London trip report March 2014

[nothriver]

We just retruned from a week long land trip to London over spring break. No cruise this trip, but since I did most of my pre-trip research here on CruiseCritic, I thought I'd do a quick trip report for you to report back on our experiences.

 

This is was our third international trip in the past 10 months. Gotta admit, I love to travel, love to plan travel, but stick a fork in me, I'm done for now, looking forward to NOT leaving the country until 2015! In addition to being a single mom of and working full time, I handle all the travel arrangements for our family. I wasn't nearly as prepared for this trip as I felt like I should have been but everything went off without a hitch, I think our group unanimously had a fabulous trip to London.

 

We travel with our entire 3-generation family of 7, plus one extra this trip for a total of 8: grandma, two middle age daughters, two young adult grandsons (plus a young adult girlfriend), and two elementary aged grandaughters.

 

We found flights for just over $1000/person with decent schedules, which is pretty good from a small midwestern city. This trip we flew American, our prior two trips were United and Delta. Flights were uneventful and service was adequate. I don't know how the AA/USAir merger will play out but so far, so good. We purchased trip insurance from TravelEx again, but again, no need to use them so nothing to report there.

 

Our flight was scheduled to land at Heathrow at 10:40. Originally I planned to use Hotel Hoppa £4.50 per adult w/kids free: http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx but the last bus to our hotel was 11:23 and I was afraid we'd miss it.

 

Instead, I booked a ride with Exclusive airport for £50 for our group of 8: http://www.exclusiveairport.com/ I had to pick a time, and although I'd been warned that it could take 90 minutes to clear immigration/customs even late at night, I chose 60 minues past our expected arrival time. Well, our flight was nearly an hour early, immigration was deserted no wait at all, and we mearly walked through customs without stopping so we arrived at our meeting place before our flight was scheduled to land. We called the service number our our booking form, was told the driver was nearby and they'd let him know we were waiting. He arrived shortly thereafter and we had an uneventful ride tot he airport. We could not locate all the seatbelts in the vehicle but otherwise the vehicle was fine, the driver professional and we felt it was a good value for the money.

Edited March 24, 2014 by nothriver

[nothriver]

I'd originally booked central London hotel, and when we purchased flights, we had daytime flights rather than the usual overnight. This was fabulous, no jet lag. I don't know if we'll ever find an all day flight from our town to Europe again, but wow, thumbs up.

 

In any case, once we'd booked flights the inner city hotel was booked so I booked at the Premier Inn on Bath Road:http://www.premierinn.com/en/hotel/HEAMTI/london-heathrow-airport-bath-road?mckv=sd3c4ZEvL_dc|pcrid|35228473304|kword|premier%20inn%20bath%20road|match|e|plid|&cmp=KNC_D_BND for both arrival night and the night before our departure as it is supposedly near Terminal 3 but some of us flew out of Terminal 5 and it didn't seem any further to Terminal 5 so I'm not sure exact location matters so much with Heathrow area hotels. We had three rooms, two triples and one double, at the rate of £40 each, which compared to inner city hotels, was practically free. The Premier Inn is like a Motel 6, very basic, everything is alacarte so expect to be nickle and dimed to death but with a base rate of "almost free", that works for me. This is a fairly large property, I don't know what the odds were but somehow we got the exact same room the first night and again 8 days later, so I don't have a representative feel for the place, but although the property was spotless, it seemed a little threadbare. Everything was adequate, the staff was extremely helpful, the breakfast was good (£8.95 adults, kids free), and I would stay there again. Our bathroom door didn't shut well, there was some rust on the edge of the tub, rust stains on the grout in the shower, and the carpet in the halls was worn. However, because the place was very clean, it was worn, but without any "yuk" factor. As is typical in Europe, no washcloths, but the towels at this Premiur in were huge and fluffy. Only one kind of shampoo/body wash in the shower, no klenex only toilet tissue. There was a water kettle, tea and instant coffee in each room, which was a nice touch. 30 minutes free wifi too, but if you need more you have to pay for wifi. The first night we arrived very late, and be cause the restaurant was closed, had appatizers in the bar. Everything was very very good, good value for the money. It was odd to be in a bar very late at night with young children but we were hungry! I'll post photos of the room over on TripAdvisor so if anyone is interested, please check over there.

