Visiting London...On The Cheap

I used to be scared of London. Too big, too loud, too many bloody people.

That's changed though.  I visit it a few times a year now and I can wield my Oyster card and tut at annoying dawdlers with the best of them.

I know half of Blogland lives in London and will probably have no interest in this post but I never fail to be suprised by the amount of people in the real world who treat my London trips as some sort of exotic journey.  Maybe they're all scared to step foot outside the North West?  Maybe they assume it's horrendously expensive? I'm not an expert on everything our capital city has to offer but I think I'm quite good at planning cheap weekend breaks, so here are my recommendations.

Priorities

What would you rather spend your money on?  I know it sounds a bit grownup and boring but have a proper think about what the important parts of your trip are before you go and it'll stop you getting carried away and spending a shedload of money.

As a basic rule, I will happily spend money on an experience that I think is worth it but I won't waste it on things like hotels.  The only thing that was absolutely vital about this weekend was going to see Macbeth.  I was not prepared to be stingy over the ticket price for that so we paid £65 each, sat in Row C and it was wonderful.  All the other stuff wasn't as important, and in total (for return train tickets, my share of the hotel and a ticket for another play) it cost £65 as well.  Not bad, eh?  If you'd rather stay in luxury then you can sit in the crappy seats at the theatre and pay for a nice hotel room instead. The choice is yours.  If you can afford to do the whole trip in style then I shall graciously pretend I'm not envious.

Trains

I am such a fraud writing this section.  I hate train websites with a passion I only usually reserve for hating Fearne Cotton.  They boggle my brain, so I outsource this element of my trip planning and get my good pal Lee to do it for me while I organise other things instead.  He is most excellent.  Ask him for tips if you want cheap train tickets because I can't supply you with anything helpful.

There is technically a £12.50 standard fare from Liverpool to London but you'd be hard pushed to find many of them, especially at a reasonable time and at weekends.  Still, £19 isn't too bad at all and I didn't have to get up too revoltingly early.

Travel

Walk, especially if you're in central London.  It's the best way to get your bearings on the space around you.  I think a large part of the reason I used to dislike London so much was that I never knew where I was.  But guess what? It's really not that hard to navigate, especially in the central areas where you can't move without falling over a signpost. I am still rather vague about the further flung parts of the city but I'm not likely to need to go there so it's not a problem. I can walk from Euston to the Globe without getting lost and I know a few nice pubs and that's good enough for me for now. 

Or y'know, take the Tube. But get yourself an Oyster card. It's cheaper than day travelcards and you'll feel like less of a tourist.

Hotels

My advice is always this: stay in a Travelodge.  They're fine.  They're clean, they have a bed and a bathroom and a tv and a kettle and you can borrow an iron and a hairdryer if you need them. You will probably be in the hotel for about 10/11 hours, 8 hours of which will be spent sleeping. Why pay a fortune when all you need is somewhere decent?  The hotel we stayed in at the weekend cost £35 for a Saturday night and we've had different Travelodges for £18 a night before now.  Stalk their website a bit and grab their cheap sale rates, or have a look and see if anything is available when you want to go. This visit was only meant to be a day trip until we discovered that there were some cheap rooms available.  The same logic applies to Premier Inns which are basically the same but a bit nicer. They have pictures on the wall and everything.

ps - only stay in an EasyHotel for the hilarity factor or if you actually like sleeping in an alcove and/or having a floor space that is literally smaller than a bath towel. They're not that cheap and they're not pleasant. You can't even hang anything up! It wouldn't kill them to put some hooks up, would it?

Theatre

This is mostly what I go to London for. By theatre I mean plays, not musicals.  I'm sure there are loads of places out there that can tell you how and where to buy cut price tickets for the latter but we mostly book our theatre tickets a long way in advance so don't come to me for advice on last minute deals. What I can recommend is signing up to all the newsletters from the ticketing companies and theatres.  Whilst this may occasionally drive you mad (eg when we really wanted to see Our Boys but the timings did not work out at all and about a million emails came through going "Come and see Our Boys" "You know you want to" "What are you waiting for, you Northern morons? WATCH IT!"), it often pays off and you end up seeing some really interesting stuff for less than the cost of a cinema ticket. Case in point: on Saturday night we saw Old Times with Rufus Sewell and Kristin Scott Thomas for just a tenner. Bargain.  They have 100 seats for each performance at that price and it's very much worth it.

