Going to London For the First Time: Advice?

[Daystar Clarion]

We hate enthusiastic people. Especially ones with accents. Be as self-depricating as possible.

Seriously? Enjoying yourself and being a friendly person is frowned upon over there?

Sheesh. I, too, was considering visiting London one day, until you said that. Now I'm not so sure.

I think you misinterpreted.

There's the enthusiastic Englishmen, and there's the enthusiastic American.

Be friendly person by all means. Just don't walk around shouting "OH MY GAAAWD" and "I LOVE YOUR ACCENT!"

Friendly is fine.

In your face friendly is not.

 

[Private Custard]

If you're anywhere near Farringdon on a Friday night, may I suggest Fabric. Room 2 is the most epic DnB room ever. No serious dress code, jeans and a casual shirt will do fine. midnight 'til 5am is the best!!

 

[gigastar]

I am going to London this summer on Study Abroad Program. Anything I should know? I am told that I need to try and get into the local culture. So any suggestions about were to go or what to do is appreciated. I seriously don't care. I just don't want to go to cheesy tourists spots. That has never been my thing.

Oh...and what is the weather like over there in the summer?

Weather is chaotic. No telling what the Atlantic or the North Sea will throw at us next or even what one gets priority.

As for travel tips, assuming youre not going to the usual tourist rat-holes, where are you going?

Well, the professors have some typical Touristy spots lined up. Couple of Museums, Palaces, and such lined up. I won't be with them the whole time though. Also I have no clue what a tourist rat-hole is. Could you please enlighten me?

Tourist rat-hole, Adj. : A place that is infested with tourists that go and see exaclty what they expect to see. e.g: 1) At the Tower of London one would expect to see ravens. There are ravens there, natrually. Most of them even have names.

2) Something about historically notorious figures in the London Dungeon.

The good stuff tends to not be in central London, and anything that is good is probably a museum. If you do go to central, stay the hell away from Parliment Square. Theres a shanty town biult in the park in the square and it is perhaps the single most unpleasnt... thing even look at much less visit that has ever been in the area scince the 1600's. Most of the squatters are still protesting about the assorted wars in the middle east, so natrually Americans are not very welcome.

The Tower is basicaly a complex of several museums[footnote]The walls, the interior and the tower itself.[/footnote]. I think it takes two days to complete all the tours available there, unless theres a new tour for all of them floating about.

As if i couldnt understate this, the London Dungeon is a waste of time. And youll be recoiling from daylight for a good 10 minuites after getting out.

Perhaps worse than the Dungeon is the London Tombs. I think its an optional extra after a tour of the London Bridge museum. Anyway there is nothing down there but people dressed up in extravagantly corny costumes all of whom were hired on the basis of how loud they could shirek.

Really Liverpool would have been a better choice for culture. Alas it doesnt seem your professors are going to make a last minuite change.

 

[mrF00bar]

Bring a machete, it might all go to shit while you are here so you will need a reliable and intimidating weapon.

 

[Dr Snakeman]

We hate enthusiastic people. Especially ones with accents. Be as self-depricating as possible.

Seriously? Enjoying yourself and being a friendly person is frowned upon over there?

Sheesh. I, too, was considering visiting London one day, until you said that. Now I'm not so sure.

I think you misinterpreted.

There's the enthusiastic Englishmen, and there's the enthusiastic American.

Be friendly person by all means. Just don't walk around shouting "OH MY GAAAWD" and "I LOVE YOUR ACCENT!"

Friendly is fine.

In your face friendly is not.

Ooooohhhh... so you mean don't be a stupid person. Gotcha.

You know, believe it or not, we actually have similar attitudes towards dumbasses on this side of the pond. Crazy, I know!

Sarcasm aside, thanks for clearing that up. It sounded like you were making your countrymen out to be very harsh people.

 

[gigastar]

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

Thats Manhattan. Wrong continent mate.

 

[Simalacrum]

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

 

[Magnalian]

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

Thats Manhattan. Wrong continent mate.

