Your Travel Specialist On: London, England

By Maureen Jones (Star Patcher)

My American husband promised me 46 years ago when we got married that I could go home as often as I wanted. My code signal was “I need shoes”. Over the years, we estimate that I have been back over 150 times so know London extremely well.

My younger sister lives in Cambridge, and usually comes into London to stay with me when I am there.
We browse the antique markets, museum exhibits, the theatre, and whatever she can come up with for the days I am in town.

She was an examiner at London University, in town every week while teaching at Cambridge University, so is an expert on the underground, which I hate using on my own. I buy shoes…… and we go to one of the 74 theatres in town in the evening. I have seen practically every show now playing. I was shocked last month to find that the theatres are charging a premium for attending on a Friday, Saturday night.

As an example, two tickets on a Saturday night were going to cost me $550 plus a 25% booking fee. If you have children with you, then you should take them to see a Pantomime, a Christmas show such as Cinderella, which is a fun family outing. I always try to get tickets to the Royal Albert Hall but it seems a performance is never on when I am there. I go to my favorite department stores, John Lewis and Marks and Spencers on Oxford Street, and always make sure I get the tax refund form to turn in at the airport.

We always go to the Queens Gallery, around the corner from Buckingham Palace and see whatever is being exhibited there. This month it was Gold, absolutely breathtaking pieces owned by the Queen.
Try and go to a service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, which usually has Handel’s Messiah on one eveing.
Westminster Abbey has an organ concert at 5.30 p.m. on Sundays.

One evening I took a taxi out to Shoreditch Church, St. Leonards, which had a wonderful children’s jazz performance. My hotel concierge told me about it when I asked him to find me something different for a Sunday evening. The youngsters were from 8 to 18, and put on a wonderful evening, free, and there must have been fifty of them overall. This was the Hackney Creative Jazz Ensemble and some of the children played more than one instrument. The music is learned by ear, so no one has a music stand.

I would definitely recommend going and next time I am in London will check to see if they are having another performance somewhere. Webfronter.com/towerhamlets/thames and spitalfieldsmusic.org.uk

Also check out www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/christmas.

Nobody celebrates the Holiday Season like London. It is transformed into a winter wonderland with ice rinks, markets and choirs. I can stand it being chilly, but I hate it went it rains. I normally buy a London Oyster Card for a discount on public buses and the underground but the weather was so wet, I took a lot of taxi rides.

I stayed at the Chesterfield Hotel in Mayfair and asked the concierge if he could get me some theatre tickets without costing an arm and a leg. He called the Hammersmith Theatre and got us two tickets for $280 without having to pay the 25% booking fee so we went to see RiverDance which I had seen ten years earlier but Doreen has never seen. This is the show with champion Irish dancers in it. We went on the underground so it was an easy night out. We had dinner close to the theatre.

One of my staff told me she had seen a good price from a hotel in the East End of London and I told her – never stay in that area, it is too far from shopping, the parks, the theatre, and the attractions. You will spend a fortune on taxi rides since you are 25 minutes away from the action and even the public bus and underground costs will be more than staying in the West End. There is a discount theatre ticket stand in Leicester Square but it is such a nuisance to go over there at 2.00 p.m. and see what they have available. I always seem to have plans and done want to take the time to go check it out.

I like to recommend to clients that they have a few days out in the country, staying at one of the lovely old manor houses in say the Cotswolds, or take the train to York, or Bath, which has a couple of my favorites. A lovely property is Cliveden, which is convenient to spend a few days at before being taken to Heathrow Airport.

Look forward to my next visit in the Spring.

Maureen Jones

Maureen Jones is president of All Horizons Travel at 160 Main Street, Los Altos. Members of her staff are experts in business travel, cruises, and all types of leisure.

Previous columns by Maureen:

• Abu Dhabi- A destination apart
• Mougins, Cote De A’zur, France
• HIGH FIVE: What Tops Your List in South Africa?
• Lima, Peru’s Crossroads of Past and Present
• Why Use A Travel Agent?
• Your Travel Specialist Maureen Jones: On Assignment in Europe.
• The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
• Scotland, The British Open 2015.
• Delectable Dining - Hawaii’s Farm Fresh Table Temptation.
• Themed River Cruises.
• Islay, A whisky lover’s delight!
• Your Local Travel Expert On: Different Perspectives of Australia.
• Exotic Cruises.
• The Kimberley, Cruising the Australian Outback.
• Your Travel Specialist On: Paris, France