Tip - if you're seeing anything at the Harold Pinter Theatre, you still get a decent view on the back row of the stalls.  Unless you're desperate to be in the front few rows, it's a good option.

Booze

Well I don't know about you lot but I won't pay £6 for a glass of wine in a theatre bar. I prefer the rather naughtier (and massively cheaper option) of buying a mini bottle in the shop round the corner for £1.99 and stowing it in my handbag. Theatres always have plastic glasses on the bar so help yourself to one of them and voila! Just pour it out in a discreet fashion when the ushers aren't looking.

Food

You know the usual options for cheap food, don't you?  Of course you do.  Anyone that said McDonalds can go and stand in the corner.  I mean the usual things that work out well for evening meals - vouchers, offers from o2 Priority Moments, Groupon etc.  You don't need me to elaborate.  We didn't actually bother with any of those this time as we had limited time between shows, so we just zoomed to the Wagamama near Leicester Square instead. It's no more expensive than the ones anywhere else in the country and their food is lovely. 



When it comes to daytime eating, never have a hotel breakfast (unless you've ignored my above advice and are staying somewhere swanky). I mean, I love a good cooked breakfast but a) the ones that hotels provide you with aren't good and b) HOW MUCH? £7.95 for some lukewarm bacon and mushy tomatoes? I think not. My solution: £1 for a pot of fruit salad from the shop round the corner to tide you over until later in the morning.  Then, instead of the aforementioned overpriced breakfast, spend a few extra quid on enjoying a really lovely brunch in the company of really lovely people instead. Much more fun all round.



Lee and I met up with Chloe on Sunday and we went to Salvation Jane which was conveniently close to our hotel and really, really good.



Salted beef hashcakes with fresh spinach, poached eggs and smoked tomato relish. AMAZING.

And that, dear readers, is the nicest soy chai latte I've ever had. (I'm not a pretentious nobber btw - I just can't have normal milk)

It wasn't particularly cheap but I'm not into money saving for the sheer hell of it. I like to save money on some things so I can spend it on others.

Free Stuff

Speaking of saving money, go and do FREE STUFF. Free stuff is great and there is really quite a lot of it in London - Time Out has a handy list. I like to explore and could quite merrily walk around looking at roads and buildings and suchlike all day (it's all due to growing up around my mum who likes to go "Alex, LOOK, a chimney!"), but blimey, did you see the weather at the weekend? BRRRRR. We went for a good yomp around the V&A instead.

International man of mystery and his shortarse sidekick.

I love museums.  I can play my favourite game of Thing I'd Most Like To Take Home for hours.  This time I narrowed it down to:


A green Chippendale chair.

A green bonnet.

A most beautiful (and not green) piece of papercut art.

Next time we're going to the Natural History Museum to look at dinosaurs. Raaaar!



So, that was my cheap(ish) weekend in London and those are my suggestions for what to do if you don't want to spend a fortune. It can be done cheaper but I think you've got to strike a balance and I wouldn't have missed out on those Macbeth seats or that delicious brunch for anything.

Do you have any good cheapskate tips for visiting London, or any other cities?

My Day At The Olympics

I'm still on a complete high after my day at the Olympics.  I don't think I can be coherent about it.  It was astonishing.  From start to finish, just a truly wonderful day.  London was stunning - even more vivid, colourful and exciting than normal.  Everyone was incredibly friendly and happy and helpful.  We were through security in about three minutes flat, the sun shone, I was with my lovely mum and we were watching some of the best sporting action I've ever seen.

My god, was it different to normal though.  Here's the thing.  Eventing is a very polite sport to be a spectator at.  You clap when the horses jump well.  You take a big picnic.  You go for a walk around beautiful countryside. You even bring the dog with you (I don't have a dog, but go with me here).

At Greenwich, it was unlike anything I've ever been to before.  Dogs and picnics weren't allowed.  The park was certainly stunning but it was packed.  So, so many people and because the course was twistier and narrower than normal, there was less room for spectators and so we were all bunched up around the fences. That's not a negative though - it just made it more exciting.  It wasn't polite; it was raucous and nerve-jangling.  Everyone was cheering and whooping and hollering, even for the lesser-known riders. That's what the Olympics are all about.  It was all so close and so thrilling to watch.

No zoom on this picture - I was about two feet away from him.

