London Dos and Don'ts

DO

• Take sunscreen and summer clothes
  Most Aussies I met packed for cooler weather, but luckily added a few summer clothes too…which we lived in!
• 
  Stay at the Highbury Centre (Formerly the Foreign Missions Club) http://www.thehighburycentre.org/
  It’s an historic building, on the outskirts of London. It is simple, but nice. They offer amazing facilities – laundry, cheap internet, phone cards etc, close to public transport... (although I would not recommend this place to people with mobility issues. Due to the age of the building, there are many stairs and no lifts).
  The atmosphere is awesome. It was originally for missionaries, but they offer guest rates for non-missionaries. The receptionists are wonderful people who make you feel welcome :)
• 
  Climb the 520 Steps of St Paul’s Cathedral! It’s POSSIBLE and awesome!!! How could you go to London and NOT take up this challenge! :p Plus it’s quite pricey just to get inside the building! Work-out value for money! :p
• 
  Take a ride of the Hop On Hop Off us Tours. They are great! You see more of the town that you’d want to walk alone, and then realise it’s not that hard to get around after all :p

DON’T

* Be afraid of getting lost! The tube is amazing! As long as you know which station you need to get

of at the end of the day, you’ll be fine!

Even though it’s a big city, it’s virtually impossible to get lost! :)
(It took me 2 days to realise this!)

• 
  Ask directions from somebody who looks young… or from newspaper sellers on the streets!
  Most have no idea, give you a funny look as if directions are an alien concept, or ask if you speak English…(uhh…DUH! Hehe!)
  
• Believe an older person’s directions are “a long walk”
  as my friend correctly pointed out, what they perceive as “long” is only a 5-10minute walk – nothing to us Aussies who are used to waiting at least 20 minutes for a bus! Not to mention the half hour walk to the train station which is sometimes quicker than waiting for the bus!
• 
  Ask a Tube employee at Heathrow, ‘Is this the tube?”
  (ok, I admit I’d just come off a plane and my brain was tired!)