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This topic comprises 8 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
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Author
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Topic: What is London like in January?
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Stephen Furley
Film God
Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002
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posted 12-01-2007 03:58 AM
Claude,
Most things in the UK are subject to V.A.T. (Value Added Tax). Some things are either exempt or zero-rated, books and most types of food for example, and I think childen's clothes, but that's not something that I ever buy. Hot take-away food, is subject to VAT. Exempt and zero-rated are not quite the same thing, but both mean that you don't pay V.A.T. on them, and you don't need to worry about the difference.
The standard rate of V.A.T is 17.5%, but there is a different rate for one or two things, domestic heating fuel, for example.
Prices may be quoted inclusive or exclusive of V.A.T., and don't always say which, so you need to be careful when comparing prices. Look for things like £5.95 inc. or £25 ex. or £25 exc. The final figure you are asked for, or that which is printed on your bill will include tax, put the prices on invividual items may not. If you have something delivered then V.A.T is charged on the total amount, including postage and packing etc.
Other types of tax, in particular the duty charged on things like alcoholic drinks, petrol and tobacco can be very high, but are included in the prices.
It is considered normal to tip people like waiters and cab drivers, generally at about 15%.
Be prepared for a shock when you see how expensive things are here; I reckon that many things are getting on for twice as expensive here as they are in New York, I've no idea how that compares with prices in Hawaii, and of course the fact that the Dollar is low at the moment doesn't help.
I don't know if you're planning to hire a car while you're here, but the last time I looked as I passed a filling station, I don't drive myself, the price was just a few pence over a pound per litre. A U.S. gallon is about 3.8 litres, and I think it's now slightly over two U.S. Dollars to the pound, so think about $8 per gallon.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 12-01-2007 10:05 AM
Virtually every consumer product you'll see in the shops has a price on it which includes VAT. It's not the case, as in the US (or at least, every US state I've visited), that you'll see a price tag of, say, $5.99, which is actually $6.34 once you get to the checkout. As Stephen says, your hotel bill may have the individual items listed without the VAT, and then the VAT added at the bottom. But again, the price on the bottom line is always the price that you'll pay.
There are also some stores in central London (or some departments in department stores), which sell VAT-free goods for tourists to take home. To be honest I'm not sure precisely how this works, but I think the procedure is that you pay the VAT up front, but are then given some kind of a certificate which you hand to customs when you leave the country, and then they'll credit your credit card with the tax back.
Visa and Mastercard credit and debit cards are accepted almost everywhere, though a significant number of shops and restaurants won't take American Express. Transactions of under £5 (ish) are usually done with cash, and many places won't thank you for trying to make a low value transaction with a credit card, because they have to pay a per transaction fee to their bank. A small but increasing number of places will accept debit cards without charge, but will add a 50p or £1 charge if you want to pay by credit card.
It's difficult to make a meaningful comparison because of the pound/dollar difference, but I'd guess that in real terms, alcoholic drinks bought in pubs and restaurants cost around the same as they do in the US; possibly a little less. When you're in London, do try a pint of real ale (beer). There are literally hundreds, and most pubs (apart from the big chain pubs, e.g. Wetherspoons) will usually have a local beer of some description on. Dunno how the duty on tobacco compares, because I don't smoke.
As Stephen says, what will really give you a heart attack is the price of gasoline (called petrol in Britain). Most stations sell three types: normal unleaded (95 RON), super unleaded (98 RON) or diesel. All except a few very powerful sports cars take normal unleaded, and any car you hire almost certainly will. Do not, whatever you do, fill a petrol-engined car up with diesel or vice-versa: that's a very expensive mistake to make! If you're not planning to leave the London area I wouldn't have thought you'd need to hire a car - the public transport is relatively good (though very expensive). If you are, you probably will. A good way to sum up car ownership in Britain is that living in London, it's difficult to live with a car, but living outside it's difficult to live without one!
