American wanting to do a London visit for BILLYthon!

[mikey2573]

ANy tips/hints from folks who live in the UK as to when is the best times to go, cheap but nice places to stay, how to get tickets once I get there (I assume they have some TKTS-like half price booth, is BETM up there regularly?). Any suggestion to an American who has never traveled out of the USA would be appreciated!

[ERinVA]

Mikey, check out the information in these threads.

Hotels and Dining: http://www.billyelliottheforum.me.uk/fo ... ?f=9&t=920

Note: Given the construction in the Victoria area, some of the dining info is outdated. Most of the hotel info is probably still okay. Obviously, the latest posts will give you the most current information, so you might want to read the thread backwards.

Tickets: http://www.billyelliottheforum.me.uk/fo ... p?f=9&t=64

The Victoria Palace website has an interactive booking engine. Here's the link for the VP site: https://www.victoriapalacetheatre.co.uk ... A2D9DDCE1A

You can also day queue at the theatre from 10 AM each day to get front row stalls seats. These are a really good deal, but you can only purchase them using a credit card, and there is a limit of 2 per customer until the availability is gone. The disadvantage of these seats is that the stage at the VP is quite high, and when you sit that close, you will miss seeing the feet, but the advantage is that you will really get to see the facial expressions.

Hope these links give you a good starting point. When are you planning on going to London?

[Musical Fanatic]

Mikey here's my tips from an american who has visited London more than 12 times.

1) http://www.visitlondon.com/ awesome website for newbie visitor.
2) http://www.tfl.gov.uk/ all of your tranport needs.
3) http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/ if you want to know what other shows are going on. Plus they run the half price ticket booth in Leicester Square.
4) time of year to go for decent weather and prices: march/april/early may or sept/oct. I have mostly stayed in Bloomsbury area where there are some reasonable priced and decent hotels. It is about 20 mins from Victoria and Billy by bus(direct) or tube(must change lines for tube)


It is a tossup to me which is the most walkable city NY or London but if you can, get out and walk London. It is by far and away my most favorite visited euro city and it has an incredible historical past.

Sam

[kport]

ANy tips/hints from folks who live in the UK as to when is the best times to go, cheap but nice places to stay, how to get tickets once I get there (I assume they have some TKTS-like half price booth, is BETM up there regularly?). Any suggestion to an American who has never traveled out of the USA would be appreciated!

If this is your first visit, I would suggest that you look at the airlines for flight/hotel special deals. BA comes to mind as one who often has package deals - Virgin Atlantic is another - London can become very expensive very fast so if you can tie in your accommodation and flight and pay before you go, all the better! They will also take you to/from Heathrow or Gatwick in many cases. If that option fails, try Kayak.com for hotel bargains, or Hotel.com. I found a Day's Inn in Southall, about a mile from Heathrow and easily connected to the West End via Tube, for 39.00 a night - perfectly acceptable for anyone used to any cosmopolitan setting, and near a new shopping area/pedestrianised High Street with every food place you could want, including the usual suspects (McD's, BK, KFC, Dominoes......).

I agree that London is extremely walkable, and the tube will get you anywhere. Frequent National Express coaches from Victoria Coach Station (5 mins. walk from the VPT) can take you on day trips to places such as Oxford, Cambridge, Salisbury, Windsor - the usual destinations on a first trip - and have you back in time for a quick meal and an evening show.

One little tip: don't bring traveler's checks or convert dollars to pounds in the US. You can do this at a Barclay's ATM at Heathrow/Gatwick, and use a debit/credit card anywhere (remember to notify your bank that you will be traveling abroad!). You can use almost any ATM outside a bank to convert dollars to pounds using your debit card, often for no fee; VISA and MC can be used anywhere; avoid Travelex like the plague!

I agree that the front row seats are a real bargain - you will be only feet away from the cast and will mostly meet a group of Forum regulars there to compare notes....You can book them online and collect them at the box office before a performance (the tickets; not Forum members!).

[Yorkie]

Hi Mikey,

The other posters have given lots of good advice so the only thing I can add is to point you in the direction of my favourite resource:

TripAdvisor

If you search back through the posts you will find that any question you could possibly think of has already been asked by another traveler Some posters can be a bit snippy if you decide to post your own question but there is always somebody ready to step in with good advice.

Re the cheap seats - I've sat in the most expensive seats you can buy at the VPT but I'd take the cheap seats over those any day of the week. Point to note though is if you buy tickets for row B of the stalls if you go much wider (i.e.higher number) than B20/B21 then you do start to get blocked off (B1-B6 is to be preferred over seats B22+ in my opinion).

Hope you make it over soon but just remember that old British saying "there's no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing".

[MegaBillyfan]

And just for fun - your arrival could happen this way!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB3NPNM4xgo

[mikey2573]

Thanks for all the tips. I have a question re; British theater lingo; what are "stalls" and what is a "dress circle"?

[ERinVA]

The stalls is the same as the orchestra in an American theatre, and the dress circle is the equivalent of the mezzanine. The grand circle is the highest balcony.

[Jess06]

Last week I decided to go couchsurfing (in Austria) But it is really cool and you will know the local people and it is for free ( because you sleep at someones home/couch)
I had a great experience so wenn I'm comming to londen in April I think I will look for a host in London!

Here is the internetsite: http://www.couchsurfing.org/

So maybe it will be something for you!

[Musical Fanatic]

http://www.effingpot.com/index.shtml

British english translated to american .

There are a couple of important ones for your travel to the UK. Queing(standing in line)long lines at passport control and holiday(vacation) is what your doing in UK when the officer asks you at paasport desk.

Sam