12 Things That Will Confuse You About London (Until You Know the Rules)

London has its own unwritten rules and once you know them, the city makes so much more sense. In this episode Tracy and Doug share 12 things that confuse visitors most, so you can move around with confidence and make the most of every day.

They cover:

• Tube map versus real distance and when walking beats taking the Underground
• London zones, daily caps, Oyster card versus contactless
• Tube etiquette: letting people off, escalator rules, and mind the gap
• Tower Bridge versus London Bridge and how to tell them apart
• Last entry times and planning attraction visits realistically
• Changing of the Guard: checking schedules, arriving early, and using a tour for the best view
• Yeoman Warders at the Tower of London: how they live and why a VIP tour is worth it
• Red phone box photos and why to check before stepping inside
• London black cabs and The Knowledge: why they are unlike any taxi in the world
• Afternoon tea versus high tea versus cream tea: what to expect and how to book
• Sundays in London: restricted trading hours and booking your Sunday roast
• Service charge and tipping: how to spot the 12.5% and avoid paying twice
• Pronunciation: Leicester Square, Greenwich, Southwark, Holborn, Tottenham, and the Marylebone debate.

📝 Show Notes - Episode 204

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Transcript

Welcome And London Confusions

0:00

London is one of the most visited cities in the world, but it comes with its own set of unwritten rules and quirks. Today we're sharing 12 things that will confuse you about London until you know the rules. Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast. Your host is the founder of the UK travel planning website, Tracy Collins. Each week, Tracy shares destination guides, travel tips and itinerary ideas, as well as interviews with a variety of guests who share their knowledge and experience of UK travel to help you plan your perfect UK vacation. Join us as we explore the UK from cosmopolitan cities to quaint villages, from historic castles to beautiful islands, and from the picturesque countryside to seaside towns. Before we get started, we'd like to thank our sponsor, Walks and Devour Tours. If you're planning a trip to London, you'll already know the challenge. There's a lot you want to do and only a limited amount of time to fit it all in. That's where the right tour makes all the difference because you want experiences that are the best use of your time with more access, less waiting, and a deeper sense of the city. That's why we recommend Walks and Devour Tours. They offer walk-in tours and food tours designed to make your time count, often with early or after hours entry. You'll also be with exceptional local guides who add the stories and context so you leave with a richer understanding of what you're seeing and a trip that feels genuinely memorable. If you're visiting London as a couple with family or you simply prefer a more intimate experience, walks and devour tours also offer private tour options. To learn more, you'll find the link in the show notes. Now let's get into this week's episode. Hi everybody and welcome to this week's episode of the UK Travel Planning Podcast. I'm your host, Tracy Collins, and this week I have Doug again sitting next to me. Hello. Um now Doug has actually flown into the UK. Yeah, yeah. I'm back here. And uh you arrived on Monday morning, didn't you? Monday morning, 0430. Uh at Heathrow. At Heathrow, yeah. It was quite a long flight. Now we do get asked quite often about this, especially for uh for those listeners and those of you who are living in Australia, uh where we spend a lot of our time. Uh when we're not in the UK. And um you originally had planned to fly from Perth to Heathrow directly. Yeah, but that was all changed, so you ended up it was a bit more of a convoluted route. Yeah, it was. We it was a bit chaotic. We touched down into Singapore for fuelling and uh cleaning the plane, which obviously needed it after five hours of flight, which is a bit bizarre. Um yeah, it's a bit bit chaotic and a bit sort of uh bit hassled, but the actual flight was fine. Yeah, that's no problem, yeah. And then you got in, so yeah, so I know we both prefer the uh even though it's a long, it's a bit of a long haul, that one from Perth if you're flying direct to Paris or London, it is actually not a bad flight. No, you sort of get into the zone with it, but it's the fact that it's just one flight and you've not got connecting flights and you've got to rush between terminals or gates. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, so I thought um because we did an episode uh in actually end of April, episode 198, uh, we would talk about 12 things that will confuse you in the UK until you know there is and everybody's loved that episode. It was it was a good episode to do as well. Yeah, it was a very fun episode. So if you haven't if you haven't listened to that one and you're planning to travel outside of London to other places in the UK, we'd recommend that you do go back and listen to episode 198. And hopefully this one will be just as fun. Yeah. Uh but this episode we're gonna focus on London and things that um often people can find a bit confusing or not really what they expected. That's right. Um so hopefully this will be a bit of a uh again, a bit of a fun but educational episode. That's right. Um that you will all enjoy.

