last minute trip to London+

Hi, Levana, Certainly it is possible to make arrangements for yourself. Not many people, especially on these boards, suggest travel agents anymore. But you're talking about this July, right? Do you have airfare locked up yet? With short notice, both transportation costs and finding affordable accommodations will be your challenge, and in order to lock in both you'll need an itinerary to work from. So where do you want to go beyond London, and what do you want to see? What's your budget? If you give people a sense of how you want to spend 12 days in the UK, you'll get lots of ideas from the regulars here. I'll go first. I'd suggest anywhere from 4-6 days in London depending on your budget, perhaps 2 in York, plus the remainder in another place that appeals to you (Bath/the Cotswolds, or Stratford upon Avon, or the Lake District, or Dover, or even Edinburgh. On my first trip it was Portsmouth because naval history interested me.) Depending on your choices, you'd see these in different order.
Matt

My wife and I have only traveled to London three times and our stays have been six or seven days each time so twelve days in London seems a luxury for touring on day trips and seeing just a few of this town's highlights. We'll be returning for nine days in the Fall and will lodge for the fourth time in a flat, instead of a hotel. While a flat may be more costly than a B&B, it provides much more benefit as an anchor (not the least of which are your own laundry facilities which can be used while you are resting up from the day's touring, as well as a place for inexpensive home-cooked breakfasts for the start of your day's activities. First, purchase Rick's London book and that will help you walk through the several lodging location choices. He lists good hotel recommendations but not flats, so location will be the most important information together with recommended sights (British Museum, St. Paul's, etc). Fortunately the Underground is a fairly efficient and inexpensive as well as safe system for getting around this very large city. There are several relatively short day trips easily accessible as well, such as Greenwich and Cambridge. If you engage a flat, be wary of some of the relatively new operations that seemed to appear for the first time with the London Olympics. If you private message me, I'll be happy to pass on the name of the company we've used twice for flats in two separate locations and will be using again for a flat in a different neighborhood in just a few months. We've been very happy with its service and it has the benefit of a US telephone (it is headquartered in Utah). We live in Seattle and find London, even with its size, to be most hospitable and easy for in-city travel. And, a minor, but I think an obscurely interesting point, the drinking water is really great right from the tap and better than that at home where we rely on the Brita.

I've been several times and a couple times with my daughter when she was younger so she doesn't remember much. Definitely 4-6 nights in London, then she wants to go to Cardiff for the Doctor Who connection so I'm thinking a couple nights there with stops in Bath/Cotswalds. I'm looking at airfares now, was thinking an apt in London may make more sense, then rent a car for more flexibility, return to London the night before we fly out. Seems doable, right???

Seems very doable to me. Calling hotels, flat agents might be the best approach at this point. I'm always recommending people take a train to some place outside the London urban space and rent a car there. If you're headed west to Wales, Reading might be a place to get the car.

Thanks for that reminder! The first time I rented a car in London in '95 I picked it up in the city center. It was a small miracle that I made it out of town!

Kayak is great for the airfare search. Aer Lingus has good roundtrip fares to Dublin. A few days in Ireland would an added bonus on the adventure. Then an easy hop across the sea to London by ferry or air. Price it out. Airbnb for accommodations. Hopefully you'd both enjoy staying with locals. Also has apartments for rent. Simply remember to stay within travel zones and 1 & 2 to keep travel costs down. Have a wonderful stay.

SkyScanner.com is also good for flight searching. It shows the budget European airlines, like EasyJet. Not sure if Kayak includes those. Booking.com is excellent for European hotels.