Honeymoon in London

Knottie53663435

Hello all,

My fiance and I are working on planning our honeymoon for next November. We are wanting to go to London for a week. Does anyone have suggestions about whether we should use a travel agency or just go it on our own? Also if we do use a travel agency then do you have any recommendations? Thanks so much!!

jenna8984

I always recommend a travel agent. My mom is one for AAA (I'm sure there's a local office near you). Not only will they get you the best deals, but also the best schedule flight times, airport transfers, tours, so you don't have to worry about it all when you show up. It has also been very beneficial when the airline changed my flight times for my honeymoon 3 times and instead of me dealing with the airline a week before my wedding, she called them and handled getting me back on the correct flight times. It's always great to have someone working in your corner to help with stressful stuff like that.

I actually just booked London for this March and I sent her a list of hotels that I found on Trip Advisor and she was able to tll me that all the ones I chose were in bad areas, and had to be booked in GBP instead of USD. She was able to recommend a much better hotel in a much better area that she's familiar with and I'm really happy she did that in her package instead of one of the ones I chose for myself.

Jells2dot0

I go to London almost every November. We love it there! We book everything ourselves, but we also travel very frequently and we also stay at the same place every time. I do recommend an agent who specializes in that area to give you the best recommendations to maximize your time.

CMGragain

I have been to London several times.  I took my mother (shudder) there about 8 years ago because it was her dream to go to England, and I was the only one in the family with the travel experience to take her there.
We got a package through an online travel agency - Priceline, though other sites offer similar deals.  It included air and hotel.  I used Rick Steves' travel book for advice.  Mom loved the Tower of London, but had no interest in the London Eye.  She liked Westminster Abbey, too.
The only reason Mom agreed to go was that I promised her we would stay at a Holiday Inn!  She was convinced that all British Hotels had no heating and a bathroom down the hall.  She refused to believe otherwise.

allispain

CMGragain said:

I have been to London several times.  I took my mother (shudder) there about 8 years ago because it was her dream to go to England, and I was the only one in the family with the travel experience to take her there.
We got a package through an online travel agency - Priceline, though other sites offer similar deals.  It included air and hotel.  I used Rick Steves' travel book for advice.  Mom loved the Tower of London, but had no interest in the London Eye.  She liked Westminster Abbey, too.
The only reason Mom agreed to go was that I promised her we would stay at a Holiday Inn!  She was convinced that all British Hotels had no heating and a bathroom down the hall.  She refused to believe otherwise.

Haha I love the bolded.

OP, if you've travelled outside of the country enough that you feel comfortable planning it yourself, then do so. If you're not sure, though, then use a travel agent.

CMGragain

@allispain My entire family was praying for me!

SBmini

I just booked a trip to London using Costco. Got a killer deal on a package that included airfare, 5 star hotel, private car transport to and from the airport, breakfast, and $400 in tour credits. Very happy thus far with the whole process. Before booking I checked- the airfare alone was the cost of the entire Costco package. 

amelisha

If you're an inexperienced traveler, an agent can be enormously beneficial because they will walk you through it, offer good recommendations, check all possible options for the best price, and make sure you've thought of everything like preferred neighbourhoods, ground transportation, day trips, etc . If you book stuff yourself all the time and know how to do all of the aforementioned, you can certainly book London that way too (just check the Trip Advisor hotel reviews for any you're considering.)

indianaalum

We did it ourselves and stayed at the "st Ermin autograph" hotel. We loved it. It was a fantastic location.

We did the hop on hop off bus to tour the city. It was awesome because it got us alot of places.

Also, I agree. The Tower of London is amazing

delujm0

I went to London and Paris in November 2012.  We actually had awesome weather in London, it only rained once, and at least two of the days that week were 60 degrees and sunny!  We walked all over the place those days!

 

I went with my mother.  I'm an experienced traveler, so we booked everything ourselves.  Flights into London and out of Paris, with the train in between.  We stayed at apartments that we found on VRBO.  They were both awesome.  If you do your research, you can do it yourself.  If you're not into research, get an agent.

 

I would advise trying to stay close to an Underground line that easily services most of the sights you want to see.  We got a London Pass, which a lot of people deem unnecessary, but if you add up the costs of getting tinto everything you want to get into, it might make sense for you.    For us the best benefit was skipping the line at Windsor - we were the first people through the doors that day and had the castle largely to ourselves as we traveled through.  i think we also wound up with some kind of weekly pass for the Underground, though i don't completely remember.

SBmini

Just got back so here's some ideas:

It's going to be cold. We lucked out without having much rain, but instead we had temps in the high 30s. It was a little rough for walking around and sight seeing

Oyster Card- if you plan on using the underground/buses to get around, this is the way to go. The tube is ridiculously expensive. I was shocked at how it compared to other subway costs

We stayed near St. James/Piccadilly and loved the location. Super close to Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, and Trafalgar Square. 

