The UK and Ireland

[juana_antonia]

^Hmmm.. I thought 3-star Michelin the one in London.

[gj1206]

juana_antonia
Oh, is it? Sorry! Don't pay much attention to the stars to be honest; I just try and eat wherever there's good food!

[glacy_rein]

^my husband says there are better restaurants than Gordon Ramsay's, thanks to Masterchef as he is well known for that.

Hmm.. sige. we'll see our options.

[bzbee]

thanks glacy_rein and gj1206 for all the replies!!! love all your recommendations!! todo kwento ako kay fiance. the food market sounds good! i really do hope we have enough time to visit all these places. okay lang din if not, at least we'll have another reason to go back. we're very much looking forward to gordon ramsay's beef wellington! medyo non-negotiable samin ni fiance to dine here kaya pikit mata na lang sa bill. lol

[glacy_rein]

^Yun nga sis, kelan ang visit mo? we'll visit this September

[gj1206]

glacy_rein
Yes, there's lots of good places to eat here! Although don't look for Japanese. Haven't found a good Japanese place yet...Australia does it better in that department, haha. But definitely go to the markets! They let you have samples for free, and the number of times we've gone around Borough Market just doing taste testing and getting hehe.

Camden Market pala is known mostly for knick knacks (clothes, art, jewelry, other random stuff), although they have food. Pero it's not their mega specialty.

(Obvious bang fan ako ng Borough Market)

[glacy_rein]

^yes, iba nga ang Japanese food dito kahit na may mga eat all you can of Sushi.

Yung Camden market nadaanan ko before pero parang mas matao ang Borough Market or siguro alang na araw yun. hehe

[snow25]

^^there's this japanese place na na-try namin sa west end (near prince edward theatre) after we watched Miss Saigon when we had our holiday last June. Super ok and masarap yung food nila. I forgot the name and not pricey as well. I'll search for it 😀

[bzbee]

Researched a bit about borough market, nakakaexcite din!

 @glacy_rein Feb pa kami lapit na pala alis mo! Looking forward to your reviews!

[glacy_rein]

^^sige nga sis pa-search.

^yes and then going back for the holidays na Christmas and New Year.

[gj1206]

snow25
Dozo, Eat Tokyo, or Taro? All along Old Compton Street. They're all not bad, but they weren't HUWAW good for me. I liked Dozo the best among those three. Medyo cramped the space lang, so mind if you're bringing buggies with you. Last I went to Taro they had a few Filipino waitstaff, so that was nice/amusing!

glacy_rein
Are you coming from down under?

Basta Camden Market isn't foodie...more hipster/goth clothes/artsy fartsy stuff. They have old vinyls in there somewhere, and random stuff.

Don't go to Borough super hungry! Sobrang daming choices, nakakatakam kagad lahat!

[snow25]

Glacy_rein, i think Eat Tokyo ata yun. It isn't a michelin star. For me and my friend, okay naman. We love the mussels in sake that we ordered kaya namin nagustuhan and for the price, definitely cheaper when I compare that dish to some restaurants I have tried here in Au.

[bonzaigirl]

^ snow, is it not Sushi Eatery? That is the nearest I think that is near Prince Edward Theatre, na eat all you can along Old Compton Street? They have a nice downstairs room wherein may illusion na you are seating in the floor, but the floorboards are just hollowed out. hehe. They serve great soft shell crab sushi, and I love their deep fried tofu. But heir service isn't great.

[glacy_rein]

@gj1206

Aussie ba sis? Sorry yun agad pumasok sa isip ko. haha! no PH ako based. Okay ba prices sa Borough Market? Kasi napuntahan ko yun due to HP walking tour and hindi ko talaga natikman/nakabili.

@snow

thanks sis! will check it.

[bonzaigirl]

^glacy rein May I butt in?  It's a nice experience to go to Borough Market.  They sell lots of chocolates and truffles. They also sell trinkets and bits.  Prices vary, but  there are lots of things that you canbuy there and you won't get hungry. If you're into antiques, Portobello Road near Notting Hill is also great place to go to. You can check the bookstore where Hugh Grant met Julia RObert's character in the movie Notting Hill. And if you have more time, visit the various gardens that the UK has. If there's one thing that I miss from my old stomping grounds, aside from the 4 seasons in 1 day weather, it's that every city has a park and a garden wherein you can just sit in park bench and eat your lunch while people watching or just reading a book.  Hope this helps

[glacy_rein]

^oohh that's nice! there's this Eat London tour and Im thinking of joining in! hehe. Or we can just go on our own to experience it ourselves.

I'll try to squeeze that in sis! thank you for advice!

[unwantedP]

Hi sisses, please help with our London itinerary for Oct 19 - 24 I'm travelling with my mom and aunt.

Initially DIY lang ang plan ko but nabasa ko may mga nag SANDEMAN tours here. Avail na lang din namin para guided ang tour. Kaya kaya ang 3 hours of walking? Separate days ko siya ginawa kasi nakakapagod.

Oct 19 6:20am arrival

Go to Covent Garden for Sandeman Free Tour @ 11am or 2pm (tour lasts for 2.5 hours)
Buckingham Palace
Churchill’s War Cabinet Bunker
The Houses of Parliament
St. Martin-in-the-Fields
Westminster Abbey
Trafalgar Square
Nelson's Column
St. James’s Park
10 Downing St.
Horseguards
Big Ben

Since 11am ang Horse Guards Parade, hindi na namin maaabutan.

