Erasmus Experience and Practical Information on London

I want to give you general information about London. I wrote this blog to share with you my experience while I was there. I hope you will find it helpful.

Transportation in London

Let's first look at how to get from the airports to the city center. I landed at Stansted airport. I had train, taxi and bus options from Stansted. The cheapest is the bus of course. By bus, you can go to the city center at 8 pounds one way, and if you have a return date, you can get a return ticket for a very cheap price of 2 pounds. You reach the city center in 45-50 minutes. All planes of Pegasus go to this airport. THY is working for Heathrow and Gatwick airports. In addition to the train, bus, taxi trilogy from Heathrow, there is also a subway. Some bus companies from the airport to the city center:

• TerraVision
• EasyBus
• NationalExpress

You can get great advantages if you buy the ticket in advance, like I said. I chose Terravision and I did not have any problem.

London-Map

London is divided into six regions as seen on the map. It may seem a little complicated, but don't let it scare you. All of the tourist attractions are in the 1st Zone, which is the hub of the city. So for these places, transportation is not hard at all. During my days in London, about 5-6 stations were closed. Personally, I did not notice it because of the renovation works between 1-3 zones. The slightest disruption did not happen.

After talking about the zone incident, I'd like to mention the intra-city transportation and how much it costs. Obtain the oyster card for transportation in the city. This card is installed just like the istanbulkart in İstanbul and the kentkart in İzmir. There are also weekly, monthly and yearly options. I bought a weekly one for 41 pounds which allows you to travel in 1-3 zones for a whole week. You get 5 pounds back when you return the 5-pound deposit card. You can go anywhere between the zones 1 and 3 at any time you want (by bus or metro), and it doesn't matter how many times you've boarded. If you do not want to buy a weekly card, you can "pay as you go". But I do not recommend it for people who are planning on staying for a week or so. Because it costs a lot more. Pay as you go is affected by both zones application and "peak hours" application. The Zone application works like this: you pay 2, 20 pounds in the first zone. Between 1-2 you pay 2, 80/2, 20. Between 1-3 you pay 3, 20/2, 70. I wrote two separate prices as you see for zones 1-2 and 1-3. The expensive ones are during the peak hours. Peak hours are from 06:30-09:29 am and 04:00-06:59 pm. In the morning, these times can also be defined as work departure and return times. On weekends, you can travel for cheap prices.

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These prices are only for the metro; buses do not have any zone restrictions. There is an All for 1 card for 41 pounds, but if you want to get the Oyster card only for the bus, a weekly card costs just 20 pounds.

There is something that I would like to add here. To get a student Oyster card you need to go to England as an official student. I mean, university and exchange programs are included of course, but if you're going to a language school or something like that you need to be enrolled in these schools for 14 weeks or more in order to get a student card. The price really makes a difference, for example, a weekly card costs 20 pounds, not 41.

Eating and Drinking in London

London is literally a cosmopolitan city. I can say that I've seen more people from foreign countries rather than English people. So everyone can easily find something to appeal to their taste buds. Chinese cuisine, Mexican cuisine, Turkish cuisine... Apart from this diversity, there's something else that caught my eye, everyone is in a hurry to eat, everyone is very busy. People are trying to fill their bellies while sitting in the park, walking on the road, and riding on the subway. They do not have the concept of "only eating when sitting" or "not eating where everyone can see" which are stereotypes for us Turkish people.

How can we eat for cheap prices in London... "Meal deal" of course. What is this meal deal? The Meal deal can be also found in some of our cafes in Turkey but here it's is mostly seen in the supermarkets. For example, in Tesco, there is a meal deal for 3 pounds which consists of a cold sandwich or pasta + a drink + a snack (chocolate, chips, etc. ). If you try to take them individually cold sandwiches are 2-3 pounds and beverages are 0, 90-1, 5 pounds and chips/chocolate are around 0, 50-1 pounds. This is the cheapest way to satisfy your stomach. There are two famous grocery stores in London, one is, of course, Tesco, and the other is Sainsburys. You can find one or the other on every street. Both of them have this meal deal. They also serve hot food. For example, 3-5 cooked wings in the form of a wing package, or rice + boiled meat in a box, etc. Their prices are about 4-5 pounds.

Apart from the Meal deal, you can choose Burger King, McDonald's, KFC as an intermediate meal. The menu is around 5 pounds. Apart from these, there are some Chinese and Mexican restaurants. They give you a plate and show you the buffet where you get as many as you want, and the cost is around 7, 5 pounds.

If you like Turkish food, my first recommendation is Opuz Kitchen. It's a small but cozy and stylish place in Soho. If I remember correctly, it was about 7, 5 pounds for Iskender döner (thin slices of meat) on rice. Apart from chicken-meat döner you can also find Turkish delicacies such as hummus, cacık, ezme, etc. The owners are nice Turkish people and the place has a warm atmosphere so I highly recommend it. Other than Opuz, I'd recommend Haz Restaurant. A more expensive place than Opuz, but a really trendy restaurant. Menus are broader than Opuz; there are appetizers, cold and warm starters, main courses, desserts... Whatever you can eat in Turkey, you can eat here. We went as a group of 3, and we had a full meal containing everything from soups to dessert for 80 pounds all together. Though don't convert it into Turkish lira, it turns out to be a lot more... A friend of mine invited me and my brother there, he took care of the check or we probably would've to wash the dishes :)

At the liquor markets, a 4 or 6-pack beer costs about 5-6 pounds, and a beer at a pub costs 3-5 pounds. Cigarettes are expensive, a Marlboro 8 pounds, if I'm not mistaken, which converts to about 28 Turkish liras :) A bottle of water is 50 pence. There are two kinds of water sparkling and still. Still is the regular water we drink, sparkling is like our soda.

