dickinson

@Turtles06 Yes, it was yours. Thanks. I think we are moving things around (haven't purchased any tickets yet). We will be there two full days along with the afternoon we arrive (arrive into Heathrow at 1030 am) and the day we leave. We are taking the train to Southampton the day before cruise. Discount tickets are not yet available so if we do something in the morning we can take an afternoon train but I want to take an early afternoon train to have time to walk around Southampton. I had checked about going to Parliament (maybe a month ago?) but only dates were on Saturdays. I just checked and they now have dates available during the week when we are there. Oy! Now to figure out how to fit it in 🙂 We previously used International Friends at the end of our cruise going up to London and will use them this trip also. We went to Salisbury Cathedral, Windsor Castle, and Stonehenge. They drop you off at your London or Heathrow area hotel. It is an all day tour. They also have transport leaving London and going to Southampton but stopping along the way at maybe Windsor Castle or Stonehenge. This might be the company the other poster was talking about. Here is the link: http://internationalfriends.co.uk.

OMG! Shocking to say the least. Glad you found a new "home".

We found the opposite to be true this past fall on our trip to Athens. It was 7 hours later to us. We went to sleep early but we were up early and at the hotel breakfast when it opened at 7am or a few minutes later.

I am enjoying your trip so far. Thanks for doing this 🙂

I have enjoyed following along. I would love for you to do a live from on your next cruise to the far east!

Thank you. We don't have a morning open but will be able to go in an afternoon. We were in Athens this past September and one of the sculptures from atop the Acropolis is at the British Museum. The others are all in the Acropolis Museum. Here is a quote I found online: The Caryatids are the six female statues that supported the roof of the Erechtheion, another temple dedicated to Athena; they were the columns of one of the porticos. Here you can see just five of them, because the sixth is still in the British Museum. Greece wants this back but the British Museum says no. Apparently this room closes at 3Pm so we will have to be there before then.

@Eno Thanks for your trip info. Did you do this when you needed to purchase tickets for Westminster Abbey or did you just walk up. in 2017 there were no timed tickets, or at least we didn't need them as we had the London Pass which had a voucher for the Abbey.

@markeb The tickets I was talking about were attraction tickets and not the tube. @gnome12 I have tested the offline maps with my phone in airplane mode. Nope.. No walking directions or any directions. Access to the maps.. yes but not directions. @rhiannon84 Thank you for the tip about jet lag. Yes, getting outside and walking is a great idea. We did that last year when in Athens so we could "stay up" til at least 8-9 pm! @ThejugglerThank you for your suggestions. I know at the British Museum there are three things we want to see although I am sure if I knew more of what is there then I would want to see them too! If we can find two hours to be there then we would be happy.

When we were in London 2017 we did the HOHO bus for transportation. We got off at the Tower of London and after touring got back on. As for pre-booking tickets in September... I have no idea. I just know that all the sites have time slots for pre-booking and say no guarantees there will be tickets available on the day of. When we went in 2017 there were no time slots to worry about. getting tickets in advance saved us from standing in line to purchase tickets but not to enter the facility. We too are staying near the London Eye. Seems like it is a very good area to be because it is in walking distance to lots of things.

@markeb Thanks for all the info. I have google maps already but never used it. I do see that you can't get walking directions if you are offline. I was hoping not to spend the $10/day. With Xfinity I get 512mb of data for the 24 hour period although unlimited calling and texting. I assume 512mb is plenty for 24 hours. I googled about e-sim. It sounded a little complicated but maybe if I found a YouTube video showing someone using it and switching between numbers it wouldn't sound complicated. Thanks for the Express Transit info. That will come in handy. I assume one can use it if you have tickets in your wallet? Hopefully any tickets we buy can go in the wallet! Not everyone is set up for that. @rhiannon84 Thanks for the info!

You don't have to see anyone. I don't know if they still have the forms but you can purchase the FCD on the app.

@markeb Thank you so much for your informative post. We are going this summer. As I mentioned earlier, we went to London in 2017 although the other person coming with us has never been and might not be back so we want to cover as much as we can. Previously, we did it after our cruise and used the HOHO bus to get around. We went to the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Kensington Palace. I don't remember if we were there for one full day or two but I am thinking two. Smartphone- we do have an International plan. $10/day. Can you tell me about e-sim? Buckingham Palace last tour is 1715 (5:15 pm). We could probably book it slightly earlier and still have plenty of time. The tour times are every 15 minutes. I wish I took notes from 2017 to know how long we spent at each place! I did read somewhere someone's review with doing W Abbey and then Churchill War Rooms. They did the Abbey at opening (9:30) and booked Churchill War Rooms for 3 pm and said timing was fine because they had plenty of time for lunch (I think they ate though at the cafe in W Abbey). I have heard you can use google maps offline by downloading but not sure where it goes on your phone, etc. Maybe I need an app? Not sure as I have never done it before. I see you are not too far away in Northern VA. Do you remember how tired you were the next day when flying to London? Were you able to accomplish much? Thanks again for your info.

We are planning two and a half days in London. Our hotel is the Park Plaza County Hall. Our previous trip in 2017 did not need site reservations. I'm stumped on how to plan this because the tickets we purchase need times. We want to go to: 1. Tower of London (want this one first thing in morning but not sure of best way to get there from hotel. 3 of us). 2. Buckingham Palace tour 3. Westminster Abbey (probably first thing so we can purchase a Verger guided tour) 4. Churchill War Rooms It would be nice to also fit in the British Museum (not sure best way to get there or if it is walking distance) We will be flying in from USA and there will be a 5 hour time difference. One plane lands at 8:30 am and the other at 10:15 am. We plan on using the tube to get to the hotel (thanks to a post I read a few months ago). Doubt we will sleep much on the plane so don't know what we should plan on doing the afternoon we arrive. Don't know if we should purchase tickets for someplace then or not. Maybe just wing it? If we did Tower of London in morning, not sure how much time to allow here to see everything. Is Tower bridge in walking distance (I assume so but have not yet looked at a map). Should we purchase tickets for something in the afternoon? We could do Westminster Abbey first thing and do Churchill War Rooms later in day as they are near each other but where should we put Buckingham Palace Tour and maybe British Museum. It is picking tour times that make this so complicated as I don't know how much time to allow at these places and then to travel to another! My head is spinning. FYI- We are planning on taking the train to Southampton after London. I suppose we could sightsee in London in the morning but we want to allow time in Southampton (we are going the day before the cruise) to walk around the area.). We will have to pick a time to go on the train. Discount tickets should go on sale soon. We will be staying at Premier Inn West Quay. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Wow... I was just thinking that I hadn't read anything on here lately about Covid and here is this thread! Sorry to see it because I am sorry you caught it. Our cruise is in a couple of months and hope to remain healthy but one never knows.

Looking forward to reading this. We are going on a seven day the beginning of August. What ports are you going to because so far what you mentioned are not on our cruise?