OT - Driver/Guide for one day in London

[rgnok]

My family will being flying into London to start our vacation, spending a full (albeit a bit exhausted) day in London, staying the night, then taking the Eurostar to DLP the next morning. To get the most from our limited time in London, we're looking for a driver/guide for the day. Does anyone have thoughts or suggestions? Thanks!!

 

[Jonjo]

I would not bother looking for a driver/guide unless you want to be stuck in traffic all day. If you want to see the sights I would sugest you jump on one of the hop-on hop-off bus tours of the city.

Or use the tube, bus and river boats. London has a fantastic public transport service and it's so easy to get around the city on public transport.

 

[adr2.8i]

Having made my first ever trip to London this summer, i cannot praise the London underground enough. Its amazing!! And so simple! And you will be surprised how much of London you can actually walk around. My wife and i took our 6 yr old son with us in the summer, and we walked for most of the day! I see no reason for requiring a guide or a car for that matter!

Pick up a London map (available from many places) and a ticket for the underground which gives you 24hrs unlimited travel (sorry cant remember the name of the ticket) for the most popular zone, and just enjoy the sites and sounds of the city.

 

[A Small World]

I did one of the hop on hop off buses in London with DD during the summer. Even though Ive been to London loads in the past few years I decided I wanted to do this to get to see places I don't normally see.
We decided to just stay on and have a tour around the whole route first and then get off to look at a few places. The price involves a river cruise as well.

As we weren't staying in the centre we didn't get to the booking office until about 11am (we had booked online but had to take the voucher to the booking office by Trafalgar Square). The ticket is for 24hrs and so we had intended getting back on again the following morning for a couple of hours but were so tired after all the walking the day before that we couldn't get up in time.

It was definitely worth the price and gave us chance to see lots of places we would normally miss

 

[rgnok]

I would not bother looking for a driver/guide unless you want to be stuck in traffic all day. If you want to see the sights I would sugest you jump on one of the hop-on hop-off bus tours of the city.

Or use the tube, bus and river boats. London has a fantastic public transport service and it's so easy to get around the city on public transport.

Well...safely tucked into our hotel near across from the train station now -- a wonderful day of touring London with a Blue Badge Guide and Driver now a grand memory! As expected, traffic was no concern at all on a Sunday in late November -- no jams, nothing I would even consider heavy anywhere we went, including Buckingham, Big Ben, Traf Square, Tower of London, Mayflower Pub, and much more.

I'm very familiar with how easy the Underground and various other public transit choices are in London, and I'm experienced driving in London (and Paris, Monte Carlo, Mexico City and many more "scary" driving cities, including driving straight through Times Square in NYC in the heart of summer tourist season). Certainly there are times when I'd agree a car and driver would result in lots of time wasted in traffic, but not today!

In any case - long flight from the US, great day in London....resting up a bit now (17:00), then a bite of dinner and off to bed, DLP tomorrow afternoon

 

[Ware Bears]

Glad you've had an enjoyable day - have an equally great time at DLP.