Shopping in London

I am sure a female friend of mine who went to London could write a lot more under this headline, I would be lying if I said I was very interested in shopping because I have the view of a typical Turkish man.

On the way back, when buying souvenirs go through a few different places and don't forget to haggle. They say that we rip off the tourists in Turkey, but everywhere in the world it's the same, I experienced this. I bought the replacement head for outlets from a market for 2, 5 pounds. I had to get it again after it broke. I went to souvenir shops and they were just like cheapjacks back in Turkey. The first price for the product was 5 pounds but when I refused to buy it, in the end, I got it for 2, 5 pounds. You can find things like fridge magnets, postcards, key rings on the way to Leicester Square at the back of China Town. 6 of them are around 5 pounds.

I do not recommend buying electronic stuff from the UK both because of the exchange rate and the fact that electronics aren't cheaper than in Turkey. But if you need a device you or you intend to buy something that can not be found in Turkey, there are shops selling electronic devices on Tottenham Court Road all along the street.

If we do not take into consideration the exchange rate, I think it's cheaper to buy clothes here, assuming we earn money in pounds. Places I would advise you to shop for clothing are:

Primark

Primark is really number one, you can get most things cheaper even if you convert it into Turkish Lira. When you walk on Oxford Street, you see a lot of big paper bags in everyone's hands. All are Primark's bags of course... I also opted to get a few things for friends and family and this is the place I chose. I bought shoes for 8 pounds, a large purse for 3 pounds, a women wallet for 1, 5 pounds, a tie for 2 pounds and a beret for 1 pound. There were men shoes for 3 pounds and if your feet are a bit bigger, you can buy stylish shoes up to size 45 for 3 pounds. The brands in Primark are not the brands we know, but the fabric qualities, etc., are quite good for the prices which I think you will agree.

TK Maxx

TK Maxx has a structure similar to Primark, also not only in one place. At TK Maxx, you can find brands like Timberland, Tommy, Calvin Klein and others that we know. T-shirts and shirts were around 15 pounds. It is more expensive than Primark and its product range is narrower. But if you have a brand obsession, you absolutely have to come by.

Sports Direct

Sports Direct, as can be understood from the name, is a place that sells clothes, footwear, and materials for sports. When prices are converted into Turkish Liras, they come at about the same amount. My friend bought Nike spikes for 30 odd pounds.

Places to Visit

Compared to my beautiful Turkey, all the capitals in Europe have preserved their historical textures and seriously deserve to be the capital. I think London is one of the most beautiful capitals in Europe. There are so many places to go and see. Let's briefly talk a little bit of all...

London Eye

The largest ferris wheel in Europe, 135 meters tall, where you can enjoy the view of London. It takes about 40 minutes. You can compliment your eyes with an exquisite view of the city. It is really worth seeing the 4D cinema there before getting on the London Eye.

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Madame Tussauds

It is a magnificent museum with all the famous names and sculptures of political leaders that you can think of. The sculptures are really lifelike and were made with notice to the smallest detail. Apart from the sculptures, there is a section that takes about 5 minutes in a horror tunnel style. Do not worry, they praised it a lot before we entered but it wasn't very scary.

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Natural History Museum

I can say that this museum at South Kensington station has everything. The world, all the beings on earth, every type of natural event is displayed in this museum and they must be seen by everyone from seven to seventy-seven. Also the entry is free.

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Science Museum

Another very good museum right next to the Natural History Museum. It is an informative museum which consists of parts about the development of cars, planes, railroads, and space-related investigations. This place is also free to enter. There are a lot of interactive sections in the two museums I have mentioned. You can experiment and make observations.

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Hyde Park

A huge park of 250 hectares in the heart of the city and the biggest of royal parks. Everybody is doing sports, walking, cycling. There's also a lake in it. There is no one having a barbecue here as they do so often in my country. Barbecues are strictly forbidden and in certain parts, it's even forbidden to ride a bicycle.

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Regent’s Park

Although Regent's Park isn't as big as Hyde Park it is still a very large park. We were staying in Leyton, so we went to Regent's Park to play a football game on Sunday. It takes about 40 minutes with the metro. A lot of people prefer this park for a 40-45 minute jog.

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Big Ben

The Big Ben at Westminster station is the second largest clock tower in the world. A place where tourists take plenty of pictures. The historic texture is really impressive.

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St. Pancras Station

It's one of the oldest metro stations in England. The scenes in Harry Potter where they go through the wall were filmed at the King's Cross Station right next to this place.

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Oxford and Regent’s Streets

Two streets where all the famous shops are located... They intersect one another at a point. You can reach Oxford Circus station or Tottenham Court Road station from here.

Buckingham Palace

The modest nest of the English Royal Family. There were also a lot of tourists here. We can take pictures here with the iconic British soldiers.

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Have fun! Remember, if you are looking to rent a flat in London, we can help with our exclusive guide to renting in the big city!