Going to London For the First Time: Advice?

[Brian Hendershot]

If you ever get hungry, there's a Mcdonalds/KFC/Pizza Hut on literally every corner.

Thats Manhattan. Wrong continent mate.

I wouldn't eat there anyways. I don't even like those places and I am American. (Though my girlfriend says that Pizza Hut is nothing short of kickass in China. They have steaks and everything there.)

 

[obex]

The weather is unpredictable so shorts may be a bad plan, a pair of light jeans will give you the best of both worlds.

A quick google search for British slang may help stop confusion ( pants = trousers chips=crisps ect)

The underground tube is good for getting around

Stuff is stupid expensive so watch out

 

[Kingsman]

...The only thing I know about the British Isles is "bad food."

You poor devil.

 

[Brian Hendershot]

snip

Just remember that London is really bloody expensive. It might be better to stay out of that area if possible. A good thing to remember is that the further North you go, the cheaper things get. (well, they also get more anti-Tory [our current ruling government party] as you go further up North, but thats a good thing really

Also, try not to get into a political debate with us. Trust me, the political ideaologies are a bit... different... over here in Europe compared to America, and we can get a bit 'heated' when it comes to debates, particularly with the (many) people who aren't exactly happy with our current government

Lastly, bare in mind that you may encounter the odd protest march in London - look around the web, find out when/where such protests are happening, and try to avoid them if possible. Depending on the type of protest (student protests are particularly volatile), police will use a tactic known as 'kettling', where they surround the protesters (and any unfortunate passers-by along with them) and trap them in a confined space -this is very well known to cause a rather large amount of violence, so avoid such situations as much as possible.

Other than that, Britain in general is a very multicultural nation, and London is particularly so! Your probably not the only one who's unused to London, so I'm sure they'll be plenty of things designed to help people such as yourself

Thanks for the advice! I am already stealing my wallet for this trip by working overtime. My wallet still cries a bit when I open it to pay for things like...an oyster card, or a plane ticket, ect.

 

[ServebotFrank]

Don't go around chanting, "USA! USA! USA! USA! USA FOR LIFE!!!" They don't like that for some reason. I don't know why they just don't. :/

 

[Ghengis John]

look you can look at it as some kind of suppression and/or a stupid comment to make if you like and i may be inclined to over state the case but one of the things that IS different about the UK is that if you get into a heated argument with someone you can quite easily end up getting into a fight and having the shit kicked out you if you are unfamiliar with how that might go down.

Okay so I'll admit avoiding fist fights with idiots is good advice.

we don't have the deterrent of possible lethal force being deployed legally in the name of self defence hovering ever present in the background to make people back down or walk away in those situations. remember Fight Club and the fact that the major character had never been in a fight ? i remember seeing that and thinking it was just fucking weird until i thought about why that could actually be the case for someone from the US because i don't know a single person who has "never been in a fight".

Since you're only going off of suppositions here (It doesn't seem you've been to the US) I'll throw out a strange idea for you that's not often played up in ignorant stereotypes. Have you ever thought we might just be more civilized than you are? It's not like it's the damned wild west over here, where everybody's packing and flashing their pieces every time the sun hits their eyes. The number of Americans who've never had a fire-arm pointed at them has to hover at around 99%, meanwhile we have a culture essentially built on freedom of speech (Which we have enshrined). The dumbest (giant of a) man I ever met in America picked me up by the neck but as soon as I said "That won't get either of us what we want" he put me down and we talked it out and actually walked away with a compromise. I was once told by an english friend of mine from salt ash that saying "good morning" to people in London would get you punched in the face. I thought he was joking. If you consider that normal allow me to say you guys are weird.

when we say be careful what you say in unknown pubs and the like that's simple advice for anyone including, it has to be said, ourselves. hell i could book a ticket to Casualty by walking into "the wrong" pub right now and casually declaring my affinity towards "the wrong" football club in casual conversation at the bar...

You don't think that's a little... insane? I mean seriously when a fan of the wrong team walks into an american bar people pull him up a seat at the counter so they can rib him for it but even that's all in good fun and the other patrons will often celebrate the oddball. We don't generally bleed people for it.

 

[GLo Jones]

Londoners though, don't care about anything or anywhere in GB unless it happens in London. If fuel prices doubled everywhere else but London then wouldn't bat an eyelash, but if they then rose 1p in London then the marching and protesting and complaining would start. They're just so damn insular and self-centered.

Also they all have weird aspirations of retiring to the countryside or having a house in the country. It's as if the countryside appears to them as a nirvana which they can only improve by blessing it with their presence.

One of my friends has recently moved close to me from London (I live in Salisbury (the south west-ish)) and you have described him PERFECTLY. Seriously, what is this? Are you a wizard?

