Question regarding travel to London

[ttilberg]

Hello folks,

I'm being sent to London for work April 18 - 19, and a few days extra on either side of that. I have to pay out of pocket for the extra days, and am wondering if someone can give me some fair ideas regarding places to stay.

From what I understand, your public transportation is pretty boss - If this is the case, I don't care if I'm staying in the center of the action. I'm just not looking forward to blowing $250 a night on hotel rooms downtown London.

That said, I don't want to pay the $19.95 back-alley knife-in-the-gullet special either

Can someone who has more experience there give me some ideas, things to watch for, good deals to be had without getting stabbed, etc?

Thanks in advance, from a chump from Northern Minnesota. Cheers!

[102455]

Which area of London are you working in?

It would be better for you to stay nearby, yes? The further away you stay, the more it'll cost you in transport fares.

The two leading budget chain hotels are Travelodge & Premier Inn. Book your room in advance to get the best deals.

For more cheap options http://www.visitlondon.com/where-to-sta ... tel-chains

[ttilberg]

Cool! Thanks for the tips!

The place we will be having training at is on Old Jewry, Becket House (does that mean anything? Lol)

The bossman is paying for a few nights at http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserRevi ... gland.html

but frankly, I want to extend my stay beyond the few training days, and need to pay for my own hotel otherwise. Outside of these specific days covered by the company, I really have no clue what I'm up to, where I'm going, etc -- I just can't spend $350 a night in a hotel

[andydes]

I don't know much about hotels in London. But it's going to be over £100 unless you're prepared to be a fair way away from the action. And if you're taking in the night life, you could see everything you save disappear on taxis (more on that later).

There's always hostels, of course. Quite a few will have rooms as well as dorms. Or you could try to find a real budget hotel or b&b without niceties like unsuite bathrooms. You'll just have to search around, but feel free to post up options and I'll try to tell you what I can about the area.

Somethings to consider about London-

Getting around on the tube is a piece of piss. Although rush hour is not very pleasant. Also unlike some other systems, it shuts down between around 12 and 1 at night. So if you want to check out bars and music venues (of course you do), you may find yourself needing a taxi (expensive) or night bus. Night buses are pretty good if you know where you're going and are on a well travelled route, you'll just have drunken revelers to deal with which is often actually quite fun. However, if you have to get a bus out to the wilds, where it's just you and a dodgy looking bunch of kids it can be a bit intimidating.

So you'll probably have a better time not being too far out (that's all relative in London though).

[andydes]

...Continued (my phone doesn't handle long posts well)

Basically, you'll find your way to all the daytime sights easily enough so there's no point worrying about being really close to any of that. But if you want to see some night life, choice of location becomes more of an issue as you may not be as happy navigating your way around.

Still running with the assumption you want to see some nightlife of course. First up, Piccadilly and Leicester square- don't even bother. Overpriced, shit music, lots of twats, good chance of someone relieving you of your possessions.

Soho is a bit cooler and more pleasant, but it's not that great.

I'd still recommend Shoreditch and brick lane. Shoreditch isn't as trendy as it was and there's more drunken arseholes than there used to be. But it's got plenty of live music and DJ nights and still probably your best chance of catching some guy tweakng dials on a laptop without necessarily going to a big dirty, drug fueled nightclub. I can point you direction of those too, btw.

Camden isn't bad either. Still mainly an Indy rock sort of place.

Farringdon is pretty nice for pubs, small bars and one enormous monster of a nightclub.

So I'd start looking around old st. It's a short walk to the work thing, and a large chunk of decent nightlife. I agree with the premiere inn suggestion. As cheap a "proper" hotel as you'll find. Rooms are always decent enough.

http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/stayinfo/s ... how=345563

[slatepipe]

you wont get stabbed. that's mostly just dickhead kids doing their gang crap. you'd have to be extremely unlucky to get into any trouble in london

im biased as i live in the area but i'd recommend shoreditch, dalston, stoke newington. more central-wise i'd go for soho, fitzrovia, camden, smithfield, kings cross too. if you're into bars and/or music

[102455]

The place we will be having training at is on Old Jewry, Becket House

The bossman is paying for a few nights at The_Montcalm_at_the_Brewery

OK you can use Google maps to see how far Chiswell Street is from Old Jewry (that's the street name!) --> click me

Apparently it's about 0.6 miles (Google says 13 minutes walk). You can also use Google maps to show you the Premier Inns in that area.

