The UK and Ireland

[little_princess]

mei mei, parang your first day is too tight? tipong fly by na lang magagawa mo especially if you want to wander around and go inside the sights. you might want to spread it out.

oyster card, £20 will take you a long way already. it would last us a week and we do go places I think you can refund any unused amount at the end of your stay.

souvenirs, medyo mahal talaga sa London but there are souvenir shops everywhere so you can compare prices. the ones around Leicester Sq is ok and I bought a couple of stuff from the souvenir shops near the wax museum.

When are you going? sometimes you can go inside the Parliament and Buckingham Palace during the summer.

Additional places you can go to - greenwich, windsor castle, harry potter, orchard road

[shegie_285]

When are you going meimei? The premier league will end shortly (mga one game left na lang most teams) so maybe thats this coming weekend. Man United actually will have a new shirt sponsor next season so you might get a good deal for that (their current sponsor is Aon). Not sure lang kung bababa ng  £30 dahil mataas ang demand for jerseys.

[jeune]

^
Sis shegie, how's the weather there in May? Thinking of going to Dublin/Belfast end of the month. Still trying to find cheap airfare since Ryanair doesn't have a flight on our scheduled date. Checking Aer Lingus too

[shegie_285]

ang hirap magsabi ng weather sis.. hehe.. very unpredictable talaga. maulan, maaraw. may time na mas mainit pa nung april compared to now. 10-15C at the moment (mas malamig sa umaga), but carry na ng light jacket especially pag may araw. But at least it starts to get dark lang at 9pm. hopefully mas maganda na ang weather towards the end of the month.. Belfast is two hours away lang by car from Dublin so if you have time you could do both.

[meimei]

@little_princess, sis actually i'll be in London for business meetings for the first 5 days and super busy and pagod so di ako makakagala. I'll extend for 2 nights under personal account para makagala kaya medyo jampacked ang schedule, hehe.

@shegie_285, i'll arrive in London tomorrow. Thanks sis sa tip sa football jerseys, but i dont think i can spend more than £30, so kahit sa tabi-tabi na lang, hehe.

[meimei]

OMG mga sis!! naloka ako sa cab fare from Heathrow to my hotel in Westminster! 70 freaking pounds!!! hindi na ko nag-tube kasi super duper bigat ng dala ko, as in bibigay na ang katawan ko if i lugged my suitcase/handcarry around the tube. eh i had no idea the cab fare will reach 70 pounds.

problema ko ngayon is when i go back to Heathrow for my flight back to Manila... eh ganun pala kamahal ang taxi. pero uber bigat talaga ng dala ko. huhuhu

[mama squeak!]

^Have you tried checking airport buses? Or those door to door airport-hotel shuttle services? They should come out cheaper than taking a cab. There should be several shared bus service companies in London. Google them or ask your hotel concierge for reliable companies.

[little_princess]

mei mei, we pay average about the same if we take black cabs from Heathrow. Generally, black cabs are more expensive. Options for you aside from the normal black cabs would be Sam's cars. It's a private car company and their rates are fixed. I have the details if you need it. Another option would be to take the bus but this depends on where you are as you might need to change still. Or you can also take a cab to the Heathrow Express.

[meimei]

HELP! i have a problem! biglang nasira yung digicam ko while in London. syempre i need to take pictures so i need to buy a digicam in London (hindi kasi maganda camera ng phone ko). where is a good place to buy a digicam? pwede na ko sa cheapest product ng Fuji, etc.

i need urgent replies sana kasi next morning ay magga-gala na ulit ako and i'm only here until Sunday afternoon (London time), wawa naman ako kung wala ako pictures.

EDIT: i amde a quick search online and found there are digicams in Tesco online. i dont want to buy online since andito na ko sa London, pero when i checked the branches, iba-ibang klase pala ang Tesco, merong Express, merong Metro, merong Superstore. i'll call them early tomorrow to check kung may digicam sa branch nila. pero if you have other recommendations pa, please let me know, thanks.

[shegie_285]

sis go to argos. you can buy everything there, mga low range prices. check argos online to have idea of the prices. I got a camera olympus less than €100. basic lang.

Edit din. yes tesco nga din pala. most tesco naman malaki especially kapag nasa loob ng shopping mall. but mas maraming options sa argos.

[little_princess]

meimei, check the tesco superstores for sure meron dun. just the bigger ones. baka meron din click and collect option.

where are you located in london?

[gj1206]

Oh no! Hope you managed to get one today. Your travel time was perfect pa naman because of the heatwave, very nicely sunny and warm!

Depending on where you are coming from, you can get a cab from a local cab company in the area to take you to Heathrow. They're usually cheaper. 70 pounds was definitely exag if Westminster lang ha!

[Crissy]

My uk visa was already approved and I'm going to London 1st wk of July.  Any suggestion what airlines should I get? Grabe, ang mahal nang airfare going to London.

[juana_antonia]

^Pinaka-convenient pa din ang PAL sis kasi straight flight siya.

[little_princess]

^^ check skyscanner so you can decide on how much you want to splurge depending on the flight times and sot overs.

PAL is direct flight, my only peeve with it is that their baggage allowance is so small. There are a lot of Asian and Middle Eastern airlines that fly to London. I have used Qatar, Etihad and Emirates. Not a fan of Qatar but it is cheaper of the 3 then Etihad and Emirates. I usually fly Etihad and got into the silver tier easily.

