Casual to me isnt mom-and-pop, its places like Chi Chi's or PF Chang's or Melting Pot Fondue or Hibachi's. Mom and Pop is considered country places....like down home cooking.

Thanks for the replies...

Don't worry about the money, we are fully prepared for that (and $80 is kinda normal for us) ;)

Has anyone ever heard of a hotel called The Connaught? It's in Mayfair, reasonable by what we are looking at, and expedia rates it 5 stars (I am aware the standards are different there).

The Red Bus tour sounds kinda fun for a first timer, we'll probably try that, and the Tix booth sounds like the way to go for the show!

Hey, I'm going to London next month too!! My band, Southern Brew, and I will be over there touring. PM me for details if you wanna check us out!!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by AOIIBrandi

Has anyone ever heard of a hotel called The Connaught? It's in Mayfair, reasonable by what we are looking at, and expedia rates it 5 stars (I am aware the standards are different there).

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The Connaught is one of the grand old London hotels and one of the most expensive. Double check prices as you might be in for a surprise. It is really excellent but very pricy.
You should have dinner at Rules Restaurant for traditional and great English cooking. I generally get the smoked pheasant with pear chutney followed by vennison with a port glaze, then one of their traditional steamed puddings. Afterwards walk over to Covent Garden (one block away) and go to the Crusting Pipe for stilton and vintage port. As a seafood alternative Rules does excellent Irish oysters and fillet of wild Salmon. They have a very reasonable pre theatre dinner if you order by NLT six PM and afterwards they do regular dinners at full price. This is one of the very best English restaurants. You might also consider Simpsons in the Strand. Fantastic English roast beef carved from the trolly at tableside.
I would suggest lunch at The Old Bank Ale and Pie Shop right next to the Royal Courts of Justice. Around the corner on Chancery Lane there are two or three very good restaurants.
Afternoon tea is great fun for a visitor and most of the major hotels and Harrod's restaurant do these daily. Check ahead to see if reservations are needed.
In Mayfair you might check out The Red Lion Pub or the Audley, both good pubs and serve good lunches.
If your schedule permits take a day trip to Oxford. Do the walking tour (rent a student guide outside the University Church of St Mary's on the High street).
Pick up a good Guide Book to England and perhaps a London specific one as well. Fodor's is good and there are a bunch of others.
Depending on how much time you have you might want to hit the Selfriges food hall (or Harrod's) and pack a gourmet picknic lunch, a bottle of Champagne, and kick back in Hyde Park, Green Park, the Embankment, or any of the many other places. When you take the tour bus (highly recommended) you can pick out the places you want to concentrate on including where an al fresco or riparian lunch might be fun.
I went to school in the UK and got an MA there while on active duty right out of college. Please PM me if I can be of help in planning this trip.

In the Stuart Woods novels Reckless Abandon and Short Forever (I think those are the two), the hero, lawyer/investigator Stone Barrington, stays at the Connaught.

Take them along for the flight over and back. Pretty easy reads and total escapism.

I was just looking on Playbill.com and was disappointed at the shows playing in London because we've seen all of them I've even heard of. Guess we'll have to take a chance.

For lunch, I don't recommend McDonalds. The Big Mac I had in London was the worst I've ever had. Maybe you should listen to Dekeguy for that.

If you can, see "A Woman in Black." It's in one of the smaller theatres and you even can get same day tix at the discount box offices. My DH and I saw it a few years ago. It's been running in the West End for about 15 years and if it's still playing...YOU NEED TO SEE THIS!!

It's a thriller play with 2 actors...it's really spine-tingling and we left with goosebumps!! It was great!! You can't go wrong with English theatre!

I'm actually interested in seeing Mary Poppins if it's not sold out. I don't know why - just trying to re-live my childhood?

Thanks for the tip on McDonalds, I'll try to stay away :D


Dekeguy - Thanks for the tips, I will definitely keep them in mind!

If you like the music of Queen at all, you have to see "We Will Rock You." It's fantastic! Plus the theater is right at the Tottenham Court Road stop.

I did eat McDonalds in London and it was all right. They have some things there that they don't sell in the US. I had a pasta salad that was really good. The drink sizes are the old drink sizes from back when...a small there is a child-size here, medium is the size of a small, large is the equivalent of our medium.

If you're interested in Mary Poppins, you'll want to see if you can get tickets NOW as it is selling out fast! I just bought tix for August and most of the shows had very limited seats....can't wait to see it too!

Really, stay colse to the Tube or Undergound. Buy a pass get all over town. Fast and Cheap!:)

No Mom and Pops, they are called Pubs, and there are the many Pubs. Most have food and reasonable.:cool:

Take The Red Bus Tour to see and get an Idea where your berings are.

You can walk on most things or take The Tube to get to quick. Very well coded for Dummies!:D

Set out an agenda, and go like hell, there is so much to see and fun.

Take something to drink for when you get back to room and kick back!!! You will need it.:D

Oh, you can take a Ferry up The Thames to Greenwich and see the Clock where time is set in all of the world along with The Cutty Sark which is very near! Oh, a Whisky Named after it!:cool:

It is all History and a lot of it!

Tour and all of the Armour, at the Tower of London Henry The 8th, Wax Museum, British Museum, Buckingham, go to Windsor, it is Awesome.

God, I wish I was going with you!:D

This play scared the CRAP out of me when I saw it! But it is a great play if you're into suspense :)

The Half-Price Ticket Booth (which is what I think many have been referring to) is located in Leicester Square, which also has a number of restaurants around there (plus movie theaters, including the one where they hold the London premieres for movies). I highly recommend using the Half Price Ticket Booth - it was a student's favorite friend when going to London! :)

Now, I can't really recommend any hotels (as I was in college and studying for a semester in Cambridge when I was there), but one of the hostels that we stayed in was REALLY nice...I can't remember the name of it right now, but it was located in one of the parks, and within a short walk of a couple of tube stations (one had the yellow/green lines, the other had the - I think - red line)

The Big Bus tour is excellent - it's a hop on/hop off tour with three lines (red, blue, and green) that take you all around London and includes a boat ride on the Thames. I used the bus tour a few times when I'd go into London for a weekend to get pictures of all the great sites! :)

I don't know if the History museum and Churchill's War Room are the same place, but I definitely recommend the War Room - I went and saw it the first weekend I was there with a number of the other students in my group, and we all enjoyed it!

Man, I wish I was going back to London!!! :D

Thanks for all the replies. I think we have narrowed our search for a hotel to the following:

The Savoy
The Howard (Swissotel)
The Sheraton Park Lane

Any input would be great. The only downfall I can see to the Savoy is that it would be a Queen sized bed, and not a King (I am into being comfortable).

King sized beds (along with ice in drinks, air-conditioning, and cold beer) are not the norm in Europe. I'm sure you'll be fine. :)

Got some good news on our trip yesterday. Since Mrs. DA won it, we really don't have much input into arrangements, but the travel agency originally had us on United from Denver with a stop at Dulles and only about 45 minutes turn-around between flights.

Any of you who have flown through those two airports know that delays (particularly in the evenings when a lot of trans-Atlantic flights leave the East Coast) are not uncommon. Previous experience told me that the turn-around was dangerous.

Anyway, after we talked to them, they changed us to the non-stop British Air flights from Denver to Heathrow and back.

Much happier now.