Getting Around With Tube Basics

3:39

So we thought we'd kind of divide up into different kind of um areas. So the first one would talk about things about getting around London that people find confusing. Um because obviously, you know, you arrive and you you want to get you're gonna want to get from A to B. Well, certainly. Unless you're planning on spending your entire holiday at uh Heathrow terminal four, five. Probably not, probably not. Okay, so should we talk about the tube? Because that most of you are gonna be using the tube. Yeah. At some point in the time in London, well, I would imagine so. Unless you're my mom who prefers to do everything by black cab should prefers to do that rather than the tube these days. But um, so one of the I guess one of the images that you have when you think about the tube is probably gonna be the classic tube map. That's right. It is sort of iconic, isn't it? Really? It really is, and I think the thing to know about the tube map, which is very colourful, which is very useful, because there's the different colours represent different lines, so that's a useful thing to know. Um, that actually the tube map itself, what you look at, the distances in geography actually bear pretty no resemblance, just a pr pretty minimal resemblance, actually, reality of the geography of London. It's purely a representation in a in a diagram form. Yeah, so it was actually designed for you know to be just for clarity. Yeah um so what you actually what can look like quite a distance on a tube map can actually be easier to actually walk it. That's right. And the obvious want to talk about this all the time is actually Covent Garden unless you're gonna be. I think you know what, I reckon I've talked about this in other episodes, so I'm sure if you listen to the podcast, this is a classic one that I'll talk about. I mean, I don't particularly like Covent Garden tube station because it's a lift up and it's it's it's quite if you if the lift's not working, which I to be honest, I've never been on it when it hasn't, but um, it's a lot of steps. I have heard of people walking it, I don't know why you do that. Um, but otherwise just you're you're in a lift and it's it can get a very busy, yeah, very, very busy tube station, but you can get off at Leicester Square, and um it it's not gonna take you more than a couple of minutes to do that walk. If you pull down the vein, you might get weared, but yeah. Yeah, but I think I've actually seen it where people have timed it. We should do that in London. We should actually have one where we uh you you'll start you can start, we'll both start at Coven Garden tube station. Yeah, I'll walk to Leicester Square tube station and you take the tube and see who gets there first. Oh I can't. Should we do that there? If you want us to do that, let us know and we'll do that when we go to London. That'll be quite a cheap one to share. Um, but it's always worth checking. So I mean the TFL Go app yeah, it's a pretty good app that is actually. Yeah, so when you're planning your journeys, it's just to check that and don't assume that you know the getting the tube is gonna be the quickest way to get from A to B, because it it not necessarily isn't necessarily uh true. Um I want to talk a little bit about zones as well, because you might see on the map there's like the zones, and the zones really relate to how um the amount of you get charged for carbon in that zone. So uh maximum car uh charges, there's capping, so it's like a centric circle, so zones one, two in the centre, then you work your way out. Um for example, Heathrow Airports in zone six. Yeah, yeah, and most of the things that you probably will see in London are in zone one. Yeah. Um, so I actually have got an article on the London Travelplanning.com website which explains about zones. Actually, it's done really well. Uh done really well that article, actually. It's very popular. So it might be worth having a look if it's something interesting to find out about. But basically, the daily cap is once you've done a certain amount of journeys, you won't get charged. Charged anymore for that day. Um quick mention about oyster cards and um and or contactless, which you can use either. This is always a topic, isn't it? It is, and it's really uh we we're very much of a mindset when we offer any advice that we're offering advice that we are not we're not dictating what you should or shouldn't do. Um so we have got articles about contactless versus oyster card, so really read up about it. It's so it's such a strong emotive subject, but honestly, that there's no right or wrong with this. You read what what works, you read about oyster card, you read about contactless, and you decide what works for you. I've just been travelling around London with my friend Melissa who's been over from Pittsburgh, and uh and she used contactless, I use my oyster card again perfectly, whatever works for you. That's the I prefer oyster card, and I'm a bit of a traditionalist, but I've used it for years, and it's just my preference. That's not to say I have not used contactless at some point, um, but uh 90 odd percent of the time, probably more than 90%, I still got my oyster card. Yeah, but again, that's your again, it's your choice. So that's one thing

Tube Etiquette That Keeps It Moving

8:10

we'll talk about. Um so second thing I want to talk about um is is basically the unwritten rules of the tube. And you know what? We have a lot of unwritten rules in the UK. We just have. Yeah, we've talked about queuing. I know we talked about queuing in the UK one. That's kind of unwrite unwritten rule that you just know it's like an I think we're just born with a knowledge that you need you. Yeah, you're right. I think it's an instinct thing, but trust me, you know, if these unwritten rules, if you might have got it wrong, just look at other people's facial expressions. You'll soon know. You'll soon realize that um you may have dropped a bit of a clanger. Well, I think the one thing I really want to talk about in terms of unwritten rules about the tube is and actually this one I hear all the time at the tube stations is let people off the train before you get on. This has a really and I've turned into a grumpy old woman. Do not say anything dope because I know