As it turns out we never even set foot in London, except for changing trains at Paddington. Heh. London itself was never really much of a destination for us anyway, though.
Pictures: http://gallery.opalcat.com > Places&Things > Europe 2001
Journal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/opalcat/calendar (June 24 - July 10)
For the rundown of stuff we discussed in this thread:
We had no trouble finding B&B accommidations. We’d arrive at one in the evening, figure out where we wanted to be the next day, pop open our handy-dandy B&B guide, call one up, maybe two, only once we had to call three… and then the next night we’d show up at the new one. We only had to share a bathroom once, and we never saw evidence of the other people we were sharing with.
Breakfasts were always included and were HUGE! Cereal, porridge, eggs, toast, bread, beans, tomatoes, tea, juice… and that was all the same day! One place even had pancakes. Breakfast usually got us through til mid-afternoon. Other meals we often ate in pubs, for £5-8 or so each, and food was surprisingly good. Vegetarian food was far easier to come by and far better marked (usually with a V or the Vegetarian Society of the UK’s logo) than anywhere I’ve been in the states except maybe Boulder. At least half the pubs we ate at were built before the Declaration of Independance was signed, and some even hundreds of years before that!
As I said above, we didn’t actually have time to go INTO London. The day we arrived there was a heat wave, see… and nothing is air conditioned over there (not even the movie theaters–we tried that) so we fled North the very next day. (the first day we just stopped at the Heathrow Lodge and slept all day, saw a movie in the evening, then slept all night) We ended up spending over half our time in Scotland, which we fell in love with. My favorite area was Fife, but UDD likes the Highlands best. The only city we stayed overnight in was Inverness–for the most part we stayed at B&Bs out in the country in little villages.
Without exception our B&B rooms were large and well furnished. With only one exception we had our own bathroom, either out in the hall, but private, or “en suite” meaning in our room. B&B photos
The thing we hadn’t been prepared for was the gas prices. Gas is about $4-5/gallon. EEEK! I think we paid as much in gas as we did on the rental car itself.
On the ever-contentious breakfast front: you can’t really compare a nice Scottish B&B with a London hotel. I’m not surprised that Anthracite got crappo brekky in her London hotel. I’m not surprised you got enormous portions of porridge and eggs and all things good in your Scottish B&B. Sure, there are exceptions, but most provincial B&B owners (especially the Scots) are welcoming folk who like to provide. Many London hotels are run by cheapskates who like to fleece.
Here’s a late recommendation for a cheap no-frills place to stay in London:
More House on Cromwell Road. It’s the Catholic hall of residence for the London University colleges. In July and August, it takes guests on a B&B basis. Single rooms only for non married MOTOS couples, to discourage sin. MOTSS could happily share a room (although best no public displays of affection, I don’t think the nuns would like it) The breakfast is great - as much as you can eat of sausage, bacon, egg, tomato, beans, cereal, croissants and toast.(hope this is still accurate, since I haven’t been there for 3 years)
Should have warned you about the cost of gas. We live here, we’re used to it.