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Thread: Trip to London

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
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    Wisconsin
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    Trip to London

    Hi,
    I live in Wisconsin, USA. My son is taking a trip with school (he's in high school) next summer to London.
    Looks like a great opportunity. 8 days total, taking tours every day.
    I happened across this website...
    http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch...anbritish.html
    I didn't really realize there were this many differences with the languages.
    I really don't know exactly what tours they will be taking, or where exactly they will be at.
    But, does anyone have any advice for him for this trip? What to see, etc. Cultural differences, etc?
    Thanks,
    Craig

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
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    Hidden!

    Re: Trip to London

    Beware of the traffic. Cars run on the "wrong" side of the road. Always make a point of checking both sides for traffic before crossing.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
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    /home/London
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    Re: Trip to London

    I don't know how rural your part of Wisconsin is, but you have to be street-smart as you would be in any major metropolis like NY. It depends how naive to city life you are I guess.

    I am not saying it is dangerous for tourists or anything but the sheers numbers of MILLIONS of them in one place attracts pickpockets from poorer east-european countries.

    eg don't keep your wallet in back pocket etc. Be sensible about buying something on the street.


    Take the tube (subway); many Londoners manage without a car at all and the cabs are expensive because they train for about 3years learning the roads before they get a licence. (Our taxi drivers are seen as degree-level qualified unlike yellow cabs in NY)


    All the national museums and galleries are free, the British Museum is the most famous in the world and has all the stuff we plundered from the empire such as Egyptian hieroglyphs, mummies and Greek statues (real Indiana Jones stuff). Plenty of 1000 year old buildings lying around too. Depends if he is here for the history or the nightclubs lol. The legal age for an adult is 18 in the UK for clubs and pubs etc

    Food and drink is expensive in tourist areas, if you happen to be staying further out you might want to buy there and take it with you into central London.

    The flip side to this is an amazing choice of Indian curry, Thai, Italian, Chinese, French, Vegetarian restaurants etc. London is probably the most diverse city in the world, over 300 languages spoken and nearly 25% population born overseas.

    My favourite thing about London is the way it is lit up at night. Most of the buildings are floodlit and it is especially nice around the river Thames and the bridges.
    Last edited by BobCFC; November 19th, 2008 at 09:09 AM.
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  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
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    Re: Trip to London

    your son will have a great time, don't worry about language, or cultural differences, London is a cosmopolitan tourist city, he will have a great time, have a look here:
    http://www.visitlondon.com/
    Linux user #435981 / Ubuntu user #9751

    "...when i hear the voices, i ignore them, and do something constructive, like play with my ubuntu..."

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    London
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    Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin

    Re: Trip to London

    London is in many ways a mixture of New York and one of the Continental capitals - Berlin, Madrid, Rome - it's a great place but you do have to keep your wits about you slightly.

    Try not to get in the way of grouchy commuters/office workers/shoppers; watch out for pickpockets etc; until a month ago it was stupidly expensive for overseas visitors - now that the Pound has collapsed, it's dirt cheap, no telling what the exchange rate will be next summer, but you may have to watch what you spend on drinks & snacks & so on; it's very big in that it covers a huge area, although most of the good stuff is in the middle, but don't get lost...

    I should think the trips will be to places like Oxford, Bath etc. They're much smaller & very nice most of the time

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
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    Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope

    Re: Trip to London

    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=946853
    Here you will find a few tips.

    Been there small month ago, just for 3 days and didn't had a moment to stop, but saw the most stuff that I REALLY wanted to see, except Marx grave and Greenwich. Be sure to buy a London pass and a travel-card. Both the tubes and the busses are a great way to get around and we would visited less museums if we didn't had the London pass, some museum are quite expensive for what you get, but the biggest ones are free.

    My personal tip for him, visit a pub on Friday evening/night, really unique something and I wished that all the bars where like that in Belgium.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
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    462

    Re: Trip to London

    tell him to keep away from the chavs. lol

    on the news the other day it said 50% of adults think british children are no better than animals lol

    http://www.news24.com/News24/World/N...427808,00.html

    http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/vid...y=Latest+Video

    i've lived in london all my life and if i went by what's said on the news (there are no guns but a lot of stabbings) i would never go out, but as it is i walk home through london in the night about 3 times a week and never have any problems. (i am a chav though so i'm generally causing the problems lol j/k)
    Last edited by ice60; November 19th, 2008 at 12:59 PM.
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  8. #8
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    Sep 2008
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    Re: Trip to London

    I'm a British child!!!

    Actually a lot of scum hangs about the streets. Please, in all seriousness, watch out, because there are loads of knifings and murders there.

  9. #9
    Join Date
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    Re: Trip to London

    Quote Originally Posted by Yownanymous View Post
    I'm a British child!!!

    Actually a lot of scum hangs about the streets. Please, in all seriousness, watch out, because there are loads of knifings and murders there.
    Well, I didn't had the feeling it was dangerous in the center of London. You always need to stay alert, but where not these days?

    Allot of cameras though ^_^

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
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    Re: Trip to London

    Tell him to try Marmite on toast Luvly stuff!

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