Oct 20

Go to Covent Garden for Sandeman Old City Tour, EUR 16 @ 3:30pm (tour lasts for 2.5-3 hours)

St. Paul’s Cathedral
London Bridge
Shakespeare’s Globe Theater
Millennium Bridge (The wobbly bridge)
The Church of the Knights Templar (of Da Vinci Code fame!)
The Monument
The Tower of London
Mansion House
World War II Blitz
The Bank of England
The Royal Exchange
HMS Belfast
Tate Modern
RAF Church
Tower Bridge

Oct 21 - attend a convention (morning - afternoon)

Oct 22 -

Oct 23 - Windsor, Bath (Roman Bath and Pump Room), Stonehenge

English Bus sana kaso hindi kasama yung Windsor.


San kaya pwede isingit to?
National Gallery (10:00 - 18:00)
Walk 0.8km to Piccadilly Circus (Regent Street) -> Carnaby Street -> Oxford Street and Oxford Circus (0.8km total) - Shopping
Train to Holborn (13mins) + 0.6km walk or 1.1km walk to The British Museum (10:00 - 17:30)
Walk 0.6km to Covent Garden, Royal Opera House

Baker Street (Sherlock Holmes Museum)
London Eye
Harrods
Kensington Palace - ok ba tong i-visit?

Also planning to watch Les Miserables (medyo malayo lang yun Queen's Theatre) so baka Wicked na lang at Apollo Victoria. And/Or Romeo and Juliet on Oct 23 7:30pm Ampitheatre area, just need to shuffle the schedules since hindi possible mixing the day with Stonehenge.

[bonzaigirl]

^hi sis unwantedP 😄

Since you want to go  and checkout the National Gallery you can do this after your Sandeman's tour  wherein your last stop is the Parliament square or where Big Ben is. You'll just need to walk for about 10-15 minutes depending on how fast you walk.  National Gallery is also near the National Portrait Museum which is also another good museum. Both of them are just in front of Trafalgar Square, which is next to Leicester (pronounced Les-ter)Square.  And Soho and Chinatown. From there you can go walk to Covent Garden which is about 10 minutes away by foot. You can also walk to Picadilly Circus. Tip. Go to Picadilly Circus at night so you can have the full effect of the big screens .  From Trafalgar Square you can take the 176 bus to Tottenham Court Road which is the beginning of Oxford Circus. You can also walk to Oxford Circus from China town but it takes quite some time. 

As for the watching from West End. You can watch it after your seminars as most evening performances start at 1930 which is 0730pm.  Wicked is really good. Les Miserab is also good but I prefer Wicked, although I haven't seen Les Miserab when Rachelle Ann go started.

Try to enjoy the gardens (Kensington Gardens and St. James park is lovely) as well although I am not sure what you will see in October as that is already the start of Autumn. By that time the temperature would have dropped so you may not see some sunshine except for the brief indian summers, its better to bring some thicker clothing or layer up. And most important of all, bring a foldable umbrella. The UK is not famed for having 4 seasons in one day for nothing😄😄. The english summers are quite popular with rain. 

Another tip: Bring flats or any comfortable shoes around since you'll be walking quite a lot. I've seen New Yorkers who brought 1 or 2 inch heel boots and despite being warned,  sabi nila they are so used to heels well.. sila rin sumuko. hehe. It's so fun to explore London, don't let bad footwear ruin it for you 😄😄. 

[unwantedP]

^thanks sa tip sis. I won't bring my heeled boots this time, sumuko din ako nung dinala ko siya sa Kyoto. hehe.

medyo full pala ang itinerary namin. pagdating namin ng London rest lang din muna sa hotel bago mag tour, don't know if kaya yung Sandeman Tour agad ng 2pm.

Yung Oxford Street pala ang daming shops, walking distance lang ba yung Oxford Street, Oxford Circus, Carnaby Street, Regent Street, and Piccadilly Circus? And lahat sila shopping? Kaya na kaya ang 5 hours dito?

EDIT: we will get this tour na lang pala on Oct 23 since my aunt wants to go to the Cotswolds. Ako naman Stonehenge and Bath. Kaso wala atang Roman Bath entrance yun tour :/  nakasulat lang "Free time to shop and explore Georgian Bath" so di namin makikita this one noh?

unlike yun Windsor, Stonehenge, Bath Tour may nakalagay na Roman Bath entrance and Pump Room

[bonzaigirl]

^ hi sis. Actually carnaby and regent street are  on a different side of Oxford street.  You can walk to Picadilly from Oxford street. Are you planning on having a major shopping spree? I'm only asking because the shops in Oxford street are the same shops you'll find in Manila. I could only think of a few shops that you can't find in Manila such as Selfridges, New Look, Primark, and and Ms. Selfridge. New Look and Primark are budget shops- like SM dept. Store- ganun din yung quality. Although Marks and Spencer is a bit cheaper in London. In saying that, Oxford street is always busy with loads of tourists and shoppers around. If you want to shop high end stuff Regent street is the place to go to.

It's okay if you won't do the Sandeman's Tour on your first day, because you can easily walk from Buckingham Palace to St. James Park, to Westminster Abbey to the Parliament where Big Ben is, cross the Waterloo bridge to go to Waterloo where the London Eye is.  Here you can have some lunch or just walk back to the Golden Jubilee Bridge and you'll come across the theatre where Lindsay Lohan has a play. Walk to Charingcross Station to go to Trafalgar Square wherein you can either go to the National Gallery. You can have some lunch at Leicester Square then maybe go and shop at Covent Market. Or from there walk to Oxford street.

The good thing about London is it's designed wherein you can walk around anywhere plus London has a very good public transport system.  The bad thing about the UK in general, (aside from the government 😊) is the gloomy weather.  Have fun in your holiday.