 

I booked a guide to pick us up from our airport hotel, give us a full day London tour on our first full day in the city, and drop us off at our hotel. I booked with the same guide to collect us from our central London hotel on the moring of our last full day, give us a tour including Stonehenge, and drop us off again at our airport hotel. There weren't too many guides with vehicles for 8, and of those, there weren't too many available on the two days we needed. We hired David Hamed at London Private Tours: http://www.london-private-tours.co.uk/ and were extremely pleased with his services. We've had private guides in a dozen countries and David was one of the best. Before I book a guide, I like to email random questions to see what kind of response I get. From the first contact, David was very professional and attentive. We were initially unsure what we wanted to do on our last day and David followed up with us during the week to ensure we had tickets booked. On our first day we did a combined driving/walking tour, and a tour of the Tower of London. On our last day, we did a tour of Windsor Castle and Stonehenge. My mother moves slow and David did a great job keeping pace with grandma, as well as engaging the youngest kids in the history of London. He also took some fabulous family photos, greatly appreciated since I'm usually behind the camera, it is so nice to have a few photos of myself!

Edited March 24, 2014 by nothriver

[nothriver]

For our central London hotel, I booked Citidines Prestigue Trafalgar Square: http://www.citadines.com/en/uk/london/trafalgar_square.html . Two rooms for 7 nights was very expensive but overall not too bad for a group of 8. The location is excellent. However, Embankment station is currently having escalators replaced so only some lines stop there, making this location slightly less convenient. Also, we didn't find as nice of a selection of restaurants in this area as we would have liked, considering we have a slow moving grandma in the group. Active walkers will find Covent Garden/Soho an easy walk for unlimited dining choices but Trafalgar Square itself we felt a little lacking in the dining choices.

 

We had two two-bedroom units at the Citadines. These were two story units with a toilet room, kitchenette and living room downstairs, and the two bedrooms and shower/sink upstairs. The stairs were very steep. For the location, we felt these rooms were a good value. It was kind of weird to have the toilet on one level and the shower on another but it was ok. Again, no washclothes and only one kind of body wash/shampoo so we purchased shampoo/conditioned at a nearby store.

 

They do a light clean each day, replace towels and make beds. Every few days they did a more intensive clean. There were no cleaning supplies, with children, it might have been nice to have a broom to sweep up spills. We also didn't think to buy paper towels so that was our own fault. They did provide a few tea bags and some instant coffee, plus milk and sugar. We had breakfasts in the room each morning but the kitched was adequately equiped to prepare larger meals as well. The only negative thing I have to say is when we checked in, they assigned us to a room that was already occupied - we opened the door to see luggage and other belongings and shut the door without going in. I went down to get a new room assignment and new keys and the desk clerk appologized profusely but it was the people in the other room that deserved the appology. I know mistakes happen but that seems like a major security breach, we could have gone in and pilfered the other peoples stuff, pretty scary. Again, I'll post lots of photos and a review of this property over on TripAdvisor so you can see photos over there.

 

Groceries in the small stores were very affordable with prices at or less than we pay at home. I believe there was a very small Tesco on Trafalgar Square, a Co-op just around the corner, and yet another store just a bit down the road. Every time I checked out at the grocery I thought "is that all?", I guess they look like mini-marts to me, so I epect higher prices, but the pricing is what you'd find at the larger stores in each chain. We purchased fresh pastries each evening for breakfast the next day. We also had various yogurts which we particularly enjoyed. There were many options for grab and go foods for lunches or dinner.

