The Great Goblin Invasion (Polls finished!)

[Quarg]

I am going to clarify something:

The hostel I'm staying at, Clink261, is NOT female-only. The particular dorm I'm staying in is female-only. I think I underestimated general knowledge of hostels Most hostels have female-only rooms along with mixed rooms.

I am not sure where someone got that idea...

[askstoomuch]

let me be supid quarg

[Zathyr]

I've never stayed in a hostel - just what is the setup there? Currently I'm picturing one of those old style hospitals that's just a big long room with rows of beds on both sides.

Also I guess I should make up my mind about whether I'm going to this thing or not..

[askstoomuch]

only in private rooms, and now in a giant 18 room xd no sleep for me

[thinkslogically]

Hostels are typically basic, 'place to sleep' arrangements but they can be pretty variable. Room quality varies from backpacker-style (where you just need a roof and a bed and some people to drink beers with) to very pleasant, basic hotel rooms. They are usually fairly cheap and usually have shared self-catering facilities. Bathrooms may be shared (normal), or private (sometimes). Bigger hostels also usually offer a pretty decent range of rooms going from the massive 'hospital-style' like you imagine (only it'll probably be bunkbeds) to private rooms with en suites. Price is variable, but usually still way less than a hotel. I've personally found that privately run hostels are usually nicer than the nationally-run ones in Scotland, but I've never hostelled in London (or anywhere in England) so I can't really generalise.

Also, because you get a lot of travellers and young people using them, they tend to be pretty friendly, fun places to stay. Avoid the big dorm rooms if you're bothered by noise or late nights / early mornings.

[lingrem]

If you aren't overly worried about having the world's best quality of sleep, then hostels are a pretty easy way to go. Like... I know that I can function with very little sleep or a poor quality of sleep, because that's the story of my life. So I'll stay in a hostel and save myself money, because it's not like I'm going to be hanging out there much at all during the day! I wake up, get ready to head out, go out for the day, return when I'm exhausted.

I always read through reviews and whatnot... I like to try and find hostels that don't seem quite so focused on partying. I look for comments on relative cleanliness. Then I look at location and price. If it seems like a lot of people leave comments about partying and things going on in the common rooms, then I tend to assume it'll be a louder hostel. I will also take a look to see if they serve breakfast or not, although it's not a deal-breaker for me at all.

For Clink261, I also had to find somewhere that had a two-week opening as I'll be in London for that length of time. And I wanted to find somewhere easily accessible for everyone's different modes of arriving - in case you guys wanted to try and stay all in the same place.

So I sacrificed on the following: the size of the rooms (they seem quite small) and plug-ins (that seems to be what most people complain about.. there are not enough plug-ins for every bed to have their own. Which is quite ridiculous! Although it seems like they're working on adding in more.)

[GathersIngredients]

Yay, I finalized my booking!

I should look into that Oyster Card or DC Metro Card, then. Thanks for the info.




EDIT: I just found this on the London pass (which not only let's you use the transportation systems, but also gives entry to over 60 popular tourist attractions, at least that's what it says on the HP). It says you get 10% off for 3 and 6 day passes until the end of the month (30th April), but you can validate the pass up to 12 months from day of purchase.
So if I understand it correctly, I can order the card(s - for 14 days I'll need 2 6+1 day tickets *, logically) for August now and get a discount.

I figured I'd share this here, in case anyone else wants to use that offer and safe a bit of money, if they already know that/when they are going.


* 6+1 day tickets

Add on a Travelcard
For the complete sightseeing package opt for The London Pass with Travel. This includes free and unlimited travel across zones 1 ÔÇô 6 and if you get a 6 day pass you get an extra day travel for free and can use the ticket at any time of the day!

Edit 2:
I also found this on the travel card, which is supposedly ONLY for transportation. (upper tables are for travel card)

[WearsHats]

I was just emailing you about travel cards, Gathers.

The London Pass you found is for attractions. It gets you admission to museums and such. The travel card, which lets you use the transit system, is a separate add-on.

Here's what I got from the city of London's official transit site:

You can buy an Oyster card at any major train station, as well as a number of other places around the city. Or you can order them online and have them mailed to you. The ticket to and from the airport will have to be purchased separately. (I'll be taking a cab, anyway. Expensive, but there's no way I'm making that trip with all my bags by train. Especially since my hotel is a few blocks from the train station.)

