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Comments: 1095 +- Ask Slashdot: Geek Travel To London From the US — Tips? on Tuesday November 24, @05:30AM
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on Tuesday November 24, @05:30AM
from the see-the-largest-paired-bluetooth-devices dept.
from the see-the-largest-paired-bluetooth-devices dept.
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Audrey23 writes "I am traveling to London from Washington state for two weeks in December for pleasure (use-it-or-lose-it vacation scenario) and was wondering if I should bother bringing my laptop. I know that I would have to change the region code on my wireless amongst other things and the power cord would have to be changed for a UK outlet. Would I be better off not bringing my laptop and just using Internet kiosks (do they exist in London?) or would having my laptop be a better choice to keep in touch, off-load my digital images etc? I plan on hitting the British Museum but was wondering what geeky things to do that are in London that might be worth going to and any tips hints on overseas travel for geeks? I travel quite a bit in the states but this will be my first trip overseas and want to make the best of my stay in merry old England. What words of advice do you travel seasoned geeks have for me?"
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dont overthink (Score:5, Insightful)
However when traveling, experiencing is the greatest thing. Not planning too much.
Let me give you an example.
At home it's easy to get oriented to the same ways always. Sure sliced ham, bacon, pineapple and roasted red peppers with provolone cheese on a parmesan crust pan pizza with barbeque sauce on it is nice (* [yfrog.com]). You love it, it tastes good. But sometimes it's time to just go for it, doing the dramatic change without thinking about it earlier. Change that damn pizza to chicken breast, white sauce, smoked bacon and tomatoes on a provolone crust with a mexican sauce on top of it (* [yfrog.com]). And if you're really going wild, order a chocolate ice cream with strawberries and m&m's on top of it!
What I'm basically saying is that just go and do something. As the geeky non-social persons we are, it's actually really easy to get to know new people when in a foreign country. Maybe because then you have a need to go to talk with people, or sound more interesting to girls since you're from other lands, or come out as mysterious because you dont even understand each others languages. Don't plan everything beforehand - leave there that possibility for problems. I visited Russia earlier this year and lost my immigration card while there. It took some planning out to get out of the country, but it was fun in the end.
Also, since you are near London, there's a great pizza place in Naples that you should visit.
Heathrow (Score:5, Funny)
Bring :
- Something to read (for when the luggage tracking and transport system fails)
- Emergency underwear (for when they will lose your luggage)
- Anal lube (for when you complain about the delay and lost luggage)
If in addition you travel with british airways, I would say a dose of Valium or Prozac and a strong whisky would do the trick.
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Re:Heathrow (Score:4, Interesting)
Luggage is only lost at Terminal 5 at Heathrow.
And pray to some deity that you don't have to be involved with Air France.
That can make most other airlines seem friendly.
But don't worry too much - it's the UK, not a third world country you are going too. Just bring a warm pajamas since not all hotels are up to winter standard. And expect the faucets in the sinks to be single faucets and only provide warm or cold water, not mixed temperate water.
There are a lot of things that are a bit funny in England aside from the fact that they drive on the wrong side. But that's just making things more interesting.
Don't worry about the food - it's far better than the rumor has it.
Places to visit depends on where you go, but if you go south you can visit Winchester (old capital of England) and the Eling Tidal Mill [bedug.com] (place suitable for geeks) outside Southampton.
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Re:Heathrow (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Heathrow (Score:5, Funny)
My condolences.
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Re:dont overthink (Score:4, Insightful)
Also, when you get to England, get a pay as you go HSDPA modem. It is much cheaper than using WiFi hotspots, and you get much better coverage.
Parent
Have a great trip! (Score:5, Interesting)
Take your laptop, the freedom to transfer your photos locally, and ready internet access with wifi will make it worthwhile. There are internet cafes around, but it'll be more fuss to find one and time out of your vacation, rather than just packing a power convertor and changing your wifi settings.
Other things you might want to do in London could include:
Of course, there are many other things too as people will list below, London is a big place with lots to see and do, enjoy your trip!
-- Pete.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Have a great trip! (Score:5, Informative)
The Victoria and Albert museum is over the road from that too, and has a gigantic old persian rug (and I mean gigantic), and the very impressive cast courts that preserve many european statues and facades which were destroyed in the various conflicts since the victorian era.
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Re:Have a great trip! (Score:4, Interesting)
And the natural history museum is just up the road from the science museum - perhaps the most impressive museum building in the world, built to be a cathedral to science and full of dinosaurs, rocks (including meteorites), a cool earthquake simulator, large mammals, and more dead things in jars than you will ever see anywhere else in your life.