I was appropriately patriotically-legged.  Wow, did these tights get me noticed.  I don't think I've ever been looked at so much in my life!
 

I am not fessing up to how much my expensive horsey boots cost. Gulp.

The fences were very British and wonderfully designed and built.  Wind in the Willows!  Horses made of horseshoes! Fruit and veg! Cricket! Squirrels aplenty!

Due to the sheer nature of how busy it was, I wasn't able to get quite as up close and photo-happy as usual but here are a few pictures:

Want to see our glorious silver medal winning British team? Of course you do.

Mary King and Imperial Cavalier

 

Nicola Wilson and Opposition Buzz

 

Zara Phillips and High Kingdom

 

Tina Cook and Miners Frolic

 

William Fox-Pitt and Lionheart

I spent the following day on the sofa, biting my nails and watching the showjumping phase.  I am delighted beyond words that we won the team silver medal.  Individual medals weren't to be, but there's nothing to do except applaud Michael Jung and his horse Sam. European champions, World champions and now Olympic champions.  They're an astonishing pair.

I hope you had a chance to see some of it on the tv.  This is one of my favourite things about the Olympics - that sudden opportunity for the lesser known sports to get some tv coverage.  If you liked it, trot on over to British Eventing and see if there are any events taking place near you.  Take a picnic, take the dog (optional, obviously) and have a smashing day out.  If you're NW based you might even see me doing some fence judging!

Olympic Fever

On Monday I will be at Greenwich Park to watch the cross-country day of the eventing competition in the London 2012 Olympics and I am so excited about it that I feel sick.  Seriously.  It's worse (or better?) than that feeling of anticipation and joy that you get on Christmas Eve.  I am having to actively stop myself thinking about it because I just want to go ARRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHH extremely loudly every time that I do.

Here's the thing.  I love sport, even though I don't take part in anything other than swimming with any great regularity.  I volunteer with British Eventing and that's about as close to competition as I'll ever get.  But watching sport is brilliant.  I will watch almost anything (not golf.  It is the most tedious and pointless thing ever and especially the Ryder Cup with all those annoying Yanks bellowing "GET IN THE HOLE!") and this is only heightened during the Olympics when I become truly sports obsessed and plan all my time around what's on the tv.  Yes, I am that crazy person who books time off work just to make sure that I can watch certain events.  I devour excessive amounts of sports that just don't get much, if any, tv coverage the rest of the year and I love it.  I've watched things that I won't ever forget.

I remember Atlanta in 1996 and having a sleepover at my friend Ruth's house.  A houseful of 12 and 13 year old girls who, when we weren't busy drinking ridiculous amounts of coke or putting toothpaste in each others' hair (yeah, I don't know why we did that), were absolutely hooked on watching the gymnastics.  A small amount of drooling over Alexei Nemov as he won multiple medals may have taken place...

obviously known to us as Sexy Alexei...

I remember the rowing commentary from so many Olympics - that "Just!" for the four in Athens or "Go boys. Go boys!" for the eight in Sydney or the whole world going mad when Steve Redgrave won his fifth gold medal.

I remember this face:

I remember staying up all night for Sydney in 2000 watching something with very little British involvement that I didn't even understand the rules of (judo or something like that), desperately trying to stay awake so that I wouldn't miss Audley Harrison's gold medal fight.  And I don't even like boxing. 

I remember holding my breath as the stadium lit up with flashbulbs when Cathy Freeman sprung up out of the blocks at the start of the 400m final.

I remember sitting there utterly gobsmacked at how bad some of the riding was in the modern pentathlon at Bejing - one of the very few times I will ever think "I really could do better than that" about any type of top-level sporting event.

I remember those moments that truly define Olympic spirit.  Not just the world records and the gold medals and the superhuman performances.  Although I was young at the time of the Barcelona games and not even that interested in sport back then, I do remember Derek Redmond's semi-final race very vividly and it still makes me cry to watch it now.  Ditto Kerri Strug battling on through injury to win team gold in the gymnastics in Atlanta.  Even things like Eric the Eel struggling his way up the pool sum up exactly what it's all about.

The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle, the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.

So this year, although I'll no doubt watch an enormous amount of tv coverage and sit through some iconic commentary, it won't be the main way I remember these Olympics. I'm going to remember it because I'm going to be there.  Watching my sport, in my country, cheering on my heroes. I cannot wait.

