0:03

Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast

0:06

. Your host is the founder of the UK

0:08

Travel Planning website , tracey Collins

0:10

. In this podcast , tracey

0:13

shares destination guides , travel

0:15

tips and itinerary ideas , as

0:17

well as interviews with a variety of guests

0:20

who share their knowledge and experience of

0:22

UK travel to help you plan

0:24

your perfect UK vacation

0:26

. Join us as we explore the UK

0:28

from cosmopolitan cities

0:30

to quaint villages , from historic

0:33

castles to beautiful islands , and

0:35

from the picturesque countryside to seaside

0:37

towns .

0:40

Hi and welcome to episode 90

0:42

of the UK Travel Planning Podcast

0:44

. This is your host , tracey Collins . Thank

0:46

you for tuning in today . If you are a member

0:49

of our Facebook group or are following

0:51

us on our Global Travel Planning

0:53

Podcast Global Travel Planning Instagram

0:55

account or our website , you

0:57

will know that I've just returned to Australia after

0:59

travelling around quite a bit of the globe for

1:01

the last five months . So I'm sitting

1:04

here now in Australia and I

1:06

thought actually better get some UK

1:08

Travel Planning Podcast sorted for the next few

1:10

months . So we've got a great lineup organised

1:12

. I'll be recording quite a few this week , but

1:15

for today's episode I'm just

1:17

going to chat a little bit about how far

1:19

ahead you need to plan when

1:22

you're going to visit London , so how far ahead to

1:24

book certain things . Now

1:26

I am also going to put together an

1:28

article and a podcast about how

1:30

far ahead to book in general

1:32

for the UK , because we are receiving

1:35

quite a lot of emails and requests

1:38

in our UK and London Travel Planning Facebook

1:40

group about how far ahead

1:42

to plan things . Now , I'm

1:44

a planner . I like to have

1:46

things planned out . That is just me

1:48

. As I got older , I found that I just feel

1:51

more comfortable that way , not to say that I

1:53

was like that when I was younger , but certainly Now

1:55

, my 50s , I like

1:57

to have things planned . I do a little bit of flexibility

2:00

now and again . It is quite nice to

2:02

have that if you're like a particular place and you want to stay

2:04

longer . So I always do free cancellations on my

2:06

accommodation bookings if I

2:08

can , because you never know what's going

2:10

to crop up . But anyway , these are the general

2:13

guidelines that I recommend

2:15

for London . So I'll tell you what I'm going to

2:17

cover in this podcast episode

2:19

. It's mainly going to be things like accommodation

2:22

, restaurants , tickets , tours , particular

2:25

attractions that are popular in London . Okay

2:27

, so let's start with accommodation . So

2:30

for the best prices , hotels and locations

2:32

, really the best advice

2:34

I can give you is to book as early as

2:36

you can , especially during the peak

2:39

months of July , august and between

2:41

late November and New Year . Those are

2:43

very busy periods in London , very

2:45

popular time for visitors from

2:47

all over the world . So if you are planning

2:50

to visit at any of those times , really

2:52

book as soon as you can

2:54

and even if you're not visiting at

2:56

those times , really secure your accommodation

2:58

early . If you want to stay somewhere affordable

3:01

, central and pleasant All the best places

3:03

book up quickly . We do have lists

3:06

on both our UK Travel Plan and London

3:08

Travel Plan and website of different

3:10

places to stay for different budgets

3:13

, so do have a look on there . There are , of course

3:15

, some amazing five star hotels

3:17

in London , such as the Savoy , the Dorchester

3:20

, the Ritz , claridge's , shangri-la

3:22

, the Shard , for example . But yeah

3:24

, they get booked up very fast too . I

3:26

recommend highly that , once

3:29

you've got your flight

3:31

booked , to start looking at accommodation

3:33

straight away . And if

3:36

you're wondering where to stay in London , I

3:38

will point you towards episode 68

3:41

, where I talk about the different areas and

3:43

tips to help you choose the right area

3:45

for your budget and travel style

3:47

. So do take a listen

3:50

to episode 68 , which goes into more

3:52

details about the

3:54

different areas in London . But I

3:56

would really highly recommend that you also look

3:58

at our Area and Accommodation Guide

4:00

. We also have tips on the website

4:02

on UK Travel Plan and London Travel Planning

4:05

in particular . So do take

4:07

a look at those articles because

4:09

it will help you narrow down the area

4:11

that you want to stay in , and then you can

4:13

go ahead and book . Now , I always book

4:16

with free cancellation . That's just

4:18

me . I've done that for years . It may cost a little

4:20

bit more , but the one time

4:22

that I didn't do that , in Paris a few years ago , I

4:24

got sick , so it was a

4:26

very expensive hotel , so we

4:28

did actually go . I wasn't feeling great . I think

4:30

I'd eaten something I didn't want to cancel because

4:33

we weren't going to get any money back . So it's

4:35

just always worth thinking about that . Book it with

4:37

free cancellation . Book well

