Traveling in London: Favorite Spots, Tips and Tricks

"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."
-Samuel Johnson

I have visited London several times, have family living hard-by the city, and have been brought up with a deep love for the English people. Truly, there are few cities that can claim to encompass the epic scope of London's historical and cultural achievements, and few peoples who have created and endured so much.

Traveling in London can be a daunting and overwhelming task, and it is tempting to do only what all the other tourists do. However, it can be much more rewarding (and cheaper!) to find the unique and offbeat places in the city where only true Londoners go. Surely, some tourist destinations are worth the wait and the money, but there are far more out of the way and interesting places to get a genuine experience of London. This article will take a look at a few of my favorite places in London and will introduce a few tips, tricks, and social mores that will make your stay in London far more pleasurable.

1) First Things

As soon as you get off the plane, you must get two things: a Time Out magazine, and a London A-Z. The former is a periodical that lists everything that is going on in the city, from street festivals to theatrical performances, and is a must have if you want to do anything but sit in your hotel room. The Time Out lists prices for events, basic reviews, interesting articles about current happenings, and restaurants for each city-section.

The London A-Z will keep you from ever getting lost. Every street, alleyway, and corner is listed and mapped in an easy-to-grasp format that will keep you going in the right direction at all times. The A-Z even includes a map for the Tube (Tube = London's Underground Rail System, think New York City's Subway). Don't try to skip out on the cost because navigating in London can be tricky even with a map, and there are no easily definable road numbering patterns, as you would find in typical American cities.

Both of these publications can be found at almost any newsagent's booth or bookstore (newsagent = newspaper/periodical vendor).

If you are in a hurry as you get off the plane, you can still grab a free Tube map at the nearest station for free, and they are easy to use. When traveling on the Tube, keep a few things in mind. If you are staying London for a while, you should consider getting a pass for the zones you will frequent the most. Let me explain that in London, the transit system (above and below ground) is split into zones. Most of the best attractions in London are in zones 1 and 2, but there are 5 zones altogether. Zones 1 and 2 are in the center of the city, and the zones radiate in a roughly circular pattern from there. Buying a pass for the zones you will frequent the most will save you money in the end, and will making going in and out of the Tube much easier.

2) Don't

There are some things you can do if you don't want to stick out like a sore thumb in London. Mostly, these things have to do with general courtesies, and a few special mores that Americans may not be familiar with. I believe it is important to respect cultures that you are visiting or living in for any length of time, and that without that given respect, you shouldn't expect anything special from the locals.

On the Tube, it is appropriate to give up your seat for elder or handicapped passengers, as you would on any other method of transport. I have seen some tourists who would keep their seat on the train no matter what, and this is considered quite rude in London, as in most places. Also on the Tube, it is helpful to keep your vocal volume lower than it would be in the street above. Londoners generally do not tend to talk loudly on the train, and it does make it obvious that you are a tourist. I once was on the train with an American family who was loudly making disparaging remarks about some London landmark or other directly in front of a train filled with Londoners. Don't be that person. Londoners take great pride in their city, and insulting it in front of them is not going to win you any friends.

In addition, please try to remember that London is filled with people going about their daily lives. Londoners around you are going to work, getting to appointments, and meeting friends in the same way you would do at home in your own city. Stopping in the middle of heavy foot traffic to take a photograph is not considered polite and may be dangerous depending on how hurried the traffic may be. Try to find a quieter place to take a shot from, and you will probably get a better picture anyway. You will find that foot traffic patterns in London are fairly clear, and you can take your cues from the people around you.

Many people take photographs in London's beautiful churches, and sometimes take photographs of artwork when it is prohibited. If you are sightseeing in churches (and you should because many are marvels) please make certain you are not in the way of the church's patrons. London's cathedrals and churches are almost all still functioning with regular services. If photographs are prohibited in certain places, please do NOT take photos out of respect and for posterity. The camera flash damages the paint, and the art itself may be very sacred to the church's regular patrons. There are almost always postcards with much better reproductions available in the church gift shop anyway.

3) Theatre

Anywhere you go in London, there will be sights worth seeing. Taking that as a given will help steer you away from the tourist traps immediately. However, here are a few things to check out that you may not otherwise see on your trip:

London has a fabulous abundance of good theatre. You will find theatres everywhere, and of all varieties. Go to The Globe on the south bank of the Thames. Make sure you are in the standing room, not in the seats (which are positioned badly). There you will get a view onto the life and times of Shakespeare and his community that you will get nowhere else. The experience of being a groundling changed my perception of Shakespeare's world, and the actors are fabulous. Standing room seats are also cheap.