you're gonna say I was anyway. I have turned it into a grumpy old woman when I'm in London because I am absolutely fed up, and I'm not joking, fed up of standing waiting for people to get off the tube. Politely, politely waiting because that's what we're supposed to do. And the amount of people that are pushing on to get onto the train before people get off. In fact, I was uh last week there was um a little boy, I think he was Spanish, and he was took his mum was saying to him to get back, and at the and he was absolutely determined he was getting on that train to get a seat. Um, so he pushed his way on, pushed his way on and made sure he got a seat on a very crowded train. Uh took no notice of his mum whatsoever. And I just see this all the time. There's just people pushing and pushing. No, it isn't, but I I've noticed it a lot in London there, because especially when it's busy and you're trying to get, you know, it's a busy train, but you know, if it's a full tube train and it pulls up, but at like a main station like Victoria or King, people are gonna get off it. You know, a lot of people are off. A lot of people are going to get off, yeah. And if everybody's standing there desperate to get on, it just slows the whole process up. Um so it's very unpleasant, and I've been a bit cross about it. I really have been a bit of a grump about that. Um, the other thing, as well, is people don't talk loudly or make eye contact on the tube. They just don't. No, that they don't. It's your own space, your own bubble, and that's where people stick to. Yeah, you just don't hear loud conversations. You don't people, you know, I think it's more noticeable at sort of peak times as well, people going to or farm work. I think it's more noticeable, people want their own space. Yeah, you see a lot of people on the phones, a lot of people reading a book, just a lot of people looking down. It's just it, yeah, it's not a social space. No, it's not social. It really isn't. Uh the other one I want to talk about is escalat I sound like I do sound like grouping on the code. You do to be fair. You do, yeah. Escalators, please stand on the right and just and use the escalator, walk up and down on the left. This will annoy everybody in London if you don't do this. Um, and actually, I was on tube the other day and I I'm guessing a new visitor and didn't take any notice of the science and stood on the left. So there was all of us on the right, there's one person on the left, and and eventually, I and I thought, oh, she's gonna get asked to move, and she did, um, because there was people trying to run up and she was in the way, and I think she realised at one point, oh actually, I'm standing in the wrong place. Yeah, and I'm gonna say this that that stand on the right is for your own safety as well, because particularly again during rush hours, is some of these people move on the left hand side, they're going up and down these escalators fast, yeah. They are so you know you keep right for your own benefit, and and I mean keep in, not just standing on the right, but keep in because you know if you get clipped, it's quite easily happened. And if you're travelling with any small people and uh say small people, I mean children sorry, uh if you're travelling with children or anybody who's not 100% steady on their feet, you know, it's important that you keep them in keeping. Definitely keep on your side of the escalator and be careful with bags again, because I've I've you know people often if you've got a backpack on or something can get caught. Yeah, people go down that getting it basically it's so you just have to. But if you're standing there and you see somebody walking or running past you fast, you'll see exactly what I mean. Yeah, and some of these escalators are really long, they are long, um, so yeah, you just have to be careful. The other one is uh uh mind the gap, which you'll hear you'll hear that said. You see you hear that often to to the point, you'll hear it so often that you don't always consciously listen to it because it's just uh something that's said a lot, but it's worth being mindful of because it's uh genuine thing on platforms that are curved and you've obviously got a carriage length or coach length, um there's gonna be gaps appearing. Yeah, so you have to be careful you do have to be careful. Um I know you've shown some video of that actually. I did, I pointed out on not on the underground, but um on mainline stations like Birmingham New Street, for example, on curves, and yeah, there can be some substantial uh gaps there. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So that that's just a couple of points I wanted to mention about transport. We do have um podcasts about uh getting around London, and we've also got um articles on the London TravelPlanning.com website about all the methods of transportation in London, and we are planning to get more on our YouTube channel as well, UK Travel Planning. Um so if you if you want to read about it, you can have a look on the website. If you want to watch videos about getting around London, do check out our UK travel planning uh YouTube channel as well. Yes now a third thing I thought we'd talk about is attractions. So this is a theme actually, so there'll be a few things to talk about when it comes to attractions. So things that you want to go and do and see in London. Yeah, um, and this is one I love talking about this because this is one when I was a kid I completely got confused about, and that is the difference between Tower Bridge and London Bridge. In fact, sometimes I have to think to myself, Tower of London, Tower Bridge. Yeah, Tower of London, Tower Bridge. Uh, because Tower Bridge and London Bridge are not the same thing. We see this a lot, actually, the Facebook group, don't we? People get confused. Yeah, I mean in Australia I hear this a lot, and people talk about you know, going back to the UK and me travelling there and trains and and even just talking to them, you it's obvious that they're getting confused. Yeah, London Bridge, Tower Bridge. Yeah, um, so Tower Bridge is the iconic one. It's the what one with the drawbridge, the one that you see in every postcard. It's that iconic picture of London, that iconic bridge over the Thames. Whereas London Bridge um is fairly

