and she silently processes our tickets. An awkward moment to say the least. Later, in the gift shop, the cashier also made the same donation pitch. I guess the place is hurting for money.

We took the free hour long docent tour. The Waterlily house which was designed to show the giant water lilies was closed for renovation and I was disappointed.

It was another hot day, so after the tour, we have lunch at the Botanical Brassiere, the only Kew gardens restaurant to have sit-down waiter service. We did the afternoon tea service on the terrace under a shaded umbrella. It was another wonderful experience.

After lunch, and because it was hot, we took the Kew Explorer land train, that gave visitors a guided tour around the gardens. It’s supposed to be a hop-on/hop-off shuttle, but the ticket collector confided that “No one really gets off at the intermediate stops, so you’ll have a hard time reboarding at some of the stops.”

We took the land train around to stop 6, and alighted to visit Kew Palace, the home of George III and Queen Charlotte. It’s where George III spent much time here treating his mental illness. I ask my wife (who is a royal history expert), is this the same Queen Charlotte that is in Bridgerton? It supposed to be, she says, but Bridgerton is pure fiction. The palace is very small and it's hard to image Queen Charlotte and all her children living here.

River boat ride back to Westminster

We decided to take the river cruise boat from Kew Pier back to Westminster Pier. The boat was over thirty minutes late from its scheduled departure. There were at least 50 people, most with pre- purchased tickets waiting to board. we worried that we would not get on, because the boat was filled to capacity, but we were able to buy tickets from the crew at the dock and found the last free seats on deck.

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Since the day was sunny, and it was getting cooler, it was a lovely 1.5 hour experience. The views starting from Battersea to Westminster Pier were all new to me. Lots of expensive apartment/condo buildings lining both sides of the River Thames shoreline. We took pictures from the river of MI-5 and Parliament and Elizabeth tower.

We disembarked at Westminister pier into the tourist crowd. We walked along the Embankment with its views of the London Eye on the opposite side of the river, and over to the Embankment Underground. We were hungry and hoped there might be some eateries along the route. But the area is all government buildings, including New Scotland Yard, so we had to wait until we were back at TCR. We ate at Shake Shack.

*Day 23- Sunday

Relaxed morning

10:30 walk to TCR, the starting point for:

11:00 Beatles Walking Tour (2 hours) Ends at Abbey Road, St Johns Wood

1:30 pm Sunday Roast dinner at Duke of York- St johns Wood

4:15 Ben Franklin house -tickets purchased

Beatles London Walking Tour

We booked a Beatles in London walking tour. Fortunately for us, it started outside The TCR tube station, so it was a short walk to find our guide, Richard, who has written a book about the Beatles and claims to have won the Beatles Brain of Britain title in Liverpool several years ago.

It’s the largest walking tour he has conducted he said when 50 people showed up. But at each stop along the way, his voice was very loud and we had no problems hearing him. Among the many Beatles related sites, he showed us the Apple Corp HQ at 3 Saville Row, where the Beatles performed their roof top concert and then we tubed to St. John’s wood to see Abbey Road.

As we walk along Picadilly street toward the Green Park underground station, the street was packed with joyful women in colorful saris and men in dhotis all dancing and singing “Hare Krishna” as religious devotees hand-pulled three 40 foot high colorful chariots to celebrate the Rathayatra Festival of Chariots.

Sunday Roast

We took the underground to St. John’s Wood and walked to Abbey Road, where the tour ended. The tour went longer than 2 hours, so after we got our pictures on the Abbey road crosswalk, , we walked over to the Duke of York pub for the Sunday Roast. But our reservations had been canceled when we didn’t show at 1:30 pm. but after a short wait, we got a table and had the Sunday Roast dinner. No need for dinner for us tonight.

We took the tube to Charing Cross, which is next to Trafalgar square. The parade we saw earlier in the day ended here and the square was filled with a massive crowd of people, so we decided to skip it, as we’d been to Trafalgar Square years ago, and we walked over to 36 Craven Street to make our 4:14 pm admission to the Ben Franklin House.

