10 days for London and ??? How much is too much? - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

petros · 03-23-2008, 06:20 PM

I stumbled on some cheap fares ($640ish) from SFO to Heathrow. I was planning a big Europe trip in 2009, but there is no reason I can't do this in addition to the other trip. Class is out in the beginning of May, and I want to leave as soon as I can. I can only get 10 days or so off work. It's pretty spontaneous of me, but that's too cheap to say no to.

I'm thinking I want to go to London and see the city, but I don't know how much time I should budget for it. My parents went a couple of years ago for 5 days, and two of them were spent traveling, and my dad wishes he had more time there... But I know they spent a lot of time in museums and going slow.

The English countryside sounds awesome, and I want to hit that up too if possible and see places like Stonehenge, and that would be a day in itself.

It was then brought up to me that one of our Colombian exchange students is studying in Paris, and I'd really like to meet up with him, but that throws another kink in my plans. Then I need to pay for a trip across the Chunnel, and from what I can find that will cost me another $130 round trip (can anyone link me to cheap tickets here?). If I miss out on a lot of Paris I won't be heartbroken, since I'm still planning on going there again next year. But on the other hand, if I don't go to Paris, where else should I go in London/England during my quick trip? Can I do London and Paris in 10 days and everything in between? And is there anything I can't live without seeing to throw into my itinerary? Thanks!

SGRHewitt · 03-23-2008, 09:18 PM

For the trip to Paris, try Easyjet.co.uk. However city center to city center, I would do the Eurostar. That way you don't have to pay an extra 40-60 dollars getting to the airport.

Eurostar will run you roughly 130 round trip. Could be cheaper if you can find coupon codes or something. Eurostar.com

**travelchick75** · 03-24-2008, 05:25 AM

Hey, personally If your going for such a short period of time i wouldnt recommend going to paris especially If you know your going to be going there soon enough! London is an amazing city and I would budget off about 5 days to see a good chunk of what London has to offer. Which is a lot just FYI but so bloody expensive. Its good though if you like museums as most of them are free. Another good thing about London is that it is ridiculously cheap to do day trips out of the city so I'd look at towns around london that you might be interested in seeing as well. Hope that helped and good luck :D!

petros · 03-24-2008, 07:16 PM

Thanks for the tips... I got my leave from work extended to 14 days, so I get a few more days in London

. As of now I think I want to head south to Wiltshire and see Stonehenge and some of the countryside.

Good thing London is cheap, because this little trip is going to cost me a little bit more than expected after I saw the value of USD to GDP... 2:1. Not good at all.

SGRHewitt · 03-24-2008, 07:58 PM

Yeah, and expect it to get worse if the economy continues on its downward spiral.

. Gotta love macroeconomics.

14 days will be plenty of time. Although my guess is you may miss something and you'll just have to come back at a later date. I know, horrible ain't it? And if you don't miss something, well I would be very surprised. I lived in London for four months and missed a good portion of the city.

**MolsonGirl** · 03-25-2008, 11:46 PM

Haha I"m sorry... I could've sworn I just read that LONDON is CHEAP??? London is the most expensive city in the world... granted many museums are free to visit... but please don't go there thinking the city is cheap at all.

**buzzingtalk** · 03-29-2008, 02:18 PM

london isnt cheap! theres ways around things but please dont underbudget

if your gonna be in london a lot buy an oyster card from a train station when you arrive it will save you lots of money on train and bus fares

DONT EAT OUT its very expensive (unless you wanna treat yaself) good cheap places are bars/pubs, make sure you pop into one on a sunday for a roast in true english tradition

petros · 03-31-2008, 12:29 PM

Awesome, thanks for the advice everyone.

Is the Oyster card worth it if I'm only in London for 5 days or so?

I might be having a friend with me, and to get him to decide to join me I more or less told him that we could go where he wanted to go, because I know it would make or break the trip for him... He really wanted to go to Paris, so I think we're going to try to spend 4 or 5 days in each city and maybe try to go to Stonehenge and a castle or two.

If I miss something and I really want to see it, I'll try to just go back next year when I know I'll have a lot of time, so I'm not really worried about anything.

Thanks again. Any specific food places or anything I should hit up in London? I'm pretty big on trying local cuisine no matter what country I'm in, so I will treat myself to a reasonably priced meal once or twice to get the experience.

SGRHewitt · 03-31-2008, 12:49 PM

Lolitas in Paddington have the best Chicken Shwarma and Doners ever... But maybe I say that because I ate it almost every night lol. 3.20gbp for a meal is pretty solid.

God I miss Garlic sauce.

**buzzingtalk** · 04-05-2008, 03:10 PM

yep oyster card is still worth it. costs you £3 then you top up, will save you lots of cash e.g. to get on a bus without one is £2, bus with oyster is 90p!
so definatley get one, it also saves having to carry more cash with you

foodside, well id recommend getting yourself to a pub along the thames, if its sunny head to richmond its lovely there, and visit kew gardens then head to a traditional english pub for sunday roast.

other notable foods: pie and mash in east london, with mushy peas and gravy of course, and head to brickfeilds/spitafelids market (10min walk from liverpool st station) the markets are lovely, nice for souveneiers and quirky gifts, its right near all the modern buildings of chaos down liverpool street and brickfelids is like little india, the food there is amazing.