We flew through Heathrow just six short days ago on August 4, and with the new terrorist threats and huge snafu at Heathrow, I thought you might be interested in what traveling through there was like even without the new terrorist threats. Heathrow has a reputation as the WORST airport to go through with its 4 Terminals...well-earned, and I had already written this article to appear with my series on Austria, which will start running on August 18.

We flew Munich to London on Lufthansa, landing in Terminal 2, and then had two hours to connect to our United, London-Chicago flight out of Terminal 3. You'd think that's plenty of time, right?

This is the routine:

1. After getting off Lufthansa in Terminal 2, walking close to a mile as rapidly as possible, there is SECURITY in front of you. Hundreds of passengers who had just gotten off planes being directed into TWO lines for additional scanning. We had a 3:40pm flight and it was now 2:30pm. ONE HOUR later, finally through Security. Next?

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We couldn't have asked for better weather...untypically London...sunny! I'm not going to go into depth on each place visited. You can get all the info off the websites in my previous article, primarily Visit London Tourism. It was time for 3 days of "power-touring":

If you are going to tour London, I highly recommended getting a London Pass, which will get you discounts to many top London attractions.

The Tower of London; The Clink View image (I personally like the London Dungeon better); Winston Churchill's War Rooms (his command center during World War II); Changing of the Guard (you can see on alternate days only); Westminster Cathedral; Big Ben; West End; walked across Tower Bridge; along the Thames Embankment; The Imperial War Museum (one of the few places in London that was free); and a few others that I will tell a little more about. All of these sites were picked by our adult children who were accompanying us.

We also made the "must" visits to Harrods and Hamleys. A word about Hamleys...years before Toys "R" Us was conceived...there was Hamleys. A five-floor store, filled with nothing but toys, on Regent Street. I remember taking my young sons there in the mid-70's and being blown away by the array of toys. And it is still a beautiful, amazing place to visit.

Continue reading "Wandering Around London" »

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Yes, it is VERY expensive for Americans to visit London these days. But it can still be done. Our adult daughter and son-in-law were meeting us for their first trip to London and I wanted them to have a great experience.

Days of interneting until my fingers were ready to fall off but finally came up with Hotels-London, a website with hotels, information and, best of all, one of the few sites where I didn't have to completely prepay the entire stay. What I also liked about their site was their responsiveness. They answered quickly and went out of their way to change one room from twin to double. I would definitely use them again.

We selected the London Elizabeth Hotel, located Bayswater Road and Lancaster Gate (also a "tube" stop - or for us Americans - "tube" is a subway), just a few feet away from Hyde Park. The cost was 88.00 Pounds/nite for a twin-bedded room including continental buffet breakfast, 17.5% VAT tax, and service. In $, it converts to $153.00/night. For Britain, that's not bad...not good...but not bad. You can get B&B's and other hotels for less, but be warned, most rooms are extremely tiny...think climbing over each other and bags to get to the bathroom. British rooms are usually dowdy and cramped unless you pay a lot! If you have a Ritz or Savoy budget, no worries for you!

Hotel London Elizabeth Facade

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