 

After our first full night in London, we wandered up the road to eat at Dishoom: http://www.dishoom.com/ without a reservation and with a major St Patricks Day celebration in the area, we were lucky to get a table. This was my favorite meal of our trip, the food and service were excellent. With tired children in tow, I think the staff went out of their way to get us a table. I can't say enough good things about this place, I will definitely return when next in London.

Edited March 24, 2014 by nothriver

[Bob++]

That was very interesting and informative - thank you. I am glad you and your extended family enjoyed you stay here. It must be tricky with such a wide age range. I would have split them up.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Bob++

[nothriver]

Thanks, Bob, we did split up at times! London is great for that, so easy to get around, no need to stick together for the whole trip and one of the reasons we chose London for this holiday.

 

Day 3:

 

We were slow to get up and around, but finally made it to the National Rail station to buy 7-day travel cards http://visitorshop.tfl.gov.uk/travelcards/1-day/product/day-anytime-travelcard.html to use the Days Out 2 for 1 London discount: http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london . We missed out on using this the day before at the Tower of London, but this was still a significant savings for our family and with children, students and a senior in our group, the savings are much greater still for groups of "adults". There is a ton of information over on TripAdvisor on this discount. I know I'm not explaining it well. You have to make sure you buy a travel card from a National Rail station, not an underground station, not an Oyster card, it has to be the paper travel card. They have a booklet at the rail staion and you can fill in the discount voucher from the back of the book, but I printed all of ours off at home so we had them each day. We did not however pre-print pictures for our 7 day travel cards. It did not say on the National Rail site that we'd need the photos. We DID need photos, and got them from a photo booth for £5/person, yikes. We had so much fun in the photo booth, it was worth the price, our photos were TERRIBLE and we just couldn't stop laughing. The agent at the rail station spent quite a bit of time assembling little photo id cards for each of us to go with the 7-day travel cards, but of course, no one not even once asked to see them, typical English formality. We only got travel cards for the 6 adults, I concluded it wasn't worth it for the kids since they travel free on the tube, and the 2 for 1 only allows one child free with an adult, not one child free for one other child admission, and the child admissions are greatly reduced anyway.

 

We finally made it to Westimnster Abbey, but decided to eat at the Cellarium for lunch before touring the Abbey. The Cellerium was a little high priced, the food was good, but the staff was short-handed and thus inattentive. However, it is extremely convenient and a neat atmosphere,much smaller than I expected. We all thought the Abbey was worth the cost, the audio tour was great and of course the Abbey was beautiful.

 

Most of us walked to Covent Garden in the late afternoon and browsed the antique market and the local shops, my sister found Laduree macarons, those were so yummy, I'd recommend a stop. We ate at the nearby White Lion pub, in the upstairs dining room. Food was excellent. The two young adults spent this afternoon on the South Bank.

[nothriver]

Day 4: tentatively ventured out on the tube toward the British Library to view the treasures in the Treasure Room, the exhibits are wonderful and we were all very excited to see these exhibits. A good street map is a requirement for London. There are no signs directing tourists to the sites, you really have to puzzle your way street by street. After the library, we wemt back down on the tube again to the British Museum. The way to the Museum from the tube stop is not well marked at all, which we found odd, but we asked a man at a cross walk, who apparantly used to work maintenance there and we had a nice little visit with him so asking for directions was just fine! We had an early lunch as soon as we arrived at the museum at one of the cafes. There was a kids eat free deal. We felt the food was good and reasonably priced for a museum. We planned to meet again in 3 hours which doesn't seem like enough time on one hand but it is hard to imagine how exhausting 3 hours of shuffling through a museum can be. We split into 3 groups. Myself and my two children saw (I think!) the whole museum plus the Viking exhibit, for which we used the 2 for 1 coupon. A good map for the museums is handy, as well, it is easy to get lost! The last hour, my children were really dragging but we loved the Museum so many wonderful things to see.