We did a day trip to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath via Golden Tours. This was too much for one day. I'm glad we saw all of it, but I would have wanted more time at Windsor Castle and Bath. The train drops you off right at the foot of the castle in Windsor and is also really convenient to Bath. This would make for a nice day trip. 

It's expensive. The costs can easily get away from you if you don't add 50% for the conversion rate. So keep that in mind when you buy things. But we got tons of really great food for not too much money in pubs and Chinatown. 

lovemesomemonster

Have so much fun in London! I was just there for a month for work so no advice on how to plan it since they took care of my car and apartment but if you plan to go outside of London I highly recommend Oxford, Dover, and Windsor Castle was great! if you love HP (Yes, I'm a Harry Potter nerd!) the studio is fantastic! I also took a friend that is not a fan and she had a great time seeing it. It's super easy to get around in London with the underground and most people are very happy to help if you are looking for a particular place. 

As for a car.. in London I wouldn't do it (not even sure you asked about that) but if you want to get outside of London it would be nice to get one for a day or two and see the country side. The city was beautiful but I had the most fun at the little out of the way country pubs and it is absolutely beautiful!

lovemesomemonster

A tip to add: bring an umbrella, the weather can turn quickly and I took a nice small one that I attached to the outside of my purse and could pull out whenever it started raining. It made it so nice to not have to worry about getting soaked or running inside if it did start raining, I could still enjoy walking around

als1982

Jells2dot0 said:

I go to London almost every November. We love it there! We book everything ourselves, but we also travel very frequently and we also stay at the same place every time. I do recommend an agent who specializes in that area to give you the best recommendations to maximize your time.

Jells2dot0 do you have a good hotel recommendation for London?  Ideally, we'd like to spend $300 a night, but would be willing to spend more if we had to...  At this point, we don't have a particular area that we're targeting, but we enjoy areas with cafes, parks, markets and great people watching (we don't care too much for churches and museums).  We'll be there for 3 nights in May.

Jells2dot0

We stay at Le Meridien Piccadilly. It's very centrally located and just two blocks from the Piccadilly Circus tube stop. You can also walk to Trafalgar Square (great people watching) and Hyde Park. When we go in November, the room rate is usually around 250 Pounds, which is about $380/night. I have Platinum Status with Starwood, so we get free club access, but I do recommend splurging for the club room if it's not too much extra. They have a fairly extensive continental breakfast, afternoon tea, and hors d'oeurves at night. They break out the alcohol at night as well, but during the day, you can go in there for water, juice, coffee, and soda. It's all free to those on the Club floor.

als1982

Jells2dot0 said:

We stay at Le Meridien Piccadilly. It's very centrally located and just two blocks from the Piccadilly Circus tube stop. You can also walk to Trafalgar Square (great people watching) and Hyde Park. When we go in November, the room rate is usually around 250 Pounds, which is about $380/night. I have Platinum Status with Starwood, so we get free club access, but I do recommend splurging for the club room if it's not too much extra. They have a fairly extensive continental breakfast, afternoon tea, and hors d'oeurves at night. They break out the alcohol at night as well, but during the day, you can go in there for water, juice, coffee, and soda. It's all free to those on the Club floor.

This is very helpful. Thank you!! Might you have a suggestion for Paris?

Jells2dot0

I have never been to Paris, so can't be of much help there.

adettma32

als1982 said:

Jells2dot0 said:

I go to London almost every November. We love it there! We book everything ourselves, but we also travel very frequently and we also stay at the same place every time. I do recommend an agent who specializes in that area to give you the best recommendations to maximize your time.

Jells2dot0 do you have a good hotel recommendation for London?  Ideally, we'd like to spend $300 a night, but would be willing to spend more if we had to...  At this point, we don't have a particular area that we're targeting, but we enjoy areas with cafes, parks, markets and great people watching (we don't care too much for churches and museums).  We'll be there for 3 nights in May.

Have you ever considered going through AirBNB for your accommodations? My fiancé and I have used it 3 different times in different European cities (London, Rome, Dublin) and have always been happy with it. For $300/night, you could get quite a great apartment in a easily accessible area of the city. We like it because for longer stays, you can do some cooking in the apartment to save money, even if just for breakfast. One of the only downfalls I find is that concierge service in hotels is always pretty helpful, but we've always received great advice on local restaurants/attractions from the people we have rented from. Just something to consider!  

LondonLisa

I live in London. If you have any questions about neighbourhoods or sites, please feel free to message me. 

I love this city and I am sure you will have a great time, but then again, I am biased