Iconic Sights That Trip People Up

14:20

boring. It's pretty I was just gonna say pretty much run of the mill. I wasn't gonna say boring, but but it's just it's a bit underwhelming, it's just an order of it. It is underwhelming to be fair. And actually, it's fairly new anyway, because the the original London Bridge was sold um to an American guy in 1968 who apparently he thought he was buying Tower Bridge, but actually bought London Bridge. Um, I have got some photos, some really interesting photos actually, of London Bridge in the 1800s. Really? Really? Yeah. No, I was not there, you cheeky person. Uh, but I have got some, I might share some of those black and white pictures of just how much tra uh traffic used to go over carriages and people used to walk over the old London Bridge. Um, yeah, so London Bridge is a is is not is not pretty, it's just a regular bridge. Tower Bridge is the one that you want to go and visit. Um Tower Bridge, I have done a tour on Tower Bridge, which is really good. I've actually walked across it and stood on the glass. Yeah, there's like a there's a glass floor uh walkway, so you can walk across that if you're not worried about heights, you can walk over it, and you can you basically sometimes stand on the London buses underneath you, it's quite funny. Um so that is actually worth doing. Um, and obviously, if you go to Tower of London, you can walk across Tower Bridge. You can get some beautiful photographs on the other side. Yes. Um at Shad Thames. Yeah, that's right. There's some great points and you look across there. You see a lot of photographers taking sort of portrait photos. Yeah, so that's a really good, that's a good little bit of a tip from us. So go and get your photos there if you want pictures of of Tower Bridge. But just be mindful if you're talking about London Bridge and you mean and somebody's looking at you quizzically, because probably they're thinking, you're not getting the right one, yeah. But seriously, it's uh you know, I I used to make this mistake when I was a kid, honestly. So just think Tower of London, Tower Bridge. That's the best way to think about it. I'm thinking of the song London Bridge is falling down. Yeah. Yeah. The nurse is it nursery right? It's nursery, yeah. Okay, another one I want to talk about about tractions is that last entry is not closing time, right? So if you're thinking about okay, you're planning your day and you're thinking, okay, so Tower of London closes at 5 p.m. Oh, I'll get there at half past four and just do a quick squeeze of it in and just quick have a look around. Yeah, you actually need to check not the closing time, but the last entry. Last entry. Because a lot of places will have a less a last entry time, so they won't let you in after that point. So they'll probably thinking, well, you're gonna need at least an hour, at least an hour and a half to go and have a look around some of these you know fantastic attractions that we have in London. So therefore, they will not let you in after a certain time. So, you know, and we know quite often with you know, I look at people's itineraries and they're trying to squeeze in so so much. Which we understand. Yeah, we understand. I mean, yeah. I can be guilty of it too, and sometimes you know what, you forget as well, just how I at this I have to say, this trip I've realised just how tiring London can be. Just because you're old. I'm not old. No. I'm older. Older. But I'm not old. But I've I've found that I can't quite do the 25,000 steps a day for a week. Um so therefore, I you know, again, which is why we say really, if you're gonna do two just do maximum of two major attractions in London in a day. It makes sense. Um so for example, Tower of London, it the last entry is one hour before closing. Um so you and I would always check some, you know, the attraction um to make sure that you know what the last entry time is. Because sometimes it can be significantly earlier than when they actually close. That's right. Um that's an important thing. Particularly the bigger places, yeah. Yeah, and you don't want to end up going somewhere, and even if you go in if it's the last entry, you're still gonna have minimum time there, really. An hour is not gonna be much for the town of London. And some of these attractions you're paying you know good money for as well. So you you want to be getting value for money, don't you? Yeah, absolutely. So start with those major attractions that you want to go to and make sure you spread them out and give yourself plenty of time to get there. So yeah, don't forget your million photos and videos we all have to do these days. So you know, you need time for those. Absolutely, absolutely. Other one we want to talk about is um changing of the guard. Oh yes, one of the best, one of the favourites. Oh, yeah, it's really interesting because it's uh, you know, even again, a first time I ever went to London when I was a kid with my I went with actually my dad for the first time. And that's the thing that you want to see. It's Brits I w I want to go and see. I was just gonna say it's not just overseas visitors that want to see this sort of thing. No, we want to see it. And and I remember to go and see the changing of the guard. Now, uh one thing to do is is to check because it's not necessarily on every single day of the week. Um, it does change in the summer months in that it is um is more regular, but things can change. So, for example, if it's you know bad weather or there's a state event that happens to come up, or something's just you know your schedule can change, and it does change anyway by season. So the best thing to do is to have a look on the official website. Now, I have got an article about the changing of the guard, I will link to that. Again, that has a link into the official um official website where you can find out because you can also find out who is involved with the change of the guard, yeah, that's right. Um, which is really, really good. Um, now I would say, you know, again, for changing the guard, you need and that actually that article gives you loads of tips, but arriving early is really important. That's right. It gets so crowded, it is really, really crowded. Yeah, there are a few places where you can stand, you can watch it. Um, I mean, I would recommend honestly, if to do this is best with a tour. And I you know, Robin, you went out with Robin's fantastic walk and his tour of um of the changing of the guard and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is because part of what Robin's walk is, he gives you those little tips as to where to stand or where not to stand, whichever way you want to look at it, and where the best points are to just catch that good photo and that good video. You know, we were right at the front because he had his own good time, and just as coming out of the barracks, oh, it's absolutely perfect. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And um also I recently did a uh uh small uh tour with uh Walks and Devour, uh which started with the Changing of the Guard, which was absolutely fantastic. In fact, they do one Changing of the Guard with Westminster Abbey, and the one I did was um was Changing of the Guard and then uh walking through and along through High Park and then to Kensington Palace and then afternoon tea, the Orange Ruy, which we're gonna talk a little bit more about um afternoon tea. Um so that's a really good one as well. So you've got choices there. You've got obviously the smaller private tours um with walks and dove or the small group tours that walks and do our do too, and then Robin does a specific kind of it's a larger group walk and tour as well. Yeah, um, so it depends what you want, but I would recommend probably doing a walk and tour because you also learn about what's happening. Well, just gonna say that uh Robin on the Fantastic Walks, he's not to mention a great character and makes it you know it's a lot of fun, but he's incredibly knowledgeable and shared lots of facts and figures and information and yeah, yeah. So uh because I think if you don't do it, if you don't do it, if you just kind of turn up, it can be a bit confusing, you're not necessarily sure of what you're seeing. Uh you get to experience the pomp and ceremony of it, but you can't you probably just can tick it off and say, Yeah, I've been, but you probably won't be able to talk much more about it. Oh, it's a good memory-making opportunity, really isn't it? So it's really important. Um, so also things to consider when we're talking about attractions and uh things that you're only going to find in London um is uh the beef eaters at the Tower of London. Yeah, they are yeah, it's it's an interesting name, isn't it? I'm not sure what because we're in we're English and we grew up knowing who they are, but I wonder how people from overseas or what are their thought processes when they hear the word beef eater. Yeah, well, um I did a bit of research into this and apparently well, there's lots of there's no kind of definitive like conclusion or agreement on why they're called beef eaters but whether they were actually paid in beef and then that that's what they're paid in meat I don't know um but basically so this is this is tip number six um only in London are you gonna find the beef eaters or otherwise known as yeoman warders who live in the Tower of London and a lot of people don't know that that actually that that's where they live that's right right next

