London without a Queue.
I'm back in New Zealand after a whirlwind tour of London. I'm not accustomed to traveling for pleasure and this trip was no different as I was in town for MozFest, a two-and-a-half day conference thrown by Mozilla. As someone who had never been to the UK before I wanted to make the most of the short time I had while still attending the whole of the conference.
I arrived in London on Thursday evening and flew out Monday night giving me just two days to explore. Here are my tips for enjoying London with a minimal queue.
Traveling during the off-season is always your best bet, no matter your destination. I haven't traveled much, but I always find October to be a pleasant time to visit popular tourist destinations. The flight to London from New Zealand is a painful 24 hours of flight time, not including time spent on the ground in the airport, but the blow was softened by a lack of fellow travelers. For the long haul flight I was even blessed with a row entirely to myself.
Once I arrived on the ground in London I purchased an Oyster card from the visitors information booth. Visitor Oyster cards cost $3 for the card and come preloaded with $15 to be used on public transport, however they are easily topped up in any underground station. For the initial trip to my hotel I chose to have a taxi cab pick me up so I didn't have to navigate the London underground after 35 hours of travel. I went with ExclusiveAirports and my driver was on-time as well as incredibly friendly. He pointed out heaps of tourist attractions as we drove into town and was just a generally good conversationalist.
Protip: If it's okay with your driver, sit up front. It allows conversation to flow and shows that you respect your driver as a fellow human-being allowing for a more pleasant traveling experience.
After settling at my hotel and taking a much needed shower I decided to explore! From the hotel I took the Jubilee line from Greenwich to Westminster. By this point it was long-since dark and many of the tourists had gone home. Touring London in the evening may seem odd, but it provides a rare opportunity to view popular tourist destinations such as Westminster Abby, the London Eye, and other stunning London locations without large crowds.
Even though I was traveling alone I felt relatively safe. The only dubious encounter I had was with a con artist who I mistook for a drunk dude out with his mates on a pub crawl. He convinced me to take a photo with him then tried to pressure me into paying him. He was easily dealt with though, I told him that I didn't have any cash, when he argued I replied back that I could simply delete the picture, and he immediately gave up. Logic, works like a charm.
It's a shame that people are like that though, I like to be open to new experiences and meeting new people, but it's difficult to have that outlook in a large city when people often have ulterior motives.
The next day I woke up early to continue my exploring. This time I took the tube to South Kensington where many of the museums are located. South Kensington is an absolutely beautiful neighbourhood. I wish I could have spent more time just exploring the streets.
The main attraction in the area is the Natural History Museum, but I don't recommend attempting to show up when they open expecting to get in, the queue begins forming long before 10 am and continues throughout the day.
Instead if you are pressed for time, visit the Science Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum. The latter I didn't even know about initially, but the Science Museum happened to have an unannounced late opening due to a very royal visitor. When I arrived at 10 am the docents were announcing the delayed opening to a small crowd waiting to get in, a man in the crowd became very cross with the docent and made quite a scene. After he left I calmly approached the docent and asked for further details, he provided me with not just the new opening time for the museum, but also the suggestion to visit the Victoria & Albert Museum right across the street.
Protip: Things will go wrong, just go with it and you just might discover something you never expected to encounter!
The Victoria & Albert Museum actually turned out to be even cooler than the Science Museum. Each floor has an interactive area where visitors can try on corsets, build a glass palace, or take a peek in a stereoscope. There are also entire rooms that were taken from old English houses set to be demolished, disassembled, cleaned, and then reassembled in their entirety at the museum. The V&A doesn't house fine art or historical artifacts, but it does have quite a lot of useful household items that are artistic in nature. If you need more of a reason to visit this wonderful museum, there is no queue! (Allow at least two hours)
Once it was time I headed back to the Science Museum. I did have to wait in a queue for about 35 minutes, but I believe this was only because the museum was opening it's doors two-and-a-half hours later than usual so a significant amount of people had amassed. By the time I left two hours later the queue was completely gone, suggesting that this is not a common occurrence.
Protip: Most museums have free, public wifi with a pretty decent signal. I was able to update my Facebook status on the Science Museum's wifi whilst standing outside in the queue.
