Every time we travel to Britain, I take notes the whole time, making random observations that I believe are interesting or funny. I continued the tradition on our recent trip a couple weeks ago so here are a few random thoughts from our trip. Some could be useful, some might not be however I chance it’s enjoyable to read.
The Plastic Bag Tax is Inconsistent
The big thing in retail in the UK is that stores are now called for to charge a 5p tax on all plastic carrier bags (a well meaning policy to stop the proliferation of litter everywhere and save resources required to make the bags). Locals have actually been complaining about it since it started however they’re largely used to it now. This brand-new policy, while well meaning, hits tourists a bit hard as sometimes we need a plastic bag. We might have actually a backpack along with us or purse however as we’re not locals, we don’t have actually a prepared supply of reusable carrier bags on hand. Just what was most maddening about this policy though was how inconsistent it was – some stores didn’t charge the tax at all. Still, I’m sure we’ll all get hold of used to it.
Half Term Is Hell
The dates for our London trip were fixed – I had to be there for a timed guided tour on a personal day. Just what I didn’t know Just what that it was the same week as Half Term in England. For those that don’t know Just what it is, Half Term is the break in the middle of the UK school term – kind of like Spring Break expect they get hold of one every term (there are 3 terms in the year I believe, I’m probably wrong). The problem along with this is that all the kids are off of school at the same time (in England at least, Scotland and Wales are different), which means that attractions that are generally free are mobbed along with families on days out. There were two exhibitions we were really excited about seeing – Otherworlds at the Natural History Museum and Cosmonauts at the Science Museum. Sadly, we did not see them. As as quickly as we went to go to them, the lines were literally thousands of individuals deep and wrapped around their respective buildings. Don’t go to Britain during Half Term and expect to get hold of easily in to any major attraction. Half Term dates vary on locality, consult the British government website for personal days: http://ift.tt/1QnIRZV
Sleeping On the Flight Over Improves Your Trip Greatly
We had the good fortune to be upgraded on our overnight flight from Chicago in to Business Class (Club globe on British Airways). This meant that we had lie flat seats for our journey over that turned in to beds and comfy ones at that. I always struggle to sleep on overnight flights, usually because I’m too excited. As a consequence, I arrive in Britain jet lagged and in the middle of the night on my physique clock so usually the initial day there is wasted. however now that I’m getting older (and have actually two young children) falling asleep isn’t as hard. And to have actually lie flat beds in Club World… well, Mrs. Anglotopia and I fairly much slept the whole flight to Britain. Which meant we arrived refreshed and prepared to explore on day 1. We were able to make the most of our initial day there. So, if you can easily get hold of that elusive upgrade to Business, it’s totally worth it.
The Pound is Cheap Right Now
We’ve been traveling to Britain for almost 15 years now and one constant has actually fairly much been a rather durable Pound versus the US Dollar. This meant that usually no matter how hard you tried to pinch your pence, travel to Britain was always means much more expensive compared to you’d expect. This year, the Pound is rather weak versus the dollar (for various reasons political and economic we’re not going to go into, this is a happy place) so that means your dollar goes much further in Britain. I was continually shocked at how far it went. Our hotel even ended up being cheaper compared to we planned as a result of the favorable exchange rate. Taxi rides were cheaper, meals was cheaper, gifts were cheaper. The Pound is trading at $1.40 right now – this is amazing. I chance it continues so we can easily go on to take advantage of it! If you can easily go in the next few months while it’s reduced – do so! I know we will certainly be going spine sooner quite compared to later.
The Concierge Is Useful – however He Could be Annoyed if You Go Around Him
We have actually nothing however good points to say about the hotel we stayed at (Marriott South Kensington, review forthcoming). They had a concierge that was generally rather helpful. One night though, I Hailoed a cab using my phone and we waited for it to pull up outside the lobby. The Concierge asked us if we required anything or required a cab. I said, no because we arranged one on our phone. He looked genuinely hurt that we didn’t go through Him or her first. We gave Him or her the courtesy next time of getting a cab for us.
Hailo Caused Me Headaches
Speaking of Hailo, it caused me nothing however problems. I last used the service 2 years ago as quickly as we were last in London. It was great, especially along with the kids as we could merely arrange a taxi whenever we required one, wherever we were without having to hail one or wait for one. That being said, I hadn’t used it in two years. Which meant as quickly as I came to use it again, my bank credit card was expired and required to be re-entered. I was able to arrange one ride along with Hailo however after that I continually had issues along with it accepting my US credit card. To the point that we just couldn’t use the bloody thing. Which is a shame because it makes taking Taxi’s around London a lot much easier – mostly because you don’t have actually to carry enough cash to take a taxi (most drivers don’t take bank credit cards or grumble greatly if they do and charge you a fee). I’ll try again next time, hopefully the issue will certainly get hold of fixed.