Tower Of London Beefeaters Explained

22:26

door to the ravens no I don't know that I made that up well that don't there is a there is a raven one of the year warders is a raven he's a raven master yeah master are they gonna tell me if we say master because of my accent yeah master anyways who's in charge of the ravens but yeah so so basically the yeoman warders or beefers live when they're when they are a yeoman warder that's where they have to live so that their accommodation comes with that job yeah um I think there's about 40 odd of them now who do that including I think three or four women uh yeoman warders now um but what what I've really enjoyed and this is we've done a few tours now with Walks and about in the Tower of London and the VRP closing ceremony I talk about this all the time I know but you know that's what I loved about that because you get to spend some quality time with a yeoman warder and you can ask them questions. Yeah they're not tall guys these are that they have been serving members of the British forces yeah and so yeah it's a it's a bit of a process to become a yeoman warder. So not only do they have to go through the interview process and then get offered the place to be a yeoman warder but actually when I was talking to one of the women uh newest women uh yeoman warders uh maybe a couple of years ago and she was still on that six month period where they they have to learn so and they get tested on all the history um so the amount of knowledge so that you should be able to ask them anything really about the Tower of London they should be able to answer it because they they've got to learn all this history um and they they're generally very approachable because you can go and ask them questions but the nice thing about that VR Peter is you kind of get the year and awarded yourself and you can ask them anything. Yeah and so like you know there's a pub did you know there was a pub in the Tower of London so they've got pub there they they move in with their families so if they've got kids the kids also move in and actually one of the year awarders telling us it's like they they have a different password every night so they've got to make sure that they or maybe it's every week that that their kids know the password. So if they go out as obviously as they get older and teenagers and they want to go out and out and about in London is that after a certain point it closes I mean we've been there so that closing ceremony um they have to know what the password is otherwise they won't get allowed in I know they won't get allowed back home so so it's really interesting they have pets because I know the last time we were talking to the year I think it was a mat that we had was talking about one of the kit or a kitten that had a new kitten and it got locked in one of the in one of the towers um and so it it made a bit of a kind of made a bit of a story in the in the uh newspapers didn't it this this cat um and also if you look over if you look over some of the walls like round the Tower of London so it's still inside the Tower of London um you'll see they've got little gardens. Yeah that's right uh you know you can see washing hanging out sometimes well gonna need it yeah so I don't right I'm gonna ask you this would you if you I mean I know you couldn't qualify because you haven't been a member of the servant forces in in the UK but would you want to live in the Tower of London? Probably not no why would you not want to um might be a bit spooky. That's exactly the reason I wouldn't want to so because there's all they tell you all the ghost stories and I'm like you know what I don't think I want to live place where live somewhere where so many people have had their head chopped off. That's true. So but anyway if you want to find out more about the beef eaters aka the yearman warders I'd highly recommend booking that VIP closing ceremony of the Tower of London Walks and do out because it's to get the most of that Tower of London but I kind of want to share that because you if you go in the Tower of London you're gonna get a free it's about 20 25 minute tour from a from a beef eater. Now if you're nosy like me who likes to know about people and how they live and and how they ended up and the circumstances they're in and what what's good about it and what's you know all the inside gossip then the VIP toe is the way to get that. I will point out as well the bee feeders they're all very charismatic. Yeah. Yeah they've all got very very good dis different personalities though I have to say um but yeah really good. I'm I interested I we haven't so far when we've done the VIP to had the Raven Master I know people have that been on it and I'll like I I've loved the bee feeders we've had I think we've done the chat two or three times now but I really would like to go on it with a with the Raven Master because I love those ravens. Yeah like to know a little bit more about them. Right tip number seven or something that you won't know that you probably will be planning to do when you're in London is to get a photo with a red phone booth. Now those red phone boxes are so iconic you know you think about them when you think about the UK you think about them in London. There's obviously places you can stand like Parliament Square where you've got the phone box and then you've got Big Ben or the Elizabeth Tower in the background and everybody wants to have the photograph there. So and I actually have got an article on the LondonTravelplanning.com website which tells you where all the best places are to get with a red phone box to have your photo taken um but there was one thing that we did want to talk about um just a tip really is like have the photo taken from the outside don't open it don't well there's a reason I said why would why we're saying not necessary to open the door of it. There might be a bit niffy on the inside because unfortunately they sometimes get used as toilets and actually we were having a photo shoot at the Tower London a few years ago and what happened we went well we wanted to go inside no but a guy had actually got done a Wii he he had not on camera with us we wanted to go on the inside and with uh big smiles big smiles big smiles open the door we didn't have a big smile then uh no no uh no we didn't so yeah so just be conscious of that that really um have the photo you know at the phone booth and the outside of it if you want to have the photograph on the inside open it and just check gently open it yeah gently open and check because unfortunately that is holy breath that is generally well not generally but can they can be used as a toilet unfortunately so just check also what's quite interesting I will mention is that some um of the red phone booths are used for different things so you they'll find you might find a defibrillator inside that's right some have got little libraries inside little books yeah um more so outside of London you'll find that yeah yeah uh but I did want to mention that yeah so if you're outside of London travel around and check out because you won't find phones except there is a working phone at one of the ones on Parliament Square because we've been on a tour and somebody phoned it. Oh that's right yes yeah and it was answered I think that was quite funny in fact I think it was a tougher that phoned it I think it probably was that's um but yeah so just so just a couple of things so make sure you get your photos taken check out my article in London for the best places to get the best pictures with the red phones um but just be wary about opening it and standing inside it to have a photo taken if you really look you've got a phone box and a post box side by side as well. Yeah absolutely I've got yes I think I've got one of those actually in Stratford rather than London yeah I've got that um so point number eight want to talk is a little bit about black cab drivers and the knowledge now um if you've listened to any of the episodes with Ollie from Discover Real London you probably know a little bit more or a little bit already about the knowledge but basically um it's that London black cab drivers aren't like taxi drivers anywhere else in the world um because to get their license as a black cab driver they've got to pass something called the knowledge now that is a test that requires them to memorize every single street landmark hotel restaurant and point of interest within a six mile radius of Charing Cross which is a centre of London um without any no GPS no Google Maps nothing they have to memorize it and it takes them an average of three to four years to pass it. So you know and people say oh the black London cab trousers are a bit more expensive but honestly yeah they're

Phone Boxes Black Cabs And The Knowledge

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just for what they've done to pass it and also being in a black London cab is an experience. That's another iconic moment really you should do it and um and hail one as well yes well I was going to say that actually because yes you can get car share ride and app so there's there's there's Uber in London it's back in London so you can get Uber um and you can call them on your phone. Those you call on your phone but actually you hail a London yeah black cab so you have to if the light is on and you put your hand up as long as you're in a safe place for it to pull over then the black cab will pull over and you get in. Now if you want to have a little bit of an inspection of a black cab to see what it looks like I have gotten a video um with Ollie from Discovery London who shows us around it. In fact it's one of my most popular little short videos on YouTube um showing it around a black London cab um and how you know how much room there is on one how many people you can fit in it your luggage where it goes um so it's really good uh and also you can get stories from them as well about who famous people have picked up yeah usually quite chatty to be fair yeah um so I think if you want to have an experience in a black London cab which I honestly would recommend you do definitely have a listen to Ollie's episodes about Discover real London because it's basically they're black um they are black cab drivers who will take you on a tour of London so very popular is uh is the touchdown tour where they pick you up at Heathrow take you into London show you a lot of the main sites or orientate you into London itself and then they've got other themed tours and they've got Ted Lasso tour they've got um it discover London tour they've got a a what one for people who've been previously want to do a bit of more of the kind of like unknown stuff and I will also point out the they can actually drive some places that a var share cannot go. Oh yeah well they can drive in the in the bus lanes so they can get around London far faster faster you could they can park out I've still my favourite picture in London is a picture of me standing out talking about red red phone boxes actually standing next to Ollie's black cab next to a red phone box with Westminster Abbey in the background. Nobody else can park there but a black cab can park there and you can get these iconic photos um honestly it if you're in part of our Facebook group you probably all know already know about Ollie in Discovery London because everybody that does it absolutely raves about it absolutely raves about it. But we just wanted to kind of just give you a little bit of an idea of why black cabs are so special. Again I've actually got an article on the london travelplanning.com website and I will just say I really really really appreciate if you're listening to this to do check out our website um because obviously there's been lots of changes with Google and AI and things recently and actually um people aren't looking or can't find our website anymore which is really sad and just think we've spent so much time effort and money putting together these wonderful articles um which nobody can find so if you listen to this article and you think I want to know a little bit more about transportation in London or the London sites or how to get around everything is on the LondonTravelplanning.com uh website next shall we talk about practical things just so some interesting practical things uh number nine actually is about afternoon tea afternoon tea very we're not gonna get into because there there's a bit of a discussion that Doug will have and Doug and I will have before we start the podcast about afternoon tea versus high tea now we know in certain countries um aka Australia yes I'm pointing a finger at you all yours either include her is um is that afternoon tea and high tea that the term is interchangeable um it isn't no um afternoon tea is different from high tea um I'm not actually going to go into the differences because we're gonna do a whole article about afternoon tea at some point um to talk about it um but yes there is a difference between afternoon tea and high tea so what you'll find in London is afternoon tea what you'll find actually across the UK is afternoon tea um now and that is not a cream tea that's another one that's different again because cream tea is just scones cream jam and a pot of tea that's all you get afternoon tea is different because you're gonna get your sack from like little sandwiches and savouries

