Assalamualaikum
London is a city that full of beauty.Which is the reason why i love it. The reserved greenery scenery that you wouldn't expect from such a glamorous city. The nice weather that you could expect at the end of the spring with the wind blows over your head and the not so cold breeze just making you wish that it would stay the same ever. But this city totally differed from those busy, modern type of cities. Most buildings there were antique-built with those orange bricks and white color walls. But you should expect that this city actually has modernized in other ways,it's British btw- they have the best transports ever and being the new tourists there you are allowed to stray around w/out worries to lose yourself out as long as you know your STATION of destination. And as tourists, please buy oyster cards for yourself, it is like a trump card for your travelling days. As for us, we bought unlimited version for one weeks though it was quite pricey- 32.60 pounds for both tube and bus transportations all over zone 1 and 2.
just what did it say; with oyster, the london is in your pocket!
And to make your travelling a lot more easier and as a beginner, get yourself brochure of the journey trail of the tubes for free at any underground stations. What i did was once i got myself one, i marked/highlighted the nearest station that just walkaway from our place of stay- Paddington.
we love PADDINGTON!
There used to be lots of tubes that travel to different destinations and do make sure you get the right one on the right lane (though sometimes you could get to certain place with different tube lines) to save the time even though you easily could get lost and easily could get back on right track. What you have to do just check the colored trail as the tubes services are marked in different color, and do check in the map lists on the waiting lane if you are on the right one . Being a beginner myself, i even lost my way, 2 times anyway excluding the bus part. The first one was that we took the false tube though in the right lane , as instead of taking the circle line (yellow colored), we took the district line (green colored) on our way to Buckingham's palace (St James's station). And for the second one was that we took the right tube but on false direction. It was like you were heading to south but you took the north one. So just make sure you check check check the map list on the waiting lane (it lists out the stations of particular tube on the lane) before you jump into it though the tube was already there as waiting the tube in London was just a matter of few minutes compare to what we have to wait in Malaysia for KTM.
mine
see the dots? they were the list of stations i'd been to :)
Other things to consider before travelling, was that plan your destinations headfirst- as every places of attraction in London was about queuing- from Eye of London, aquarium, london dungeon, river cruise, museums, madame tussauds to primark's counters. You wouldn't escape the bitterness of long queu and hell crowded of people with multi languages even on weekdays, leave alone the weekend!
Ok, though travelling with tubes is a lot faster, i somehow loved to ride on bus in case i got to view the city trough the journey. If you got yourself on the double-decker bus, my suggestion was do take the very front seats as with those large mirror, you could get the best view of London and hot Londoners in suits. The buses system in London is really efficient though you could also get lost as a newbie here. Just make sure that before you get into the bus ask the driver if you are actually taking the bus on the right side. As for the bus case, my friends and I had actually being wronged 2 times. The first one was when the first time we ever rode on that, on our way to oxford street. We should actually take the bus on cross road, and instead of asking so, we had to go a long way, waiting for the bus to do another lapse before making way back to oxford street. The same thing happened during our way back from Royal Albert Hall on our second last day there. Instead of walking, my friend and I decided to ride on the red bus for the last time, and we rode on bus to hammersmith via oxford circus as there was no bus directly to paddington at that bus stop.It turned out that we stranded into hammersmith station(the last station of the bus) as the bus actually already passed oxford street. Luckily the system is that good that we finally could work it out to paddington via tubes. Okey, another tips for riding on the bus is that check the label on the BUS STOP, and check the buses's NUMBER that passing the stop though each buses there show their destinations on front screen! They know how to please and ease the outsiders :)
see the bus's upper front seat? the list of destinations? the numbers? kacang la kn :P..
see! there are many bus stops, labelled with abjacts.
and here, the map list of buses. Do check it before riding on one
if you are serious on sight-seeing london, book this bus. Another pay to ride on this,as oyster card won't do the charge. Never ride on this to save budget :)
The other transport that people in London favors is cycling! I, myself was shocked on the first day there, as people used to cycle in their black suits, tracksuits and even grandma also cycled. The traffic quite heavy when it comes to office hours, that must the reason people nowadays prefer to cycle. Even my supervisor, a gynecologist, cycled 8 miles per day to hospital. Oh how i loved the views- hot men on bicycles, it was kinda cute rite! You can also give it a try, at parks maybe as there are lots of bicycles to rent all around the city with minimum charge of 1.5 pounds! What a shame that we never give it a try though.
see how Londoners love to cycle!
a view from my double-decker's upper front seat; see those people cycled, back from work!
And the last one, least preferable transport in London is taxi. We never rode on that, thankfully. The charges of course would be something ridiculous for a student like me. Even the sight of those black,cute taxis would sink me down. As long as you can, do stay away from taxis but if you do have extra pounds, bring it on lah.
a weirdo,cute, girly version, one in hundreds. The commonest is black one.
p/s to myself; get done with the REPORT!!
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