Serendipity is Great
We don’t get hold of to travel often alone now that we have actually two young children and since we got to go to London without them, it was hard to remember that we didn’t have actually to rigidly routine every little thing to fit it in and accommodate them. Introducing serendipity spine in to our adventures was a true joy of this past trip. To offer an example, we wanted to visit the flashy brand-new Sky Garden at the top of the “Walkie Talkie” tower in the City of London, we took the Tube all the means there only to be told that you had to schedule weeks ahead of time and there was no opportunity to walk-up (I knew about booking in advance, however we wanted to go to the bar which usually bypasses this). Well, bollocks we thought, Just what the heck are we going to do now that we’re in the City of London on a Sunday afternoon along with nothing really to do? We turned and saw St Paul’s Cathedral down the street. A quick Google search revealed that Choral Evensong started in 30 minutes, and it was a 10 minute walk away. It’s something we’d never done and always wanted to and surely didn’t want to do along with the kids. So, we walked briskly, snagged Excellent seats and endured one of the most beautiful points we’d ever endured – I will certainly never forget the choral music echoing off the walls of Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpiece. Serendipity served us well.
The Tate Britain is Amazing
Mrs Anglotopia and I love art and visit all the art galleries we can. One we hadn’t had a opportunity to visit was the Tate Britain – sort of the sister to the National Gallery. It’s house to a massive collection of Britain’s most famous paintings – most notably most of the Turner Collection left to the nation after his death. Turner being my favorite British artist – we decided to make time for this and it was rather much worth it. We additionally saw the Artist and Empire Exhibition (review forthcoming) and it was fantastic. The Tate Britain is a brand-new favorite and we’ll surely be going back.
Sometimes You merely Need a Pub
I cannot undersell the importance of a good Pub in London. as a result of a mistake in booking somewhere for lunch (I booked the wrong place and the wrong place was not a place we wanted to eat), we required somewhere to consume quickly. We walked towards Leicester Square and came across a bog standard looking pub, despite it being lunch time we found a table and managed to have actually one of the most satisfying and hearty dishes of the trip. Pub Grub is fabulous especially if you’re starving.
Train Fare Complications
We spent a day in Oxford (much more on this in one more article) and we took the train from London – it’s easily accessible by train, it’s only an hour. I managed to schedule cheap return tickets however the catch was that we had to use the scheduled services authorized by the tickets. as quickly as I booked them we arrived in Oxford around 10:30am and I had booked tickets house at 8:30 pm thinking that would certainly be merely enough time to explore Oxford’s dreaming spires. Well, it actually ended up being too much time. By 6pm we’d already eaten dinner and were exhausted from walking around Oxford all day. We didn’t want to face over a two hour wait to get hold of spine to London (and then a Tube ride and walk spine to the hotel). So, I went to the ticket counter and asked if there was any means we could use our scheduled tickets on an earlier service (they literally run every 30 minutes to London). We had to pay yet another fare and a small modification fee however it was substantially cheaper compared to buying two brand-new single tickets for the service. So, just asking and paying a little extra we were spine to London on the 6pm train and spine in our hotel by 7:30. I believe next time, we’ll schedule open tickets so we can easily return on whatever service we like, it will certainly cost much more however enable us to be much more flexible.
Big Issue Experience
The Big Issue is a magazine sold by homeless individuals all over London. It’s a socially conscious publication that allows homeless individuals to make money and turn their lives around. The problem is that some sellers, shall we say, can easily be quite zealous in their sales pitch. So, much more often compared to not, individuals go from their means to ignore them (or in a rather British way, apologize profusely for ignoring them as we saw in Oxford). I was having some health troubles and we required to get hold of spine to our hotel quickly and strained to locate a taxi. We flagged down a Taxi that proceeded to ignore us. A man selling Big troubles saw our predicament and prior to we knew it, he was running down the street calling after the taxi. He stopped it for us, told the cabbie where we need to go and we were grateful. Of course, I bought a Big Issue off the man. It was so strange though, normally individuals in London keep to themselves and he was kind enough to suggestions (even if it was to make a sale).
British Light Bulbs Are Different
It’s a bit of a long story to go in to however Anglotopia Jr is really in to electrical points – switches, plugs, lights, etc. He wants to be an electrical engineer (he’s 5). The one thing he wanted from our trip, Others compared to Kinder Surprise Eggs, was British electrical stuff and British Light Bulbs. I told Him or her I’d happily bring Him or her the electrical stuff however that Britain had the same light bulbs we do. So, you can easily imagine my surprise as quickly as I went to an Ironmonger (British for hardware store) and discovered that British light bulbs are indeed completely different (the sockets are different). So, I got Him or her some and he was unbelievably thrilled to get hold of British light bulbs. It’s the little points that make trips like this worth it.
What random observation do you have actually from a recent trip to Britain? Share it in the comments below!
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