I guess you may find driving a bit of a learning curve, primarily because we drive on the left side of the road and the driver's seat is the right front seat in the car. This page has some more details. The majority of cars in Britain do not have automatic gearboxes: if you're not familiar with manual gear changing, I'd suggest specifying an automatic when booking your hire car. The other thing I'd advise is to obey speed limits, even if the native drivers around you appear to be ignoring them (which the vast majority do). Britain's roads are now full of automatic 'speed cameras' which take a photo of a speeding car and use number plate recognition technology to identify it. If you're 'flashed', the hire company will probably add the fine (£60 in most cases) to your bill. A lot of native drivers on familiar routes know where the cameras are and slow down to pass them, or consider speeding tickets as a normal motoring expense; hence the fact that limits are not taken seriously by most drivers (especially the 70mph limit on freeways - called motorways here - on which most drivers tend to cruise at between 80-90 if the road is clear. In many counties, the police have a policy of ignoring speeding drivers who are doing less than 90 and not committing any other offence, but a camera might still get you).
Again, just to enlarge on Stephen's point: tipping for waiters in full-scale restaurants and taxi drivers is the norm, but not for anything else. For example, you wouldn't normally tip a barman after buying a pint in a pub (although some bars have 'thank you' boxes on them in which people might put their change if it's a relatively small amount, say 20-50p).
For public transport within London, it might be worth your getting a pre-pay electronic ticket called an Oyster card. You can add credit to it at tube (subway) stations and some newsagents, and the cost of individual tube and bus journeys is a lot cheaper than buying individual tickets. It also lets you bypass the usually long queues at the ticket machines in tube stations. I'm not sure how a non-UK resident would go about getting one, though: I had to apply for mine online and it arrived through the post. More info here.
Also, bear in mind that any DVDs you may buy while you're here will certainly be PAL and will almost certainly be region 2 (a small number - usually documentaries and special interest titles - are region-free). They'll only work back home if you have a multi-region player, and possibly a TV which can accept a PAL input signal (unless you have a player which does a full-scale conversion to NTSC).
The only other thing I'd flag up is that, I'm afraid, in January the days are very short. It isn't really light until around 8.30am, dusk is around 3-3.30pm and it'll be dark by 4.30. So make the most of the daylight for sightseeing!
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 12-04-2007 01:39 AM
quote: Claude S. Ayakawa
I know Hammersmith is not to far from the airport but how much do you think will I be charged for the cab fare including tip?.
Not sure, as I haven't taken a cab in London since 2002. That was from the city centre (junction of Tottenham Court Road/Stephen Street) to Heathrow, and cost £50ish (running out of time and I could claim it on expenses). From Hammersmith, my guess would be about half that, depending on the traffic.
quote: Claude S. Ayakawa
I just learned that the Novetel West in Hammersmith has a airport shuttle. If I use it, will it be cheaper?
All the airport/hotel shuttles which are run by the hotel I've used are complimentary to guests. Might be worth emailing them or ringing them to find out how much it costs (if anything) and where and when it goes from? The commercial airport shuttles (i.e. the ones which are run by a separate company and do a round robin from the airport to all the main hotels in a city centre) usually cost a bit more than normal public transport, but a lot less than a cab.
quote: Claude S. Ayakawa
My hotel room will be £105 and I am not sure if this includes Tax or not.
Whenever I've booked a hotel room in Britain the advertised price per night has always included VAT. But again, I'm sure they'd be happy to confirm that in a call or email.
quote: Claude S. Ayakawa
Because I will be spending a little over two hundred U.S. dollars a night for my hotel room, can one get by with £50 a day for meals and transportation?
Very easily, unless you're aiming to take a lot of cabs and/or eat in really upscale places.