 

We had booked afternoon tea at a small tea house across from the museum, Tea & Tattle. It is very small and was cramped for a table for 8. We just loved the tea here, perfectly relaxing after a tiring day at the museum. After tea, we ventured back to the tube and on to our hotel.

[newport dave]

Nothriver.

 

With ref. to signposts, you must have missed these...

 

 

 

[newport dave]

Ignore above it didn't work and it won't let me delete it!!!!!!!

 

Nothriver.

 

With ref. to signposts, you must have missed these...

 

 

[nothriver]

Thanks for sharing, Newport Dave, those are pretty sign posts! I do recall seeing a sign for the British Museum that may have been similar to those you posted just as we exited the tube station, but then no other sign in the blocks ahead, so we didn't know where to do. Near Westminster, everything was pretty obvious since you can generally see the sights. British Library and British Museum - we had no idea what those buildings looked like. Churchill War Museum might be hard to find but we'd passed it several times before we finally made it there on our last day, so no problem locating it when we needed it.

 

Day 4:

 

Ready? This was a very very busy day. I didn't realize how much we'd packed in until I was home reviewing photos!

 

Again we slit up this day with the young adults venturing out on their own. I don't know where they went, except that they left zone 1&2, which was costly as they had to pay to exit the tube station. It wouldn't have cost much more to get travel cards for additional zones, except when we purchased the travel cards, I had no idea anyone wanted to leave zone 1 & 2 so that was what we'd purchased.

 

The rest of us headed to the Globe. We arrived at 10:15, used our 2 fo 1 discount, wandered the exibits for a little while before our wonderful tour at 10:30. They put on an off season play this week every year for the local schools. The area in and around the Globe was mobbed with school groups, I was so glad we didn't arrive any later. We all enjoyed the tour very much, we had a good guide. After the tour, we visited the exhibits again for a closer look but by this time there were quite a lot of boisterous school kids here so we didn't stay long. Our girls really enjoyed all the interactive computer activities and I think they absorb a lot.

 

Next, we headed down the river walkway toward Borough Market for lunch and browsing. I didn't not go into Southwark cathedral but took some photos from the outside, it is a lovely building. I used to produce organic vegetables for sale at farmers markets, so I always enjoy visiting markets in Europe. I love that everything is organic, I love the fresh cheese, and love that they are allowed to sell raw milk. We ate at a permenant stall, Maria's cafe. While we didn't know what we were ordering, it was all very good and very affordable. The fish market across from the market was selling some kind of wrap that looked very good too but we chose Maria's since there was seating.

 

After strolling around the market and the surrounding neighborhood, we headed to Tate Modern. I thought it was relatively crowded. I can't imagine how crowded these attractions get in the high tourist season, I was very glad we chose March to visit London. My mother was tired and spent most of our time at Tate Modern just sitting. My son isnt a fan of modern art and spent most of his time playing games on his phone. My sister was sceptical of the art museum at first but eventually warmed up to the art. Her daughter is legally blind and LOVES abstract art. I imagine what we see in abstract art is how my niece sees the world. We visited the Museum Ludwig in Cologne over the Christmas holiday and my niece really enjoyed herself. She was glad to see many works by the same artists at Tate Modern. My daughter and I love modern art and could have spent all day there but reluctatantly did a quick sweep of the collection so the others could get on to doing things they enjoy. Personally, I like the way they'd organized the art. I wish I'd gone earlier in the day with lower crowd levels, and also wished we'd had more time.

 

There is something for everyone in London, and my son wanted to visit a military surplus store, so we headed over to The Cut. The store was tiny but the owner extremely friendly and helpful, and the merchandise exceptionally well marked. My son bought several items and it was a highlight of the trip for him to purchase "UK" pattern camo attire.