Afternoon Tea Traditions And Booking Tips

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then you get scorns then you have cakes and pastries and obviously you have endless cups of tea. Yeah that's right um so and that that's kind of the order that you eat them in that's the kind of expectation um and you'll get it on like a three tier um plate system um so what what I specifically want to talk about afternoon tea a couple of things really because we get asked questions a lot about afternoon tea um and it is something I love doing anywhere in the UK love afternoon teas. My jeans don't like the fact that I do afternoon teas I've just tried them on they're a little bit tight um is there's a few things to note one is that there are two two types generally that you can have one is the traditional afternoon tea so that is you know general afternoon tea that you that you assume and that you imagine that you expect the other one it's actually the same but it's themed so they take the traditional afternoon theme idea of the sandwiches and the cake and the scon but they theme it um and so we've been to a couple of themed ones we went to Peter Pan yeah that was really good yeah I became a little boy again yeah you really enjoyed that one uh that was Lovely at the shard um I I've done the Alice in Wonderland one which was really cool again everything's kind of themed around yeah around you know Alice in Wonderland or Peter Pan so it was we had uh but they're fun that's the thing they are fun they're fun like it's Charlie and the chocolate factory one there's Bridgeton one uh Harry Potter one there's just loads and there's lots of different like floral ones seasonal um so you also 1940s ones it's like aerial ones as well come across there's just so many honestly um so many different afternoon teas um and so the best thing to do is when you think okay I want an afternoon tea is well what sort of afternoon tea do you want the traditional type you know going to the Ritz um and having an afternoon tea or Fortnite and Mason which I've done again Fortnite Mason afternoon traditional afternoon tea or do you want something that's themed around something you love you know if you're a Bridgetton fan yeah maybe go to a Bridgetton afternoon tea um you know how Harry Potter go to a Harry Potter one Alice and Underland I was invited to the Alice in Wonderland um tea by the Paddington Bear one there's a Paddington Bear one yeah so you know if you want a themed one which is fun go and do that. Now I will say that they've been varying price but they're not cheap. Generally they're not cheap. You know I I was looking the other day actually because I'd like to do uh Fortner and Mason and it's I've done the one before in the Royal Exchange um but I'd like to do the the one um at Piccadilly circus and it's uh £80 each yeah I did I did kind of go price with the family it's expensive um but you know what it's a lovely experience to have um so yes so choosing that traditional versus your themed um what's your budget is have a look because lots of I mean if I start we've got an article about different themed and after um traditional afternoon teas we have got an article I could probably add another 50 to it yeah um but I kind of just went for the most popular ones but um other thing do is you need to book in advance absolutely book in advance don't assume that you're gonna be able to get in for an afternoon tea you've decided going to do it tomorrow that's not gonna happen um also another thing to mention is you will be asked about dietary requirements yeah um again in my article I've tried to put in um you know gluten free uh options dairy free options um but you know really depending on which afternoon tea you plan to do the best thing to do is to make sure you you read all the information on the website that's right also about um any um clothing sort of uh yeah you know applications as regards how smart you need to be how smart you need to be really yeah but I'd to be honest I think most I I would say and I've done quite a few in London we've done quite a few in London that but they're pretty pretty laid back uh except some like the Rits wouldn't be I'm saying that when we did the Peter Pan one that was pretty smart just no trainers I think yeah yeah no trainers no shorts or something yeah I think so it's just uh just always check the the kind of dress requirements because you may need to think when you're planning your packing before you go do you need to take something a little bit more special if you're gonna go out for that that afternoon tea but a lot of them are are fairly relaxed isn't there a lot of tourists do them and but also I am also going to tackle this as well because I've been I and I've seen this on a few Facebook groups where people being asking about afternoon tea and then and then other Brits are going well we don't do afternoon tea it's not should not something that we do actually I will I I will debunk that myth because that's rubbish. It is rubbish because we all love afternoon teas when my mum turned 80 where did I take her for an afternoon tea? Yeah that's right um so I don't know whether these people that say that that that it's not a British thing we don't do afternoon teas I I totally disagree with you. No I do you can get in touch with me and speak via speak pipe if you want to have that discussion but afternoon tea is such a thing. Yeah I can honestly say I know lots of people have gone because I'm not from London so Miss Tracy's not but I know a lot of people have gone down to London specifically having an afternoon as tourist and that always includes having an afternoon tea. Yeah and I mean the Rits is kind of the top of the tree for us isn't it not always say you're gonna go to that I haven't been to the Rits I'd love to go to the Rits uh hi if anybody at the Ritz would like to invite Doug and I for afternoon tea please get in touch. Most definitely we'd love to do the Ritz afternoon tea I do like Victoria sponge but I had that in just that yeah um yeah and we're gonna do we will we will put together something about just generally about afternoon tea in the UK um because we've tried lots of lots of different ones I actually I don't know if I should tell you this because you're gonna be jealous. I when I was in Edinburgh I did the Queen Charlotte room you didn't without me I did um but it that was great um that was amazing so yeah I'm always trying to squeeze in an afternoon tea when I can tip number 10 um a little bit about Sunday in London because it can feel different um that's true and it I can catch people out this actually I was talking to Melissa who you know just gone back to um Pittsburgh that I spent 10 days when she was visiting the UK with and she'd gone shopping at 11 she'd got to get an another suitcase um to to to put all her stuff in the case she was on that at some point and she went to TK Maxx and she was looking around I think it opened at 11. TK Maxx is a store. Yeah it's an American as well and it's in Australia we have it everywhere I think anyway big big store they went and she went to buy a suitcase and I think she'd found one and she went to the tail and they went no you can't buy it and she went what do you mean you can't buy it and they were like well you can but you can't buy it until 12 so a lot of the larger stores will let will open at 11 let you browse that's what it's for