The Science Museum was nice, but it's more of a looking museum than an exploring museum. From what I understand they do have an interactive section on one of the floors, but it is exclusively for children. The rest of the museum's "interactivity" largely involved screens, not hands-on activities. It's still definitely worth a visit though as there are a lot of awesome examples of human innovation on display, including an entire exhibit dedicated to flight, complete with planes suspended from the ceiling. (Allow at least two and a half hours)
I was so busy with Mozfest over the next two-and-a-half days that I didn't have the opportunity to visit any place other than Ravensbourne and my hotel room, but I was quite excited to catch Doctor Who as it aired on BBC One.
My next true adventure had to wait until my last day in London. I packed up all of my belongings and set out to the North Greenwich pier to catch a ferry to the Tower of London. It is a lovely journey on the River Thames and the fare is easily payable by Oyster card. The fee is a bit more, but it sure beats traveling underground.
Prior to leaving for London everyone told me I should visit the Crown Jewels. I'm not really a jewelry kind of girl, so the idea really didn't hold my interest. Then I heard about the WWI poppy memorial and decided to give a visit to the Tower a bit more thought. I was shocked to learn that it is a castle, complete with ravens, and a bloody history. People really need to know their audience when they are pitching things like this.
The Tower of London is a premiere tourist destination, so you really need to know how to plan for this one. I highly recommend purchasing your ticket in advance from the Tower's website. This enabled me to skip the ticket queue and jump straight to the back entrance where the wait was only 15 minutes. Just like any popular tourist destination, you will also want to arrive a few minutes before opening.
If you want to visit the Crown Jewels, head straight towards the queue the moment you arrive or else you will spend all day waiting to get in. I wasn't too concerned with seeing them, so upon arrival I went straight for the central White Tower where you can see historical armour and weaponry on display. This was by far my favourite part of the Tower, along with the ravens who frequent the yard in front of the White Tower. You should also make sure to catch one of the Yeoman tours, I snuck into one as it was ending and left with a few good laughs and some historical context. (Allow at least three-and-a-half hours to get a decent glance at everything)
About 15 minutes in to exploring the White Tower I began to regret my decision to only spend four days in London. Lugging a huge backpack and laptop bag through the Tower is quite a sub-par experience, there are a lot of steps and cramped hallways. All bags are also subject to a security check upon entrance to the Tower, which adds to your queue time. It also means a stranger will literally see your dirty laundry. In retrospect I should have spent Monday exploring and postponed my flight til Tuesday so I could have spent the day relaxing in my hotel room until I had to fly out.
I left the Tower around mid-afternoon and rushed over to Castle & Elephant, a crappy little mall in a fairly unimpressive part of town. I just knew I had to make it there though, for I had heard tales of perogies. New Zealand doesn't do perogies, they aren't in the stores, they aren't in the restaurants. It's like Polish people can't be bothered to come this far South. Needless to say, I was desperate for a taste of home and Mamuska! happily provided.
I'm not usually overly homesick in New Zealand, but when I am away from Seth and Wednesday for more than three days, it is easier to think of my life back in Pittsburgh. This being my fifth day away from New Zealand, by the time I reached Mamuska! I was in a pretty homesick state. Eating such a classic Pittsburgh dish didn't necessarily help, I actually ended up crying every time I took a bite, but I do think it was needed. Seriously, if you are visiting London, you need to visit this place. Maybe don't get as emotional as I did though for fear they will start to think all American's are mental. We wouldn't want to tarnish our reputation.
Sobbing over dinner put me further behind schedule than I had anticipated, but I still had one more thing I wanted to do. Pressed for time I rushed back over to South Kensington, by the time I arrived I had but one hour left before I need to board the underground to the Airport. I power walked past all the museums and cafes until I reached Kensington Gardens. When I first resolved to make it to the garden even though I had limited time I told myself that I would only walk to the garden then spend the remainder of my time relaxing, but once I was there I knew I just had to go find him or I would never forgive myself. I consulted a park map and it looked awful far, but I pressed on. Eventually I realised I was going to have to give up and turn around. I could see a little pond up ahead and decided I would go, look at the ducks, maybe take a few pictures, then turn back around. As I neared closer I realised that what made this area of the park interesting had nothing to do with ducks or water, but what lay across from it. There he was, waiting for me, Peter Pan. (aprox 10 minutes from park entrance)
It was a short visit, but it was enough to allow me to leave London feeling fulfilled. There is still heaps more to see and do, but for only two real days of exploring I'd say I made the most of my time.