4:40

ahead of time If you need

4:42

to or consider really not sure about a few areas

4:44

, maybe just book a couple with free cancellation

4:46

. You can always cancel them near the time when

4:48

you've narrowed down where you want to stay . But

4:50

, honestly , if you've got somewhere in mind that

4:52

you really have to stay , or you travel with a family

4:55

group of five or more , or there's a

4:57

particular area that you want to

4:59

stay in , for example , common garden , I

5:01

recommend that you do research and get booked

5:03

as soon as possible , especially if

5:05

you're traveling July , august and end of

5:07

November , december , new Year's Eve , those

5:09

kind of peak periods and time in

5:12

. London . Okay , secondly , let's talk

5:14

about restaurants and afternoons teas , because

5:16

I think this is probably the question

5:18

that we receive most often is how far

5:20

in advance do I need to book a restaurant

5:22

, or even do I need to book a restaurant . So

5:25

really , I think the advice

5:27

in a nutshell is really , if you're going to go for

5:29

something Michelin Star or popular

5:31

restaurant and afternoon tea venue , for

5:34

example , the rates , you're going

5:36

to need to book in advance . Though I'm

5:38

going to put this proviso in there Bookings

5:40

may not be accepted more than a few more

5:42

weeks or months ahead . So it makes it a little

5:44

bit more challenging . It's a bit like how

5:46

long is a piece of string scenario about whether

5:49

you need to book and when you need to book , because

5:51

actually you can walk into many London

5:53

restaurants without a booking the chain restaurants , for example

5:55

and you can get seated straight away , or you may

5:57

have a slight wait . We ate in Nando's . Just

5:59

before Christmas we had a 30 minute wait , but

6:02

that was literally the week before Christmas . Again

6:04

, chain restaurant , somewhere we enjoy eating when

6:06

we're in London . It's not pricey , it's always

6:08

enjoy the food , but for some places you

6:10

might need to book weeks or months ahead of time

6:13

. So really , if you have

6:15

an idea of a restaurant in particular

6:18

that you want to eat in and

6:20

I can think of lots of places in London

6:22

that spring to mind it's worth checking

6:24

as early as you can about what their particular

6:27

booking policy is , because some places

6:29

won't allow you to book more than three months ahead

6:32

. If there's somewhere you think really I

6:34

want to go to , you need to know what

6:36

that booking time is and write that down

6:38

. Other places , like Dishoom , for example

6:40

, which is really popular , you just have to go and queue up . There

6:42

is no , you can't book . But what

6:44

I would suggest you do is one you're

6:47

at the point of actually doing the research

6:49

about where you want to eat . Or , once you've got

6:51

your itinerary sorted , you know what you're going to do on a day to

6:53

day basis . Or if there's somewhere

6:55

particular that you want to eat and you're including

6:57

that in your itinerary , then I said

6:59

, do that research . Now , if you've missed

7:01

out and you've found that it's fully booked

7:04

up , do check , because cancellations

7:06

can happen at

7:08

places and you might decide that you

7:10

really want to go to Sketch after your team

7:12

you couldn't get in . It's worth just checking if

7:15

they've had a cancellation , for example . Now

7:17

remember that Friday and Saturday evenings are the busiest

7:19

everybody's out in London , so weekdays

7:21

tend to be a little bit quieter . And

7:23

also , if you want to save a little bit of money , I'd book for lunch

7:26

rather than dinner . If you're going somewhere , posh

7:28

, because lunch menus do tend to

7:30

be cheaper and you'll get more chances of getting a

7:33

table too . Now there are amazing restaurants

7:35

to eat at in London . There are amazing places

7:37

to have afternoon tea . I have articles

7:40

on London travel planning all about

7:42

where to eat in London and what to eat in

7:44

London actually , and I've also an

7:46

article on UK travel planning about

7:48

the best afternoon teas in London . Now Doug

7:51

and I are trying to work our way around and trying

7:53

All of the afternoon teas . That

7:55

would be my dream . Just spend

7:57

a few months doing that . That I'm not sure about our waistband

7:59

. And now last time

8:01

we managed to fit an afternoon tea in , we did Peter

8:04

Pan at the Shard , which we absolutely loved , because

8:06

you get the view from the Shard when you have

8:08

any afternoon tea and it's also quite a dramatic , lovely

8:10

, theatrical little afternoon tea that . So

8:12

we thoroughly enjoyed it , but pricey . So we did

8:14

quite a few different afternoon teas . So

8:17

do check on the

8:19

website . I will put a link in the show notes

8:21

for those articles so you can check out

8:23

if there's somewhere in particular you want to go . Obviously , there are

8:25

a lot of very popular , instagram

8:28

worthy restaurants in London that

8:30

you may think , oh , I really want to go to that . So

8:33

do check individually . I'd suggest that

8:35

you write a list of the places that you want to go

8:37

