Itinerary for 3 days in London

Everyone says not to take a nap, but for me a short nap in the early afternoon really helps. Just an hour or an hour and a half. If you're really dead -- two hours. I think you'll just have to see how you feel. Some people handle the flight very well. I'm always really tired the first day, and a short nap really helps me. I'll take two Tylenol PMs at night so I don't have trouble falling asleep that night. I wish you luck sleeping on the plane.

I agree with Carroll - a short nap [set an alarm!] really helps me after a redeye. It's not just the change in time zones, it's also that you will probably be about 4 hours short on sleep! The flight from Dulles to London isn't long enough to get much more than that.
We did the Ceremony a few years ago and really enjoyed it; have a wonderful time!

We probably won't be able to get in our room until the afternoon. Check in time is 14:00. I think it's a good idea to at least freshen up and rest a bit before we head out for the evening. Who know, maybe our room will be ready a little early!?

Hi Cindy, give yourself time to get to the Ceremony of the Keys. You should be there no later then 9:20pm. If you are even a minute late you won't get in. They come to the gate let people in then close the gate. We were there once and they just closed the gates and a couple of people came put wasn't let in. We never take a nap the first day, we just go out and then we usually go back and freshen up then go back out. We usually stay up until the time that we usually go to bed, then the next morning we feel great. We usually go to the theatre the first night and that is also a late night out but worth it.

Thanks! Is it safe walking around in London in the evening? We will take the Tower Hill tube back to our hotel which is near the Lancaster Gate tube. It's hard for me to tell even on Google Earth exactly how far of a walk it is from Lancaster Gate to our hotel - probably 10 or 15 minutes, but it is a residential neighborhood, (I think). It will be around 10:30 (22:30) at night.

London is pretty safe to walk around in at night as long as you are near residential areas, main roads, etc. I never felt in harms way walking at night as a solo female there. Even when I went to the east end!

London has tons of sometimes-manned CCTV cameras all over the place and it may act as somewhat of a deterrant to thugs.

Just be careful about walking through underpasses or dark alleyways at night as there can be creepy people hanging out in dark places, like in any major city.

Lancaster Gate is in a pretty safe area near Hyde Park and Knightsbridge. I usually stay in Kensington, which is close by, and there were times that I was walking back to the hotel at midnight wasnt scared. Just make sure you're paying attention to your surroundings.

Also instead of Starbucks, one time you may want to try Costa coffee. There is one right in Heathrow at the arrivals gate right as you leave. They are also all over London. I like Costa because its great coffee, and the pastries and Linz shortbread cookies are soooooo good! Costa is like a British version of the "Starbucks" chain. Not related but similar in the fact that it seems like there is one at every corner!

I don't nap (I'm with the "hit the ground running" crowd) but I might caution you against taking the bus tour the first day. My parents took my nieces and nephew to England a few years ago, and the first thing they did on that first day after arriving in the morning was the bus tour. Sitting on a swaying bus was just enough to put them all to sleep within minutes. If you are at all sleep-deprived when you arrive, you might not make it through the bus tour. You'd be better off to do some walking around-type things that first day.

Thanks, Nancy, good advice! Ha! I didn't think about the bus ride putting us to sleep!

We find that once we arrive in the morning (whether or not we have slept on the plane), we are revved up at that point and ready to go sightseeing. However, I think I would skip the caffeine -- go ahead and do what you can until the jet lag really winds you down, and then go take that nap for a while so you can be up and refreshed for dinner and the Ceremony of the Keys.

Hi Cindy,
I like others hit the ground running when I go to the UK or Europe (I often can't sleep on the plane), even when I have had plane delays of several hours I still hit the ground running when I land. I think it is important to try and set my body to local time which means I stay up until it is the same hour in GMT that I go to bed in back home (Pacific Time). Doing this sets my body clock to the UK time zone with very little effort. I agree that trying to do the bus tour my be too much and tire you out before the Ceremony of the Keys. Unless you and another person each take a 45 min nap while the other stays awake!! I wouldn't recommend napping between landing and the ceremony, just as you may do at home if you super tired you sleep through the alarm and as the tickets for the Keys Ceremony can't just be rescheduled the next night you want to make sure that you are up in time.

Elaine

You may well be able to get into your room early - it's certainly worth a try. I still find a nap around noon UK time is helpful, but I wouldn't try one in the late afternoon; too likely to turn into a night's sleep. You might want to try a suggestion I read elsewhere on the Helpline, to move your internal clocks by a few hours before you go. Start a week or more ahead and just go to bed/get up an hour earlier for a few days, then 2 hours, then maybe 3 [depending on your normal schedule]. This should let you get a bit more sleep on the plane [ignore the food, just put on your earplugs and eyemask as soon as you get to your seats] and will also mean you are adjusting 3 hours instead of 6.
A few years ago we flew into London on an early redeye and went straight to Stratford-upon-Avon; we had tickets to the Royal Shakespeare with Ian Holm playing Lear that night. My teenaged daughter was fine, and it's still one of the best shows she's ever seen. I really enjoyed parts of it, but there were other times when my eyes just would not stay open no matter how good the performances. Maybe if I were in my 20s instead of my 50s it would have worked.

