Disney Magic How To Do London Like A Local

Thank you for this thread! My family is traveling to London for our first trip abroad in June and this thread is so informative and interesting. I’m looking forward to reading and learning more. Thank you!!!
Tara

Hi and welcome Tara, lots more to come, :)
 
Thanks you for the great information! My family of 4 has a big vacation planned end of August. We will be flying into Dublin then flying from Dublin to London. We are leaving London to go to Dover a day before our cruise leaves. I have airfare and hotels booked but still need to figure out transportation. We are using DCL to get to airport from cruise. I am concerned about taking the train because we will have a minimum of 4 suitcases and 4 carry-on bags. I am thinking a car service may be the best. Are there any you would recommend?
 
Thanks you for the great information! My family of 4 has a big vacation planned end of August. We will be flying into Dublin then flying from Dublin to London. We are leaving London to go to Dover a day before our cruise leaves. I have airfare and hotels booked but still need to figure out transportation. We are using DCL to get to airport from cruise. I am concerned about taking the train because we will have a minimum of 4 suitcases and 4 carry-on bags. I am thinking a car service may be the best. Are there any you would recommend?

Hi and welcome, you should check out my Dublin Port info thread, I have the link in the first post of this London thread.

4 people, 4 suitcases and 4 carryon, would be fine on the train. Each person takes responsibility for their own luggage. There are direct trains from London to Dover.

I cant help with you a car service as I have never used on, I have always used public transport, sorry.
 
Thanks you for the great information! My family of 4 has a big vacation planned end of August. We will be flying into Dublin then flying from Dublin to London. We are leaving London to go to Dover a day before our cruise leaves. I have airfare and hotels booked but still need to figure out transportation. We are using DCL to get to airport from cruise. I am concerned about taking the train because we will have a minimum of 4 suitcases and 4 carry-on bags. I am thinking a car service may be the best. Are there any you would recommend?

We did the same trip August of last year. Took the train from London to Dover the day before the cruise. It was really easy. There were 7 of us including 2 kids ages 9 and 7. Kids pushed the carry on luggages and us adults did the big ones. The day of the cruise, I recommend getting a taxi to the port. It's impossible to take the train since the station where you get off is such a far walk. We used JJ Taxis. Just googled their number. We paid $30 for a BIG van that could seat all 7 of us including 10 luggages.
 


So if men aren’t wearing a jacket, where do they carry their wallets? Front pocket?
 
Hi BadPinkTink - I’m wondering if you could help with a logistic question about getting to the IWM Duxford location from London. I don’t know yet where we will be staying in London. There will be four of us, including my dad who will be 89, so I am looking for a more direct option than a combo of trains with some transfers & walking or taxis. I found a tour company service that would drive us there & back but only allows for a 3 hour visit before returning which is not enough time.


I did find a few car services in Cambridge area that will provide airport transportation from Cambridge to London airports, or do airport pickups back to Cambridge. I got to thinking, distance & geographic areas are similar, would they be willing to do transport to & from the museum rather than the airport.


Before I start reaching out to some of them, I wanted to ask your thoughts about the idea. Is that something the car aervices might be open to? While it works here in US, I don’t know if the idea would be way too far out of the box over there or not able to be done due to some transport laws or licenses.


Thanks for your help.
 
Hi BadPinkTink - I’m wondering if you could help with a logistic question about getting to the IWM Duxford location from London. I don’t know yet where we will be staying in London. There will be four of us, including my dad who will be 89, so I am looking for a more direct option than a combo of trains with some transfers & walking or taxis. I found a tour company service that would drive us there & back but only allows for a 3 hour visit before returning which is not enough time.


I did find a few car services in Cambridge area that will provide airport transportation from Cambridge to London airports, or do airport pickups back to Cambridge. I got to thinking, distance & geographic areas are similar, would they be willing to do transport to & from the museum rather than the airport.


Before I start reaching out to some of them, I wanted to ask your thoughts about the idea. Is that something the car aervices might be open to? While it works here in US, I don’t know if the idea would be way too far out of the box over there or not able to be done due to some transport laws or licenses.


Thanks for your help.