Sundays In London Plus Service Charges

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but you can't actually purchase anything until 12 yeah um because there is restricted trading hours on Sundays for larger stores. Yeah um so that's important to just keep an eye on that one thing as well actually I did uh a chat a walk from um borough market with Melissa we went over to the city of London and she commented just how quiet it was yeah it was complete contrast to Borough Market which was manic yes um and went over to the because the city of London is busy in the week when people are going there to work. So you say less traffic is what you're saying. No less people that's everything just less that's everything it was really really quiet because it's an area where people go to work. Yes that's right um and so we were wandering around the city of London and it was actually really really quiet compared to a lot of other places in London. So that's something to if crowds you're not you're not a big fan of crowds it's a good day to travel well that's what we did because um we were at Borough Market where it was incredibly crowded which is typical for us that Saturday Sunday which was a bit which it was hot as well so it was a bit over the top but uh and then having that stroll across we actually walked across the Millennium Bridge and then over past St. Paul's up to Postman's Park and then actually then we got a bus to Covent Garden but that was really nice after the hectic craziness of Borough Market to go and have something a bit where it's a bit quieter. So you know if you want to go um somewhere like St. Dunstan's in the East where a lot of people want to go and have a photo because it is beautiful then go at the weekend because it'll be quieter in terms of the you're not going to get all the people city of London go and have the the sandwiches on the benches. That's true. Which they do enjoy or photo shoots. Yeah yeah yeah um other thing I just mentioned about uh eating on a Sunday as well is that if you want to have a Sunday roast in London make sure that you book it. Yeah because they are popular it's very British um and a lot of places will stop the kitchens are closed earlier or meals will get sold out for example a Sunday roast will get sold sold out. Yeah I mean so some places do have a second sitting like tea time evening time but not all can't count on it. Yeah it's just a check I think the main thing is that it's it's to check what you're gonna do like say if you're thinking oh the Sunday I'm gonna spend the whole day shopping or probably not because it's restricted hours so you're not gonna be able to you know you can go browse and then buy all the things that you want yeah um but just check things what things are closed and opening times and stuff like that. That's right yeah uh for Sundays um just you know so you you know what you do when and things like you know Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's they have you know the working churches so they've got yeah there'll be worship times as well exactly so it's it's just making sure that you you check that out that's right um but Sundays are lovely times to have a walk through the parks go and see some of the gardens uh museums yeah just having a I yeah I love just wandering around on a Sunday in London and obviously you've got the markets as well you can go to yeah um tip number eleven I want to just talk about because ti tipping actually that that works tipping comes up a lot we're asked about tipping I think we've talked about it in the previous some people uncomfortable this part yeah mainly British people because we're funny about tipping we're funny about money we're funny about we don't like talk about money no now what you and I have noticed I've been double checking this because I've been asked about this all the time is basically um I I haven't been to a London restaurant this this time that hasn't added on a service charge generally about 12.5%, you know, it will be added onto the bill. And if you can if you want, you can ask them to remove that. It's an optional, it's not an absolute have to. And that's your tip. So if you want, you could take the 12.5% service charge off, and then you could tip your waiter or waitress separately if you wanted to. If you carry in cash. Because otherwise you could get charged for the service charge, and then if you tip on top, then you've tipped twice. Because it wouldn't tell you. The likelihood is the would not tell you it had been added on, you'd have to see on the machine that it's there. Yeah. Yeah. But you need to just check if it's a discretionary service charge. Discretionary or not, yeah. And you know, if that's something that you can you can take off if they've ever added it on. Obviously, I guess sometimes it's not a discretionary charge that they just have added that on. And sometimes they make that clear on the menu saying, you know, a service charge of 12.5% will be added on. Yeah. It's just checking if that's discretionary. If you can doubt, you can always ask. Well, I know I actually I was out with Terry and Melissa. We went out to to we went out a couple well Sunday a few weeks ago. And um actually Terry's friend. Yeah, Terry asked for the 12.5% to be taken off. It was discussion, yeah. She removed that. Um I'm sure she did. Yeah, I'm fairly sure she did. Um so you know, you can then add on what you want, it's up to you. Um yeah, so obviously we talked about if you're in a pub, you don't tip. It's not expected. No, you don't tip because you'll be ordering at the bar. Yeah. And again, uh taxis, you know, you can just round it up. Um that's what I do. But again, tipping is one of those ones, and I I there's a bit of a funny thing where people say, Um, or you know, you don't have to tip at all, or people go, Yes, you have to tip, and then some British people say no, some people British people say yes, yeah, some people get really angry about the whole thing of tipping, some people just feel uncomfortable when they don't tip, and I we understand that it can be a bit of a you've you can feel it depending on the tipping culture from where you come from. Just gonna say that, yeah. You notice the differences when you're on a tour, the people from different places as to the who will tip, yeah. Yeah, at the end, yeah. Well, I will always say that we, even though we're British, we really appreciate if if you would like to tip us for any any of our advice or help that we've given you, um, it's always uncomfortable for us to talk about, but we do appreciate it. I've got less uncomfortable about talking about it, to be perfectly honest. Um, so I I'm very happy to take a tip. I'm very happy to take if you want to you don't want a tip and you feel like you'd want to sponsor the podcast instead, you can sponsor us if you would like to say thank you. If you just want to say thank you, you can like verbally, you can leave it via speed pipe and go thank you, Tracy and Doug, for all your wonderful podcast. Um you can do what you want, but uh I've got less I've got less uncomfortable talking about tipping. Less British, less British about talking about tipping. Um but again, I also don't judge, so if you want to tip, tip, if you don't want to tip, don't tip. It's it it's it's up to you. People have expectations, and the when I talk to people in London that they know that some countries will tip more than others, true, but again, they're not gonna go not gonna judge you on it. Um and then the last thing I want to talk about is the pronunciation. This is such a funny one. I just want I had to talk about this. Um and and this is no way criticising anybody. I'm gonna say this is no way meant to cause any. I'm not I'm not criticising anybody for mispronunciation because I can mispronunciate. And I know I've probably mispronunciated mispronunciation. Yeah, I can't say that. Um but yeah, even as British people, you know, we go down to London and we get it wrong. Oh, I have to say the one that we uh the one that confuses me the most is what and is Merrillbone or Marlabone. Every single time I say this word, I mean I've gone in now to Merlebone station many, many, many times, and I am on this trip as well. And I can guarantee if anybody's listened to um any of my YouTube videos, and if I ever mention the word, you'll think, why is Doug saying that same station