Just up the river a bit is the Royal National Theatre. This is England's theatre, and there are multiple performance spaces in this massive complex. Everyone who is anyone has acted at the RNT. For example: Kenneth Branagh, Judy Dench, and Alan Rickman have all acted there, just to name a few. Seeing a performance here is a must, but don't pay too much for a ticket. As with all theatres in London, coming for a ticket at the last minute can be very rewarding. Theatres want to sell all of their seats, and so will almost always give deep discounts on unsold seats as the show approaches (best to come 45 mins. to curtain).

Now that we have covered the two big theatres, it is possible to move to the outskirts a bit. You should certainly look in the Time Out for a bit of pub-theatre. Pub-theatre is of varying quality, but can be a lot of fun. In some of the older pubs of London, stage spaces have been made, and small productions regularly go up from unknown or up-and-coming theatre groups. The pioneer of the pub-theatre was actually an American named Jack Crawford, who started The King's Head Theatre in Islington.This theatre building is an old-school London pub with a tiny theatre attached in the back. The ambiance is charming and the experience can be very immediate. This is theatre in the rough, but it has rewards for the curious. Shows like this are typically much cheaper than big West End ordeals.

Right down the street from The King's Head is a theatre started by renowned actor/director Richard Attenborough called the Almeida. This space is larger than your typical pub-theatre, but not by too much. The intimate space serves to increase the impact of the dramatic experience, and it still cheaper than most West End shows. In this same vein is The Lyric, which brings novels, folktales and other well known stories to life in a dramatic form (I saw an adaptation of Madame Bovary there, for example). If you like dance, then you will love Sadler's Wells, which is up the street the other way from the Kings Head (there is a great Thai restaurant quite close to the tube stop). This theatre is great if you like to see unique and fascinating dance performances that can come from all over the world.

The bottom line is that anywhere you look in London, you will find the performing arts alive and well. Make sure you try something new, and always remember to get your rush tickets at the door.Never go to the theatre on Fridays or Saturdays (the nights when the seats you would get a deal on will be filled with people paying full price) unless you go to a matinee. Let the other tourists pay the big money.

4) The Drink

Is everywhere. London is a teetotaler's nightmare. Alehouses abound, and all of them would be happy to take your money. However, there are some very good (and not so good) ones. I must admit that I chose a few places and stuck to them. In Southwark (Suth-erk) on the south bank there is a place called the George. This place is old. It is speculated that this was Marlowe's and Shakespeare's favorite alehouse. Not to mention that some of the earliest public performances in London took place in the center of what was then a three sided enclave of drink. Now there is but one building here, but it is still filled with drink. The George actually brews its own line of ales, and they are well worth a visit. In fact, a walk down the Thames from Southwark towards the Globe will yield you a good number of fine pubs where once only warehouses stood. The British government has gone to great effort to revitalize this entire district, and they have in large part succeeded with the help of the Globe.

The King's Head is a great local pub, and you won't find a tourist anywhere. At night, there is often music (which allows the pub to stay open later) and the atmosphere makes you feel like you were living (or at least drinking) in another era.

Don't just go to the closest pub that's filled with noise and sports screens. Look around to find the old and unique pubs that are still in operation, the ones the locals go to, and you will find a piece of the real London. I spent a lot of time in Islington, which is actually quite hip (or was, at last count) so that area is also well worth exploring for its swank bars and nightlife. Happy drinking! Just remember when the Tube closes!

5) Eat

So, you're going to need to eat. Despite any words to the contrary, cheap food is quite available, and is also everywhere. If you like eating ethnic Asian, Indian, Turkish, African, or any other world cuisine, London is the place to be. Indian food has been called the new English cuisine due to the high number of Indian immigrants and Anglo-Indian descendants who have opened up fabulous restaurants. These various ethnic foods are exciting, tasty, and best of all, very cheap in most places. I don't have any particular recommendations, but I do recommend you try a variety of these foods. Wherever I happened to be, there seemed to always be a good place to get falafel, curry, or fish and chips. A meal like this is filling and can cost as little as 2.50 (pounds). For more high-class dining options, consult your Time Out.

Covent Garden is a very good place to go for good eats. I remember going to a packed vegatarian restaurant in Covent Garden where all the food tasted homemade and the seating was communal, so you could sit and chat with strangers. There are small cafes here as well as larger restaurants who may be willing to offer you a deal on an off night. When I was walking down a side street in Covent Garden with friends one night after the theatre, we were approached by a restaurateur standing outside his restaurant who gave us an extremely low price (and free wine carafes) for a full three course meal. You just never know the deal you may be able to find on a good meal, but you must be willing to take a chance when it finds you.

I hope you have a good time checking these places out, and that you manage to save a little more money than the average tourist. London is an awesome place, so drink a pint of ale for me while you're there!