[Angstrom]

For travel without pain:
purchase an Oyster Card and stick £25 on it. You can buy them at most travel centres (airports for example) . Also many local shops.
Reasons why :
#1 it saves you money.
#2 . because all the Tubes, the buses and nightbuses take them, and really if you try and pay (with money) on a bus or tube directly ... You are gonna have a bad time. Everything is set up for oystercards and you will be a third class citizen without one. Standing in a long queue, or when getting night buses back, drivers do not accept money. They will swear at you.
You just hold the oyster card against the circular sensor. .

As far as cabs go, I'd rely on a local at whatever club/bar and see if you can jump in with someone going your way. It's reasonably common for people to have a preferred cab co. and they'll have the number on them, and will call a cab riiiight before the night ends. You can just jump in and split the cost, relying on their local knowledge to stop you getting reamed. Choose wisely, you may also get to have sex with them.

A lot of London is quite walkable, I often walk back from Soho to Lambeth around 4am for example. Check google maps walking directions and you might be surprised. Most of central London is reasonably safe these days other than the usual city-crime type bollocks (ie: don't wave your phone about). So don't walk night London if you are off your head. Because I will mug you.

[slatepipe]

For travel without pain:
purchase an Oyster Card and stick £25 on it. You can buy them at most travel centres (airports for example) . Also many local shops.
Reason why : #1 it saves you money.
#2 . because all the Tubes, the buses and nightbuses take them, and really if you try and pay (with money) on a bus or tube directly ... You are gonna have a bad time. Everything is set up for oystercards and you will be a third class citizen without one. Standing in a long queue, or struggling generally.
You just hold the oyster card against the circular sensor. You will often be getting night busses back, drivers do not accept money. They will swear at you. . https://oyster.tfl.gov.uk/oyster/link/0005.do

As far as cabs go, I'd rely on a local at whatever club/bar and see if you can jump in with someone going your way. It's reasonably common for people to have a preferred cab co. and they'll have the number on them, and will call a cab riiiight before the night ends. You can just jump in and split the cost, relying on their local knowledge to stop you getting reamed. Choose wisely, you may also get to have sex with them.

A lot of London is quite walkable, I often walk back from Soho to Lambeth around 4am. Check google maps walking directions and you might be surprised. Don't do this if you are off your head though.Because I will mug you.

yeah get an oyster card - it halves all the fares. black cabs are ok once in a while for a treat but they are shitarse expensive. use a minicab if you cant wait for a bus

i'm currently working on chiswell st, right next door to the brewery. you can probably walk to beckett house in 10 mins

[ttilberg]

You guys are all fucking awesome. Thank you!

I'll post more information and will probably have better questions closer to the trip time Thanks everyone!

[andydes]

You can just jump in and split the cost, relying on their local knowledge to stop you getting reamed. Choose wisely, you may also get to have sex with them.

Sounds like you're the one doing the reaming, you dog.

Let me know if you move to hackney. I might stop sharing cabs.

[RonaldDumsfeld]

Whatever you do. Don't go South of the river.

It's shit.

[Sage]

As long as you are within Zones 1 & 2, you won't have any issues getting about. Unless you're south of the river.


The main thing about London is to not be afraid to venture a bit of the beaten track and down dark alleys, you never know what you'll come across. More likely an incredible pub/club than ten 16 year olds with knives.

[ttilberg]

The tickets are getting booked this week!

You guys better have all the beats I have always imagined you to!!! I don't want to be disappointed in the beats department!

Speaking of, can anyone recommend a mid range priced restaurant, cafe, etc (or several) that might have some DJ playing something along the lines of deep house, deep techno, mnml, etc? Will I be able to find places with these styles of music during the weekdays as well as the weekend?

After listening to The Essential Mix as a primary source for finding new music for many many (seriously many) years, I have this expectation of edm being everywhere I go. I know it's not like that, but a guy can hope.

[andydes]

If by restaurants and cafes, you mean bars, clubs, warehouses and car parks, then yes.

Really it's best to go on resident advisor or something similar nearer the time to see who's playing where. Things move around and what's good one week can be totally different the next.