Friend coming to London -- question

My friend from work is visiting London for a few days (thanks to her best friend, a travel agent, who’s going with her), and they’re going to be staying at a place (or town or house or ?) called Seven Acres.

Anyone know where/what that is? I did a google search and found one, but it’s in Wales. I also found a print shop (I think) called Seven Acres, but I don’t know if that has any relationship or not. (Apparently there’s also a band called Seven Acres.)

She is SO excited! She’s been to Minnesota and Disney World, and that’s it. She’ll have four days in/around London, then a chunnel trip and one day in Paris.

Her agent friend will have info about all the touristy places, but I told her I’d ask here about any non-touristy stuff that would make her trip even better.

Any tips on getting along over there? What’s good to eat? Places to avoid?

Since I’m traveling vicariously through her, I want her to have an excellent time. And I’ll be doing her work while she’s gone, so she owes me a good time!

Is it definitely “Seven Acres”? I am not aware of that as an area of London, although you did include the option of it being a house/hotel name or similar. Maybe check with your friend, and ask whether this could be “Seven Sisters” or “Seven Dials” or even the town of Sevenoaks (lost a few of its oaks in the '87 hurricane but I’ll leave that aside.)

Seriously, though, I could easily be completely wrong here, and I no longer live in London, but perhaps ask her to check what area she mentioned to you.

With any luck. London Calling might arrive just when needed. Failing that, I have now got the London A-Z (city street map beside me.)

Thanks, Celyn, I’ll ask her.

The travel agent said the Seven something is 15 minutes outside of London, but we don’t know which direction, or whether it’s 15 minutes by horse, car, plane, walking – ??

Or, presumably, by donkey, ox, half-dead wombat, or 'bus or train, or London Underground. Hell, if it’s the last case, I’d recommend sticking with the horse or walking.:slight_smile: (No, not really, I hated it for commuting to work, but then, I would, wouldn’t I? So, don’t take that last moan too seriously.)

O.K. right, being sensible again, if this friend is a travel agent, then perhaps s/he would like to be a bit more clear about what is meant by “15 minutes outside London” - given that a visitor will perceive London as being the central bits, does it mean 15 minutes from some central or touristic point, or 15 minutes outside greater London? Bit of a difference. But, as travel agent friend is going too, I imagine that is all right - i.e. no cynical travel-agenterie (new word, I think I like it) going on here. Travel agent friend should have access to city street maps, no?

I am sorry that I cannot be more helpful at this point, but I can’t be much good at recommending proper non-touristy things, not least because I don’t know in what area your friend’s tastes lie. If you posted that she liked a particular type of music, or wanted to visit the less well-known historical bits, or had some special interest (e.g. far-back family history, or interest in a particular place or something), then I (or more likely other more knowledgeable people) would have more to go on.

Well, for a non-answer, this has rambled on a bit - I think I am also getting vicariously excited on your friend’s behalf! But, really, if you post more idea about what sort of thing your friend wants, then I’ll try to get London friends (including one U.S. expat. if that matters) to tell me useful things. Not that it will matter, because there seem to be many well travelled SDMB folks all around.

I do hope your friend is going to have a good time. And that she buys you a very good present for doing her work.:slight_smile:

Celyn, you’re a peach.

Linda and I talked about her trip off and on all day. She says she’s seen the well-known places like Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, etc., in movies, TV and books all her life.

She seemed concerned about a couple of things: Not giving offense to the natives, and getting some of the flavor of everyday life, how it’s different from hers, or how it’s the same. And she wants to do a little bit of shopping for Christmas gifts for her family.

But she’s afraid she’ll get back home and her trip will feel like a slide show of historical sites, something generic, that she could have experienced by looking at travel brochures.

It made sense to me, but I have no clue how to help her do this. She can’t very well go knocking on people’s doors and invite herself in for supper.

We tried to figure out how we’d do this if someone from the UK came to visit, and we’re still working out the details. Mostly, it involves inviting them in for supper, and including them in the clean-up.

What do you think? Are there places in and around London that are more “real” than the usual tourist attractions?

Tell her to go see a soccer (football) match at Highbury, officially known as Arsenal Stadium, where the Gunners play. If she can secure seats in the North Bank, so much the better. Museums and castles and churches are nice enough, but there are few better ways to get to know the locals than to rub shoulders with them at The Home of Football.

Thanks, ricepad. Linda’s a big sports fan, and two of her kids are on school soccer teams. Sounds like a great idea, if she can talk her friend into it.

I thought rugby was your version of football. ??

In the UK football is what you’d call soccer. Rugby league and rugby union (basically two versions of the same game) are the nearest equivalents to American football.

I got email the other day from someone in London & there was a big flood & her bathroom was flooded. Lots of rain this time of the year, so must be cheaper now?

Oh, great! I guess it’s cheaper this time of year – but they’re flying for free, and their stay in London is free, cuz they’re going to be in a friend’s “flat”.

Linda’s trying out the Brit jargon – so far, she knows loo and lift, but we’re not sure what the buses are called. Lorries? Trams? Trolleys?

It might be cheaper in November, since it is autumn (i.e. raining and cold) and there’s no school holidays at the moment. On the other hand, prices always go up around Christmas.

The floods have been a nightmare for a lot of people lately, especially in the south of England and Yorkshire. Some towns have been under water for a couple of weeks now. The rail crisis doesn’t help much (bad weather + negligent maintenance = erratic services) either. London’s fairly safe, though – no real flooding, and the London Underground is, for all of its faults, a very good metro service.

Buses are called, um, buses.

Ha! Okay. Good thing I’m not going along, there’d really be a communication problem.

Linda: “Pam, here’s our bus, hurry up.”

Pam: “No, we have to wait for a lorry, tram or trolley. I didn’t come all the way to London to ride on a bus.”

Some ideas if money gets tight…

The London Free List

A good starting point is…

Time Out London

…and it has some recommended sightseeing information by area at Time Out London: Sightseeing