Summer in the City

Evening all. I've returned from a couple of days in London town. Had a jolly good time, walked for miles and miles, got many blisters on my poor feet, stayed in one very nice hotel room and one that was even more hilariously small than last time (the floor space was actually smaller than the bath towel) and did many sightseeingy sorts of things. Et voila:

A special evening guided tour of Kew Palace which was fascinating. Such a nice cosy sort of family home, although with a hint of sadness due to the illness and slow decline of the king. I love how they've restored it and left some areas stripped right back to the original fixtures. We even got to go in the attics which made my inner history geek very excited.


Toy counters belonging to George III. Don't go looking for the rude word...

I think this may be my motto from now on.

We met up with Margaret for the morning of the next day and had a quick trip to the delightful Persephone Books. They specialise in neglected twentieth century classics, particularly by female authors.




I treated myself to just the one book and bought a couple as presents for friends. Ruby Ferguson wrote the Jill pony books which were some of my absolute favourites as a kid but I've never seen any of her adult novels so had to try this one out. Apparently it was one of the Queen Mother's favourite novels. Look at the beautiful endpapers:


Then onto the Wallace Collection which was fab! The galleries are all incredibly beautifully themed and laid out and the collection is just outstanding. I couldn't even play my usual game of "what would I like to take home?" because there was no way I could narrow it down to one thing. Perhaps one of the Rembrandt paintings though...





Fnar, fnar. Get your boobs away from me you trollop!


Then in the afternoon we went to the Tower of London. Even on a Monday afternoon it was heaving so we didn't bother with the Crown Jewels. Still much to see though and if you like armour, it's the place for you.




We even squeezed in a quick trip to see the exhibitions at the British Library before catching our train home the next day. I was in book heaven. Now I'm just in foot hell. Must pack more sensible shoes next time.

A Trip & A Tag

Ooh what a lovely weekend it's been.

Despite having to get up at an ungodly time for a Saturday, I was in London by 10am and, feeling very girl about town (am very much enjoying feeling more confident navigating my way around London), headed off to meet Margaret of Penny Dreadful Vintage fame. We had a little charity shop mooch, wandered around in the sunshine and then had coffee in a tremendous little cafe. And I'm pleased to report that she's even funnier and lovelier than I expected. Enviably dressed too! Isn't blogging fab? I am always a proper wuss about meeting new people but find when I meet fellow bloggers that I'm much less shy. I suppose there's already that sense of friendship there from all the chatting and commenting.

The original point of the jaunt to London was for Lee and I to see In A Forest Dark And Deep starring Matthew Fox and Olivia Williams. We very much like to get tickets for plays that feature our favourite actors and they're both high up on his list. The play was, well, hmmm... not very good. The acting was great - no complaints whatsoever in that department - and we had 3rd row seats which meant we could appreciate them up close (close enough for Lee to get hit in the foot with a prop can of Bud that fell off the stage). I just thought the dialogue and characterisation, particularly in the female character, were really poor in parts. The plot was a bit all over the place as well with lots of little things suggested and then never followed up on, and I saw the big dramatic moment coming a MILE off. The lady sitting next to me did not and let out quite the overly dramatic gasp when it happened.

We'd planned to meet one of Lee's pals in the evening for drinks but she couldn't come and working on the assumption that we'd easily spend £20 each in the pub, we bought tickets to see Flare Path starring Sienna Miller, James Purefoy and Sheridan Smith instead. I am SO glad we did. Despite the fact that we were sitting right up in the heavens and obviously didn't get to see any of the subtleties, I absolutely loved it. Mind you, it would have had to have been pretty bad for me not to. I love fiction and drama set in WW2 and have a real soft spot for RAF centred things, especially those about Bomber Command. But this really was great. Very funny in parts, very sad in parts, full of jolly 40's slang, really enthralling and with fab costumes and set design. Sienna (who admittedly I don't like very much) was much better than any films I've seen her in but Sheridan Smith was the winner for me. Such a sweet, emotional subplot.

Oh and we stayed in an EasyHotel. The hilarity. The orangeness. The lack of anything except a bed (seriously, wouldn't have killed them to put up a shelf or something). The bathroom was quite nice though.

Self with the perfect late night accompaniments - wine straight from the bottle, fake Pringles, a vegan Mars Bar and some roasted broad beans. What a classy bird I am.