I actually took the hop-on-hop off bus tour on my first day in London - same deal, arrived at 6:00 a.m. Hotel allowed early check-in, we took a couple hour nap, then took the bus tour. If you sit on the top in the fresh air (provided it's not pouring) it's not too sleep inducing. We also had a late evening museum entry and managed through it.

Cindy,
I flew a similar route to Rome last year. I asked my MD for a few sleeping pills and took them when my flight left @ 7pm. Slept the entire flight, landed @ 8am, and hit rome until 10pm. Never took a nap and had no problem with time change. Maybe this would work for you. Best of luck!

does anyone have a suggestion for a 3-day london itinerary that includes a day trip to bath?

After landing at LHR, immediately go to the Heathrow Connect on the lowest level of the airport. There are elevators. Buy train tix at ticket machines. It's super easy and there are lots of these machines. If you don't already have British money, I guess an ATM should be your first stop. The trains run about every half hour; be sure to pay attention and get on the right train.

Go to Paddington Station and have your COFFEE there. I don't remember a Starbucks, but there are several good places in the train station for coffee.

Take yourselves and luggage to your hotel (I think the convenience of the Paddington area makes it a good choice). If you have notified the hotel in advance they may have a room ready for you. After the coffee you may not need a nap anyway. (Do your sleeping on the plane if you can).

Go back inside the train station and down the escalator to the Underground station and buy a pass or Oyster Card for your travels around London (check out the TFL site to get the info on this). There are many postings on this Helpline about London transit.

If you want to get right into the thick of London, using your pass or Oyster card, catch a #15 bus on Praed Street in front of the train station. Some of these buses go as far as Oxford Circus and some go much farther--to the Tower of London and beyond. Ask the driver or check the sign on the front of the bus.

If you haven't been to London before, the HOHO bus is a good idea. The regular double-decker buses are not open on top, but are weather-proof and fun.

Paddington Station has a couple of grocery stores and several places to eat, so it will be handy for quick shopping.

I would probably be taking a nap later, but once in bed it can be difficult (for me) to get back outside.

You sound well-organized. Have a great trip. I stayed at the Ashley Hotel on Norfolk Square near Paddington recently. I loved the convenience of the area. The park in Norfolk Sq is nice.

Catie, if you are 55+ you qualify for special train rates. Round trip to Bath--25 GBP. The train ride is about 1 1/2 hours each way. You can take a bus (coach) to Bath from London for less, but it takes twice as long.

You will probably want to see the Roman Baths, and maybe the costume museum. There is great shopping and browsing in Bath. I especially enjoy Saturdays; the town has a party atmosphere then. For food, I recommend buying a pastie at one of the pastie shops and find a park bench for your picnic. In your three days, if one day is Saturday I recommend going then.

Cindy if you plan on the tube on weekends, be cautious as they have been closing some entire tube runs on certain weekends for engineering work. We just returned from London this past Monday. We planned on taking the Jubilee line to the Picadilly line and off to the airport. The Jubilee line as well as 1-2 others were closed for the entire weekend. The Marble Arch station was completely closed. The buses are great but a lot slower as they get tied up in traffic. It took us just over an hour to get from Paddington to the London Bridge station on the bus. CLICK HERE to see what I'm referring to.

I agree that fresh air and walking is the best jet lag cure. And after sitting all night in the plane sitting again on the bus can be a bit much. Use a Rick Steves walking tour from his guide or download one of the free ones from frommers.com and walk at least the Parliament, Westminster Abbey and up through the park to Buckingham Palace areas.

Oh and there is a Starbucks at Paddington. Its on a kind of mezzanine level right near the entrance to the Hilton hotel.

Thanks everyone for all the good advice! We will certainly be aware of the Tube closings. Larry, you mentioned they were closed on the weekends for repair. We will be in London Thursday Friday Saturday and leaving Sunday. Is Friday considered the weekend to them, or just Saturday and Sunday? I'm glad we planned on taking the Express back to airport to go home instead of depending on the Tube. This website has been so helpful. Thanks a lot!

Cindy, from our experience, it's Saturday and Sunday. As you can see from the link, some tube runs have partial closures and a couple are completely closed. It moves around. We had to abandon our tube plan and take a taxi to Paddington and the Heathrow Express to the airport. An extra 60GBP. We could have taken the Northern tube to Kings Cross but there were way too many stairs involved and as seniors, we took the easier way out. Note that the double-decker buses are really great but they really get tied up in traffic - even on Sunday trying to get from the central area to Paddington.

If you are near Paddington, you should be in great shape. 20 minutes on the Heathrow Express to terminals 1,2,3. A bit more to terminals 4 and 5.

We arrived early (7:00am) our first day as well, and since we were staying close to Marble Arch, it was easy to walk thru Hyde Park to Wellington Arch and take the free walking tour at 11:00am (www.newlondon-tours.com)that Rick recommends. Our guide was very entertaining and you really get to see a lot in 3 hours. We were lucky we had great weather that day, but it was a good way to combat jet lag and get oriented to the main sites. We felt energized rather
than exhausted. You could also take the tour at 4pm instead - they were offering both when we were there last month.