Visiting London during the school holidays
Easter has come and gone but the kids are still off till the end of the week. This is prime time for visiting London. We did the same from our current home city, to see friends, go to events, visit some of the sites that Baby was too young to go to before. Having lived there before, we did use our “inside” knowledge to help us get around a little bit more easily.
For the last few months I had been travelling between Home and London for work on the odd occasion. Although work paid for transport, I try to be economical. Rather than look around too much, I use the Trainline app on my phone to help me look for the cheapest way to travel and to manage my train bookings. I now book all family train tickets using the app as well. Most tickets can be issued electronically so you really only need them on your phone to travel- no more digging around for paper tickets or having to collect tickets at the train station. This works really well and the earlier one can make bookings, the more likely one is able to book reasonably priced tickets. For example, I have managed to book first class travel tickets for the family for very little money previously. This is great as it makes the journey more comfortable, and we are ensured seats together even at very busy travel times. This Easter holiday I went to London for day trips with Baby several times, paying 25 pounds return (including travel on the London Underground for the day).
While in London, travelling by London Underground is the quickest way to get around. I generally use Google Maps to plan my journey but you can also do so using the Transport for London (TFL) website. Check the TFL website for suggested travel routes and possible disruptions to public transport- there may be track works that could affect your plans. You can pay for travel using tickets that you purchase at the ticket office or the Oyster card system. Oyster cards can be bought at underground ticket offices and I like using this system. Once you have got an Oyster card you can manage the card e.g. top up or buy travel passes online so no more queuing at the ticket office. Or you can enable your credit card for use on public transport if you have a touch-payment enabled credit card. I don’t like to use this as I dislike having to get my credit card/wallet out frequently in prime locations for pickpockets. Details on ticket prices and how to use Oyster card, touch enabled credit card payment on public transport, can be found on the TFL website. An economical way for sightseeing can be achieved by taking the London buses (top deck if possible), many of which have routes passing by major sightseeing landmarks. You can find bus routes on the TFL website or on Google Maps. Travelling above ground is great for seeing things en route but traffic overground is generally bad so don’t expect to get anywhere quickly.
The attractions can mean huge queues. The trick is to book tickets ahead of time and where there is the possibility to upgrade to fast track, spend the money and go for fast track. This is true of e.g. the London Eye where the queues are enormous. The London Pass offers good value for money for London attractions and does offer upgrade to fast track but does require queuing to get tickets, so you will need to factor in queuing time if using. We tend to only go to one attraction per day when we are visiting as Baby can’t really concentrate on more than that anyway, so we tend to book online. The tickets are then issued electronically and there are no queues to pick up the tickets at the attractions, which saves a lot of grief. Also it is worth noting that there can be discounts at some attractions when e.g. you have a train ticket from a particular train company; I have found these by performing a Google search before I book.
Certain places don’t require tickets, e.g. the Natural History Museum, but are extremely busy during the holidays. The trick here is to plan ahead of time. Both the Natural History Museum and Science Museum are popular with kids and are situated next to each other in South Kensington. Of the two, the Science Museum tends to be less busy even at peak times. I have found that it is easier to get in to the Science Museum in the morning than the Natural History Museum, as the queue is shorter, and go to the Natural History Museum in the afternoon (say after lunch) when the queue is shorter. It is impossible to see everything in either on one visit- there is a lot to see and, if your kids are any thing like Baby, a change after a few hours on one theme is a good thing. The top exhibits, e.g. the dinosaur hall in the Natural History Museum, also tend to be busy so expect some queues inside too. Lunch time can be extremely chaotic with everyone trying to eat near the museums. There are tonnes of restaurants nearby, or you can get sandwiches (ahead of time if you can) and head to Hyde Park (which is about 10 minutes walk from the museums) for a picnic on a nice day. Alternatively, have a good breakfast, or bring little snacks like flapjacks, so you can have lunch a bit later. Unfortunately, lunch time in the restaurants nearby, numerous as they are, can be difficult at peak lunch time and there is little that can be done about this other than to travel to a less busy spot or wait.