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Per Hauberg
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 883
From: Malling, Denmark
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 12-06-2007 07:53 PM
Hello, Claude
I was in London this autumn for the first time in almost 20 years. While everything else has turned quite expensive since my last visit, they've still got a travel card for both underground and the famous double-deck buses, which is a bargain. -You can buy it for one or three days or a whole week. Underground is crowded, but very effective and the route map is easy to get along with. The walking distance, when changing from one line to another can surprise, though. The London Bus is charming, and fine sightseeing while getting around fairly quick, too. When not caught in traffic jam at the busiest hours as everybody else, those chauffeurs are driving as if they've stolen the bus - get a seat at once and avoid getting involved in Your own personal stunt-show ! ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Cab's had also turned expensive,and even most alarming: two of the three taxi's, we had during our stay (ordered through the hotel), ran without a meter - a little discomforting, I thought, even if it all turned out OK: 10 £ for a short trip, 20 for a long one...
Have a nice voyage !
Per
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Tim Rectanus
Film Handler
Posts: 51
From: Raleigh, NC, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 12-07-2007 11:19 AM
Hey, I am heading across the pond at the end of January too. This has been a helpful thread on many fronts. I thought the plane ticket would be cheaper considering it is off season. Of course most surprising is the amount of tax on an airline ticket. The tax is close to, if not more than, the price of the fare. Kinda crazy to me but I prepared myself for the shock to the wallet in regards to this trip.
I am going strictly for personal reasons with some friends. They are participating in a race somewhere in Birmingham called Tough Guy. It is an obstacle course race with military roots. http://www.toughguy.co.uk/ I am not a tough guy in this sense so I am just going along for the pints. The idea sounds good but in my initial attempts at training, I realized that running even though I am an athlete and can hold my own in almost any sport, just running is incredibly boring, so I was done at that point. Should be a fun trip though, and it will be my first time in England. We will spend most of the time in London but are taking a few day trips to see friends around the UK. The highlight of the trip for me, and the reason I am going at all, is to attend the 3 or 4 football matches we have planned. I can't freakin wait for that. I have followed the EPL for about 3 or 4 years now, ever since Fox Soccer Channel starting picking up more games (they normally have 4 a week now) and I look forward to seeing some of the class in person.
Since we are taking the train a bunch, we are getting BritRail passes. My question is, what is the difference in 1st class and 2nd class? Is 1st worth the extra $150? I think our longest trip is London to Edinborough so the time on the trains isn't too long. The two guys I am going with are both over 6'5" so if there is a significant increase in legroom, we would probably go the 1st class route.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 12-07-2007 04:11 PM
It's absolutely, 200% worth an extra $150 in my opinion, for London to Edinburgh alone (the city where I live, York, is about halfway along that route and so I've used those trains quite a lot). Standard class on a British long distance train is a similar sort of seat to coach class on a US internal flight as far as seat width legroom goes - not nice for a four-hour trip. A few few of the seats have tables and offer more room, but unless you reserve seats in advance you're very unlikely to get one. Furthermore, on trains running at peak time, you will probably have to stand for at least part of the journey. First class virtually guarantees you a seat without needing to reserve in advance, and it'll have a lot more legroom (most of the seats have tables; only a few are airline style and even they have far more legroom than standard). Another point to keep in mind is luggage space. There isn't nearly enough of it in standard class, and you may end up having to leave your suitcase at the end of a carriage where you can't see it and it might get nicked. Some of the train companies (including the one which runs the London-Edinburgh trains) also give you free coffee, peanuts etc. in first class, and there are also powerpoints for laptops. Wifi Internet access is free on the London-Edinburgh trains in first class, but costs £5 an hour in standard.
If the extra $150 upgrades you to first class for unlimited journeys on the whole duration of your trip, it's well worth it. That's less than the difference between standard and first for a single round-trip journey between York and London.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 12-10-2007 04:36 AM
Visa is accepted pretty much everywhere. I'm sure the hotel will have no problem with it, though in some cases if you're paying with a debit rather than a credit card, they might want to debit a deposit at the start of your stay, which will then be refunded (less the bill) when you check out. Again, I'm sure that a quick call or email to the hotel will resolve this.