Wow, ok

First of all you need to sort out your base/ accommodation before thinking about transport to and from IWM Duxford. I have never been to this area but looking at Google Maps, it is doubtful whether a London based company would do a round trip. For a London company to do a round trip, they would have to stay and wait for you. Therefore what is essentially a round trip turns into an entire day charge, as the London based company would loose money having an empty car sitting in the carpark of IWM Duxford waiting for you.

You might have better luck with the Cambridge companies.

Most transport companies usually do just one way rather than round trip. The Cambridge companies for example would have a reasonable price from Cambridge to Heathrow because they will possibly have a pick up in Heathrow back to Cambridge. Therefore getting 2 one way fares.

If the Cambridge company bring you from Cambridge to IWM Duxford , and then come back for you after say 6 hours and bring you back to Cambridge, they could charge you for 4 one way journeys, even though to you its just a round trip. That is because they will loose money having an empty car returning to Cambridge after dropping you, and then 6 hours later returning to pick you up.

Honestly my advice is if you have found a tour which will drive you there and back, then that company is your best option. You will just have to make the most of the 3 hours. I would be very doubtful if you could do better than that with any other company.
 


Hi BadPinkTink - I’m wondering if you could help with a logistic question about getting to the IWM Duxford location from London. I don’t know yet where we will be staying in London. There will be four of us, including my dad who will be 89, so I am looking for a more direct option than a combo of trains with some transfers & walking or taxis. I found a tour company service that would drive us there & back but only allows for a 3 hour visit before returning which is not enough time.


I did find a few car services in Cambridge area that will provide airport transportation from Cambridge to London airports, or do airport pickups back to Cambridge. I got to thinking, distance & geographic areas are similar, would they be willing to do transport to & from the museum rather than the airport.


Before I start reaching out to some of them, I wanted to ask your thoughts about the idea. Is that something the car aervices might be open to? While it works here in US, I don’t know if the idea would be way too far out of the box over there or not able to be done due to some transport laws or licenses.


Thanks for your help.

Nearest train station is Cambridge.

Get there from London by train from Kings Cross or Liverpool Street.
- care some are fast some are stopping, circa one hour.

On major events IWM may have a shuttle, othertimes use a taxi from Cambridge.
Worth doubling up with a visit to Cambridge, universities, and punting.
 
Great thread so far. I would have loved this when we were planning our trip last year.
Your breakfast looked a little light for what you paid at that hotel. Did they allow you come and go with the 1 voucher? or was it a one time visit for the price?

and I don't think JQ will give up his baseball caps to blend in. But I love the tips!
 
With regards to Chip and Pin cards most card readers still have the option for a signature so shopping and restaurants should not be a problem, especially in the London area where tourists from many countries without chip and pin go.

Please make sure you have signed your cards and have ID with you - your passport will be needed if you are planning to claim your VAT Tax Back.

A Tax Free Receipt can only be issued at the point of sale and for a total spend of £30 plus. Make the cashier aware at the beginning of the transaction that you want a tax free voucher/ receipt. Tax is NOT paid on children's clothes so you cannot claim it back on these items. These receipts are then needed at the claim areas of your departing airport etc. More information is available here:
http://www.globalblue.com/tax-free-shopping/how-to-shop-tax-free
Don't worry about the tax card they discuss you can still claim without it.
 
Great thread so far. I would have loved this when we were planning our trip last year.

Thanks, I need to get back and add some more, I have loads of info I need to put in but I just havent got time right now

Your breakfast looked a little light for what you paid at that hotel. Did they allow you come and go with the 1 voucher? or was it a one time visit for the price?

It was a basically an all you can eat price. If I had stayed in the lobby area I could have refilled but I took the food back to my room. Im not really a big breakfast eater anyway, coffee, some carbs and a bit of fruit is my usual breakfast.
 
Mathmagicland have you considered renting a car? There are a number of central London pick up locations and that way you could pootle up there in your own time, stopping at any place that captures your imagination. It will cost less than taxis both ways.
Personally I'd always get the direct train London to Cambridge, with taxis either end for convenience, but if you don't think your dad would be happy with that I think a car rental is the way to go.
 