Coming from the US, he has probably seen enough large mammals in the aisles of his local supermarket to last him a lifetime.
The Natural History Museum is great though. I remember all the little bats (engraved) at the top of the columns in one of the rooms. In the 19th (it looked late 19th), they still took the time to make nice buildings (we're lucky enough to have a lot in Paris as well, among lots of earlier and later ones).
And regarding your trip. Depending on how long you stay there, if it's more than a week, try to find a neighbourhood pub (a real one preferably, not one of those modern things) and meet the locals. Pubs are an important part of the British social life. And don't ever order US beer. Try the local bitters, see if they have any local breweries, try anything you've never heard of. Beware, they are served warm by US standards (where any drink is served just above solidification temperature). Putting ice in your beer will be considered weird.
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Re:Have a great trip! (Score:5, Informative)
Try the local bitters, see if they have any local breweries, try anything you've never heard of.
Amen to that. In fact try everything that sounds stupid or wierd. Our beers aren't called 'Bud Cool' or 'Rugged Macho' or anything like that, they have quirky names like 'Crop Circle', 'Granny wouldn't like it', or 'Piddle in the Hole'. Try them all, there are hundreds of different hop and malt combinations that make some of them similar to pils, but nicer, through to ones that look and taste like chocolate.
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Sorry to disappoint... (Score:4, Informative)
...but the Planetarium closed down a few years ago. It was turned into a "celebrity cinema" bit of Madame Tussauds, showing showbiz movies. Philistines.
However, the Greenwich Observatory has their own, new planetarium - it's brand new, and right by the Greenwich Meridian:
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/visit/planetarium-shows/ [nmm.ac.uk]
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Re:Have a great trip! (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Have a great trip! (Score:5, Informative)
Get up to Bletchley Park, home of the UK WW2 code breaking effort. And Oxford is good too (way better than Cambridge, and cheaper to get to).
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Going to Oxford (Score:4, Informative)
Do NOT go to Oxford, or if you do, only go for an afternoon. Once you've seen the university, it is an extremely tedious place.
Go to Oxford and spend that afternoon in The Pitt Rivers Museum [ox.ac.uk] and the Museum of the History of Science [ox.ac.uk]
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Re:Have a great trip! (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Have a great trip! (Score:4, Informative)
I second the Imperial War Museum. For bonus geek points, the building in which it is housed used to be Bedlam.
Two other, slightly less well known places:
Hunterian Museum at the royal college of surgeons - incredible array of medical curiosities.
The Wallace Collection - Incredible array of art and armour housed in a splendidly ostentatious yet intimate townhouse. One Sunday a month, the rooms are lit candlelight.
For a Cthulhuesque experience, you can trace the two halves of Babbage's Brain
(*spoiler* one is in the science museum, the other the Hunterian)
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Re:Have a great trip! (Score:5, Informative)
Take a four-way power strip as well as an international power adaptor, it's most useful for charging.
UK is ~240V, so duoble check that your device chargers cover that range.
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asdf (Score:5, Funny)
What you say? I have never heard about it. Is that ordinary wireless LAN you are talking about or UMTS or something?
Uh, I'll notify the police.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
UMTS doesn't have such a thing as a "region code", anyway: either you've got the hardware to talk on rest-of-the-world radio frequencies, or you don't. Wi-fi is the same everywhere.
Re:asdf (Score:5, Informative)
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For starters... (Score:5, Informative)
Don't call it 'merry old England'.
Re:For starters... (Score:5, Funny)
...and don't ask whether or not we have 'internet kiosks'. It's not the bloody Middle Ages here.
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Remember... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Remember... (Score:5, Funny)
Also, if you make it up north to Edinburgh, "Scotland is my favourite part of England" will ensure you some new-found friends.
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Re:Remember... (Score:4, Funny)
Speaking of Edinburgh, if you hear a loud bang at 1pm, start running. Keep running. Never stop. That's the official signal that dragons have, in fact, been seen approaching the city, starving for human flesh.
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Re:Remember... (Score:5, Funny)
oh oh oh! I know this one... (but a little dated)
Advice for tourists
The Brits have peculiar words for many things. Money is referred to as "goolies" in slang, so you should for instance say "I'd love to come to the pub but I haven't got any goolies." "Quid" is the modern word for what was once called a "shilling" - the equivalent of seventeen cents American.
If you are fond of someone, you should tell him he is a "great tosser" - he will be touched. The English are a notoriously tactile, demonstrative people, and if you want to fit in you should hold hands with your acquaintances and tossers when you walk down the street.