to and then

8:39

check out the reservation policy

8:41

. If you want to go somewhere that's

8:44

less pricey , there are certainly lots of chain restaurants

8:46

. Again , I'll list those . In London Travel Planning

8:48

there's lots of places where you can just

8:51

pop in and turn up Sunday

8:53

Roast . We are asked about all the time

8:55

because I know that's popular . Again , I would suggest , if you

8:57

want to do a Sunday roast , that you do

8:59

book that . It's very popular with Brits

9:01

. We tend to go out for Sunday roast

9:04

and everybody will have their popular

9:06

favourite restaurant to go to . So if you want to

9:08

do a Sunday roast , I would

9:10

definitely look at booking that ahead

9:13

of time , especially if , say , it's going to be a Sunday

9:15

, though you'll find many places will actually

9:17

serve a roast in it in the week . If

9:19

you can't manage to get in on a Sunday . Next

9:22

thing I want to talk about is just train tickets , because

9:24

we talk a lot about trains in UK Travel

9:26

Plan and Doug being absolutely a total

9:29

lover of train travel and myself anywhere in

9:31

the world and we do advocate train

9:33

travel around the UK as well . So normally

9:35

we would recommend that booking ahead is the best

9:37

thing to do . But , however , in London you don't

9:39

need to , because in London your

9:42

biggest decision is probably going to be whether you're going to

9:44

use an Oyster card or not . Again , we have

9:46

an article about Oyster card . If you want to use

9:48

Oyster card , what it is and all about the

9:50

information is on the website . We'll put a link in

9:52

the show notes . Or you might decide that you want to use

9:54

Contactless Again , we've got an article about Oyster

9:56

card versus Contactless . It's a very personal

9:58

decision . Whatever works for you . That's

10:00

what we say . Just look at the pros and cons of both

10:03

and decide which one is going to be the best

10:05

one for you . Now , if you plan to travel

10:07

outside of London , then you would

10:09

need to look at booking ahead , because generally , booking

10:11

as far in advance as you can

10:14

, bookends open up about 12 weeks before

10:16

. It's usually cheaper to do that . So

10:18

there's lots of different types of tickets advanced

10:21

purchase fairs , usually the cheapest , you've

10:23

got off-peak , you've got any time tickets . But

10:26

for all of that information about tickets

10:28

, really we have got an ebook about that and we have

10:30

got other podcasts . So if you

10:32

want to go into more detail about

10:35

finding out about train tickets , if you're planning

10:37

to do a day trip out of London , I'd recommend

10:39

looking on the website or listening to those podcasts

10:41

. We also say we have an ebook about UK

10:43

train travel , which we'd highly recommend , which

10:46

we've got some excellent reviews about , which will help

10:48

you again , which will go into more detail about the different

10:50

types of train tickets . But , as I say , for London

10:52

itself , you don't need to worry . And if you're going

10:54

somewhere like Windsor or you're going to go to Amtkort

10:56

, you don't need to worry . Okay , windsor , you

10:59

will need a train ticket . You can't use your Oyster

11:01

card for that , but you can buy that on the day . So

11:03

if you're not traveling too far out of London , honestly

11:05

, you can buy it on the day . It's not a problem

11:07

and it's not going to be significantly cheaper

11:09

. And also , train tickets don't sell out for those routes

11:12

, so don't worry about that . That's a bit of a kind of myth

11:14

that a train gets full and you can't buy tickets . The

11:16

train might get full , but they will still sell tickets . So

11:19

next thing I want to talk about is

11:21

tour tickets . So obviously

11:24

there are so many very popular

11:27

attractions in London that

11:29

it can become difficult to get

11:31

tickets . So it depends if you're

11:33

doing a specific tour . So if you

11:35

want to do something like the

11:37

ceremony of the keys of the Tower of London

11:39

now , I recommend doing that with walks . I've

11:42

done that twice now , absolutely

11:44

loved it . It's still my favorite tour in London . I would

11:46

recommend that you book that . Go on

11:48

on the website I'll put a link in the show notes

11:50

and get that booked , because that again , that's

11:53

very limited numbers and it's very

11:55

popular . There are other places that I will talk

11:57

about . For example , that house , the parliament

11:59

only available at certain times of the

12:01

year , since they book ahead , and

12:04

places like booking palace the state rooms

12:06

are only open during certain times of

12:08

the year . So if you want to go

12:10

to those particular

12:12

places , if you want to have a look around booking palace

12:15

, or you want to do a tour , for example , of

12:17

Tower of London that's a bit more exclusive

12:19

, vip , such as the Summit of the

12:21

Keys or you want to go to the House of Pomp , those

12:24

sort of things you need to make sure

12:26

that you book ahead . Again , once you've

12:28

got your itinerary sorted , you've got your flight , you've got your accommodation