 

Meanwhile, our young adults had met up with us again, and we headed out for an early dinner. We wound up at a place called Ping Pong. It could have easily been the best meal of our trip but fell short on presentation. Half of us ordered individually, the other half of us ordered "fixed menu". You order on a small piece of paper for the entire table. Those of us with the fixed menu had no idea what we were supposed to be getting. They brought out food randomly and didn't really tell us what it was. Some items are marked but most were not. It was really frustrating. They did not do a good job clearing plates, and put incoming food whereever there was room, which was never by the person that ordered the item. We spent the whole meal trying to figure out what items were, and who they belonged to. I kind of felt like a hog eating from a trough, and felt it was a very uncivilized way to eat. The food itself was very good, the staff was friendly if unhelpful. We arrived just as the restaurant opened, when we left it was full, loud, and seemed like it should have been lots of fun. I'd recommend this place for smller groups, it was just chaotic for a group of 8 on a first time visit.

 

After dinner, we headed over to the Eye. It must have been shortly after 7 when we arrived, there was no one in line for tickets and when we loaded the Eye itself, there was no one in line so we got our own car for our group of 8. We used the 2 for 1 discount here as well. We really had a lovely time. I don't know what times are busy but I was glad we arrived at a time with no wait! We got some good photos from the Eye itself as well as some nice night photos on the walk back to the hotel, just across the bridge from the Eye and fortunately an easy walk afte our very long day with lots of walking!

[nothriver]

Day 6:

 

We arrive at Victoria & Albert museum and are confused that we aren't allowed in. Somehow, weve managed to arrive a few minutes before opening. Vacation is almost over and we've finally nailed "arriving on time". The museum is pleasantly sparsely populated. It also exceeds my wildest dreams. It is HUGE but very well organized and the objects are very well presented. Not at all overwhelming. My children and I folled the tour in the Rick Steves London book. We met the others at noon at the museum cafe. I thought the cafe was good, fairly reasonably priced, but only one cash register was open which seemed ridiculous. After lunch, my kids and I continued to explore the museum while the rest headed out to Harrods. I think they enjoyed Harrods but they said it was very hot in the store and they were all uncomfortable so didn't stay long.

 

After V&A, my kids and I wandered into the Science Museum which we enjoyed very much and I had a hard time dragging them out of there. My kids are aged 8 & 20! We finally made our way to the Natural History Museum and briefly toured the museum. I mostly wanted to see the building itself, which is stunning. On our way from one museum to the other, we found a stuffed Dodo bird, which is one of the coolest things we stumbled on. By this time it was late afternoon and the Natural History was absoluetely mobbed with school children and was uncomfortably crowded.

 

By this point in the trip, we'd all mastered the tube. Hard to believe we were hesitant to use the public transit just a few days before, it really is so easy to get around London! We are from central Iowa and don't have public transit to speak of, so when we say "if we can do it you can do it", we really mean it.

 

We stopped for an early dinner at the Sherlock Holmes pub next to our hotel and had a very nice meal upstairs in the dining room. I posted a review with photos of our meals and the menu over on tripadvisor. The lower level was packed with the after work suit & tie crowd every week night, but the dining room was a relaxing atmosphere, good food and a good place for people watching as lots of Sherlock Holmes fans wander in!

 

We headed to the New London Theater for the 7:30 showing of War Horse. The theatre was smaller than I expected and had a very intimate feel. The show was excellent. It was a very late night for our girls, aged 8 & 10, but they were both enthralled with the show. Perhaps the subject matter was a little too mature, but we'd decided we didn't want to do a children's show, and War Horse was a good compromise for our family. We unanimously loved this show. We'd purchased tickets at home a couple months in advance with decent seats for our group of 8, and we felt it was a good investment. For a couple it might be worth trying to get discount tickets once in London but it would have been very stressful for me to have tried to have done so for a large group, and I was glad to have had our night at the theatre in advance.

 

I'd taken a dresser outfit for the theatre, but in the end wore jeans and a nice top mostly because we had so far to walk and I wanted to wear my walking shoes, and also because I had so much "stuff" I wanted pockets in jeans, not dress pants and a purse. Since it rained, I was glad to have my gore-tex hiking shoes on the trek home, and although there were others dressed better, we did not feel underdressed at all.