I was terribly cultured today though. Lee's coach left about 3 hours before mine so I took myself off to the V&A for a look round. Oh my. I could have spent days in the place. I restricted myself to one little section and didn't even have enough time to do that properly. I was in my element in the British Galleries 1500-1760, with a very short dash through the 1760-1900 section as I realised I was running very late and had to scamper to the exit. Bliss, especially all the 17th century clothing and the Elizabethan room. The Hilliard miniatures are just exquisite - I stood gawping at them for ages. I didn't go to the Yohji Yamamoto exhibition but there were pieces dotted all around the rest of the exhibition rooms which I thought was a very nice touch.

Then just to round the trip off nicely, by strategically selfish bag placement I had a double seat to myself on the coach on the way home. Hurrah.

And finally...the tag. It's The Handwriting Challenge which the ever-lovely Char posted about the other day. I adore looking at other people's handwriting so do have a go at this yourself if you want to. The rules are simple, write down the following:

1. Name and blog name
2. URL
3. Write 'a quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog'
4. Favourite quote
5. Favourite song
6. Favourite band(s), artist(s)
7. Anything else you wish to say..

So, using a scrap of paper from my brilliant Edward Monkton notebook:

Didn't realise that I made the word "crap" look so much like "oap"!

London Town

I think I am learning to like London. I seem to enjoy myself more every time I go. Perhaps because I am a bit lacking in confidence and have mildly OCD tendencies of constantly checking tickets and routes for things, so I'm at my best in places I know. I felt quite bold this time; town mouse in the big city, confidently scuttling around the tube and feeling a teensy little bit superior to all the people consulting maps (I know, it's an unpraiseworthy tendency of mine).

Even when things were a tad disappointing they ended up being quite fun. We ventured out to Persephone Books as I wanted to fritter money on their wonderful books but the shop turned out to be closed until the New Year, grrr. Bloomsbury is rather nice though, isn't it? We had a good wander round and even found a charity shop - I was muchly tempted by an Agnes B red and white shift dress but alas I'm not a size 8!

I'd really like to come back with no fixed plans and just spend a few days walking round and properly exploring. I read London: The Biography earlier in the year and found it absolutely fascinating to read about the growth and development of the city and the historical survivals but I can't help feeling I would have enjoyed it more had I actually known where half of the places were.

The main purpose of this visit was theatre. So we trotted off to Islington to see Gemma Arterton and Stephen Dillane in Ibsen's The Master Builder. Very, very good. Interesting moment in Tesco on the way home though when a rather frazzled looking man pounced on us and went "Are you two together or just friends?" Insane come-on attempt or just curious, who knows? After we replied "um, friends", he then pronounced us "HILARIOUS!" - not sure if this is because he was a mental, because I was shrieking "Herbal teabags!!" at Lee or because we are natural born comedians and our conversation about carrot cake was comedy gold. I suspect it's likely to be the first of the three options.

Then yesterday was a bit of French farce at the Old Vic - A Flea In Her Ear. We'd paid quite a lot for the tickets, mainly so we could be up close to the lovely Tom Hollander and then it turns out he wasn't well and wasn't in that performance. Not so good. The play was v. funny though and the understudy was great, so it didn't bother me too much in the end.

And today we finished things off by going to see Birdsong, starring Ben Barnes (I do muchly love him). Controversial opinion coming up here but I find Sebastian Faulks a terribly dreary writer. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of books I've started and been unable to finish but Charlotte Grey is one of them. It was so dull I almost lost the will to live. It's odd really, because I love fiction set during the wars and lots of people who share my general reading taste absolutely love his books. Perhaps I'll give Birdsong a go in novel form. The play was excellent although as you might expect given the subject matter, a little emotionally draining. Makes me glad that we had a bit of chasing-round-tables, rompy farce yesterday or I'd be going home a wreck!

As it is, I'm on a train to Newcastle for a few days. I'm breaking the habit of a lifetime and going out on New Year's Eve. I really dislike New Year and never do anything for it - last year I watched Truly, Madly, Deeply and went to bed at 12.15 - but I thought it was worth trying something new this time.

ps - My 2010 review post (seems mandatory, doesn't it?) will be up in a few days. In typical fashion I tried to be prepared and wrote a load of things down, then promptly left the notebook at home. I won't be back home till 2nd Jan so it'll just have to wait till then. In the meantime, Happy New Year everyone!