Ben Franklin house

The visit to the house is usually a self guided tour. But today the tours were a historical experience as an actress performed a drama combined with a visual projection in each room. We enjoyed visiting the house and learning about Franklin’s time in London, but it’s definitely not a newbie must do.

Outernet

After returning to TCR, I decided to stay and watch the video entertainment on the massive screens at the Outernet while my wife walked back to the hotel. There are several 3-6 minutes shows. The seating is limited, so many people just lie on the ground in the event space to watch the interactive shows. If you have teens, they would enjoy this. But the OuterNet is not a must visit destination and I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit. It’s free but only worth it if you are already in the area.

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Day 24

*Relaxed morning

Tube to Euston Station

13:30 Train to Watford Junction (take fast train, not London Overground)

14:30 harry Potter Entrance and Dinner Experience (5 hours)

Train back to Euston, tube to hotel*

We have a relaxed morning, so we tubed to Euston station just after noon to find a 1 pm train to Watford Junction, the location of the Warner Brothers Making of harry Potter studios.

National Rail ticket vs Oyster card to Watford Junction

There are several ways to get from Euston to Watford Junction and I was still confused on whether using our Oyster Cards for payment meant we could only use the slow (1 hour) London overground trains or whether we could take a fast train (20 minutes) headed to Milton Keyes that also stopped at Watford Junction. I decided to try the Oyster card option and we tapped in, found seats on the train to Milton Keynes and got off at Watford Junction. I guess we were fine, as the train ticket conductor asked to see our tickets and we pulled our Oysters cards, and she said nothing and moved on.

At Watford Junction, there were signs on which bus stop to queue up and a WB employee there to help guide tourists to the right queue. The double decker purple bus to the studio tour was pretty obvious. And it took about 10 minutes to get us to the entrance.

Warner Brothers-The Making of Harry Potter Studio tour

I absolutely loved my visit to the harry potter studios. We spent 6 hours here, of which 4 hours was needed to see all the exhibits and sets. Our entrance time was at 2:30 pm and then at 6:30 pm, we attended the dinner experience. The dinner was NOT in the great hall, but a separate dining room elsewhere. The food was good. The dishes had caviar on them. Drinks were not included.

But the dinner experience was marred by the very slow service. For the two hour dining experience, one hour was spent waiting. I think they needed to hire more wait staff, or maybe faster moving wait staff. So I would not recommend the dinner experience, but if you are a fan or have children who are HP fans, do the studio tour.

Day 25

11:00 Visit Leadenhall market while on our way to:

12:00 Lunch reservations at Sky Garden. Paid extra for window seats

13:30 Tube/Walk to St. Pauls, then across bridge to Tate modern

14:00 free docent tours of Tate Modern ( 1hour)

16:00 tube back to hotel

18:30 Dinner at Circolo Poplare (reservations made)

You cant have all perfect days

Another leisurely morning with breakfast at Salt and Pepper. We took a different tube line- the Central Line- to Banks Station and walked to Leadenhall Market and took pictures and then walked to skygarden for our noon reservation at the Darwin Brassiere. We paid extra for a “window” table. But the term is misleading.

Skygarden and the Darwin Brassiere

The Brassiere is one level above the sky garden and “window” seats look down onto the garden. The actual view of London from the Brasserie is obstructed by the steel pillars between each glass window, so the view is better in the garden below. But this week, the sky garden was closed for maintenance and the diners could not visit it.

I was rather miffed about the closure and I asked the maitre’d why the closure wasn’t told to the diners who made reservations on the restaurant website. She told me it was my fault that I didn’t check sky garden ticket page, where it was noted.
I couldn’t contain myself. I said ”You think people come to the restaurant for the food? We came here for the view and access to the garden is part of the expectation for the price you pay for the restaurant.”

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But nothing was settled and we were shown our seats. The food, as expected, was average and overpriced pub food. I knew that when I booked. So no surprises here, but I was just expecting to be allowed to visit the garden.

So it was a lousy experience and I don’t recommend it. Just get the free tickets to Sky garden when they are open.