 

For the first time in the trip, it was raining hard when we left the theatre but all but one of us had rain coats so we didn't get too wet. It was kind of weird to be out with young children so late at night but the tube felt very safe to us at all times.

[nothriver]

Day 7:

 

We've left this day "free".

 

My son and I get up early and head to Churchill War Museum. We arrive about 10 muntues before the museum opens, and then wait for almost 15minutes to buy tickets because there are many large groups checking in, and only one cash register. Really!? I'm not as patient in the queue as the Brits. We us our 2 for 1 discount, which again, isn't really a 2 for 1 since my son would have had a discounted student rate. My son is a political science major and enjoys military history, while I'm a history buff, so the museum was something we both enjoyed. I enjoyed learning more about Churchill as a person. It was fun to see the War Rooms but I think the museum added in '05 is a fabulous addition to this attraction.

 

We meet up with the others at the hotel, and have lunch at the St. Martin in the Field church's Cafe in the Crypt. I think my family is sick of cafeteria food. I chose a hot meal item and thought it was very good. I also thought the crypt was cool. And it was nice to help support the church with our dining budget. I'd don't think my family was in agreement, however.

 

After lunch, we finally made it to the National Gallery. We walked in the door and saw a short line for the Sunflowers. Not really knowing what was going on, we got in line. We were handed plastic cards, and let upstairs where we gave the cards to the attendant at the entrance to the Sunflower exhibit. We'd all seen the Sunflowers recently at the VanGogh museum in Amsterdam, so it was very cool to see the Amsterdam and the London Sunflowers side by side, especially since we didn't even know this was going on until we walked into the exhibit itself, how fun! The exhibit exited into the Impressionist paintings we'd most wanted to explore here so it was perfect. From here we generally walked backwards in time. My sister left part way through to visit Fortnum & Mason. I'm not going to lie, by the time we saw all of the National Gallery, it felt like a forced march, mom and the kids were tired, but we did manage to see all the highlights. Rather than wandering through the whole museum, we should have followed Rick Steve's tour in his London book, we might have enjoyed the older art better if we'd just seen the highlights rather than trying to see it all!

 

My son and I headed off on a final shopping spree of our own, a friend of his back home wanted a certain kind of cider so we went in search of a larger grocery store. He didn't find what we were looking for, but I stocked up on snacks for the trip home and boxes of tea as souveniers. Later, my son headed out again on his own and finally found what he needed. Meanwhile, the rest of us spent the evening packing :(

 

In need of a close by dinner the hotel front desk suggested Garfunkles on Trafalgar Square. While it was "fine", it was the worst meal of our trip, very much like an Applebee's or some other generic chain in the US, but with some British menu items. Ick, not what we'd hoped for to end our week in London. Much better food to be found in the pubs, at much lower prices and with much better service.

Edited April 1, 2014 by nothriver

[Cotswold Eagle]

Thanks for your great report. You packed so much in, you must all have been exhausted :)

 

A couple of points on dining:

 

- Ping Pong is a dim sum restaurant, where traditionally food is shared in the manner you describe, not served individually

 

- I am astonished that the staff at your apart-hotel recommend Garfunkels for dinner. So many great places to eat in London and they sent you there!

[Globaliser]

After our first full night in London, we wandered up the road to eat at Dishoom: http://www.dishoom.com/ without a reservation and with a major St Patricks Day celebration in the area, we were lucky to get a table. This was my favorite meal of our trip, the food and service were excellent. With tired children in tow, I think the staff went out of their way to get us a table. I can't say enough good things about this place, I will definitely return when next in London.

Also on the question of dining, thanks for reporting back about Dishoom. I've heard things about this place but we haven't managed to go yet. Good to know that you enjoyed it.

