Would love to return to London and explore further. I plan on flying into London for several days, travel north and end up in Edinburgh (with a golfing excursion for my hubby in St Andrews...brownie points!!) The earliest we could possibly go is Fall 2011. I'm wondering if we would be smart to wait until AFTER the 2012 Summer games. When I was there a couple of weeks ago, the sprucing up for the games had already begun. For example, the White Tower at Tower of London was completely shrouded. While I understand the need to spruce up for company coming, I wonder if I'd be better off to wait until afterwards. I'd appreciate any thoughts on the subject.
Posted by
Atlanta
1358 posts
I've never traveled anywhere before or after the Olympics, but I can tell you what things were like in Atlanta before and after. There was a lot of building and "sprucing-up" before the games -- cleaning up downtown, planting trees, building stadiums -- that the city/Olympic committee did, plus a lot of hotels updated to better compete for all the business coming in. They also built Olympic park downtown. So there will be more "stuff" to see and not so much as far as renovating afterwards. The only downside I could see for going afterwards is that the hotels that update will probably really jack up their rates for the Olympics (actually, they'll all jack up their rates during the games), and they'll probably be up a bit more than usual to reflect the updating they've done.
Something else you may look for, if you're going right after the games, are rooms in private homes. Many people in Atlanta finished their basements to include in-law suites that they could rent out during the Olympics. Websites like couchsurfing or Air B&B may have info on these.
Posted by
OP
Meridian MS
248 posts
Excellent info...thanks!
Posted by
BC, Canada
345 posts
And as a BC resident who just experienced the Vancouver games, I'd also recommend waiting until after. Things are closed or blocked off, and while it may be months away, security can close some areas down altogether if they are sites of future pavilions or areas of concern. I don't think it will be as big of a problem in London as it was in Vancouver just due to the sheer size of the city, but if you wait until after many of the Olympic decorations will still be up, along with the fresh polish required for games cities.
Posted by
Bromley, Kent,, UK
1829 posts
The main preparation/building for the Olympics is taking place on the far edge of the East End of London. It is nowhere near the areas frequented by visitors or one that many people would feel the need to visit. The area where you are likely to see any activity is Greenwich where the equestrian events are taking place.
There is some disruption to the Tube lines serving the area while Track upgrades are taking place.
Most work on historic monuments is part of planned maintenance and probably would have taken place Olympics or not.
Posted by
Troy, Oh, USA
2804 posts
There is no problem with going in the fall of 2011. As Linda said that what they are doing for the summer games isn't where you would want to see. When visiting London you will always see some historic building being cleaned, etc., so I'm sure that the cleaning of the White Tower had nothing to do with the summer games it probably had been planned for a year or longerl. As for playing golf at St. Andrews your husband will have to get a card from the golf course he plays at (here in the states) with his handicap on it, he will have to show this in order to play. He will have to go to the starter hut and sign up and he will be put with another group of three or four, this needs to be done first thing in the morning.
Posted by
Boscombe, Dorset, UK
964 posts
I'd say go after. You'll get all the benefits of the work and none of the disruption.