12:30

and you start finalising your itinerary for

12:32

London , you can start looking at one

12:34

of those places you really want to see . Are

12:37

they open ? What's the availability

12:39

? And I suggest getting those booked , particularly

12:41

the ones that are a bit more difficult to get

12:43

. So if you want to get the theatre , for

12:46

example , if you want to go to Shakespeare's Globe

12:48

or a specific show or

12:50

a specific theatrical performance

12:52

, book your ticket as early as possible . And

12:54

what we hand up here because I missed out on Shakespeare's

12:56

Globe last summer because I did not book

12:58

it in time Okay , so even I make mistakes

13:01

. Well , I could have booked a seat , but it

13:03

was restricted view and I wasn't going to pay the

13:05

amount they wanted for restricted view

13:07

. So I suggest that if you want

13:09

to go for someone like Shakespeare's Globe or

13:12

a specific show that you

13:14

really want to see , make sure that you

13:16

book that early . I don't do what I did last

13:18

year and miss out on something that you really want to

13:20

do because you didn't book it . So

13:22

let's talk about eight London

13:25

attractions that we recommend that

13:27

you book ahead . Okay the London

13:29

Eye . It's among one

13:31

of the most popular UK visitor

13:33

attractions and I love

13:36

it . I have to say I care people

13:38

say to me oh , I don't know that London

13:40

Eye , no , don't fancy that . I'm

13:43

going to go to the Sky Garden , for example . I actually

13:45

get a different view . And the

13:47

London Eye is , you just get an incredible

13:49

, amazing view of Big Ben , house

13:52

of Parliament and all

13:54

down the Thames . It's lovely , it's great . It's

13:56

not very long , it's been about 30 minutes

13:58

. I think . I've been on it a few times . If

14:00

you want to book a certain date

14:03

, I would book a few months ahead

14:05

to make sure . We booked last

14:07

summer and we specifically

14:10

wanted later on in the day and then we

14:12

were going to an event at . Horse Gods

14:14

Parade actually . So we made sure it was booked

14:16

so that we could plan our day around that , because we

14:18

knew we needed to be at the London Eye for a quarter past

14:20

five or something like that . Yeah , so do

14:23

book that . You might get something last

14:25

minute , but don't leave it until the day

14:27

before . I would suggest that you just get that booked

14:29

, particularly for busy times of

14:31

year . It is popular . Another

14:33

great viewpoint and I have got an article about the best

14:35

views in London which we're having a look at and one

14:37

of our other favourite views is the view from the Shard

14:40

, which we did for the first time in

14:42

Christmas . We had a London pass

14:44

and we booked it through that and

14:46

actually I booked that quite , I think

14:49

, a few weeks in advance , maybe a month in

14:51

advance , and that's what we recommend about

14:53

a month in advance to book

14:55

that . Again , it's very popular in certain

14:57

times of year as well . So if you're going to be going there Christmas

14:59

or you're going to be in there in the summer , you get

15:02

great city and river panoramas from the 72nd

15:04

floor and again , it's best to

15:06

book a few weeks before to get that

15:08

. Or if you have a London pass , you

15:11

go through onto the website

15:13

and then you book your slot at

15:15

the Shard . I'd recommend it . Actually

15:17

, we really enjoyed it . So I've done the London Eye

15:19

, I've done the view from the Shard and

15:21

I've done the Sky Garden and

15:23

I enjoy all those views . Now the advantage

15:25

of the Sky Garden is that it's free and that you can go

15:27

from 10 am to 6 pm on weekdays

15:30

and weekends , 11 am to 9 pm . Now

15:32

you need to book this up to three weeks

15:34

ahead of time . Now , as I say , it's free

15:36

and you get great views over the

15:38

city . Bookings open up on a Monday

15:41

, which is when new allocations are released

15:43

. So I would check because I tell

15:45

you what it doesn't matter what time of year we've

15:47

gone to the Sky Garden and I go to the Sky Garden every

15:49

time I go to London there are always people

15:52

being turned away . Always people being turned away

15:54

because they didn't book this lot . So

15:56

do not wait until the day before

15:58

and think I want to go to the Sky Garden Now . I

16:00

know I understand that if the weather's not great

16:02

you're like , but I've been up the Sky Garden when the weather's

16:04

not been great , but it's still worth going . You do

16:06

get good views . You get a different view . I

16:09

guess you can see over to the Shard . You can see the

16:11

Tower of London again , tower Bridge

16:13

, great views , I guess . Whichever you want to do

16:15

, the Sky Garden's free . The view from the Shard

16:17

looks over the other view , so you actually see over at the Sky

16:20

Garden . So both are really good . If you can get

16:22

in the Sky Garden , highly recommend it . If not , again

16:24

the Shard is worth doing and

16:26

for a different view , the London Eye

16:28

. Just make sure you book one

16:30

in advance for those Harry