OT: I expect you've had countless suggestions to try fish and chips, but be ready for disappointment, it's not that special. In fact, that's the UK in general really, nothing special. It'll definitely be a good experience, and you'll probably learn a lot, but there's a reason we can be so unenthusiastic, and that's because we live lives of mediocrity.

Just how we like it.

 

[ryderawsome]

biggest piece of advice. if you cant figure out the tube system then dont use it. if you do then prepare to hate using it on the weekends. freakin olympics

 

[Drunkenclam]

I'm going to London for the first time in the summer too. See you there I guess..

 

[Casimir_Effect]

Snip

One of my friends has recently moved close to me from London (I live in Salisbury (the south west-ish)) and you have described him PERFECTLY. Seriously, what is this? Are you a wizard?

OT: I expect you've had countless suggestions to try fish and chips, but be ready for disappointment, it's not that special. In fact, that's the UK in general really, nothing special. It'll definitely be a good experience, and you'll probably learn a lot, but there's a reason we can be so unenthusiastic, and that's because we live lives of mediocrity.

Just how we like it.

Damn, they're onto me.

Wizard... AWAY!

(the more boring explanation is that I grew up in what can be termed as the extreme Scottish countryside and we even got ex-Londoners up there who had a certain attitude. Upon moving to Bath I discovered these people weren't isolated cases. Visiting London always makes me laugh.)

 

[Blaster395]

Don't be surprised at how expensive and utterly awful the food is - that's what shocked me when I went with my Dad when I was in high school.

Other than that it's a pretty fun place.

This. After I visited the US for two weeks, I could not even eat the food back in the UK.

 

[thylasos]

Give the North a try. Honestly. London projects an atmosphere of "the entire rest of the UK is irrelevant". It's not true, and it's a damn sight less expensive. If you anyone ever fancies coming to Sheffield, South Yorkshire (the friendliest part of the biggest county of England, with an enormous number of good real-ale and atmospheric pubs, also trendy bars, fun bars, and good cultural events), I use the same handle on couchsurfing.

 

[thylasos]

Don't be surprised at how expensive and utterly awful the food is - that's what shocked me when I went with my Dad when I was in high school.

Other than that it's a pretty fun place.

This. After I visited the US for two weeks, I could not even eat the food back in the UK.

Wow. Eat some food in people's houses and better restaurants. Yes, we don't have amazing service culture, or the same emphasis on food as other cultures, but that's probably why we had time for dominating around a quarter of the world.

Ah.... British Empire guilt, now. Except not. Because it was fucking ages ago, and most of the countries we've now left have gone from killing small numbers of us an each other to killing enormous numbers of their own "citizens", which is only in inverted commas because to be a proper country, I really think you need to have not been in a state of civil war for more than 10 years of the last century.

Also, guilt.

Back on topic? Back on topic.

I lived in Russia. That's shit food. Unless you eat at people's houses, where they do things right. I still use a lot of those recipes... hell, they form about a third of my repertoire. Bog-standard, though? Worse than UK pub food. Honestly.

I don't know why I stick up for the UK so much, really. But there are good bits. And people rag on our food and teeth too much.

Let's stick to alcoholism and non-fatal street-violence.

 

[Darkwhite]

Do not fuck with the Beefeaters, yes you can pull faces at them and they can't do a thing, touch them and they can beat you senseless, threaten the queen and they can shoot on site, so don't mess with. ^_^

 

[suitepee7]

GO TO CAMDEN MARKET!!!

now the best part of london is out of the way, do what you like, but camden is fantastic xD

 

[ComprehensiveGoo]

I think people are watching too much news London isn't that stabby I've never had or for that matter seen a problem and I go there all the time. ( i realise things do go down i'm not dumb but its no worse than any other big city)

I couldn't agree more, I mean I've been wandering back from Covert Garden at roughly 11ish at night a couple of times and I've never had any problem.Speaking of which it tends to be a nice place to mooch around during the day.. Just to say you've been there.. sounds fancy as ****! But the real cultural side you wanna look to is Camden, can never get enough of Camden I had a guy trying to sell me bagels from under the stair way, haggling was a b****. Also got stopped by some guy with a mahoosive kick ass mowhawk to have conversation about my shirt.. Another point is the tube, chances are you'll use it AT LEAST twice anyway. I personally am not that keen because at the wrong times you'll be packed together like sardines and it just isn't comfortable. As for clothing.. Meh.. Most of us are pretty laid back But having read a few of these posts I do agree that shorts in London will make ya stick out a lil but just dress for the weather really. That's about all I've got to say about LANDON =)

 

[Kortney]

Bash the coppers up over the price of university.