Things To Know BEFORE You Visit LONDON 🇬🇧

Right, my hair is still damp. I am wearing way too much blush, but I have no time to fix either of those because somehow London found out that I'm doing this video today. This is literally the nicest, sunniest day we've had in 2022 so far, and we're gonna get straight into it. I don't wanna lose the sunshine. Starting with number one, currency. Let me see if I have some coins to show you. So the official title of this currency is the Great British Pound, also referred to as a pound or more colloquially, quid. And when you use the word quid, don't pluralize it. You don't say you have five quids, you say you have five quid. But far more frequently, especially since the beginning of the pandemic, you will find places using cards and sometimes cards only. And to that end, I wanna mention the sponsor of today's video. Our sponsor is Wise, firmly known as TransferWise. I have mentioned them in a few of my videos lately, and that is because they are such a good, relevant service for travelers. The Wise international account also gives you access to a debit card, which you can use when you travel to make different transactions or withdraw money. According to their research, Wise are on average six times cheaper than old school banks when it comes to spending, sending or withdrawing money abroad, which can result in some pretty huge savings. And that is really relevant when you're traveling in a city like London, which can get really pricey. So if you are a traveler, I definitely recommend you look up Wise. And if you need some extra incentive, I have it. There's a discount link in the description and in the pinned comment below, which entitles you to a first free transfer. And my final tip is about withdrawals. When you go to an ATM, a cash machine, make sure that that specific machine or company doesn't charge additional fees. If you are coming here from abroad and you don't have a card like the Wise debit card, yes, you will be charged some fees, but you don't need to be charged these excess ones. When you click through to the machine, it will tell you if there is an additional fee. And if there is, then walk a little bit further because in central London, there are ATMs literally everywhere. But as I mentioned, you don't really have to have too much cash on you because you won't really need to use it. Next up, I wanna talk about when to visit London. And the answer is honestly, whenever. It's not a place that is hugely seasonal. The weather remains mild and vaguely rainy throughout the entire year, but there are some benefits and also some downsides to different seasons. So let me talk you through them. In spring, you have smaller crowds. There aren't as many visitors. And the weather, whilst it can be rainy, can also be really beautiful. There are loads of cherry and apple blossom trees around London. Spring is also the time of Easter, which can be a good thing and a bad thing. You might get to witness a bit more culture. One of the downsides, however, is that stuff tends to be closed on bank holidays. Summer is our next one, and that is high season in London. That's when we have the biggest crowds here. And it's partly because London in the sunshine is magnificent. That's exactly why I'm filming with vaguely wet hair, because it's worth it. But again, that does have its downsides. Whilst, yes, you will have wonderful festivals and events going on, it does also mean that things will be busier and also a little more expensive. In autumn, fall, weather can be hit or miss. It can be pretty bad. It can be pretty good. But again, similar to spring, you get some really beautiful scenery, gorgeous orange leaves. And then finally, winter, Christmas markets. London is lit up by lights along all the main streets, like Oxford Street, Regent Street. They put up beautiful decorations. My third category is documents and all the practical stuff, which I can't go into too much detail on because it really depends on where you're from, where you're flying in from. One sad point worth mentioning is Brexit and how that's impacted travel. EU visitors can still come here without a visa, and that's also true for US citizens, but there is a limit on how long they can stay. And that limit is 180 days in a 12-month period. So not just a calendar year, but literally any 12 months. When it comes to COVID regulations, I will also not be giving out any advice because it does literally change all the time. Just for an example, I went on three different trips in the past three months. And for every single trip, the rules were completely different. Sometimes I needed a PCR test after arrival and I needed to isolate. Sometimes I just needed to do a lateral flow test. Okay, next category, accommodation. London is an expansive city. It's also an expensive city, but more on that later. But it's huge. And it doesn't have a well-defined center in the same way that a lot of other large cities do. So most of the places that you wanna visit will be scattered around the city. I would personally say, don't worry about being in the best location because I don't even know how to define that. Is that next to Hyde Park? Is that right on Trafalgar Square? Is that next to St. Paul's by the Tower of London? These places are quite far apart. Let me give you a few options of areas that I think are really great to stay when it comes to the intersection of being central, but also keeping things to a budget. Okay, next up, I wanna talk about transport, and this is a big one. First of all, public