16:33

Potter Studios . Now , this

16:36

is incredibly popular . If you

16:38

are planning to go to Harry Potter Studios seriously

16:40

ticket sell like hotcakes

16:42

you really need to be looking a few

16:45

months in advance , because quite often

16:47

I've heard from people that they really want to go to Harry Potter

16:49

Studios and it's too late . If it's too late

16:51

, the best way to do it is to book a tour . Walks have

16:53

just launched a new tour which combines a

16:55

walk-in tour of London Harry Potter sites

16:58

then a transfer to the

17:00

Harry Potter Studios itself . If

17:02

you miss out and you haven't got tickets , can't get tickets

17:04

. Do look at a tour , for

17:06

example , such as the walks one . Now , harry

17:09

Potter Studios is hugely popular and

17:11

I highly recommend it . We've been a few times

17:13

, loved it both times . I will be

17:15

visiting again next time I go to London . It

17:17

is quite pricey , so do be

17:19

prepared for that , but highly worth it , honestly

17:21

, and give yourself about four hours . We have got an

17:24

entire podcast all about visiting Harry

17:26

Potter Studios , so I'll put a list in

17:28

the show notes for that episode , so do listen to that . If

17:30

you think you want to go to Harry Potter Studios , I

17:32

recommend it . Now Kensington Palace

17:35

again another popular place to go

17:37

, associated with the British monarchy , particularly

17:39

Princess Diana , who used to live there , and

17:41

after her death you remember , the grounds were covered

17:44

in floral tributes . The

17:46

gardens are beautiful . It's worth spending some time

17:48

to explore . Now . I personally like Kensington

17:50

Palace . Now . When

17:52

you need to visit is Mondays

17:55

or Wednesday to Sunday , except

17:57

for public holidays and other planned closures

17:59

. So you need to check . Monday

18:02

it's open . Wednesday

18:04

it's Sunday , it's open , so Tuesday it's closed . Okay

18:06

, but you do need to check . I would

18:08

book a month ahead again if you've got something

18:10

like the London Pass that's included . It's

18:13

just lovely to find out also about

18:15

Queen Victoria . There's a lot of information

18:17

about Queen Victoria , who was born there and

18:19

grew up there so you can see her toys and things like that

18:21

. So Kensington Palace is , I

18:23

think it's worth going to Now . During

18:25

the winter season

18:27

it's only open between Wednesday

18:30

and Sunday . So booking a

18:32

palace my next place that's open

18:34

mid-July to late September for

18:36

the state rooms because they're only open during certain

18:39

times yeah , because obviously the king is

18:41

in residence and it's

18:43

a work in palace . Now I

18:46

did actually

18:48

put myself on the email list for

18:51

Royal Palaces and I got an email

18:53

in April last year and March last

18:55

year saying that they were doing small group tours

18:57

and I booked myself on it . Now , it was not cheaper I think it

18:59

was about £90 but wow , it

19:01

was amazing . So we had a small group tour

19:03

it was about 12 of us with a guide

19:06

around the state rooms . I absolutely

19:08

highly recommend it . So we're going

19:10

to put an article together if you want to visit

19:12

Booking Palace with the different options and the

19:14

different time of year . I think the big thing

19:17

with booking palaces quite often people are very

19:19

disappointed to find that when they're in London

19:21

, booking Palace is not actually open . Do

19:23

bear that in mind really If you

19:26

want to do the kind of larger group tour that's mid-July

19:28

, late September . Those tickets sell out fast

19:30

. But do get yourself onto the

19:32

Royal Palaces email list because

19:35

if they have small group tours going

19:37

on outside of their season they will

19:39

email you with that offer and

19:41

then you can book it . I booked straight away . Next

19:44

one , westminster Abbey , which is a

19:46

hugely popular destination and

19:48

it gets really busy . I will say that I've

19:51

done tours with walks around Westminster

19:53

Abbey because I just find getting in the early entry

19:55

around the back it's

19:57

just so much easier . I know you get a tour so

19:59

you do find out lots and lots more

20:02

about Westminster Abbey

20:04

and the history . I must have done a tour

20:06

there about three or four times and I still find it absolutely

20:08

fascinating . And you can actually go to the Jubilee

20:10

Galleries as well as part of the Walks Tour

20:13

, which I highly recommend . Just a

20:15

fascinating place to visit . But really look

20:17

at a month in advance and if you want to

20:19

do a tour again as soon as you

20:21

think it , ah , I want to go best man's happy

20:23

. I really want to do a tour . I

20:25

want to have a small group walk in tour . I want to have a private

20:27

tour . Then book that ahead

20:29

of time and it's just to go as early as possible

20:31

in the morning to avoid the

20:33

rush . It is really popular Now

20:36

. Tower of London as I've already mentioned earlier

20:38

on in the podcast , it's one of London's

20:40

top attractions and it becomes

20:42

really busy , so book at least a month ahead

