Looking for ideas (something different)

Hi All

I have just booked my Flights in to Heathrow for next year cruise out of Southampton.

I fly in on Friday evening 17;30 and cruise leaves Southampton on Sunday.

I was born in the UK and lived there until I was eleven. I have probably visited London 60 times in the past 20 odd years. The only major tourist site I haven't seen is Buckingham Palace and Churchill War rooms. I have holidayed many times in the South of England including Southampton environs.

I will be using public transport (trains, buses, coaches)

I am looking for ideas on what to do? I do love the West End shows, so thinking of maybe catching a Saturday matinee show and then heading down to Southampton that evening by coach or train, whichever is easier. I will have a 20kg suit case with me. I don't use taxis or private cars.

It is easy to kill time in London and though I have been to all (well most [emoji6]) the museums and galleries before I would visit them again.

Does anyone know of something different that is off the beaten track they can recommend. I would say I am pretty familiar with London and it wouldn't be unusual for me to walk about 15km each day I am there.

Or alternatively anything new happening in Southampton? I was last there in the summer of 2017, I took my niece to Peppa Pig World [emoji200][emoji241][emoji6][emoji6]

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Here's a website with a few ideas: https://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/quirky-and-unusual-things-to-do-in-london

And another: https://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/sightseeing/quirky-london

Thanks for that. Some of sites I have been to before but a few I haven't heard of.

I'll keep those in mind

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The Imperial war museum had a major renov in 2014. We went in July and it was excellent. That with Churchill war rooms would be a good day and add a pub over by southwark?

If you can get some cancellation tickets, the new Harry Potter play is supposed to be great.

I am reluctant to advise a "Londoner", but we did a short visit a couple years ago. We flew in on a Thursday and made our way to the West End, staying at the Every Hotel. Very quirky, but comfortable and well situated for shows. The theater showing Book of Mormon was literally next door. Other theaters were nearby. We saw a Saturday matinee, stayed the night and took the National Express Coach from Victoria Coach station to Southampton the day the cruise left. We did use taxis to get to Victoria Coach station, but it was not that expensive. The Hop on Hop off leaves across the street from the Every Hotel. We used that to get to a couple places on Friday.

How long was the coach journey? What was the traffic like

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How long was the coach journey? What was the traffic like

 

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The National Express is about 2 hours, depending on traffic. We went on Sunday and I thought traffic was lighter.

Grand thanks for the info

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If you are interested in the Harry Potter play, right now they are only booking up until April 7, 2019. Which means if you are sailing after that, you do have a chance to get tickets.

When we booked our cruise & pre stay in London for this year, I was happy to see tickets were not yet on sale for our dates. I signed up for their email list and I got notified when the tickets were going to be on sale. It was for 11am in London, which was around 4am for us here in Colorado. We got up and went in to the "virtual waiting room" on 4 different computers. At the time, they had two different agents who sold the tickets, so we had two computers for each agency. Our number came up at the first agency, and there were no seats together. Since logically we figured that the two agencies didn't have the same block of tickets, we waited for our number to come up with the 2nd one and we got a pair together.

Obviously we desperately wanted to see the show, so it was worth it to go through all that. This time a week from tomorrow I will be sitting in the theatre watching the 2nd half!

The Sir John Shane museum in Lincoln’s Inn is worth a visit if you haven’t been and so is the Leighton House Museum at Holland Park Avenue.

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Thanks for all the great ideas. I might have to plan a separate trip to fir3it all in [emoji4][emoji6]

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We thoroughly enjoyed our tour of Buckingham Palace. It includes an audio device that you could listen to as little or as much as you wanted in each room. We upgraded to include the garden tour as well. It was a nice addition--just a small group with two guides and a third staff member.

I lived half a year in London after college. And the spring before that, I went with a group from my university and studied for a month. During that time, I saw most of the major attractions--I had to for a good grade. But Buckingham Palace is only open a short time later in the summer, so I had never been inside before.

This year we're spending five night before our cruise in London. My plan is to take a cruise up the Thames to Hampton Court the first day. I saw that in high school, but DH never has. We have tickets for Hamilton the second afternoon. The third day I'd like to go to the Globe Theatre and Tate Modern. We'll try to see some other shows as well. I'd like it to be something that's not a world-wide phenomenon. Last year, for instance, we saw Half a Sixpence.

There's an all Berlioz concert that's part of the BBC Proms one night. There are still a few seats left as of now. We may head up to where I used to live and work in Hornsey. We stopped at the club where I worked on Pall Mall last year.

Of course, if you want to go further afield, Windsor Castle, Hampton Court, Harry Potter Experience, Southend for an old-fashioned seaside, Hever Castle, complete with moat, RHS Wisley if you are interested in horticulture, and Leeds Castle which is in Kent, not Yorkshire.

All of these are within an hour or so of London and can be accessed by public transport.

Oh; don't forget Paris by Eurostar. A long day but inexpensive if booked well in advance.

Brilliant [emoji23]

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Here's another idea that I found - Secret Tours. They take small groups to parts of London that even locals are probably not aware of.

If you thought you knew London, think again!

On this Secret London Walking Tour, Matt and his tour guides will reveal forgotten corners of London, taking you along gas lit alleys and past great old pubs, regaling you with stories of superstitions, secret societies, body snatching and murder.

Suitable for Londoners and tourists alike, you can expect to:

• Discover what was once the smallest police station in the world
  
• Walk down streets and alleys which were the inspiration for Diagon Alley in Harry Potter
  
• See the most superstitious hotel in the city
  
• Discover one of the 7 noses of London!
  

A tour not to be missed!

https://uk.funzing.com/funz/a-secret-london-tour-6348?internal_ref=recommended-funz