Travel Planner London

Barclays Cycle Hire is a public bicycle sharing scheme that was launched on 30 July 2010 in London, United Kingdom. At launch there were 5,000 bicycles and 315 docking stations available in central London.

At launch, the project covered approximately 17 mi² (44 km²) of central London, roughly matching the Zone 1 Travelcard area, covering the entire City of London and parts of eight London boroughs. The project is estimated to cost £140 million over six years, and it is expected to be the only Transport for London (TfL) system to make a profit. The scheme is sponsored by Barclays bank, who contributed £25 million to the project’s funding.

Over one million bicycle trips were made within the first ten weeks of the scheme’s launch. The cycles and the docking stations are built in Canada and are based on the Bixi cycle rental system that operates in Montreal.

The scheme’s bicycles are informally referred to as Boris bikes, after mayor Boris Johnson, who was in office when the scheme launched. Johnson claims to have initiated the scheme,despite it being announced by his predecessor Ken Livingstone during his term in office. Johnson has said that he “hoped the bikes would become as common as black cabs and red buses in the capital”

Continue reading →

The Royal Wedding: We have the date – 29 April. We have the venue – Westminster Abbey. We have the time – 11:00am.

Palace officials have now released more details for Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding day.

Middleton will spend her last night as a ‘single’ either at one of the Palaces or a private royal residence in London.

On her wedding day, she will make her way to the Abbey by car. As you know, public transport can be a tad unreliable. Time for a spot of sightseeing taking in London’s scenic route, i.e. pass the Mall (the road running from Buckingham Palace), Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall, and Parliament Square. Continue reading →

China Town is one of London’s top attraction; it is what makes London so diverse in culture and history. However, there are some rules that should be applied when eating in China Town, some are applicable wherever you go in London.

One of the best things about this place is that most of the restaurants will stay open well into the early mornings when clubbers are tripping out of the clubs, indecently exposed and high on energy. You can guarantee that you’ll find somewhere to eat after working up a good appetite.

Chinatown, Gerrard Street London Soho

However, the large flashy ones are the ones to stay away from. In general their staff, although not rude, are unwelcoming, slow, unattentive and sometimes non-existent. Their prices are inflated and the food bland.

What you have to realise is that these establishments are catering for the non-oriental market, overseas visitors and VIPs.  They regularly host weddings either upstairs or have a large room to the rear for such occasions and the food can be very tasty at times! If you happen to be in one of these establishments during a wedding, the service will diminish as will the quality of your food; so be warned. what you’ll also experience is the wait for a table can be more than half an hour in peak times (Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning/lunch for Dim Sum). Furthermore, more often than not, the bill will come before you’ve requested it. Don’t tip unless you think you had very good or exceptional service as there will usually have 10-15% service charge already added on. If you’re unhappy, ask them to recalculate the bill without service and state clearly you were unhappy with service, e.g. waiting for table, waiting for drinks, food was cold, waiter was ignorant.

However, for those of you that do like to enjoy your food in good company with the decor and ambiance then look outside China Town. Just Oriental on 19 King Street at St James (down stairs in Just St James) is quite a nice place to eat.  Apparently the chefs are from the Orient serving authentic Thai, Cantonese, Korean and Japanese cuisine – and its not that expensive either.

article from tripadvisor

London is a huge city with several district articles containing sightseeing, restaurant, nightlife and accommodation listings

Tower Bridge at dusk, bridging the River Thames.

Noisy, vibrant and truly multicultural, London is a megalopolis of people, ideas and energy. The capital and largest city of both the United Kingdom and of England, it is also the largest city in Western Europe and the European Union. Situated on the River Thames in South-East England, Greater London has an official population of nearly 8 million people — although the figure of over 14 million for the city’s total metropolitan area more accurately reflects London’s size and importance. London is one of the great “world cities,” and remains a global capital of culture, fashion, finance, politics and trade.