20:44

. The Tower of London is open daily

20:46

, except on the 24th , 25th , 26th

20:49

of December and the 1st of January , and

20:51

it does have slightly different opening

20:54

times and closing times depending on

20:56

the season . So you do need to check

20:58

that . It is probably one of the most popular

21:00

places in London to go . If you're planning

21:02

to do a tour for example

21:05

, the Walks opening ceremony or the ceremony

21:07

of the keys , again pop on their website and get that

21:09

booked , because they do get booked up . I highly

21:11

recommend that you do the beefy

21:14

tour . If you do it through the walks

21:16

and you go in the VIP experience it's just you

21:18

and the beefy tour and like 12 other people , so you can

21:20

get really get kind of personal

21:22

and find out all the gank gossip of what's going on which is

21:24

really cool , like about the cat which we found

21:26

out last time because the Yomun order who took us around

21:28

it was this cat . So it's become quite famous , this

21:31

new cat in the Tower of London . If you can't

21:33

do that and that's fair enough , not everybody's budget

21:35

is going to stretch that If you think

21:37

, okay , I really want to still find out about

21:39

the Tower of London , then there's a free Yomun

21:41

order beefy tour . I think it's on the hour

21:43

, every hour . Do join that . There'll be lots of people

21:45

there . It does get quite crowded , but I've

21:48

done that numerous times before as well and it's really

21:50

good fun and you do learn more

21:52

about the Tower of London . Give yourself about four

21:54

hours as well , by the way , if you're going to go Tower

21:56

of London again busy out the weekend and during

21:58

public holidays and school holidays

22:01

. Next is St Paul's

22:03

Cathedral . Now , st Paul's is another

22:05

popular destination to visit

22:07

in London . You can actually book tickets

22:09

to St Paul's up to three months in advance

22:12

of your visit , so if you're doing some forward planning

22:14

, then you can always get a ticket

22:16

. It's also included in the London pass , so

22:18

if you calculated that the London pass

22:21

is with it for you , then you

22:23

can go into St Paul's . As part of

22:25

that , I would recommend going to St

22:27

Paul's Cathedral . It's actually part of a lovely walk

22:29

that I enjoy doing so , starting

22:31

off in the morning at the Tower of London

22:33

, walking across Tower Bridge , spend a

22:35

bit of time in Borough Market , then walking

22:38

across the Millennium Bridge to

22:40

St Paul's , so it's a that's

22:42

a nice circuit and then you could go to the Sky Garden

22:44

for late running the afternoon . Also , there's

22:46

St Dunstan's in the east there , so that's

22:49

kind of a lot of places that you can fit in . It'll

22:51

be a full day , but it'll be really nice

22:53

day walking around and you're

22:55

going to see some of the main sights that way . But

22:58

again , so say you can book St Paul's

23:00

up to three months in advance or you

23:02

can leave that a little bit closer to the time . Next

23:04

place Hampton Court Palace . I highly recommend

23:07

going to visit . It's a little bit out

23:09

of London , but we have an article about

23:11

how to get to Hampton Court Palace . Personally

23:13

I love it . It's associated with King

23:15

Henry VIII because he spent

23:17

time there . You can , in theory , purchase

23:19

tickets on the day , but it can get really

23:21

packed . There's a lot of school kids and

23:24

public holidays and weekends and

23:26

things are going on and that it can make

23:28

it really busy . So

23:30

, again , it's a little bit out of central London

23:32

, so you make sure you book your ticket beforehand

23:34

. Hampton Court Palace is particularly nice during the

23:37

summer months when you can really enjoy the grounds or

23:39

a dry kind of crisp winter's day . I

23:41

think I did go yes , I went in January

23:44

this year actually and we had a lovely day

23:46

Blue skies , it was cold but

23:48

lovely , and it wasn't that busy actually . So it

23:50

was a nice visit . Now Windsor

23:52

Castle . So the thing about Windsor

23:55

Castle is you need to check

23:57

the opening times

23:59

because it's not

24:01

open every day

24:04

. So you do need to check that , especially

24:06

if you want to go to St George's Chapel and pay your

24:08

respects to the late Queen . Okay , I thought I'd

24:10

just double check this to make 100%

24:12

sure . St George's Chapel is open on Monday , thursday

24:15

, friday and Saturday . Okay

24:17

, on Sunday it's only open

24:19

for worship . Now Windsor

24:22

Castle . As I say , it's a work-in-law palace , so sometimes

24:24

the entire castle or the state

24:26

apartments within the castle need to be

24:28

closed at short notice . So again

24:30

, really , you need to check on the

24:32

website for when it is open

24:34

. So it is closed . I'll tell you that Tuesdays

24:37

and Wednesdays , that's throughout the year , it's closed

24:39

Tuesdays and Wednesdays . Don't plan to visit

24:42

Windsor Castle on a Tuesday , wednesday

24:44

, because you're going to get to Windsor and you're going to be really disappointed