Pretty much all the major cities in the world have fastfood chains on every corner..

 

[krugerrand123]

Make sure to visit Westminster abbey and the British museum.

 

[Sparrow]

Don't imitate English accents, that's sure to get you stabbed. Don't mention canes or top hats, that's sure to get your head kicked in. Don't say you want tea because "that's what all English people drink", that's sure to get you mugged.

In all seriousness, lower the American background a little. I know that sounds a little offensive, but there is nothing more annoying to a Londonner than an American dissing their culture. Except maybe if someone from France did it. Or Wales. Or Germany.

[sup]Wow, my nation really hates everyone now I think about it.[/sup]

 

[gigastar]

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

Thats Manhattan. Wrong continent mate.

Pretty much all the major cities in the world have fastfood chains on every corner..

Not so much in European cities, most of us dont use the grid system so a mile of road can have up to 50 corners attached to it.

 

[Jonabob87]

My advice: Don't go to London.

 

[Magnalian]

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

Thats Manhattan. Wrong continent mate.

Pretty much all the major cities in the world have fastfood chains on every corner..

Not so much in European cities, most of us dont use the grid system so a mile of road can have up to 50 corners attached to it.

I know, I'm European, and I've been to London. Sure, maybe not every corner had a fastfood place, but it came pretty damn close.

 

[Verlander]

Really Liverpool would have been a better choice for culture. Alas it doesnt seem your professors are going to make a last minuite change.

As someone who studied his Fine Art degree in the North, but now lives in London, I'd heartily disagree with that

 

[Shodan1980]

I'd of thought the most important rule would be "Stand on the right". If you don't, you'll get abuse, its the number one rule of negotiating the Underground. Apart from that;

Oyster Card ftw
Do yourself a favour and walk the South Bank from Waterloo to the Tate Modern
All the best Museums are free, can't big up the Science Museum enough.
Soho has a fantastic array of bars (and other pursuits)
Old Compton Street (Google it to see if its your taste or not)
If you feel like travelling Windsor is beautiful (and I know Americans go apeshit for royalty)

I feel I should stick up for Scotland, it being home and all. Its not grim at all, if you miss hills at all while in England's bland flatness then check out the Grampian region and the Highlands. Beautiful. Plus Aberdeen can be a fantastic night out, massive student town.

 

[masqueblanc]

Shorts are a matter of personal taste - you really won't stand out if you wear them, but the infamous British Summer tends to last a matter of hours so *shrugs* your mileage may vary.

With regards to the weather, too - carry an umbrella in whatever bag you've got on you but bring sunglasses. Equally, if you can be bothered to carry around a light-ish coat in case it suddenly gets could or rains... What can I say? Our weather doesn't like to be predictable.

If you're in the Southbank area there are usually loads of street performers - not touristy at all but definitely worth a look if you're passing... apart from that I'd say don't be afraid to do the tourist stuff. Obviously most of it's hideously overpriced so you don't want to do all of it, but I'm only from about 30 miles outside London and I still get the urge to take photos of myself in front of every major landmark whenever I find myself in the city.

Also: Don't walk too slowly. It confuses the commuters and they might fall over you.

Most of all, have a fantastic time in London! And maybe come out and see some of the other towns/cities in England if you get time - Brighton's a pretty good scene, then there's Canterbury if you're into historical churchy things... there are loads of places in and out of London worth seeing, pick one and go for it!

 

[Rayne870]

Don't screw up your travel tickets and accidentally go to London, Ontario, Canada, it's totally not the same thing and sucks quite a bit.

Also if you hear loud drunken singing join in and pretend to be a newly converted fan of the team or get the hell out of the way, soccer hooligans are not to be taken lightly.

 

[Willsor]

Some parts of Edinburgh in Scotland are wonderful. I'm not sure why they think its dismal lol

 

[cWg | Konka]

london is the worse city in the world, paris is a close 2nd. have fun! my advice would be go somewere else