London is a great city but it’s also a notoriously pricey place to be! Visitors often shell out way too much money in order to see the sights when all they really want is the authentic London experience.
Here are a few little tips from a resident londoner to help save you some serious cash:
Superhighway to Heaven
Catching the tube or train is usually stressful and always expensive! Kill two birds with one stone and get fit while travelling around the city taking in the sights as you go. Having recently undergone a major facelift, the London cycle network (now called the cycle superhighway!) has been repainted bright blue and made wider, which means safer, faster and more direct routes around the city.
You can register for the new cycle hire scheme where the first 30 minutes of every hire period is totally free… which is a pretty good reason to pedal fast!
Eat Local
Compared with the rest of England, Londoners are lucky in that it is still fairly easy to shop well and shop cheap in your local area. Avoid the large supermarket chains as they inflate their prices in the city and staff are likely to throw your items down a conveyor belt without so much of a nod in your direction.
Try the local fruit and vegetable stalls or street markets for better service and really low prices. I’m fortunate that in South East London, I have an outstanding fishmonger and local butcher who only sell free range organic meat at half the price of the supermarket. I’m normally in and out within 10 minutes and always come out with a smile on my face as well as a massive bag of meat!
Be Free!
Only in London can you visit some of the finest collections of Egyptian artefacts, come face to face with one of the largest and most terrifying T. rex skeletons in the world and realise that Monet picked a pretty dirty pond when he choose to paint his famous “Water-Lilies”… for free! In fact most of the world class museums and galleries in London are free and well worth a look.
Start with the Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert museum (conveniently located next door to each other); not only do they showcase some fascinating exhibits, but they are both housed in beautiful buildings.
EZ Phone Home
When ET asked to phone home he probably didn’t realise how expensive it is to place international calls… So if you want to catch up with friends and family at home, avoid using your regular mobile phone service provider – even sending a text message can send your bill soaring. Get a calling card that will enable you to make cheap international calls. Good services do not require any registration, pre-payment, accounts or credit cards – just dial the special number using a landline (or your mobile phone) followed by the international number of your loved one.
Cruise the River
If you thought that London’s transport system was just trains, tubes and buses then you thought wrong! seeing the sights by water is an amazing way to see London in a whole new light! some of the tourist trips can be very pricey, but there a cheap alternative is the River Bus Service. … Most take Oyster cards or regular cash ticket payments and you can travel as far as Hampton Court Palace in the west right over to Woolwich in the East.
Along the way you can get off and visit loads of attractions, including Westminster (for the Houses of Parliament and Winston Churchill’s War Cabinet Rooms), Greenwich (for the Royal Observatory and the National Maritime Museum) or maybe hop off at London bridge pier for a walk along the arty Southbank.