transport in London is great. It is a city that's extremely well-connected. The main modes of public transport you're likely to use are bus, underground, or the tube as it's called here, and the overground. When it comes to buses, they are the cheapest mode of transport, and they are also the most iconic. You can get a ticket for £1.55 currently, and that entitles you to an hour of transport. So you can tap in and then hop onto a different bus. You will tap in again, but you won't be charged, which is great news if you're on a tight budget. And there are a few buses whose routes are truly incredible from a sightseeing perspective. So if you get on this bus, you will basically be getting a sightseeing tour for £1.55. When it comes to the underground or the tube, it's a bit of a maze. I mean, look at this map. It's overwhelming. One thing worth figuring out before you use the tube for the first time is what direction you're headed in, because the directions on the tube are given in that fashion. It will say southbound versus northbound or eastbound versus westbound. So if you can locate yourself on a map, that will really help you out when navigating. Another thing to remember is that a lot of the tube lines have different branches. So you need to check really carefully that you're getting on the right train. It will say the direction and the destination directly on the train and also on the little screen above, but it's something that you need to be hyper aware of. And the overground is a lot like the underground, but one benefit of it is that you can see out the windows because you're above ground, overground, and you also will have signal if you have Wi-Fi or roaming enabled or if you bought a local SIM, which, by the way, is definitely something that's worth doing. If you wanna use any of these forms of public transport, you need either an Oyster card or a contactless debit card, okay? If you have a contactless card, great. You don't need to do anything else. You just tap that and then tap out. If you are on the underground or if you're on a bus, you literally just tap in and then you get off. You don't need to tap your card again. But if you don't have a contactless card, you will need to obtain an Oyster card. You just put money on that card and then as you tap in and tap out, you will be charged directly to that Oyster card. There are weekly or daily or monthly travel cards that you can load onto your Oyster card that might be worth purchasing depending on how frequently you're gonna be using public transport. Okay, that's public transport done. Now, if you don't feel like slumming it, then you can definitely take cabs. Now, I know black cabs are an absolute institution and getting a black cab driver's license is really difficult. But if I'm being realistic, it's not a mode of transport I would recommend taking very often because they're so expensive. And yeah, as much as it pains me to say, it is far better, well, far more economical to either get an Uber, a Captain or a Bolt cars. I don't drive and basically none of my friends in London drive because it's so expensive owning a car in London. And that's partly because of all the insurance and all the regular stuff, but also partly because you need to pay a green tax when you drive within the center of London. And if you wanna go into that zone, you will be charged a pretty exorbitant fee. So if you're just visiting London, I would say renting a car isn't worth doing. But if you do wanna visit more places around the UK, it might be something you wanna look into. And in that case, do check that your driving license is valid in the UK. One final, well, actually no, two final points. The first one is CityMapper. This is an app that virtually every Londoner has on their phones. You can use Google Maps and I actually rely on Google Maps most days, but CityMapper is far more detailed. It will literally tell you which carriage you should go into on your train and which exit you should leave from. And finally, I also wanted to mention city bikes. They're most commonly referred to as Boris bikes or Santander bikes. It can be a little scary cycling in London for the first time because the roads are very, very busy, but it is fun. This, by the way, isn't the only bicycle service that you can use. There are so many nowadays. All of these you can use and some of them are also scooters. Okay, moving on, let's talk about food, my favorite topic. If you've ever wanted to try food from literally any country in the world, but not had an opportunity to visit in person, you can do it while you're in London. A lot has been said about British food and how terrible it is, and I completely disagree. British food, whilst maybe a bit beige and a tiny bit bland, is absolutely delicious. If you wanna get it on a really strict budget, I definitely recommend you visit Wetherspoons. It's a huge pub chain that serves British food very cheap. And generally speaking, pubs have really good food. Stop! Anyway, I'm sorry, we're just gonna have to get on with it. If you are on a budget, don't worry about it too much because you can definitely find cheap food in London. It's usually gonna be one of those small, mom-and-pop, pull-on-the-wall restaurants. As it so happens, those tend to be my absolute favorites anyway. And I am planning to do a video about the best budget restaurants in London, so if you haven't subscribed yet, definitely do. If you eat a specific diet, maybe you're vegetarian or vegan, maybe you only eat halal meats or you eat kosher, you