After we departed, my wife and I planned on doing different things. I wanted to visit the Tate Modern and she doesn’t care for modern art, she decided to take the tube to Oxford Circle and shop at Liberty’s.

Again, it was a very hot day, and I wasn’t going to walk to St Paul’s in this heat, so I took the bus. I got off at St. pauls and walked across the Millenium bridge to the Tate. I remember the last time my wife and I walked across this bridge. The bridge was swaying and my wife was terrified. But it looks like the engineers fixed the sway
.
Tate Modern

The Tate Modern is free to enter, but there was a long line at the security bag check, so I had to hurry up to the 4th floor to join the free one hour tour. The building is cavernous and most of it is empty space. What a waste! If you have been to the D’Orsay in Paris, you know that old train station space is filled with artwork. Here, there’s nothing. So I wasn’t impressed.

I found the tour which had started and told the docent I wanted to join the tour and the tour group walked over to the only artwork in a small room. It was ceramic urinal layed on its side titled “Fountain” by Marcel Duchamp. The docent spent 15 minutes lecturing on why this piece was important and I tuned her out after 5 minutes. What a piece of crap(per). Unfortunately, since I had made personal contact with her, I felt I couldn’t just walk away. That would be rude, so I endured the rest of the hour looking at rocks in a 50 foot diameter circle, and a wall of orange carpeting.

I realize now why my wife didn’t want to visit with me. She hated modern art and now after visiting this museum, I hate modern art also. What a waste of time this was. After the hour tour, I quickly walked the rest of the gallery and at least saw an Andy Warhol and a Roy Lichtenstein print. I thought after taking an art history class in college, that I would have some appreciation for modern art. I learned today, that I do not.

Liberty‘s Department store

Derek’s wife here: Our Beatles tour walked by Liberty’s, a luxury department store known for its British made goods, and bold and floral print fabrics. so rather than see Modern Art that I don’t care for, with my husband at the Tate, I took the tube, by myself, from Banks Station to the Oxford Circus tube stop and walked to the store. No tube transfers were needed.

The outside of the store is built in a mock-tudor style and the interior is beautifully built with in wood panelings and carvings. I spent just as much time taking photos as I did shopping.

As I waited for a store clerk to ring up my purchases, I was behind an impeccably dressed Asian Woman (visualize- Michelle Yeoh in Crazy rich Asians). The store clerk spent much time assisting the woman before she stated rather loudly, “Do you have anything that is non-British?” Which I took to mean she was looking for Gucci, cartier, etc. The store clerk in typical British reserve and stiff upper lip said “Madame, if you want non-British items, why are shopping here? Our store is known for quality British fabrics and clothing. I think it would be a better use of your time to shop at Sloane Square. Shall I call you a taxi?”

The woman said nothing, but sauntered off. I don’t know if she bought anything here.

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Back to Derek:

Circolo Popolare

We had dinner at the Instagrammable restaurant Circolo Popolare, which was a short walk from our hotel. Dinner reservations go quickly. The food is Italian and I enjoyed the Carbonara, my favorite pasta dish. You can see pictures on their website as to why diners want to eat here and yes, we took selfies with the restaurant background.

Day 26

Open day.

10:00 Charles Dickens museum

Noon: lunch somewhere

13:00 Postal Museum (2 hours)

Back to hotel to rest

17:00 Uber to Sarastro restaurant

17:45 – 19:00 Pre theater Dinner at Sarastro

19:30 Theatre- Operation Mincemeat at Fortune Theatre

22:00 Taxi/Uber back to hotel

Another leisurely morning, with breakfast at Salt and Pepper. We took the bus a couple of stops and then walked to the Charles Dickens House Museum. We used the free audio tour on my iphone. My wife forgot her earbuds, so I shared one my airpods so we both could hear the audio guide. We enjoyed that visit immensely and then walked over to Postal Museum and the Mail Rail. We were given a 1:00 pm train time, so spent an hour looking over the exhibits, which were fascinating.