If you would like to read about my experience at MozFest, there is a post up on the MakerBox blog.
I arrived in London on Thursday evening and flew out Monday night giving me just two days to explore. Here are my tips for enjoying London with a minimal queue.
Traveling during the off-season is always your best bet, no matter your destination. I haven't traveled much, but I always find October to be a pleasant time to visit popular tourist destinations. The flight to London from New Zealand is a painful 24 hours of flight time, not including time spent on the ground in the airport, but the blow was softened by a lack of fellow travelers. For the long haul flight I was even blessed with a row entirely to myself.
Once I arrived on the ground in London I purchased an Oyster card from the visitors information booth. Visitor Oyster cards cost $3 for the card and come preloaded with $15 to be used on public transport, however they are easily topped up in any underground station. For the initial trip to my hotel I chose to have a taxi cab pick me up so I didn't have to navigate the London underground after 35 hours of travel. I went with ExclusiveAirports and my driver was on-time as well as incredibly friendly. He pointed out heaps of tourist attractions as we drove into town and was just a generally good conversationalist.
Protip: If it's okay with your driver, sit up front. It allows conversation to flow and shows that you respect your driver as a fellow human-being allowing for a more pleasant traveling experience.
After settling at my hotel and taking a much needed shower I decided to explore! From the hotel I took the Jubilee line from Greenwich to Westminster. By this point it was long-since dark and many of the tourists had gone home. Touring London in the evening may seem odd, but it provides a rare opportunity to view popular tourist destinations such as Westminster Abby, the London Eye, and other stunning London locations without large crowds.
Even though I was traveling alone I felt relatively safe. The only dubious encounter I had was with a con artist who I mistook for a drunk dude out with his mates on a pub crawl. He convinced me to take a photo with him then tried to pressure me into paying him. He was easily dealt with though, I told him that I didn't have any cash, when he argued I replied back that I could simply delete the picture, and he immediately gave up. Logic, works like a charm.
It's a shame that people are like that though, I like to be open to new experiences and meeting new people, but it's difficult to have that outlook in a large city when people often have ulterior motives.
The next day I woke up early to continue my exploring. This time I took the tube to South Kensington where many of the museums are located. South Kensington is an absolutely beautiful neighbourhood. I wish I could have spent more time just exploring the streets. The main attraction in the area is the Natural History Museum, but I don't recommend attempting to show up when they open expecting to get in, the queue begins forming long before 10 am and continues throughout the day.
Instead if you are pressed for time, visit the Science Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum. The latter I didn't even know about initially, but the Science Museum happened to have an unannounced late opening due to a very royal visitor. When I arrived at 10 am the docents were announcing the delayed opening to a small crowd waiting to get in, a man in the crowd became very cross with the docent and made quite a scene. After he left I calmly approached the docent and asked for further details, he provided me with not just the new opening time for the museum, but also the suggestion to visit the Victoria & Albert Museum right across the street.
Protip: Things will go wrong, just go with it and you just might discover something you never expected to encounter!
 |
| A small sampling of the History Museum queue |
The Victoria & Albert Museum actually turned out to be even cooler than the Science Museum. Each floor has an interactive area where visitors can try on corsets, build a glass palace, or take a peek in a stereoscope. There are also entire rooms that were taken from old English houses set to be demolished, disassembled, cleaned, and then reassembled in their entirety at the museum. The V&A doesn't house fine art or historical artifacts, but it does have quite a lot of useful household items that are artistic in nature. If you need more of a reason to visit this wonderful museum, there is no queue! (Allow at least two hours)
Once it was time I headed back to the Science Museum. I did have to wait in a queue for about 35 minutes, but I believe this was only because the museum was opening it's doors two-and-a-half hours later than usual so a significant amount of people had amassed. By the time I left two hours later the queue was completely gone, suggesting that this is not a common occurrence.
Protip: Most museums have free, public wifi with a pretty decent signal. I was able to update my Facebook status on the Science Museum's wifi whilst standing outside in the queue.
The Science Museum was nice, but it's more of a looking museum than an exploring museum. From what I understand they do have an interactive section on one of the floors, but it is exclusively for children. The rest of the museum's "interactivity" largely involved screens, not hands-on activities. It's still definitely worth a visit though as there are a lot of awesome examples of human innovation on display, including an entire exhibit dedicated to flight, complete with planes suspended from the ceiling. (Allow at least two and a half hours)
I was so busy with Mozfest over the next two-and-a-half days that I didn't have the opportunity to visit any place other than Ravensbourne and my hotel room, but I was quite excited to catch Doctor Who as it aired on BBC One.
