My trip to London

Hi everyone, I'm going to tell you about my time spent in London for a fortnight, and give you some advice every now and again. Let me begin...

I travelled from Madrid to London using Ryanair, a really cheap airline. The only downside is that once you get on the plane, they explain all the safety procedures in English, and if you're not very strong in the language, then you might not understand how to put the life jacket on etc. The only thing they tell you in Spanish during the flight is that if you buy a "National Express" ticket on the plane, you get a discount.

Once you arrive at the airport, grab your suitcase and off you go.

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How to get to London from Stanstead airport

I caught the Terravisión bus which was the cheapest option I found. It took me to Victoria station which is the only stop, so it's good because you don't have to worry about your luggage in the hold. It takes about 1 hour 15 minutes, and usually leaves right on time (they don't wait to fill the bus). Travelling by bus is a good way to see a bit of London during the journey. From Victoria Station, you can get the metro or another bus to the other areas of London.

How to get around London

Let's see, for me, the best option was taking the bus, because it was cheapest option (3 pounds for a bus pass for the whole day that you can get in any metro station) and you had a tour of the city at the same time. The buses are quite frequent. What's important if you decide to use the bus is that you ask for a bus map from one of the information stalls. Because truthfully, it is a little confusing, which bus stops where and which ones link to each other. To give you an idea of the price, the first day I look a metro to get to the hotel and it cost me 2 pounds...

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Eating in London

If you like taking food out, then you're safe. But if you don't and you like eating in the restaurant, then you have to be prepared to spend a lot on eating in. Honestly, I have eaten quite good food and cheap, but it is always the same: pizza, pizza and pizza, and well, a salad every now and then. In some Pizza Hut restaurants, there is a buffet menu that costs about 6 pounds and is quite nice. You can have salads, pasta, and lots of different pizzas.

Coffee, Tea, Hot chocolate... the hot chocolate is not what you would imagine; it is made with a lot of water and not much power, which doesn't make for a tasty hot chocolate. Coffee is the same, in most places it is instant coffee. When paying, be aware, sometimes a tea, a flavoured coffee and two cakes can cost 7. 50 pounds (12 euros! ). The tea was big, so were the cajes. But for this price I expected two kilos of cakes, three kilos of coffee and two kilos of tea and a whole carton of milk! (You have to laugh! )

Hotels

Do not be scared before you enter the room. I don't know all the hotels but most of them are the same. If you want an idea of what the hotels are like in London, I have a little tip for you. Go to a standard hotel in your hometown. If it has three stars, here in London it would only have half a star. The quality is a lot higher. It is very clean, and really it is just a room to sleep in so you don't need many amneties. They tend to have continental breakfasts here (it might be incldued in the price of your hotel): Toast, hamburger bun (but not the hamburger), orange juice.... they're all good. You can also have hot chocolate and coffee which I have already talked about. And that's it.

What is there to see in London?

London's history is incredible, all the buildings are great. What I liked most was the Parliament and Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the Tower Bridge. Also Madame Tussaud's (Wax Museum) was amazing. The characters are so real! The entrance is quite expensive (22 pounds), but definitely worth it. Try to see everything you can, if you have any doubts about what to visit you can always ask me. If you do want to see everything, be prepared to walk an average of 10 hours, but again, it is so worth it!

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How to call home in Spain

The most convenient and economical if you're only going for a few days, is to go to a phone shop and buy a SIM card, which are a pre-paid cards with either of 5, 10 or 20 pounds credit on them. With these cards, you have to dial a toll free number then the number that is listed on the card, then the international prefix (0034) and finally the phone number you want. I would recommend this, it is useful.

Buying food in London

I had dinner almost every day in the hotel room, I was getting back quite late and because I was so tired, all I wanted was to eat something quickly and then go to bed. I had some ham, sausage and cheese. Every day I bought some bread and puddings from Marks & ​​Spencers, there was plenty to choose from. The price for bread is quite good there, 4 baguettes for a pound.

Extra information

The bus pass can also be purchased at the information desks in the city, you don't have to buy it on the subway.

You can eat in London for a cheap price without having to eat pizza every day. In Soho, there is quite cheap eats and really tasty ones too, and most pubs serve meals that are cheap and good too.

It is obvious that coffee and other hot drinks are very expensive, but they are definitely a lot bigger than the coffee cups you get in Spain... which is great.

If you want to buy a large amount of food, avoid Marks and Spencer's, because compared to the rest of the supermarkets, they are the most expensive. Tescos, Sainsburys etc. are much cheaper than M & S.

Thank you so much for reading!

Best of luck, Irene.