We then walked across and down the street to the Mail Rail building. The Mail Rail is an underground railway built to move mail between postal distribution points quickly. By building it underground, the mail delivery avoided the London traffic mess above ground. The cars are very small as they are meant to haul mail, not people, so It’s a very tight fit for people to sit in the converted rail cars. The cars have a glass cover to prevent you from touching the ceiling of the tunnel which in some spots is only inches away. They’ve turned the railway into an attraction. The underground train ride stops at several platforms and an audio-visual show is projected on the walls. I thought the attraction was worth visiting even though the ride is only 15 minutes long.

After the ride and gift shop, we returned to the postal museum to have lunch in their café before taking the bus back to the hotel.

At 5 pm, we took the bus over to Covent Garden close to the restaurant and theatre on Drury Lane. I had been using CityMapper to help with travel, but the app wanted me to walk 20 minutes to my destination and would not let me choose a bus as an option. we were not going to walk in this heat, so here CityMapper failed us. I used the TFL go app, which after changing the settings to “least walking” gave me the bus number and route to take.

Sarastro Restaurant

We did the pre-theatre dinner at Sarastro. The restaurant is decorated with eclectic items and is decorated in colorful and flamboyant artwork, gilt furniture and some opera boxes. It’s a fun place to dine and of course take pictures. The men’s WC is X-rated. There are painted scenes of copulation on the walls. My wife said it was the same in the Women’s WC. So don’t bring young children here. From here, we walked one block to the Fortune theater to see….

Operation Mincemeat

We really liked this show. Five actors and actresses play all the 100 roles with lots of quick costume changes. The music is heartwarming and the story is based on a real life event. Highly recommended. I believe the show has now come to Broadway, and there is a traveling show going from US city to city.

We took the bus back to our hotel in the late night. At night, the buses run less frequently and we waited 20 minutes for our bus, which is the longest we have waited. (not complaining, just saying) Again, no safety issues at all that late at night.

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Day 27

Bletchley Park

Tube to Euston, train to Bletchley, buy paper tickets (use Days out 2 for 1 pass)

9:30- 17:00 Bletchley

Our last day in London. We took the train to Bletchley from Euston Station after 9:30 am (again, because our senior discounts don’t kick in until after that time.) Again, we used the Day’s Out 2 for 1 offer and bought our paper tickets and with our printed voucher, we got the 2 for 1 admission. The Euston train ticket agents asked to see our rail cards on our iphones. They wanted to see our pictures on the app. Unfortunately, my wife’s rail card app wasn’t working and wouldn’t bring up her photo and the ticket agents wouldn’t accept it. So we were forced to buy a full adult fare return ticket for her. Based on the good advice we got from members on this forum, we decided on the 9:59 fast train to Birmingham instead of the slow local train.

Bletchley park is a five minute walk from the train station and there are signs. But we followed the crowd to the visitor’s center. We signed up for the guided tour and we ended up spending 5 hours there, with a break for lunch at the Hut 4 café, before the heat and exhaustion got to us. It’s absolutely a fascinating place to visit and I recommend it to all who want to see how the British code breakers helped win the war for the Allies.

Back in London, we have our final dinner around the block from the hotel at Fishoria. The fish and Chips were excellent.

Day 28

8:00 Check out of hotel

Take Elizabeth line from Tottenham Court Road to Terminal 3, LHR

9:45 Use Virgin Atlantic Lounge (3 hours max)

12:45 pm Fly home to SFO

The Elizabeth Line Experience

We did our last walk from the hotel to TCR hauling our luggage behind us. My wife suggested I google how to avoid steps at TCR and I saw that the official Elizabeth Line entry gates were down the street at Dean Street, a slight walk from the TCR escalators that we had been using for a week and a half.

After the entry gates, we were able to take two elevators down to the train platform. The Elizabeth line station is modern. There were glass partitions at the edge of the platform and the train doors stop exactly in front of doors on the platform partitions. The train floors are level with the station platform floors, so there is no need to “Mind the Gap.”

The trains to Heathrow were jammed packed. It was standing room only with your luggage and we had to stand the entire way from TCR to Heathrow. Later I found out that the Picadilly Line to Heathrow was closed for repair work, so anyone wanting to go to Heathrow had to use the Elizabeth line and that’s why it was crowded.