 

Sadly, Ping Pong and Garfunkels are both on our "never go" list now (unless dragged to the former by friends who are still fans of it). There are much better places in London than Ping Pong for dim sum (almost all of which are not in Chinatown). And Garfunkels was a staple destination when I was a student; its recent renaissance tempted us to try it a couple of months back and it was truly dreadful. Sorry that you missed some rather better dining experiences to be had in London.

[tassietravellers]

Wow, a great review!

We will be there in July for 8 nights, I've taken notes about a few places I hadnt thought of too.

You packed so much into your week..sounded fun. Couldnt have been easy planning with 8 people and all different ages and interests.

We had a week there in August 2012 and so much to see that we are heading back again this year.

Thank you for a thorough and interesting report :)

Deb

[nothriver]

Day 8:

 

We'd arranged for our guide to collect us at the hotel at 9am. He noted that he'd be in the area by 8am and to call him if we were ready for him sooner, I should have made it clear he didn't nead to bother. We did manage to make it to the lobby a few minutes after 9, but there wasn't really any chance we'd have been earlier! We'd enjoyed the Citadines and were sad to leave.

 

We'd decided at the last minute to visit Windsor Castle. Half of our group had done a three castle tour in the north of England in 2012, but the others hadn't yet had a chance to see any castles, or palaces, so this seemed like a good option. Our young men at the least, always enjoy looking at displays of weaponry. Our guide David showed us around the rounds and took us on a tour of the cathedral, but was unable to show us through the state rooms. Windsor is very impressive. We also did get to see some guards marching past up close which was a fortunate coincidence, since we'd not managed to see them in London. After our tour of London, on David's suggestion, we ate at a pub called The King and Castle, where we found the food quite good.

 

We spent our drive to Stonehenge visiting with our guide, it was a pleasant trip. When we got to Stonehenge, it was raining and we toured the brand new interpetative center which was very well done. Outside, they are constructing a village as well but it was not yet complete. The rain finally let up and we took the shuttle up to the stones. We though it was funny that they had Range Rovers pulling the trams, here in Iowa, they'd absolutely have used tractors for this job, at a fraction of the cost. Stonehenge was not too crowded so there was no wait for the tram, but I hope the trams will be well enough organized to accomodate the summer crowds. Just as we ended our walk to the stones themselves, the skies opened up with a torrential hail storm. Because we all had waterproof rain jackets, we were able to huddle together under some umbrellas to block the stinging hail stones until the storm passed. It was quite a memorable experience! When the hail stopped, we continued our walk around the stones, the sun came out, and we got some lovely photos. We returned to the gift shop, some of us shopped, some used the restrooms and by the time we headed to the van, another band of rain and hail. David chided us for not waiting until the rain stopped before returning the van, but we made our way to the van in three seperate groups, and I guess we've had such an intolerable winter here at home, none of us even thought to "wait it out", a little rain didn't bother us at all after the snow, rain, and subarctic temeratures we've endured in recent months!

 

Sadly we then headed back to the Heathrow area, back to the same Premier Inn on Bath Road. We were sad to say goodbye to our guide. David Hamed, with London Private Tours, had taken very good care of us during the two days we spent with him and we very much appreciated his excellent service.

 

We'd booked the MealDeal at Premier Inn. While we'd been pleased with the appitizers the first night we stayed, dinner did not go over as well. Service was mediocore at best. The "Deal" limited you to less than half of the items on the menu, so most in our group weren't able to get what they wanted. The food was just "ok", about what I'd expect for this type of resturant. The next morning, two in our group overslept and didn't have time for the breakfast which had been pre-paid, so in retrospect, we should have just paid out of pocket instead of getting the "Meal Deal". The menu is posted online so make sure to review the options to make sure the "Deal" will work for your group before booking! Kids are free either way.

 

Day 9:

 

The next morning we took the Hotel Hoppa to Heathrow. £4.50 per adult, kids free. Premier Inn had a schedule for the shuttle but this is online at: http://www.heathrowairport.com/static/Heathrow/Downloads/PDF/hotel-hoppa-all-terminals.pdf I noted that the shuttle left one minute before scheduled time, so don't be late and plan on 30 minutes to get to the terminal as the shuttle stops and several hotels on the way.