[blaire.witch]

hello mga sis! my friends and i are planning to visit London in October, mainly to watch Miss Saigon. Pero since pupunta na rin kami, might as well visit the must-see places there. 3 full days lang kami dyan, excluding our travel days.

and i have some questions na sana may makasagot.

1. how far is abbey road? beatles and eheads fan kasi ako so i really need to go to that place! ano pa ang makikita dun aside from that famous pedestrian crossing?

2. how's the weather in october?

3. in which area in London can u suggest that we stay? i'm checking out hotels in booking.com pero hindi ko kasi alam saan maganda magstay. my friends are suggesting na sana malapit kami sa venue nung Miss Saigon. any suggestions? budget is probably around 100 pounds a night?

thanks in advance mga sis!

[gj1206]

1. Abbey Road is a short walk from St. John's Wood or Maida Vale underground stations. Other than the zebra crossing, there's Abbey Road Studios (I don't think they let people in) and the graffiti wall, but not much else. Regent's Park is a short walk away if you like to just stroll about. The London Zoo is in Regent's Park too, if you're up for that.

2. October is autumn, so there could be rain...definitely cold. Maybe 10-15 degrees? More than 20 would be a fluke!

3. No idea how much accommodation costs on average in London, but it's bound to be expensive if you want to be near Soho (where the Miss Saigon theatre is). Um...check out Marylebone area which is going to be nice and in between Soho and where Abbey Road is so you can just bus around. If you want, list off some prospects and I can help you figure out distance/ease of transport.

[blaire.witch]

thanks so much sis @gj1206 for the answers!

regarding the accommodation area, i really have no idea as it will be my first time to visit london.

our IT would be something like this:

day 1: sightseeing around london, like hyde park, buckingham palace, parliament, london bridge, london eye, etc.(kaya ba 'to lahat isang araw, then evening Miss Saigon na?)

day 2: harry potter studios, visit that famous notting hill/portabello rd, abbey road. (puede rin dito ang Miss Saigon)

day 3. stonehenge-bath-windsor day trip.

Miss Saigon should be somewhere in the evening of Day 1 or Day 2. Ano kaya mas feasible, based on our IT?

and based on our IT above, hope you can give me some prospective areas where to look for accommodations. like what you said sis, help us figure out distance/ease of transport. salamat!

[meimei]

hello mga sis! update lang after my trip. yes i was able to buy a digicam in London, yey! I was able to buy a Pentax underwater camera for GBP 130, then i added GBP 49 for an extended 2-yr global warranty, plus GBP 20 for an SD card. it's a pretty good deal, i got it at Argos! (thanks sis shegie_285 for the suggestion).

for my airport transfer from the hotel to Heathrow, i was able to get the number of this private car company from a trusted colleague i met in London. it was much cheaper! i only paid GBP 30! happiness!

i was quite disappointed with Thistle Kensington Gardens - i booked thru Expedia for around GBP 140/night - it had really good reviews so i decided to book it. when i checked in, i confirmed with the receptionist if they have 24-hr room service, they said yes. lo and behold, after an extremely tiring day, i ordered a main course around 11pm and the room service said they only had sandwiches after 10pm! disappointing. so their "room service menu" is not really offered for 24hrs.

the good thing about Thistle Kensington is that the Bug Bus Tour (blue route) stops right in front of the hotel which was very convenient for sight-seeing.

i watched two musicals: Miss Saigon and Once. i soooooo loved both of them! and they are very much different from each other. Miss Saigon is this huge production, while Once is more intimate. but for those who didn't see the Once movie, you might be quite disappointed because you won't know what to expect. the storyline is simple, but the music is just lovely. and i really love Once the movie so i decided to see the musical and i was really very happy. the lead guy was really good - you could really feel the emotion when he sings.

i was very sad that i was not able to go to Abbey Road! aaaarrrgh!!! my schedule just didn't permit it. because unfortunately, during the Saturday that i was there, there was this huge football match and a colleague from London advised me that there will be so many people that i should consider staying indoors (which i didn't do of course) - but he was right - the buses seemed to have been re-routed, but there was still traffic all over! i wasn't able to explore much because i didn't want to be late for the musicals so i headed straight to the theatre district and just roamed around its vicinity.

PS. i was able to buy a football jersey for my brother for GBP 28 at the Lillywhites, but of course this is previous season's shirt - which is fine. good deal.

[meimei]

^^blaire.witch, here are my comments:

Day 1: yes that is fairly feasible because the London Eye, Big Ben and Parliament are very near each other so this wouldn't take much of your time. though i don't think you'll see much in Hyde Park so i think you can just opt to go to St. James Park (i so loved the water fowl there!) then walk to Buckingham. the London Bridge is a little bit farther than the others... so i think you'll have to make this a tentative stop in your itinerary (only if time permits). after Buckingham, i suggest you go to the theatre area already.

Day 2: i didn't go to Harry Potter but since you just have a few stops in your itinerary, it does seem feasible. it's good that you only have a few stops in your itinerary because it would really give you time to go to Abbey Road (which is not in the central tourist area of London) - i really regret not having been able to take a pic at the Abbey Rd

Day 3: (no comment - i'm not interested in Bath/Stonehenge, hehe)