The cost to travel on the Elizabeth line is £15.50. I calculated that with our senior discounts, we would pay around £11. So when leaving the tube station the evening before, I noted that we both had £11.80 on our Oyster cards and that would be enough.

But it wasn’t. We didn’t get the discount until after 9:30 am and we took the line at 8:30. So we were charged the full £15.50. As we tapped our Oyster cards at the exit gates, it opened and let us out, but showed a negative balance of £2.80. I told my wife our cards didn’t have enough money on it. My wife asked if we were going to get a penalty ticket or maybe they would send us a fine because they had our address. But I hadn’t registered the cards. I found out later that the system is set up with an Oyster card to allow one to exit into a negative balance, but the card can’t be used to enter ride again until you top up again to cover the negative balance. But this was our last ride and we may never top up our cards again. So we leave England with a -£2.80 balance. We sure hope we can get thru UK passport control in the future.

A very detailed summary - sounds lkke you had a great trip.

I exited Sloane Square during the Chelsea Flower Show week, and while I did tap off, I noticed there was signage telling passengers they didn't need to and the journey wpild be completed automatically. Not sure how exactly that works, but probably it was to clear the very busy station:

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/touching-in-and-out

And what an unfortunate experience at that restaurant- I would never leave a tip if a service charge applies, and they're standard now in London. I have to say I've never had this experience, perhaps as an Australian, waiters know we never tip :)

Wow, Derek such a detailed report! Thanks for sharing! We can’t wait for a return trip to London this fall!

Two of your hyperlinks have the wrong link- the Pullman London St Pancras and the Salt & Pepper cafe

As for paper tickets to Kew Bridge the ticket machines would have issued paper tickets as well, so you would not have had to see a clerk to issue them.

Yes Oyster is valid on the fast trains to Watford Junction- it is in it's own unique zone- Zone W, outside the main TfL Zones 1 to 9.

The 0930 time restriction on Senior Railcards is unique to the London and South East area (the former Network South East).

Going to Bletchley you wouldn't have had the railcard difficulty if you had purchased paper tickets from a machine at Euston. It is also interesting that an app based Senior Railcard has a photo on- I have a physical plastic Senior Railcard- it doesn't have my photograph on, and I didn't even have to submit one originally- as the application is linked somehow to my passport photograph. I am also very rarely asked to produce it. There are benefits to being low tech.

Sloane Square station is interesting for having the River Westbourne flowing in an iron culvert above the tracks- you might have seen the green painted square iron pipe. It also was the scene of a disaster on 12 November 1940 - 37 people were killed (35 on site, and 2 later from injuries) when a German bomb hit the station ticket hall at 2115- a chunk of falling roof hit a train in the station and 2 gas mains were severed and ignited.
In the interests of civilian morale this was not reported at the time (wartime censorship), and there is still no memorial to those who lost their lives.
I always pause momentarily to remember them when passing through.

At night, the buses run less frequently and we waited 20 minutes for our bus, which is the longest we have waited.

I have found that the Moovit app is good at telling you how long it will be for the next bus to get to a particular stop. It wouldn't have made the bus come any quicker but you might have been able to spend a bit longer in the restaurant.

Thanks for your excellent and detailed trip report. I will be bookmarking it and making notes for our upcoming trip to London in November.

Loved reading your detailed report Derek! It sparks my interest to see more in London. The Postal Museum sounds like an underrated gem. Did you ever find out about the tip addition amount? I haven’t had a waiter or waitress ask us for anything additional, so that was an interesting anecdote to read. Had to chuckle about your wife’s response. The situation speaks to all of us old married couples! :)

Derek, your report is a masterpiece of trip reporting. Thank you.

I enjoyed reading your trip report, Derek.

I agree with you about the afternoon tea at the British Museum. I was somewhat disappointed in it, as I didn't think the food was all that good. It was okay, but I certainly expected more for the price. I also commend your wife's taste, as I enjoyed Liberty, too. Their fabric is gorgeous, and that's what sends me there. I spent an hour or so inside and sent my grandkids off to the M&M store so they wouldn't rush me. 😂