Things to do in London

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when are you going? We leave Tuesday night for a wednesday late morning arrival.
Not for another week, and then I have 2 weeks of work at a government facility. After that, I get to go have fun and be a shameless tourist.

 
when are you going? We leave Tuesday night for a wednesday late morning arrival.
The red eye is definitely the way to go. I flew out of Boston at like 11 PM, had a short layover in Paris which got extended by an hour due to delays, then got to Bristol, UK about 11 AM or so. My luggage liked Paris so much it stayed there an extra day and a half.

We just stayed up until it was bedtime in their time zone and zonked out then. I've heard that's the best way to acclimate to major jet lag. It's weird, I usually find it easier to fly east because if you leave the west coast in the morning and fly to the east coast, the 3 hours you lose plus the 6 hours of flying plus layovers means its at least late afternoon when you get here. By the time you get your luggage, drive home, and eat dinner, you can justify going to bed.

Similarly, its no fun to visit the in laws on the west coast, because you get up at 2 AM to leave at 3 to get to the airport by 4 to fly out at 6, fly all the way over there, and its only about 11 AM their time. And they're very peppy, let's go do something type of people.

We're going to Alaska in a little under 2 weeks and I am going to be totally cooked. 4 hour time difference plus the fact that its not really going to get dark the whole time we're there. That's OK, vacations weren't meant for sleeping anyway.

 
I just got back from a trip to England, including a day trip to London. I can recommend the Thames boat trips. We got on at Westminster Bridge and travelled up to Tower Bridge. It's well worth a look.

 
We're going to Alaska in a little under 2 weeks and I am going to be totally cooked. 4 hour time difference plus the fact that its not really going to get dark the whole time we're there. That's OK, vacations weren't meant for sleeping anyway.
Try going to Hong Kong some time. That is the only jet lag that has affected me. It is 12 hours different from EST, so whatever time it is here, it's the opposite time there (it's almost 7 pm here, it's almost 7 am there). That really screws with your internal clock.

 
^ I am taking a red-eye too - and flying economy class, so perhaps I should take a sleeping pill and some earplugs as well. I'm a light sleeper so I'll do anything that can help (such as traveling in pajamas and using those night-eye-blinder things). Fortunately, it's a direct flight so it won't be as long. But it probably won't matter if I'm sitting next to someone who snores or smells funny.

Anyway, like yourself, I do think I'll have an easier time recovering from jet lag there than after coming back here (plus the flight back here takes longer due to the winds).

I just have to make myself stay up all day once I land so I can be ready for a full days' work on Monday.

 
I just got back from a trip to England, including a day trip to London. I can recommend the Thames boat trips. We got on at Westminster Bridge and travelled up to Tower Bridge. It's well worth a look.
Any specific boat tour company you recommend?

Some folks recommended making a stop to Cambridge (which I'm pretty sure I'll do). While there, I was told to go "punting on the Cam". It looks fun but still kinda cheesy and touristy.

 
Huh, on Sunday I was in Cambridge.......Massachusetts.
dod yopu suddenly get the urge to raise taxes on the rich and start a public welfare program?

 
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No, I just got to help my sister in law move out of a nasty grad school apartment into something nicer. I got a free burrito out of the deal.

I did get an urge to slug her slimeball landlord however. :dunno:

 
Try going to Hong Kong some time. That is the only jet lag that has affected me. It is 12 hours different from EST, so whatever time it is here, it's the opposite time there (it's almost 7 pm here, it's almost 7 am there). That really screws with your internal clock.

Try Thailand, from North Carolina, with stops in Washington and Guam.

And oh, it was on a C-141 Cargo Plane.

Worst trip of my life.

 
my stomach started growling at 11 this morning, with the 6hr time change it's dinner time already. Woke up at like 4 am and had a hard time going back to bed too

 
Highly recommend the oyster card for the underground...way more convienent than trying to buy and keep track of little paper tickets anytime you wanted to ride the subway!

The wait for eating at the original Hard Rock Cafe was an hour and half at 8:30 PM. Good thing eating at the counter was available right away...we were straving.

 
snick: Did you just arrive in the UK, or have you gone and returned already?

 
im glad someone mentioned the spotted ****. heehee.

go up into the tower bridge. being an engineer youll think its cool. even normal people thought it was so i thought it was great. crown jewels as already mentioned are awesome. i saw parliament in session, at like 8 pm or some weird hour. i went by just to see it (its right next to big ben) and they let me in. its great they yell at each other and call each other idiots. the way congress should be. changing of the guard at the palace is pretty sweet.

the beer isnt warm, its served at the proper temperature unlike here. it has to be served below freezing to hide the fact that bud taste like crap. good beer in the us isnt served ice cold either.

yes the food sucks. i ordered chinese takeout cuz i thought i would starve. the chinese takeout tasted like cat food smells. and looked the same. eat the fish and chips. and anything with "pie" in the name. nothing else. especially the bacon. and the beef :)

 
im glad someone mentioned the spotted ****. heehee.
go up into the tower bridge. being an engineer youll think its cool. even normal people thought it was so i thought it was great. crown jewels as already mentioned are awesome. i saw parliament in session, at like 8 pm or some weird hour. i went by just to see it (its right next to big ben) and they let me in. its great they yell at each other and call each other idiots. the way congress should be. changing of the guard at the palace is pretty sweet.

the beer isnt warm, its served at the proper temperature unlike here. it has to be served below freezing to hide the fact that bud taste like crap. good beer in the us isnt served ice cold either.

yes the food sucks. i ordered chinese takeout cuz i thought i would starve. the chinese takeout tasted like cat food smells. and looked the same. eat the fish and chips. and anything with "pie" in the name. nothing else. especially the bacon. and the beef :)
It was election week while we were there...every entry to parliament was heavily guarded with police carring MP5s, according to the hubby.

tower bridge was cool, we took a boat ride on the thames and got to see under it.

All the pubs we visited had variety, you could get the warm beer, the properly chilled beer and the super chilled stuff.

The food wasn't bad. Our hotel was in the middle of "little Italy" so to speak 90% of the cafes were italian food. I was rather disappointed in some places that were offering chickern with bacon...and got chicken with ham. What would I have gotten if I ordered ham? Some places did have actualy bacon though.

Fish and chips were good at the pub we ate at, although the veggie was mashed minted peas... :dunno:

also had a warm jacket with cheddar cheese, yum.

 

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