London Names We All Mispronounce

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different every single time he says it? It's because Doug gets it wrong. Because he doesn't know. I think Londoners disagree about how you how to pronounce Marlabone. I think so too. So it's spelled M-A-R like Mary and and L E and then Bone. Yeah. So I Mary LeBone, Mary Labone, Marlabone, any of those, right? So I that's what I'm starting with because I just generally, if you're if if you're a Londoner, like in like born and bred Londoner and you're you're 100% sure how to pronounce that, please get back onto us and let us know. Um because I I just guess all the time. Since I was a kid, that one's always been like, how do you pronounce that? Well, my when I was working on the railway, it was mispronounced. Right. So, you know. Right, these these next ones we do pronounce correctly. Okay. Right, so next one, Leicester Square. That's Leicester Square. L-E-I-C-E-S-T-E-R, not Leicester. Leicester. Um which I have to say mm we hear more from Australians than anything else. Because it has a different meaning as well, doesn't it? Does it? No, that's Manchester, you think. Manchester, Leicester, yeah. No, Manchester's got a different meaning in Australia. It means like Bedding. Is it? Yeah. I don't think Leicester has a different meaning. I think I think there is. Is it? Oh, I don't know. If any of us is listening to pop that out to us, leave us a message and either correct me or back me up. I bother you back me up, but if you if you want to criticize. Right, so Leicester Square, not Leicester, Leicester Square. You know what? We should do this on Instagram. Uh this would be funny. Yeah. Right, next one is Greenwich, right? So that's spelt Greenwich. So it's not Greenwich. Not Greenwich. It's Greenwich. Yeah. Um the next one is um Southwark. South, yeah. We agree on these ones, right? Yeah, we do. Well, we know these are correct. So and it's spelt Southwark, uh W A R K. Um, and it's actually Southwark. Yes. Right. So that's that one. Um, another one, and I pronounced this one wrong as well occasionally. It's it's um H-O-L-B-O-R-N. So Holborn, it's actually Hoburn. Yeah, I say Hoburn. Yeah, yours you say that one correctly, but um this is the one that says St. Pancreas, so you won't be the first on that one. And Houston. Houston, yes. Actually, you should bring these up because the train stations, I mean I used to say St. Pancreas for ages. I know it's obviously St. Pancreas. The one on the on your list is the ones outside on the Slough, which is a difficult one because if there's any nurses listing, the word is spelled slough. And we all know what slough is if you're a nurse. I don't know what slough is. I don't want to know, does it sound nice? No, uh slough. So yeah, so so Holbourne is actually Hoburn, Hoburn. Hoburn, yeah. Uh it's spelled H-O-L-B-U-R-N. Then another one is um Tottenham Court Road or Tottenham. Tottenham, yeah. Tottenham. Not Tottenham. Not Tottenham, yeah. Which is how you'd when you see it, you would see it, you'd want to say Tottenham. Anyone who sports any English football, they'll know that Tottenham is a how you say that. Um so if you've listened, you know what? I I I I think I should put the list in the show notes. I'd love for you guys to get in touch and and say how you would pronounce these places. It's many more than that. I mean, that's just a selection. There's so many more. There is I honestly think we should do a series on on uh YouTube or Instagram on this, because it'd be it's But there's no guarantees because neither of us are from London, so there's no guarantees that we actually say everything right. Well, we'll say those ones right. Just Marlbone, I'm not sure about that. No, I'll never get that one out. And again, it's like different accents across the UK as well. So well that's right, yeah. Best things to ask ask uh ask a Londoner, they'll be able to tell you how to pronounce it. But I I mean we're sure about Leicester Square, sure about Greenwich, South, Hoburn, and Tottencourt Road. Just Mary Lebone. Just Marlebone is a bit of an interesting one. Marlebone, Marylebone, one of them something like that. Um anyway, so those were really the kind of things we wanted to go through in this episode. Yes. We hope we had a bit of fun. As always. We hope that you've enjoyed it and that you've kind of got some useful information for your London trip. Yeah. Um we've had some great stories shared in the Facebook group as well. So if you if you're in a Facebook group, come and give us some ideas of things that you confused you with when you arrived in London. Oh, there must be must be dozens more topics we could find and cover. Oh, you know something, it's not confusion, but the thing that gets is looking the right way when you're crossing the street. Because it depends on the where which country you come from, whichever side of the road you drive on. That is true, that is true. Um and we've had that in other countries when it's a different, yeah, different way of driving on the road. I mean, some countries that the the seem to drive on both sides doesn't seem to matter. But um, yeah, so again, I'll say if you if you want to listen to something similar to this episode but specific about the UK, um, then episode 198 is the one to listen to. Um, but yeah, so I will link to London Travel Plan, I'll link to some of those articles, I'll link to the Walks and Devour VIP Um closing ceremony of the Tower of London, also link to um some of the those walk and tours for the uh changing of the guard. What else did I say I was gonna uh mention? Oh, Discover Real London Black Cab Tours, I'll also link to that. Um, yeah, otherwise, I think uh that was quite an interesting fun episode to do, Doug. Most definitely. I enjoyed that. Yeah, so um we're gonna sign off um as always, and as I say, if you'd like to give us a tip or if you'd like to support the work that we do every week, um then there is a tip your guide button on the website, um, and also uh a way that you if you'd like to uh sponsor the podcast, you can do that from as little as three US dollars a month. Yes, and thank you to the ones that already do. Yes, thank you very, very much. Huge shout out to those of you who support us. We really, really appreciate it. Anyway, that is uh all for this week, and I'm gonna sign off and uh and duck two, and until next week, happy UK travel planning! Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the UK Travel Planning Podcast. As always, show notes can be found at uktravelplanning.com. If you've enjoyed the show, why not leave us feedback via text or a review on your favourite podcast app? We love to hear from you, and you never know, you may receive a shout out in a future episode. But as always, that just leaves me to say until next week, happy UK travel planning.