For the last few months I had been travelling between Home and London for work on the odd occasion. Although work paid for transport, I try to be economical. Rather than look around too much, I use the Trainline app on my phone to help me look for the cheapest way to travel and to manage my train bookings. I now book all family train tickets using the app as well. Most tickets can be issued electronically so you really only need them on your phone to travel- no more digging around for paper tickets or having to collect tickets at the train station. This works really well and the earlier one can make bookings, the more likely one is able to book reasonably priced tickets. For example, I have managed to book first class travel tickets for the family for very little money previously. This is great as it makes the journey more comfortable, and we are ensured seats together even at very busy travel times. This Easter holiday I went to London for day trips with Baby several times, paying 25 pounds return (including travel on the London Underground for the day).
While in London, travelling by London Underground is the quickest way to get around. I generally use Google Maps to plan my journey but you can also do so using the Transport for London (TFL) website. Check the TFL website for suggested travel routes and possible disruptions to public transport- there may be track works that could affect your plans. You can pay for travel using tickets that you purchase at the ticket office or the Oyster card system. Oyster cards can be bought at underground ticket offices and I like using this system. Once you have got an Oyster card you can manage the card e.g. top up or buy travel passes online so no more queuing at the ticket office. Or you can enable your credit card for use on public transport if you have a touch-payment enabled credit card. I don’t like to use this as I dislike having to get my credit card/wallet out frequently in prime locations for pickpockets. Details on ticket prices and how to use Oyster card, touch enabled credit card payment on public transport, can be found on the TFL website. An economical way for sightseeing can be achieved by taking the London buses (top deck if possible), many of which have routes passing by major sightseeing landmarks. You can find bus routes on the TFL website or on Google Maps. Travelling above ground is great for seeing things en route but traffic overground is generally bad so don’t expect to get anywhere quickly.
The attractions can mean huge queues. The trick is to book tickets ahead of time and where there is the possibility to upgrade to fast track, spend the money and go for fast track. This is true of e.g. the London Eye where the queues are enormous. The London Pass offers good value for money for London attractions and does offer upgrade to fast track but does require queuing to get tickets, so you will need to factor in queuing time if using. We tend to only go to one attraction per day when we are visiting as Baby can’t really concentrate on more than that anyway, so we tend to book online. The tickets are then issued electronically and there are no queues to pick up the tickets at the attractions, which saves a lot of grief. Also it is worth noting that there can be discounts at some attractions when e.g. you have a train ticket from a particular train company; I have found these by performing a Google search before I book.
Certain places don’t require tickets, e.g. the Natural History Museum, but are extremely busy during the holidays. The trick here is to plan ahead of time. Both the Natural History Museum and Science Museum are popular with kids and are situated next to each other in South Kensington. Of the two, the Science Museum tends to be less busy even at peak times. I have found that it is easier to get in to the Science Museum in the morning than the Natural History Museum, as the queue is shorter, and go to the Natural History Museum in the afternoon (say after lunch) when the queue is shorter. It is impossible to see everything in either on one visit- there is a lot to see and, if your kids are any thing like Baby, a change after a few hours on one theme is a good thing. The top exhibits, e.g. the dinosaur hall in the Natural History Museum, also tend to be busy so expect some queues inside too. Lunch time can be extremely chaotic with everyone trying to eat near the museums. There are tonnes of restaurants nearby, or you can get sandwiches (ahead of time if you can) and head to Hyde Park (which is about 10 minutes walk from the museums) for a picnic on a nice day. Alternatively, have a good breakfast, or bring little snacks like flapjacks, so you can have lunch a bit later. Unfortunately, lunch time in the restaurants nearby, numerous as they are, can be difficult at peak lunch time and there is little that can be done about this other than to travel to a less busy spot or wait.
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