More information is available here: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/

The main options for us are the 7-day travelpass or a prepaid visitor pass.

The 7-day travelpass gives you unlimited rides within the zones you purchase it for. (Zones 1 & 2 cover most of London. WorldCon is in Zone 3.) A pass for zones 1 & 2 costs £31.40. A pass for zones 1, 2, and 3 is £36.80. Not sure what happens if you need to go outside the zones you've purchased. I guess you'd need to buy a separate ticket. There's a map of the travel zones here:

http://www.london43.com/wp-content/uplo ... be-map.gif

If you want to order them online, you can do so here:

http://visitorshop.tfl.gov.uk/travelcar ... lcard.html

The visitor pass is a prepaid card. You can go anywhere in the system (so you don't have to worry about travel zones) and it will deduct the appropriate fare with every ride. It will never charge you more in a single day than the cost of a day pass (£9.00 for zones 1 & 2, £11.40 for zones 1-4, £17.00 for zones 1-6). There's a £3 activation fee tacked on.

http://visitorshop.tfl.gov.uk/oystercar ... -card.html

The visitor pass is a good option if you're only going to be in the city for a couple of days. But they suggest £40 for 4 days. That's more than the cost of a 7 day pass, even if you include zone 3. And if you're staying for a full week, it's £57.20 for a 7 day travel pass that covers the full system (zones 1-6). That's still much cheaper than the visitor pass is likely to be. The visitor pass only works out better for you if you only occasionally go outside zones 1 & 2, or if you're making very limited use of the transit system on some days.

At this point, I expect I'll get a 7 day zone 1 & 2 pass to cover the first week (when Lin is around) and a 7 day zone 1-3 pass for the second week (so I can get to WorldCon).

So, the options are:

1. 7 day travel card for £31.40 gets you anywhere in zones 1 & 2.
2. 7 day travel card for £57.20 gets you anywhere in the city.
3. 6 day London Pass with travel for £155.20 gets you transit anywhere in the city plus admission to the major museums and attractions. (So, basically, £100 for the attractions tickets.)
4. Prepaid visitor pass gets you anywhere in the city, pay as you go.

I guess it depends, then, on our itinerary. Are we planning to go outside zones 1 & 2? Are we planning to hit many of the paid attractions?

[GathersIngredients]

...
So, the options are:

1. 7 day travel card for £31.40 gets you anywhere in zones 1 & 2.
2. 7 day travel card for £57.20 gets you anywhere in the city.
3. 6 day London Pass with travel for £97.40 gets you transit anywhere in the city plus admission to the major museums and attractions.
4. Prepaid visitor pass gets you anywhere in the city, pay as you go.

I guess it depends, then, on our itinerary. Are we planning to go outside zones 1 & 2? Are we planning to hit many of the paid attractions?

Erm, the 6 day London pass + 7 day Travel pass is actually £166.00 (or £155.20 if you buy it until 30th of April), unless you're younger than 15 years old. Which, unless you have been lying about your age so far in this forum, doesn't apply to you.
Or £108.00 (or £97.20 if you buy it until 30th of April), if you just take the pass WITHOUT the travel card.

You sneaky guy! You edited your post while I was typing mine. Good job on catching that mistake yourself.



So yeah, the question is, will we be going and visiting a lot of that stuff that is included in that pass, or not? I know with you, Wears, it will depend on your current sleeping schedule, too.
I know I love visiting museums and I'd like to see some attractions, while I'm in London, anyways. I have been there before, but that was almost 2 decades ago. A lot of stuff will have changed. Some stuff will be new. A lot of stuff (like historical things like the tower of London) will have stayed the same, but might still worth visiting once more (if I even made it there the first time around). ^^

In any case, a combination with one week travel only and one week London pass sounds reasonable, and certainly less expensive than two weeks of London Pass.

[LAYF]

Damn thats expensive, yet another reason for me to take the car....
Damn I hope I can go....

[lingrem]

Most tourist attractions that are the major-hitters are free.

Things that cost money:

London Eye
Tower of London
I think the Buckingham tour thingy if it's running
going inside Westminster Abbey
going into the part of Greenwich that lets you stand on the Prime Meridian.
Hampton Court (a bit of a trip out)
Windsor Castle (that is a day-trip anyway and you can easily get a Windsor Castle/Stonehenge/Roman Baths day trip...)
HMS Belfast (really if you're into War history then maybe...)
London Zoo (I doubt anyone's going to want to go to the zoo...)


