Just some reflections on the London Pass. For anyone planning some sightseeing in London.
http://www.londonpass.com/
If you've been keeping up, I bought a 6 day London Pass without the travel option. I paid 85.50, because there was an end of summer sale on at the time I bought it. This pass basically allows you to go into all of the sights listed for free.
Well, it was definitely worth it. It pays for itself pretty quickly. These are all the sights I visited, with the normal entry next to it (as quoted on the London Pass website. I'm pretty sure some of these places had a different student concession admission fee)
Thames River Cruise 13.50
Westminster Abbey 16
Banqueting House 4.80
Royal Albert Hall 8.50
Kensington Palace 12.50
Museum of Brands 6.60
St Paul's Cathedral 14.50
National Portrait Gallery 5.50
Tower Bridge Exhibition 8
Kew Gardens 13.90
Shakespeare's Globe 11.50
Tower of London 18
Apsley House 6.30
Handel House Museum 6
Windsor Castle 16.50
National Theatre Backstage Tour 7
Curzon Mayfair 13.50
Total 182.6
Don't forget that Eton College would have made it onto that list as well, had Maddy and I not been so excited about cake that we missed the tour.
It was tiring having to go full blast for 6 days straight, and as you've read if you've been keeping up, by the last day I just wanted to sit and do nothing. The other thing about having to do it 6 days in a row is that you don't get much time in between sightseeing to plan what you're going to do the next day, and I spent quite a few nights up late just trying to figure out what I was doing the next day based on what I wanted to see and what was closest to what. But then again, travelling and sightseeing IS pretty much trying to cram as much as you can into a little window of time.
Obviously, I didn't quite enjoy everything I went to, and not everything was worth the entry fee, but you never really know until you've done it.
You may or may not be a little bit tired of grand houses and art galleries, depending on how intense you are. I'm currently borderline. Give it a little while and I will quite happily visit pretty palaces and exhibitions again.
The travel element really isn't worth it. The website charges an extra 50 or thereabouts for a weekly travelcard for Zones 1-6, I think. A travelcard gives you unlimited travel within the zones you paid for, for the amount of time that you paid for. Reality is that you don't NEED to travel out to Zone 6 that often, if at all. Only Windsor Castle, Eton College, Hampton Court Palace and Kew Gardens are further out from the city. Other than that, all the sights are pretty much in Zone 1, and there may be a few in Zone 2, not quite sure. I got a Zone 1-2 weekly travelcard, because I was staying in Lewisham, which was in Zone 2. I paid 27.60 for that, my trip to Kew Gardens return cost me an extra 1.70 (I have a 16-25 railcard which gives me 1/3 off off-peak fares, usually it would be about 2.50), and my return ticket to Windsor cost an extra 6.60. So all up transport only cost me about 36, not 50.
That's all, the last 6 days have been pretty packed. Goodnight.
(Do the maths yourself if you're actually interested, it's late and I'm tired and I ceebs)
http://www.londonpass.com/
If you've been keeping up, I bought a 6 day London Pass without the travel option. I paid 85.50, because there was an end of summer sale on at the time I bought it. This pass basically allows you to go into all of the sights listed for free.
Well, it was definitely worth it. It pays for itself pretty quickly. These are all the sights I visited, with the normal entry next to it (as quoted on the London Pass website. I'm pretty sure some of these places had a different student concession admission fee)
Thames River Cruise 13.50
Westminster Abbey 16
Banqueting House 4.80
Royal Albert Hall 8.50
Kensington Palace 12.50
Museum of Brands 6.60
St Paul's Cathedral 14.50
National Portrait Gallery 5.50
Tower Bridge Exhibition 8
Kew Gardens 13.90
Shakespeare's Globe 11.50
Tower of London 18
Apsley House 6.30
Handel House Museum 6
Windsor Castle 16.50
National Theatre Backstage Tour 7
Curzon Mayfair 13.50
Total 182.6
Don't forget that Eton College would have made it onto that list as well, had Maddy and I not been so excited about cake that we missed the tour.
It was tiring having to go full blast for 6 days straight, and as you've read if you've been keeping up, by the last day I just wanted to sit and do nothing. The other thing about having to do it 6 days in a row is that you don't get much time in between sightseeing to plan what you're going to do the next day, and I spent quite a few nights up late just trying to figure out what I was doing the next day based on what I wanted to see and what was closest to what. But then again, travelling and sightseeing IS pretty much trying to cram as much as you can into a little window of time.
Obviously, I didn't quite enjoy everything I went to, and not everything was worth the entry fee, but you never really know until you've done it.
You may or may not be a little bit tired of grand houses and art galleries, depending on how intense you are. I'm currently borderline. Give it a little while and I will quite happily visit pretty palaces and exhibitions again.
The travel element really isn't worth it. The website charges an extra 50 or thereabouts for a weekly travelcard for Zones 1-6, I think. A travelcard gives you unlimited travel within the zones you paid for, for the amount of time that you paid for. Reality is that you don't NEED to travel out to Zone 6 that often, if at all. Only Windsor Castle, Eton College, Hampton Court Palace and Kew Gardens are further out from the city. Other than that, all the sights are pretty much in Zone 1, and there may be a few in Zone 2, not quite sure. I got a Zone 1-2 weekly travelcard, because I was staying in Lewisham, which was in Zone 2. I paid 27.60 for that, my trip to Kew Gardens return cost me an extra 1.70 (I have a 16-25 railcard which gives me 1/3 off off-peak fares, usually it would be about 2.50), and my return ticket to Windsor cost an extra 6.60. So all up transport only cost me about 36, not 50.
That's all, the last 6 days have been pretty packed. Goodnight.
(Do the maths yourself if you're actually interested, it's late and I'm tired and I ceebs)
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