In central London you'll never be more than a few minutes' walk from an ATM. However, I'm not sure what your best bet will be to minimise bank charges on the currency conversion. In my case I have a separate bank current account which I use for overseas travel (and ordering stuff online in a foreign currency), because it doesn't charge anything for currency conversions on debit card transactions. So I simply transfer how much I'm going to need plus a bit for contingencies into that account, and withdraw cash from ATMs as and when I need to. The exchange rate on it isn't the best, but it's not bad and the slight cost is well worth it to avoid the hassle of having to buy foreign currency before I leave.
In London, be sure to use ATMs situated in bank branches, or in public places (e.g. railway stations) which have the name of a major bank on them (e.g. NatWest, HSBC, Lloyds/TSB or Abbey). There are some ATMs in places like convenience stores and pubs which are run by separate companies and which have massive transaction charges - sometimes as much as £5 a time. In a small town or village there's sometimes no choice but to use one, but in the middle of London you should never have to use an ATM which charges.
It might be worth talking to your bank before you go and finding out what (if anything) they'll charge you (as distinct from the operator of an ATM) when you use your debit card to withdraw cash from a UK ATM, and if necessary, exploring if there's a cheaper option (e.g. travelers' cheques).
You'll find ATMs in the arrivals area at Heathrow too, but if you want the peace of mind of bringing some pounds with you, then £75 should be enough to get you to your hotel. The common paper denominations are £5 (a fiver), £10 (a tenner) and £20. All of these are in everyday use, though if you try to buy a very low-value item with a £20 note, you may be asked if you've got anything smaller. Fivers are now getting a bit rarer, because many ATMs don't handle them any more (a subtle indication of the effects of inflation, I guess!). There is also a £50 note, but they are very unusual and hardly ever used. The coin denominations are 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 50p, £1 and £2 - all have the value clearly written on them and and increase sequentially in size, and so are pretty easy to distinguish between. Due to fears about forgery, some places refuse to accept £50 notes. If you are buying British currency in the US, I'd suggest asking for anything except £50s.
As for the rain, it's very hard to say! You could get a cold but clear few days, or it could chuck it down the whole time. The weather recently has been overcast but with not that much actual downfall. One thing I think I can confidently say is that it's likely to be a lot colder than Hawaii, though! Temperatures of 5-10 during the day and 0-5 at night are most likely, at a guess.
Obviously I hope this proves to be unnecessary, but the other thing it might be worth doing is ensuring that your travel insurance is OK for emergency healthcare cover. Britain's healthcare provision is almost entirely through a state-run system called the National Health Service, which is free at the point of delivery for UK and European Union citizens. I believe that emergency care in NHS hospitals is also free for visitors from outside the UK/EU, but I'm not completely sure about what is and isn't covered, and what paperwork you need to have, should you need it. Obviously I hope that you won't need it, but it's best to be safe rather than sorry and I'm sure your travel insurance provider will be able to make sure that you're completely covered and have the relevant documents.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 01-03-2008 03:59 PM
The nearest train station to St. Andrews is Leuchars, which is about 5-6 miles away. I don't know what the state of play is once you get to the station - there may be a bus, but you might need to take a cab or hire a car. The National Rail Enquiries website gave me journey times of between 5 and 7 hours when I asked it for a 9am departure from Birmingham on a weekday, all of which involved one change in Edinburgh and some of which involved two changes.
When you first posted your query, my first thought was to suggest that you took a LoCo flight from Birmingham to Edinburgh (Flybe and Easyjet do them); but once you've factored in getting from Edinburgh to St. Andrews, I don't think that'll really save you much time.
Unless you're leaving at crack of dawn on the Saturday, I don't think you'd have time to get there and play a round on the same day. Building in an overnight stop in St. Andrews would make it work, though - e.g. if you aimed to arrive in the evening, play the following morning and head south in the afternoon. Going back from Leuchars to London takes around 5 hours (one from Leuchars to Edinburgh, then four from Edinburgh to London), and you should be fine for departures up until late afternoon. The Rail Enquiries site will give you specific times for when you want to go.
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