I use an app (tube map) that works out the best route at the time you want to travel. Or you can plan it in advance.

It also has accessibility information about each station.

Could you please tell me the name of the tube map app? I saw several choices on the app store. Thank you!
 


Tube From Waterloo To Victoria
My hotel was in the Victoria area so I needed to get the tube / underground. As I used to live in London I knew my route on the tube to Victoria. In a later post I will do a step by step on how to use the tube

The entrance to the tube was located right beside me on the station concourse. This entrance had no escalators or ramps, just stairs, so I picked up my case and went down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs were directions to the various tube routes. I needed the Jubilee line so I followed the signs , along corridors to the Jubilee line. When I got to the tube station, I need to check how much money was on my Oyster Card.

The Oyster Card is a credit card sized travel card. It can be used on the regular London busses, tubes, DLR and some overground routes.
View attachment 291458
It can be used 2 ways

1. Pay As You Go
2. Weekly or Monthly Unlimited Use

This is the Oyster Card website https://oyster.tfl.gov.uk/oyster/entry.do

On this particular trip I decided to just top up my pay as you go amount. There are self service ticket machines and ticket desks at the tube stations. I mostly use the self service ticket machines. Some of the ticket machines are chip and pin payments only, and some are cash and card payments.

To top up an Oyster Card, you tap it on the yellow reader and follow the instructions on the screen.

There is a Visitor Oyster Card and then the regular Oyster Card that is used by residents. Is there an advantage to getting the Visitor version, or is the regular card fine to use? The Visitor card has to be ordered in advance and will be mailed to us in the US, whereas we can just get the regular one there once we arrive.

Thanks!
 
I'm guessing the visitor one is for people who just want to get going straight away off the plane and like to know in advance that things are all sorted and they won't need to worry about being held up by long queues or broken down machines. The prices are the same, it works exactly the same and the process for getting refunds is exactly the same. (Though looking at the website it's not clear whether you get your deposit back for the visitor card, seems like they call it a "£5 charge.")

Getting an oyster card when you arrive is very straightforward. Most ticket offices are shut now but you can purchase (£5 refundable deposit each) them from most ticket machines - just look for the picture of an oyster card at the top. The machines take cash or chip and pin cards. If you want you can register it online and top it up using a free app or by card on the website. Far too much faff for a holiday for me, but might suit your style. Otherwise you just top up at one of the machines in any station, or inside any newsagents that have the oyster picture in their window.
 
I just want to add on that whole oyster card vs visitor oyster card issue to check the requirements carefully with how to get unused funds and card deposit monies refunded (especially for US travelers). There are a few requirements to follow and some options may charge fees.
 
Could you please tell me the name of the tube map app? I saw several choices on the app store. Thank you!

I use "Tube Map - TFL London Underground Route Planner". I haven't used it for a while and it looks like they've updated it, and you can use a lot more of it without an internet connection now. It has a lot of info so play around before you use it if you do decide to use it.
 
Thanks for this thread! Hubby get's staff rates at Accor hotel properties. We are hoping to fly to Dublin from home, then fly to EDI for a few days before the WBTA in 2019. I have read that train time, city center to city center is just about equal to flight given security, cabs, finding gates, etc. That being said, if we take the train from EDI we would end up at Kings Cross station for the night before our cruise. The Pullman is there I believe. For the transfer to Dover, are we ok to leave out of King's Cross, or is there an easier more direct route? Accor has a lot of hotels in London - so hard to choose!
 
Thanks for this thread! Hubby get's staff rates at Accor hotel properties. We are hoping to fly to Dublin from home, then fly to EDI for a few days before the WBTA in 2019. I have read that train time, city center to city center is just about equal to flight given security, cabs, finding gates, etc. That being said, if we take the train from EDI we would end up at Kings Cross station for the night before our cruise. The Pullman is there I believe. For the transfer to Dover, are we ok to leave out of King's Cross, or is there an easier more direct route? Accor has a lot of hotels in London - so hard to choose!
Trains to Dover go from St Pancras which is across the road from Kings across, they actually share the same tube station.
Care that area late at night is, " less safe" than other parts of London.
 

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