London Trip, Post Mortem

Well, another trip done and this one was particularly good. I had been to London before, and I remembered liking it, but this trip went far better than many others. I think it had to do with the fact that we saw so much of the city, and had the time to take it in.

The food was very good. Everyone kept telling us "why London? The food is so bad there!" before they left, and frankly, that wasn't the case. Either we chose the right places to eat or the food has improved greatly. Regardless, we didn't have a single bad meal. Heck, even the jam I bought at the local Tesco supermarket was better than anything I've ever had in the US.

If you haven't been to London, and you like big cities, this is the trip for you. There's a lot to do, and you can easily spend a week or more traversing the city alone like we did. Next time we come back we figure to venture more outside London, but for this trip, with the location we had for the apartment, it made sense to stay in the city and explore it.

Moving along, I bought a TON of books on this trip. Antique bookstores and great deals on other books was the cause of this.

Here's what I bought:

Antique Books:

• Infantry Training Pamphlet No. 1 - General Introduction (All Arms) 1969
• Land Operations Volume V - Operational Techniques Under Special Conditions 1977 (not a true antique, but still cool)
• 1940 - 1942 Combined Operations (WWII book detailing the war for those 2 years) published in 1943
• The Study of American History - Published in 1921
• Target Germany - The US Army Air Forces' Official Story of the VIII Bomber Command's First Year Over Europe - published in 1944
• The Campaign in Burma - Published in 1946
• The Last Days of Hitler 3rd Edition - Published in 1958
• The Six Million Dollar Man Annual 1977 - (Remember that old show? This was a kid's comic book/other stories compendum from that series)
  

Non Antique Books:

• The Bumper Book of Bunny Suicides - (twisted sickly funny book and a bargain at 2 pounds)
• Bunnies in a Box - The Bunny Suicide Postcard Collection (also a bargain at 2 pounds)
• Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
• London 1945 by Maureen Waller
  
• Stephen Fry in America (another 2 pound book about a Brit traveling through all 50 states)
• Americans at Work - A Guide to the Can-Do People by Craig Storti
• Introducing Stephen Hawking - (A guide to Stephen Hawking's work)
• The Twilight of a Millennium - With Projects, Hopes and Fears (about the things that England was doing for the year 2000 including structures like the London Eye)
• London Transport Museum Guide
• Metro Maps of the World
• A History of American Architecture
• Pigs Might Fly - The Inside Story of Pink Floyd (check out the cover below)

And of course:

• How to Survive a Robot Uprising (dude, you never know!)

DVD's Purchased:

• Groove Armada Presents Lovebox - Festivals & Fiestas
• Guiness - Music from the TV Ads
• Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
• Ministry of Sound -Anthems II

Like I said, I went a tad nuts. Still I was able to fit it all in the bags, so that's all that matters.

Let's wrap this up with a few tips/things we learned on this trip:

• If you want to check for airline deals, kayak.com is a good place to start, it aggregates prices from multiple airlines into one spot.
• The best deals for hotels seem to be found on the actual sites for the hotels themselves.
  
• London has a lot of easily accessible transportation so you can easily get around the city, negating the need to stay exactly in the center of the city.
• Tripadvisor.com is a good way to assess whether the hotel you are staying it is good or not.
• When you can check in for a flight online, do it the moment you can, you stand a far better chance of getting good seats.
• Getting the apartment instead of a hotel room was an overall good idea. The extra space made it much easier to relax after a long day of walking, and if you have one spouse that likes to get up much earlier than the other, then everyone is happy. Plus, the kitchen with fridge meant we could save on meals.
  
• As you may have guessed, we hate guided tours. We like exploring at our own pace and doing things on the fly. This trip was full of that; each morning we'd have a rough idea of what we wanted to do, but the plans would constantly change as we did things on a whim. If you don't like structure, obviously stay away from tours.
• Public transportation in London is very good. If you can't get there by an Underground (subway), there's always a bus to get you there. The per trip rate is high, but if you get a daily pass or an Oyster card (think transit debit card) you'll save a bunch of money.
• Every airport has either a high speed train, or in our case, an underground line that gets you into the city far cheaper than a taxi will. Much the same way you can in Chicago, but not so much in NYC.

Well, that wraps this one up for now. I'm beat, I need some sleep.

Until next time!