 

Half of our group flew out of teminal 3, my children and I flew out of terminal 5, which we thought was beautiful, and sure made O'hare look like a dump when we got stateside again. In terminal 5, we had lunch at the Wagamama, overpriced but it was a very nice place to relax while we waited for our flight. We were booked through American but flew on British Airways for the transatlantic portion. It wasn't nealy as nice as our last transatlantic on Swiss, but it was much better than our recent transatlantic flights on United and Delta. We also had brand new American Eagle planes both outbound and inbound O'hare to Des Moines, usually we have little puddle jumper planes that are older than I am and it is a little scary sometimes. I've been concerned about the American/US Air merger and have been avoiding booking anything other than free flights with miles with them, but our experience on this trip with American was very good, and again, the price was very reasonable.

 

I felt spring break was a great time to go to London. One week was enough to hit all the highlights. The only thing I wanted to do that didn't get done was a cruise on the Thames, but I simply forgot and just never got to it. The weather was much better than I expected. I was really surprised that spring flowers and cherry blossoms were in bloom, many annual flowers had been planted, and the grass was so green! We had temperatures in the 50's and even into the 60's during our trip. Just a week before we left home, we'd had sub zero tems, so London felt tropical. We'd secured a good rate on flights, and rates for the hotel, while expensive, was much lower that it will be in the busy summer months. Finally, since England hadn't done the Daylight Savings, the time change was only 5 hours for us, and as an added bonus we had daytime flights both over and back, we didn't have any trouble with jet lag this trip.

 

I hope this review was helpful for you, my fellow cruisers. I imagine like many of you, we'll be back to London again soon pre or post-cruise. Now we won't feel like we have to try to "do" London in a day or two, but rather enjoy something new, or revisit favorites! If anyone has any questions, please feel free to let me know.

 

Thanks for hanging in there through my long winded review, typos and all!

Edited April 2, 2014 by nothriver

[nothriver]

Thanks for your great report. You packed so much in, you must all have been exhausted :)

 

A couple of points on dining:

 

- Ping Pong is a dim sum restaurant, where traditionally food is shared in the manner you describe, not served individually

 

- I am astonished that the staff at your apart-hotel recommend Garfunkels for dinner. So many great places to eat in London and they sent you there!

 

The issue with sharing food at Ping Pong was that those that had carefully selected certain items wanted to at least try those. I believe there were four dumplings per order, so not enough to share for a group of 8. Also the fact that less than half of the dumplings were labeled and obviously you can't tell what they are without cutting into them made it very difficult to sort it all out. Finally, we chose Ping Pong because we were walked by on our way to the Eye, and it looked to be the most interesting of dining options in the immediate vicinity. In retrospect, we should have planned our dining out better. I also realize now that it is very important to make reservations for larger groups when dining in London. As I mentioned in my intro, I wasn't really all that well prepared for this trip and although considering, thigs fell together pretty well, dining is one thing I would absolutely focus on planning better for furture trips to London. With the excellent dining options in the city, some of our meals left a lot to be desired but that was really no one's fault buy my own for not planning better.

 

Also, in defence of our hotel for recommending Garfunkles, my mother was so tired from a long day of walking, and I requested something close, which Garfunkles delivered, being across the street from our hotel. We never really did find any dining options right near our hotel that sounded interesting. One thing I love about my family is that they are all adventurous eaters so dining is an adventure we enjoy together. I had read good reviews of Gordan's Wine Bar and that would been at the top of my list for a group of adults but I wasn't sure if there were tables for large groups, or if it would be appropriate for children, so we passed. For a group of active walkers, Soho and Covent Garden aren't too far from Citadines and offer a large number of dining options, but unfortunately it was just too far for grandma.