have come to the right place. London is absolutely perfect for that, especially when it comes to halal restaurants. There are so many, and many of them are actually Indian restaurants. There is a huge Indian and South Asian diaspora in London and in the UK at large, and they make some of the best food in the country. Look, I don't wanna play up to any stereotypes, but the drinking culture in the UK is robust and very fun, to be honest. The pubs in London can be incredibly historic. There are more upscale gastropubs that turn out literally Michelin star dishes, and there are some more kind of working-class pubs where you can find a pint for as cheap as £3.50. That's pretty unbelievable by London standards. When you're there, here are two things you should know about. Number one, doing rounds. You might be asked to get the round, which means getting a drink for everybody in your group and paying for it, but then after that, somebody else in the group will pick up the tab and you'll go around the entire group until you're completely wasted. And the other thing worth knowing is that when you're ordering a beer, you order by the pint. This is a pint. This is how you order in the UK. You can also get a half pint. If someone judges you for that, that's on them, not you, get a half pint if that's what your heart desires. Or don't drink at all. There are so many places where you can get really nice mocktails nowadays. Finally, no video about dining out would be complete without mentioning the subject of tipping. More often than not, when you get your bill, you will already have the tip listed at the bottom. Typically, it's gonna be 12.5% and you can opt out of that charge, but you would only really do that if you were incredibly unhappy with the service. Typically, you would just pay it, move on with your life. But if that charge isn't listed on there, I would say tip anywhere between 10 to 15% and you'll be in the clear. Our next category is plug sockets. This is a really straightforward one, but just be aware that the UK uses these plug sockets and these plug sockets only. If you are on public transport, on a train or on a bus, you might find some charging points there which you will only need a USB cable for, but you definitely shouldn't rely on that and carry a portable charger with you if at all possible. And finally, this is one thing I still struggle with. When using a plug socket, make sure it's switched on. And if you don't flip that switch, it just won't work. Our next category is insurance or health. And I'm not gonna dwell too much on this because it does depend on where you're coming from. First of all, I do wanna say, wherever you travel, whenever you travel, do get travel insurance. I know it adds a bit of additional cost that seems unnecessary. It is not unnecessary. It's really, really, really important that you get travel insurance and do look out for policies that don't have a high excess. If you're a traveler from the EU, I also recommend you bring an EHEC card. This is not an alternative to travel insurance, you sneaky so-and-so, but it will help you get medical attention. By the way, we have something called the NHS here in the UK. The NHS stands for National Health Service and it is our public healthcare, which everyone that resides in Britain has access to. And it's also the same system that you'll be going through if you need urgent medical attention. Because we're in the middle of a pandemic, hopefully, hopefully not the middle, hopefully toward the back end of it, but we are in a pandemic. I also wanna mention that all COVID-related medical attention should you need it is gonna be free in the UK. Next up, I wanna talk about the best things to do in London. That is a topic that could literally fill 100 videos, right? London is one of those cities that just has endless possibilities. But what I do wanna suggest is that you check out this video where I featured 50 free things to do in London. I mean, 50 free things, and all of them are pretty incredible. Maybe also this video. There's a lot of London-based videos on my channel. The next topic is budgeting. I'm gonna redirect you to a video I did. This video has done extremely well. So many people have watched it. And hopefully, if budgeting is something you're interested in this one's gonna help a lot. But yeah, just to mention, it really, really depends on whether you're gonna take public transport or cabs. Are you gonna go to free museums? By the way, in London, pretty much all the museums are free to enter. It's unbelievable. So are you gonna be doing that? Or are you gonna be going to afternoon tea at the Ritz? If you're staying for longer, can you maybe rent an Airbnb, which might work out cheaper than renting a hotel room? Can you stay with friends? Can you couch surf? All of that is gonna play into your budgets. And our final category is vocabulary. If you are one of the people guilty of these mispronunciations, it's not really on you because a lot of London places have names that aren't pronounced how they logically should be. This is Leicester Square. It's not Leicester Square. This wonderful market, it's not Borough Market. It's Borough Market. This fancy London Square is pronounced Grosvenor Square. This famous train station is called King's Cross St. Pancras, not Pancreas. This is Marylebone, not Marylebone. This is Madame Tussauds, like two swords. And finally, the mall rhymes with pal. And that's it. I'm gonna stop talking. I'm gonna see you on Friday and I'm gonna go get ready for crazy golf. Bye.