by meganfernandez Starting this since we are an international group and could provide good advice.

I'm going to London in early May for the first time and looking for hotel/rental suggestions. There will be 5 adult women - all related - and we're open to about anything that's not more than $400/night/room (or $700-ish for a 2BR rental), a great little B&B (love the looks of Lime Tree Inn and Sloane Club apartments), a cottage, or a really great budget hotel that's quiet in a good neighborhood. Open to staying a little farther out, too, and using public transportation.

Is Belgravia a good area to stay in? What about Battersea?

We have a fairly full schedule, starting with a Wimbledon tour, of course. I'd love suggestions on where else to stop in Wimbledon, any other tennis points of interest in London (any great stores?), and your very favorite spot in London, be it a bar, restaurant, block, shop, gallery, landmark, reading room, anything.

Thanks!

by Suliso Hi Megan, I wanted to answer to your post but forgot that day :(

I can't really say much about accommodation, but wanted to say that you should just walk through parks in central London (St James in particular). Some of the best urban parks there are. If you've got a day to spare Royal Botanical gardens at Kew are amazing.

Totally unrelated to your post: I was booking an apartment in Liguria in June (we're attending a wedding) on Airbnb and continued to browse luxury properties for no particular reason. Found a place in Turks and Caicos for 36,000 $/night :shock: I just wonder is anyone really booking places like that just via Airbnb...

by ponchi101 Megan.
The National Gallery is a must. Cliche and all, it is impressive.
I haven't been in London in ages and I can't go to Britain w/o a visa, so I decided they can KMA. Several other great cities in Europe I can go to.
But London is wonderful.

by Suliso This is a great travel video about a place in China even most Chinese haven't heard off made by a Chinese traveler (not from that area). Most of us have been to a Chinese restaurant and some perhaps to metropolitan China as well, but food here is nothing like that.



Actually the whole channel shows the lesser known places in China for English speaking audience. Sometimes few places in neighboring countries as well.

by ashkor87
meganfernandez wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2024 12:42 am Starting this since we are an international group and could provide good advice.

I'm going to London in early May for the first time and looking for hotel/rental suggestions. There will be 5 adult women - all related - and we're open to about anything that's not more than $400/night/room (or $700-ish for a 2BR rental), a great little B&B (love the looks of Lime Tree Inn and Sloane Club apartments), a cottage, or a really great budget hotel that's quiet in a good neighborhood. Open to staying a little farther out, too, and using public transportation.

Is Belgravia a good area to stay in? What about Battersea?

We have a fairly full schedule, starting with a Wimbledon tour, of course. I'd love suggestions on where else to stop in Wimbledon, any other tennis points of interest in London (any great stores?), and your very favorite spot in London, be it a bar, restaurant, block, shop, gallery, landmark, reading room, anything.

Thanks!
Our son has got us tickets to Queens so now we will have to go! Finals.

by ashkor87 Our son lives in London and is an expert on London and tennis both .he got us tickets to Queens so we will have to go,! I can DM you his contact if you like

by JTContinental
ponchi101 wrote: Sun Feb 11, 2024 12:20 pm Megan.
The National Gallery is a must. Cliche and all, it is impressive.
I haven't been in London in ages and I can't go to Britain w/o a visa, so I decided they can KMA. Several other great cities in Europe I can go to.
But London is wonderful.
I also really liked the Tate Modern.

It's also totally worth it to walk up all 528 steps of the dome in St Paul's for the view at the top.

by meganfernandez
ashkor87 wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2024 8:14 am Our son lives in London and is an expert on London and tennis both .he got us tickets to Queens so we will have to go,! I can DM you his contact if you like
Sure, thank you. I'm curious about any other tennis sites to see!
JTContinental wrote: Mon Mar 11, 2024 9:30 am
ponchi101 wrote: Sun Feb 11, 2024 12:20 pm Megan.
The National Gallery is a must. Cliche and all, it is impressive.
I haven't been in London in ages and I can't go to Britain w/o a visa, so I decided they can KMA. Several other great cities in Europe I can go to.
But London is wonderful.
I also really liked the Tate Modern.

It's also totally worth it to walk up all 528 steps of the dome in St Paul's for the view at the top.

Thanks! I love a climb and view! Thanks for both of these suggestions, and others for the parks and National Gallery suggestions! On my list!

by ashkor87 the much reviled British Museum and the Tate, plus Kew Gardens.. there are still deer at Richmond Park, I believe..
we are going to do a tour of the ancient trees of England, in early June

by Suliso
ashkor87 wrote: Tue Mar 12, 2024 8:22 am we are going to do a tour of the ancient trees of England, in early June
Ancient trees? Tell us more... Where exactly are they and why particularly interesting?

I've done a little bit of traveling in rural England far from London. Could be nice.

by ashkor87 Saw an article in Guardian..will post it here in a bit


by meganfernandez
I love this. I'm equally fascinated with trees.

by Suliso We'll be off to Caribbean for two weeks exactly a week from now. Really looking forward to it. I've never been to this part of the world.

by Suliso I was just thinking what kind of vacation destinations are popular at work beyond visiting family (have colleagues from as far away as LA). Seems like Vietnam is popular now (3 cases). Also several recently went to NYC and an office mate should be back from Mexico next week. Of course Spain and Italy always high on the list as it's not far away. For more exotic a lady from the office planing diving and island hoping around French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora etc).

by Fastbackss Well, we bought the tickets and started making hotel reservations so I guess will happen.
Going with the Mrs to Greece this summer. Looks like itinerary will be few days Athens, few days Santorini, few days Athens.

by ashkor87
Fastbackss wrote: Fri Mar 29, 2024 1:32 am Well, we bought the tickets and started making hotel reservations so I guess will happen.
Going with the Mrs to Greece this summer. Looks like itinerary will be few days Athens, few days Santorini, few days Athens.
Crete is worth a visit too..great hikes, and even older than Athens etc

by Fastbackss I wanted to do that.

Or Mykonos as well.

Both were suggested by me.

I was outvoted 1-1, hence why we are not going...

by Suliso Santorini is cute, but will be very crowded and expensive in summer...

We're in Dominica this week. Like it a lot here.

Beagle_channel.jpg
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by ponchi101 I finished my shift and had to disembark last week. We did so in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. To reach it, we navigated the Beagle Channel, retracing the steps (strokes?) of my hero, Charles Darwin.
An impressive display by nature.
Beagle_channel.jpg

by ashkor87
ponchi101 wrote: Sat Mar 30, 2024 3:02 pm I finished my shift and had to disembark last week. We did so in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. To reach it, we navigated the Beagle Channel, retracing the steps (strokes?) of my hero, Charles Darwin.
An impressive display by nature.
wow! awesome!!