It all began with a bet. I was planning a week’s holiday in London, and a friend wagered that I’d end up spending much more than I’d bargained for in what’s easily one of the world’s most expensive cities. I rashly declared that I’d not only go to museums, galleries and maybe to the theatre, I’d also travel the length and breadth of the city ? without breaking the bank. Having said that, I hadn’t a clue how to go about it, except for locating a decent bed and breakfast place on the Internet. Frantic research on the web yielded some useful tips, armed with which I reached London one wintry December morning.
Heathrow Airport, I found, was pretty far from the city centre. In fact, it’s quite a mystery why the airports that service London are where they are, and still called London airports ? Heathrow is in Middlesex while Gatwick is in Sussex. For the first time traveller, what this means is that either one uses one’s flight-befuddled brain to figure out how many trains to change and what connections to make to reach the city centre, or find a coach going your way, or take a cab. One look at the tube map, easily available for free at all tube stations, and I was tempted to give up and call a cab. It looked like a tangled web of knotted threads which represented train routes to the city. But on closer inspection, I realised that each thread was colour-coded, and actually simple. I figured that Heathrow was on the Piccadilly Line, which took me to Central London in about 50 minutes. Over the next few days, I mastered the map and realised that the Underground was the surest way to economise in London.
The lady at the ticket counter gave me some useful tips on saving money on the tube. “Buy all-day tube tickets for ?6, instead of individual tickets,” she advised. “If you’re going to be sightseeing and plan on going to all over the city, remember to buy the All Route pass!”
On the way to Central London, I studied the Tube ticket guide, and found more interesting facts: Students can buy a seven-day pass for only 17.50 quid. If you’re with children, the family card (only ?4 per adult and 80 pence for children for a day pass), is what you should buy. The three-day and seven-day passes work out even cheaper. Another useful freebie I picked up at the tube station was the metro newspaper. It had news, theatre listings, information about sales, exhibitions and lots more. But most of these get picked up by the office commuters, so one has to get one’s copy by 9am.
My first few days in London were spent sightseeing, and I found that there was no cheaper way to kick this off than the Hop On Hop Off tour bus. A ?16 ticket entitled me to a whole day of sightseeing in open-roof buses, and I had the flexibility of getting off wherever the urge to explore took me. The tour bus also includes a free cruise down the Thames. Another value for money option was the London Pass, especially if one’s planning on extensive sightseeing. A one day ticket costs about ?27, but gets you free entry to over 60 London attractions, covers public transport tickets, gives free admission into some cinemas, Internet access, 10 quid off on selected musicals and even restaurant discounts. In places with ticket queues, the London Pass,people say is a big boon ? you can just swipe it at the pre-paid counter and beat the crowds.
But I didn’t buy it. I decided to see all the places I could which didn’t require entry tickets. And there were plenty of them. For example, the British Library, British Museum, National Gallery, Tate Britain, Tate Modern and Victoria and Albert Museum, were all free. The British Library was especially interesting, and its displays included the Gutenberg Bible and Shakespeare’s First Folio of 1623. There were also original Beatles’ manuscripts.
I also rediscovered the lost pleasure of walking. For when on a budget, no mode of transport can beat one’s own two legs. Hyde Park, St James’s Park and Hampstead Heath were wonderful places to wander in, and were free to boot. They gave me a sense of what the city must’ve looked like before its construction boom. For a Beatles buff like myself, a walk down Abbey Road was fun. Another interesting road to walk through was Baker Street, home to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. Oxford Street and Regent Street were good for shopping and browsing too. Whenever I got tired, I’d park myself in a caf?. Usually, a coffee and muffin would cost two to three quid at the max, for the price of which I could rest my aching feet too. Eating out in London, I found was no problem at all. One can find filling food for ?6 or less. London’s signature dish, fish and chips wrapped in a piece of newspaper, was available everywhere in central London for four quid upwards. Getting one’s food on the go is another money saving option. One not only saves on tips, but sometimes restaurants slap on a cover charge for a sit-down meal.
The only thing that I really wanted to do during my week in London, was to go to the theatre. But the ?50 tickets were way over my budget. Then a local friend told me to hit the nearest Internet caf? and book online. “You’re bound to get tickets at as much as 50 per cent off at the official London theatre website, http://officiallondontheatre.co.uk,” she said. And she was right. From the range of discounted tickets available there, I wondered that anyone ever bought full price tickets. A little research revealed other cheap options: midweek matinees cost a fraction of the full ticket. The TKTS ticket booths in Leicester Square and Canary Wharf sold on-the-day half price tickets for many West End shows. Going in a group of 10 or more was another good way to ensure as much as a 50 per cent discount. Also, you can go to the theatres and ask for limited view seats which sell from ?10 onwards.
Towards the end of my trip, I accompanied a Londoner friend who’d been an amused witness to my penny-pinching escapades, grocery shopping to Sainsburys. She bought a huge sack of cat food for her cats for ?40, commenting on how expensive life in London was. Later, on the flight back home, I realised that on an average, I’d spent just a little more than that having the time of my life in London. All it required was lots of advance planning, an open mind and a purse, the strings of which didn’t loosen too easily.