Habits
Ever since their Tory government wholeheartedly embraced full union with Europe, the Brits have been attempting to adopt certain continental customs, such as the large midday meal followed by a two or three hour siesta, which they call a "wank." As this is still a fairly new practice in Britain, it is not uncommon for people to oversleep (alarm clocks, alas, do not work there due to the magnetic pull from Greenwich). If you are late for supper, simply apologise and explain that you were having a wank - everyone will understand and forgive you.
Universities
University archives and manuscript collections are still governed by quaint mediaeval rules retained out of respect for tradition; hence patrons are expected to bring to the reading rooms their own ink-pots and a small knife for sharpening their quills. Observing these customs will signal to the librarians that you are "in the know"- one of the inner circles, as it were, for the rules are unwritten and not posted anywhere in the library. Likewise, it is customary to kiss the librarian on both cheeks when he/she brings a manuscript you've requested, a practice dating back to the reign of Henry VI.
One of the most delightful ways to spend an afternoon in Oxford or Cambridge is gliding gently down the river in one of their flat-bottomed boats, which you propel using a long pole. This is known as "cottaging". Many of the boats (called "yer-i-nals") are privately owned by the colleges, but there are some places that rent them to the public by the hour. Just tell a professor or policeman that you are interested in doing some cottaging and would like to know where the public yerinals are. The poles must be treated with vegetable oil to protect them from the water, so it's a good idea to buy a can of Mazola and have it on you when you ask directions to the yerinals. That way people will know you are an experienced cottager.
Food
British cuisine enjoys a well deserved reputation as the most sublime gastronomic pleasure available to man. Thanks to today's robust dollar, the American traveller can easily afford to dine out several times a week (rest assured that a British meal is worth interrupting your afternoon wank for).
Few foreigners are aware that there are several grades of meat in the UK. The best cuts of meat, like the best bottles of gin, bear Her Majesty's seal, called the British Stamp of Excellence (BSE). When you go to a fine restaurant, tell your waiter you want BSE beef and won't settle for anything less. If he balks at your request, custom dictates that you jerk your head imperiously back and forth while rolling your eyes to show him who is boss. Once the waiter realizes you are a person of discriminating taste, he may offer to let you peruse the restaurant's list of exquisite British wines. If he does not, you should order one anyway. The best wine grapes grow on the steep, chalky hillsides of Yorkshire and East Anglia-try an Ely '84 or Ripon '88 for a rare treat indeed. When the bill for your meal comes it will show a suggested amount. Pay whatever you think is fair, unless you plan to dine there again, in which case you should simply walk out; the restaurant host will understand that he should run a tab for you.
Transportation
Public taxis are subsidized by the Her Majesty's Government. A taxi ride in London
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Re:Remember... (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Remember... (Score:4, Insightful)
I can strongly recommend saying you're a Canadian rather than US citizen. Particularly outside London, American tourists are utterly detested for their rude and pushy behaviour.
Nah. Just don't behave rudely, and people will know you're one of the decent Americans.
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Re:Remember... (Score:4, Insightful)
Whether the rudeness reputation is deserved or not, it really has given all US tourists a bad name, and it's one that is going to be hard to get rid of.
This is entirely true, yet I think most British people quite easily distinguish between the archetypal crass American tourist (Hawaiian shirt, loud voice, rude) and a quiet, respectful person stood in front of them speaking with an American accent.
Similarly, see the racists who are OK with the black people they've met. "Oh yeah, *he*'s OK. It's just the rest of 'em I can't stand."
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Internet kiosks? (Score:5, Funny)
Would I be better off not bringing my laptop and just using Internet kiosks (do they exist in London?)
What are these kiosks of the inter-net you speak of?
Why, here in blighty the modern mode of communication is the telegraph, which we run using steam, dontyouknow!
When crossing the road (Score:5, Informative)
LOOK TO THE RIGHT
Because everybody in north America drives on the wrong side of the road, you just don't know it yet.
I live in Australia (where we drive on the left) and I once had to work in South Korea where they drive on the right. I was okay as long as I thought about it every time I crossed the road. It was a mistake to talk on the phone to my wife back home while walking back to the hotel from the pizza shop.
Re:When crossing the road (Score:5, Insightful)
Look BOTH WAYS EVERY TIME 'cos we do have a few one way streets in Ye Olde Londone
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Re:When crossing the road (Score:4, Funny)
Yes. In Sydney too. Here in Melbourne we prefer our tourists to learn the hard way.