24:46

. So from the first of November

24:48

, the 29th of February , it's

24:51

open from 10 , with the last admission

24:53

at 3 , and then from the first of March , 31st

24:56

of October , opens at 10 and

24:58

last admission is at 4 in the afternoon

25:00

. So that's just taken right now

25:02

from the website because I thought about it . Just double-check

25:04

that myself because , unfortunately , much , much

25:06

I'd like to , I can't always remember all

25:08

of the different places . High Clare

25:11

is another place that is very popular to book

25:13

Now . Book that in advance , I

25:16

think I would say really a few

25:18

months in advance , and if you can't , you'll have to

25:20

really have to take a tour out there , because that's

25:22

the best way you could do it . There are lots of day trips from

25:24

London that you could book , or you can take the

25:26

train out there and book a taxi

25:29

from the train station to

25:31

High Clare Castle . It's fabulous

25:33

. I highly recommend it . We went in

25:36

2022 . In the summer it was the hottest

25:38

day of the year . It was at 42 degrees . It was crazy

25:40

, but what a fabulous place to be . And

25:42

if you were , if you're a Downton Abbey fan like

25:44

myself and talk , then you're gonna absolutely love it . So

25:47

highly recommend High Clare . But again , have

25:49

a look at booking that . Have a look on the website

25:51

, because they have different types of tickets and

25:54

if you can't get one off the official website

25:56

, then I recommend booking a tour which will include villages

25:59

associated with Downton Abbey . There's

26:01

a whole load of different ones that you can choose from and I've

26:03

got another article on the UK travel planning

26:05

website all about the different trips

26:07

out to High Clare so that you can

26:09

have a look at that . So basically , that's it really

26:11

. I've covered accommodation , I've covered

26:14

train tickets , I've covered restaurants

26:16

and afternoon teas and I've covered some of the

26:18

most popular destinations

26:20

in London . To give you an idea

26:22

of how far ahead to book . Now

26:24

I know if you can't book

26:27

one of these places for whatever reason

26:29

, it's fully booked up . Do always look

26:31

at a tour option because quite often a lot of the

26:33

tour companies will have a listed on get you go out of

26:35

Vita or you can go for a private

26:37

tour . So don't be disheartened if you want to go Harry

26:39

Potter and you can't get a ticket

26:41

because you can look at , for example

26:43

, walks and do a tour , or you could book a private

26:45

transfer with a ticket included . So

26:47

there's lots of different options and lots of ways that you

26:49

can try and book things

26:51

, except , obviously , shakespeare's Globe , which I

26:53

didn't manage to do last year . So what I'm trying to say

26:56

is really sort

26:58

your itinerary out for London

27:00

. How long are you going for whether it's a day

27:02

, two days , three days , four days , five days , six days , seven

27:04

days , whatever how long are you going for ? Work out your

27:06

itinerary . Don't try to put too much in . Don't

27:08

try , seriously , do not try to cram too much

27:10

in . You will walk thousands of steps

27:13

and we recommend , once

27:15

you know the places that you want to visit , try

27:17

and look at places that are in the same

27:19

area and put them in the same day so you're not going

27:21

to go from one side of London to the other . That's what I'm trying

27:23

