London Calling!

[Borachio]

Yeah. I've been. I sat down though.

I'm glad I went just to get an idea of the size of the place. But I doubt I'd go again. It was a rather indifferent performance (well, pretty average from my experience anyway), and it seemed like it was mostly just a show for tourists.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I was out of town for four days on a whirlwind tour of NY, Paris, Venice, ancient Rome, Luxor and MGM studios. I'm glad to be home.

In New Mexico, perhaps - but 28C would be going for the hottest day of the year, so we make do with what we can. There's a well-known phenomenon whereby British men will take their shirts off and have a barbecue the first day that it could even remotely be called 'warm'.

Thanks, that tells me that while it might be humid or rainy, it will probably not be hot.

Yeah, you can easily get to any of those places for a day trip. Stonehenge is indeed disappointing (it's just a bunch of rocks) but you can always go there on your way to Bath or a castle or something.

British Museum is HUGE, so you might want to either do a little bit at a time over a few trips (it's pretty central - I often pop in if I've got an hour to kill in central london, and you can even do this during your "business phase" after work is done), or you could easily spend an entire day just in one section of the museum. It's amazing how much stuff we've stolen from other countries...

Personally, I don't think any of the Palaces or "royal" bits are worth spending too much time in. See them from the outside, maybe wander around in the free bit if there is one, but generally they cater to old nationalists who just love the monarchy, and aren't particularly interesting to someone like me.

I've never been to HMS Victory (that's in Portsmouth, right?) but I would go to Cutty Sark anyway, as it's in Maritime Greenwich, which is one of my favourite parts of London. Not only is it a beautiful place with lovely buildings and a nice little hill with good views over the city, it also has the national observatory and maritime museums, which if you play Civ are probably things you want to see!

I was afraid that Stonehenge would be a let down (especially as the days approach the summer solstice). I do plan to spend time in the BM. I see it as one of the highlights of London along with the Tower of London. And while I would like to meet the Queen, I do not expect much from the palaces. Are any of those in London still in an unupdated state so one could see how the monarch of the day lived? For example, could one visit QE I's palace and see it close to how she saw it?

How far is Portsmouth? What's the best way to get there?

I understand you.

But Mr Jaguar is even older. And if he feels the need for a sweater when the temperature is 25 C, he needs a sweater. And it's unlikely to get warmer than that in London. I can (almost) understand his need. I'm simply no longer going to run around to keep warm.

I call BS on this! Every desert dweller knows that if you don a sweater for the brief chill you will have to carry it all day! No one in a real desert wears anything but a t shirt, no matter how chill the brief chill may be. I see kids in t shirts waiting for the school bus when there is frost on the ground, because they know that by recess it will be in the seventies.

As a desert veteran of 25 years, I understand how morning and noon and shade and sun affect one's daily dress in the desert. But I also know that not everyone lives in the desert and other places call for a different strategy when venturing out into the streets and byways of "foreign" lands. Britain is not the desert. And then there is this...

 

[Arakhor]

I was out of town for four days on a whirlwind tour of NY, Paris, Venice, ancient Rome, Luxor and MGM studios. I'm glad to be home.

You went to France, Italy, Egypt and back to the US, all in four days??

(Just for once, I think it would make more sense if you were talking about the US towns of those names.)

 

[dutchfire]

Vegas?

 

[Arakhor]

Those places could all be said to have a presence in Vegas, so yes, I suppose that makes the most sense.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

What very heaven it was to be young! (I paraphrase). The older you get the more likely you are to don a sweater when the temperature falls to 25 C.

25C is 7 degrees over my comfort zone.

 

[Borachio]

There you go. Proves my point. At 51, you're nowt but a spring chick.

And besides, it's well known that the melting point of a Canadian is 2 C; and boiling point 9 C.

Also, anything over 18 C is potentially lethal to a Canadian.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Those places could all be said to have a presence in Vegas, so yes, I suppose that makes the most sense.

Yes, I was in Vegas for 4 days.

 

[azzaman333]

So, I'll be in London myself in late June. Where can I find cheap accomodation (the cheaper the better since that leaves more money for booze and attracting females with my exotic accents)?

 

[really]

It's a trade off - cost vs location.
Mess around with the sliders on booking.com or hostelworld.com to get an idea of the tradeoff.

Your accent probably won't be all that uncommon in the UK.

 

[Arakhor]

You're Australian, Azza. You already sound like a Cockney with a cold.

 

[azzaman333]

It's a trade off - cost vs location.
Mess around with the sliders on booking.com or hostelworld.com to get an idea of the tradeoff.

Will need to give it a whirl once I book flights. Cheap is definitely the preference though, given I'm a fulltime PhD student without part time work or a scholarship.

Your accent probably won't be all that uncommon in the UK.

You're Australian, Azza. You already sound like a Cockney with a cold.

Dammit, how am I supposed to get laid if I can't rely on simply being 'Strayan.