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Re:When crossing the road (Score:4, Funny)
"Most London streets have "look left" and "look right" painted on the road at the crossings."
Well yeah, but it's a foreign country so he might have trouble reading the signs.
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Re:When crossing the road (Score:5, Funny)
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Bletchley Park (Score:5, Interesting)
Bletchley Park is well worth a visit for some codebreaking + early computing. ~45 minute train journey from Euston.
http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/ [bletchleypark.org.uk]
You'll enjoy the trip more (Score:5, Insightful)
Travel advice (Score:5, Funny)
It is rarely necessary to take a taxi, though, since bus drivers are required to make detours at patrons' requests. Just board any bus, pay your fare of thruppence (the heavy gold-colored coins are "pence"), and state your destination clearly to the driver, e.g.: "Please take me to the British Library." A driver will frequently try to have a bit of harmless fun by pretending he doesn't go to your requested destination. Ignore him, as he is only teasing the American tourist (little does he know you're not so ignorant!).
For those travelling on a shoestring budget, the London Tube may be the most economical way to get about, especially if you are a woman. Chivalry is alive and well in Britain, and ladies still travel for free on the Tube. Simply take some tokens from the baskets at the base of the escalators or on the platforms; you will find one near any of the state-sponsored Tube musicians. Once on the platform, though, beware! Approaching trains sometimes disturb the large Gappe bats that roost in the tunnels. The Gappes were smuggled into London in the early 19th century by French saboteurs and have proved impossible to exterminate. The announcement "Mind the Gappe!" is a signal that you should grab your hair and look towards the ceiling. Very few people have ever been killed by Gappes, though, and they are considered only a minor drawback to an otherwise excellent means of transportation.
I can't take credit for this advice, source [siliconglen.com]
As somebody who moved Toronto to London recently (Score:5, Informative)
Where are you staying? If it's a secure place, then bring your laptop for when you're "at home" for planning your day, photos, etc. There are tons of coffee shops and even pubs with wireless, sometimes free. Personally though, I leave it at home and just carry a camera, A-Z and a Lonely Planet guide (along with a small but wind resistant umbrella, etc), but I can see the benefit to being able to check google maps and the TFL. BTW, tfl.gov.uk will be your best friend at figuring out how to get between any places, especially considering that large parts of the Tube close at the weekends for engineering works. Having a laptop with me around always ways on my mind due to the risk of it being stolen - yes, one of my work colleagues had his bag (containing work laptop) stolen from under a table six of us were sitting around, in a pub in Soho.
Other than that, get out an enjoy yourself. London is a walking city, even in December when the daylight is limited and it can be blustery and wet. One of my favourite walks is from parliament, down the South Bank to the Tower: London Eye, South Bank, Tate Modern, Southwark Cathedral, The Globe, St. Paul's Cathedral, Borough Market, City Hall, Tower Bridge, etc. Greenwich is ace. You can get a Soho walking tour from Trafalgar square. The Royal Parks are awesome. There are tons of little villages that have been over-run by London growing outwards. Then there are more free museums and galleries than you can shake a stick at, and always a trusty pub nearby when you want a break.
i don't know about this british museum place (Score:5, Funny)
but london does have the seventh-busiest greyhound canada terminal in terms of passengers
perhaps you meant to say you wanted to visit the university of western ontario?
British Museum (Score:5, Informative)
Don't forget the British Museum recently* split into two, the British Museum, and the Natural History Museum - which used to be the British Museum (Natural History). The British Museum, which houses things such as the mummys, Elgin marbles, Rosetta stone and various other things we stole from around the world during our colonial past, is in Holborn, pretty central in London, and the Natural History Museum, with dinosaurs, big stuffed blue whale and a fabulous mineral and gemstone collection is in South Kensington, right next to the Science Museum (as mentioned previously) and Victoria and Albert museum.
Entrance to all of these is free. Some special exhibits need payment however (usually temporary ones).
When you get to the airport, as long as you're not feeling too lazy, don't try to get a taxi to London, it'll cost you $80 or more (it's a long way). Go to the underground, get an Oyster card with (say) £20 of credit on it (you'll have to ask at the manned ticket office for this), that works for all your underground and bus travel in London, much simpler and quicker than using cash. You can top it up if you run out (you can check your balance at the station or register online to top it up automatically).
Have fun!
Jolyon
* - in 1881. That's recently for us Europeans!
Don't bother (Score:5, Funny)
I recommend going to Blackpool instead. Much more classy.
Remember security (Score:5, Insightful)
Take the Eurostar (Score:4, Insightful)
And also spend a day or two in Paris. It's a quick and cheap ride.