My next true adventure had to wait until my last day in London. I packed up all of my belongings and set out to the North Greenwich pier to catch a ferry to the Tower of London. It is a lovely journey on the River Thames and the fare is easily payable by Oyster card. The fee is a bit more, but it sure beats traveling underground.
Prior to leaving for London everyone told me I should visit the Crown Jewels. I'm not really a jewelry kind of girl, so the idea really didn't hold my interest. Then I heard about the WWI poppy memorial and decided to give a visit to the Tower a bit more thought. I was shocked to learn that it is a castle, complete with ravens, and a bloody history. People really need to know their audience when they are pitching things like this.
The Tower of London is a premiere tourist destination, so you really need to know how to plan for this one. I highly recommend purchasing your ticket in advance from the Tower's website. This enabled me to skip the ticket queue and jump straight to the back entrance where the wait was only 15 minutes. Just like any popular tourist destination, you will also want to arrive a few minutes before opening.
If you want to visit the Crown Jewels, head straight towards the queue the moment you arrive or else you will spend all day waiting to get in. I wasn't too concerned with seeing them, so upon arrival I went straight for the central White Tower where you can see historical armour and weaponry on display. This was by far my favourite part of the Tower, along with the ravens who frequent the yard in front of the White Tower. You should also make sure to catch one of the Yeoman tours, I snuck into one as it was ending and left with a few good laughs and some historical context. (Allow at least three-and-a-half hours to get a decent glance at everything)
 |
| Easy to miss is the Coins & Kings Exhibition. It's small, but mighty. |
About 15 minutes in to exploring the White Tower I began to regret my decision to only spend four days in London. Lugging a huge backpack and laptop bag through the Tower is quite a sub-par experience, there are a lot of steps and cramped hallways. All bags are also subject to a security check upon entrance to the Tower, which adds to your queue time. It also means a stranger will literally see your dirty laundry. In retrospect I should have spent Monday exploring and postponed my flight til Tuesday so I could have spent the day relaxing in my hotel room until I had to fly out.
I left the Tower around mid-afternoon and rushed over to Castle & Elephant, a crappy little mall in a fairly unimpressive part of town. I just knew I had to make it there though, for I had heard tales of perogies. New Zealand doesn't do perogies, they aren't in the stores, they aren't in the restaurants. It's like Polish people can't be bothered to come this far South. Needless to say, I was desperate for a taste of home and Mamuska! happily provided.
I'm not usually overly homesick in New Zealand, but when I am away from Seth and Wednesday for more than three days, it is easier to think of my life back in Pittsburgh. This being my fifth day away from New Zealand, by the time I reached Mamuska! I was in a pretty homesick state. Eating such a classic Pittsburgh dish didn't necessarily help, I actually ended up crying every time I took a bite, but I do think it was needed. Seriously, if you are visiting London, you need to visit this place. Maybe don't get as emotional as I did though for fear they will start to think all American's are mental. We wouldn't want to tarnish our reputation.
Sobbing over dinner put me further behind schedule than I had anticipated, but I still had one more thing I wanted to do. Pressed for time I rushed back over to South Kensington, by the time I arrived I had but one hour left before I need to board the underground to the Airport. I power walked past all the museums and cafes until I reached Kensington Gardens. When I first resolved to make it to the garden even though I had limited time I told myself that I would only walk to the garden then spend the remainder of my time relaxing, but once I was there I knew I just had to go find him or I would never forgive myself. I consulted a park map and it looked awful far, but I pressed on. Eventually I realised I was going to have to give up and turn around. I could see a little pond up ahead and decided I would go, look at the ducks, maybe take a few pictures, then turn back around. As I neared closer I realised that what made this area of the park interesting had nothing to do with ducks or water, but what lay across from it. There he was, waiting for me, Peter Pan. (aprox 10 minutes from park entrance)
It was a short visit, but it was enough to allow me to leave London feeling fulfilled. There is still heaps more to see and do, but for only two real days of exploring I'd say I made the most of my time.
If you would like to read about my experience at MozFest, there is a post up on the MakerBox blog.