to say . Book at church , for example , something

27:25

like the Discover Real London Black

27:27

Cab Tour of London . Highly recommend

27:29

it . Amazing . We had a fantastic

27:32

time with Ollie before Christmas . Highly

27:34

recommend that because he can take you to places

27:36

that buses can't get to . They

27:38

can park in places that other people can't

27:40

park and you can get out Like we got

27:42

out , I think , about five meters from Buckingham Palace

27:44

, went around the corner , took some pictures at Buckingham Palace and then

27:47

hop back in into the cab . You can't do that

27:49

any other way without walking , because you have to

27:51

walk from the tube station . None of the buses

27:53

can go anywhere near Buckingham Palace . So

27:55

, yeah , consider that as well . Absolutely

27:57

, totally recommend that . Get in touch with Ollie

28:00

. I will put a link in Discover Real

28:02

London Black Cab Tour . Highly recommend that . Get

28:04

booking . I don't want anybody , I don't want you If you

28:06

sit there and I think I'm going to London later on in the air and I

28:08

really want to do these things . Get your

28:10

itinerary sorted . If you need some help with your itinerary

28:12

, if you've got an idea what you want to do , you can book myself

28:14

and Doug for an itinerary consultation

28:17

. You can book us for an hour . We'll go through your itinerary , we'll

28:19

fine tune it , we'll make some recommendations . We'll

28:21

tell you if you need to book stuff . Get that book now

28:24

. We have got some slots available in

28:26

April . They're getting booked up quite rapidly , so

28:28

do have a look on that if you want to book it . We've also

28:31

got a London itinerary planner e-book

28:33

, which you can purchase as well , which has got different itineraries

28:35

in it and lots of different hits , hints and tips to

28:38

help you plan your London trip . And anyway

28:40

, I think that's going to wind it up for today

28:42

. Hopefully that will give you

28:44

lots of thoughts and advice and ideas

28:47

about what you need to be planning If you're going to be visiting

28:49

London this year or next year . This

28:51

was episode 90 of the UK Travel

28:53

Planner podcast . We are rapidly

28:56

moving towards episode 100

28:58

. Now for episode 100 , I'm asking

29:00

you , our listener , is there a particular

29:02

episode that you loved ? Would

29:04

you like to be a guest for a slot

29:07

on episode 100 of the podcast

29:09

and tell us what it is that you love about the podcast

29:11

and which episodes or episode

29:13

particularly you find really helpful

29:15

or that you enjoy ? Then let me know , send

29:18

me a message . I will put our email

29:20

address in the show notes . Get back to me

29:22

, let me know , and we'd love to have

29:24

as many of you as on that episode

29:26

as possible Just sharing with

29:28

the world what it is that you love about the

29:30

UK Travel Planner podcast and

29:33

, yeah , and saying hello to everybody , because that would be fantastic

29:35

. Now you can find information about

29:37

everything I've shared in this episode on

29:39

uktravelplanetcom , forward

29:42

slash episode 90 . So

29:44

we'll have links to all the different tours , links to

29:46

the information . We actually have an article on londontravelplanetcom

29:49

which goes through the information

29:52

that I've chatted about in this podcast , so you can double

29:54

check on there as well . But really

29:56

that leaves me to say , as always , until

29:58

next week from myself happy

30:01

UK Travel Planning .