British Library (Score:5, Informative)
Go see the British Library. It's free, and they have a great collection of illuminated manuscripts [british-library.uk], Da Vinci sketches, etc. My wife and I really enjoyed it, as it's a well-hidden gem. Really enjoyed seeing a copy of the Magna Carta [www.bl.uk].
Two weeks in London is two weeks too long (Score:5, Informative)
My tips (Score:4, Informative)
* Get yourself an Oyster Card [oystercard.com] - you can get one from the tube stations at Heathrow Airport and are valid on most public transport in London [tfl.gov.uk] including all Underground (tube) trains, all local (red) buses in London, some "overground" (i.e. not tube) trains (from 2nd Jan 2010 almost all trains in London will take it) and some river-boat services [tfl.gov.uk] (the river boats are not cheap but can be a great way to see the sights along the river). You have to pay a £3 deposit plus whatever credit you'll want to start with, but you can get that back plus any unused credit by surrending the card at a tube station when you leave.
* If you're flying into Heathrow and you don't have too much luggage, then the tube to central London is by far the cheapest option. There are also two "overground" rail services, the non-stop Heathrow Express [heathrowexpress.com] (15 mins to central London) and the stops-at-local-stations Heathrow Connect [heathrowconnect.com] (25 mins to central London). Both are rather more expensive than the tube, the Express especially so, and neither take Oyster. There used to be an Airbus services from Heathrow to central London but that stopped a few years ago. National Express [nationalexpress.com] run some coach (long distance bus) services to/from central London that call at Heathrow but they will be the slowest option and you may need to book your tickets in advance.
* If flying in to Gatwick, then your best choice is rail to London. There are two services: Gatwick Express [gatwickexpress.com] is a bit more expensive but faster and has more luggage space. Southern [southernrailway.com] is likely to be a bit cheaper and not quite as fast. Be aware that although the two services are run by the same company, tickets on one may not be valid on the other. Neither will take Oyster as Gatwick is well outside the city boundary of Greater London. In the unlikey event you fly into Stansted (which doesn't have many flights to/from North America) then the same applies to the Stansted Express [stanstedexpress.com] rail link. There are cheapish coach links from Gatwick [nationalexpress.com] and Stansted [terravision.eu] but they will be a lot slower.
* Wherever you fly into, DON'T take a taxi into London unless you really need to and have LOTS of money! Having said that, if you're not sure how to get to a particular place, London cabbies have to spend several years learning "The Knowledge" [tfl.gov.uk] and will always be able to get you to where you want to go, for a price.
* I second the motion to go to Bletchley Park [bletchleypark.org.uk]. This is outside of London but only about 45 minutes from Euston railway terminus by train. It is an absolute must see for any geek: not only does it have working replicas of the Turing "Bombe" and Colossus machines, but it has subsidiary museums [bletchleypark.org.uk] on site of computing and other technology.
* Amberley Chalk Pits [amberleymuseum.co.uk] museum in Sussex might be of interest to you too, with displays of agricultural and industrial technology, transport and communications (TV and radio museums). It's about an hour and a half from Victoria railway terminus.
* If you're interested in transport, then the London Transport museum [ltmuseum.co.uk] at Covent Garden in the centre of London is a must see.
* If you do travel outside of London by train, then unless you're going long distance (more than a couple of hours from London) you won't need t
Re:Your power convertor should handle UK power (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:English, and regular traveller (Score:4, Informative)
I go the other way. After making 10-20 international trips per year I was fed up with dealing with all the plugs.
I picked one plug type to standardise on for all the devices I travel with. I went with the US earthed type because they're the most compact and they don't fall out of the sockets. My laptop, phone charger, etc., all have that plug (and I have a power strip of that type at my desk at home).
Then I carry a little 3-way cube (one plug and three sockets). It's tiny, 2.5cm per side plus the pluggy bits sticking out. picture here [redhillgeneralstore.com]
Then I bring the appropriate single-purpose adapter for the countr(ies) I'll be visiting. I hate the multi-plug ones (the kinds with slidey bits to change which plug they go into) because they always fall apart. The single-purpose ones last for years. I use WonPro WA-II series, which have no moving parts, provide proper earthing when possible, and accept any type of plug. pictures here [wonpro.com]. They cost about $3 each at shops in town and are indestructible.
I plug my stuff into the cube, the cube into the country-specific one, and the country-specific one into the wall. This approach is more compact, more reliable, and way cheaper than the alternatives. From one outlet (often all you'll get in a hotel), I get 3 US-style outlets and one universal outlet.
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