Most of the museums, the main ones anyway, are free. The Natural History Musuem, the Science Museum, the V&A Museum, the British Museum, Tate Britain Art Museum, Tate Modern, the Imperial War Museum and the naval one down in Greenwich are all free.

Honestly, I would NOT purchase the London Pass. Most of the attractions on it are small ones. Unless you plan to hit up ALL of those things above... and even then it'd be worth it to check on their individual prices, then you likely won't get your money's worth.

Oyster Cards can have extra money put on them - there's loads of ticket places in each station. The only people who will need to get anything outside of zone 1&2 will be people who arrive via plane. From Gatwick, the Gatwick Express arrives at Victoria Station (zone 1), and from Stansted the Stansted Express arrives at Liverpool Street (Zone 1). From Heathrow, the Heathrow Express takes you to Paddington Station (zone 1). So.. unless you're planning on taking the normal tube from Heathrow (the others are not accessible by the tube), then you don't need to worry about going out of zone 1-2 for the most part.

[thinkslogically]

When you travel by tube, you have to scan your ticket / oyster card to leave your destination station so if you end up out your zone you'll be stuck there and probably either have to buy another full price ticket, pay a fine or turn round and get a train back to the right zone

[askstoomuch]

asks is offically coming too

bye bye money

[GathersIngredients]

asks is offically coming too

Yay!

When?

[askstoomuch]

4th till the 11th of august
same hostel as lin

[WearsHats]

Emailed the London transit people, asking what would happen if I bought a weekly travel card covering zones 1 & 2, and then decided to take a trip to zone 4.

In response to your email if you have a weekly Travelcard for zones 1-2, you can credit a Pay as You Go top-up on the Oyster card to cover the extension.

Based on your example the top-up needed would be £2.20 each way for a peak journey and £1.80 for Off peak journey.

[Theis2]

Booking at the same hostel as you guys from the 4th to the 11th. Finally got around to checking it out and the cancelling policy is good enough in case worse case were to happen

And apparently a plane ticket varies from 65 pounds to 1640 pounds xD the only difference is the airport I'm taking off from (based on the best flight according to the website)

[lingrem]

skyscanner.net is a good site to use to compare flight prices. I usually purchase straight from the company though... I don't really trust third-parties!

[Guus]

Mh, it falls exactly in the period I should be finishing my intern paper. That slims the chance of being able to visit you guys
The maybe suddenly turned "probably not", but I'll try to be there nonetheless. I'll let you guys and gals know!

[GathersIngredients]

Yay for Theis booking the hostel!

Also, I have been wanting to ask this for a couple of days now, but I keep on forgetting.
I would like to maybe go and see a show while I'm in London, anyways. Would anyone perchance be interested too? I always wanted to see Phantom of the Opera, and I heard a lot of good stuff about Wicked, but I'm open for suggestions.

I found this site, and there you can look for shows after the DATE (very useful, switch to the tab from 'find tickets' to 'inspire me' for that), also I have seen shows costing a little as 15 £ per ticket, so if one books early enough to get those, it wouldn't be as big a whole in the money pouch.

[lingrem]

It's really easy to just go and pick up tickets the day-of down in Leicester Square. I will totally go and see something with you - Phantom and Wicked are both really awesome

[WearsHats]

I won't see Phantom. (Long story.) But do feel free to do that without me. I'd see Wicked again. That was a great show.

[Quarg]

I won't see Phantom. (Long story.) But do feel free to do that without me. I'd see Wicked again. That was a great show.

Have not seen Wicked...

Have seen too much Phantom...

[nikohl]

I'm in for seeing a show with you guys

[GathersIngredients]

It's really easy to just go and pick up tickets the day-of down in Leicester Square. I will totally go and see something with you - Phantom and Wicked are both really awesome

I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to say here. Would you want to buy the tickets last minute and just see what is still available that day, or are you just telling me about a place where one can pick up their (previously reserved) tickets for any show in London?


Also, YAY for being interested (from lingrem and others.)
And like I said, I'm not set to see those two and nothing else. I'd be happy to hear some suggestions.

Would you guys like to settle on a date, so we can start looking for shows/tickets? Or settle on a show and then start to look for possible dates? I'm good either way.