bigguyinpasadena

We had a great week in London over the fourth of July weekend. Our journey began with me picking up my friend Letsgonow from LGB where he flew into from Portland Or. Traffic to LAX was a breeze and after parking the car we headed via shuttle to the TBIT. Checking in at the BA first desk was a snap and our luggage was taken to screening for us by a helpful porter while we zipped through security(no one else in line)and headed to the OW first lounge.

The One World first lounge is a sterile place all white and no views because the sheers on the window slits are permanently closed. No fun for plane spotters! The food was ok. Upon inspection of the C lounge next door we discover they are serving the exact same food. For those that like a drink or four the booze in the Flounge is free self serve and of good quality.

We both used the showers since we had been up all day and wanted to be fresh for our overnight flight.
Showers were very nice with Moulton Brown amenities.

The boarding was announced and we trekked across the length of the TBIT to our gate. Fortunately is was a real gate and not a remote stand. Boarding was smooth and we were soon getting settled into seats 2a and 2k of a 747. 7 of the 14 F seats were occupied. Chris our purser could not have been nicer. In fact all the flight crew was wonderful.
I do not care for the new Anna Hindmarch amenity kit very much. As it seems cheap and the goop inside has a definite feminine leaning. No men’s add-ons were available.

Soon after take off we were tucking into a very nice late supper. The food was very good and Chris was very generous with our servings. I tried to stay up to watch a movie but I soon found myself nodding. Went to brush my teeth and the seat had been made into a comfy bed with the new BA bedding package. I slept on and off till just before the breakfast service. Full English breakfast with a view of Ireland from the nose of a 747! That was great!

Our arrival into the new LHR and the BAA nonsense that strangles LHR was a rude one. The fast track clearance closes at 13oo hours. So we had to wait a good hour to get through security/customs . It was a bright and sunny afternoon and we bought our oyster cards at the HEX/tube desk and were soon on the Piccadilly line headed for London. We decided against the HEX since our hotel was a short walk away from the Hyde Park Corner tube stop and this meant no transfers.

We walked up Park Lane(Just lovely)to the Grosvenor House which would be our home for the week. Lovely large hotel. Very nice check in /upgraded to a large deluxe room-drop off bags-head for the Marble Arch stop to head to SoHo !

Priscilla Queen of the Desert was a wonderful romp of a musical-light and airy and so much fun. The costumes were fantastic the sets are imaginative and the performances great. Dinner that night is at a
Mcd’s near the hotel because,,,

WE HAD A HUGE PROBLEM!!!! We could not get any of the cash machines to give us any money! This was a recurrent problem and we did find workarounds but only once found an ATM that would give us cash-and then only once. I always advice folks to use local ATMs and make large withdrawals rather than numerous small ones. I had very little US currency on me-I will always have sufficient US cash on me when I travel in the future-it can always go back in the bank upon return.

Next morning we meet our guide from London Walks for our Oxford and Cotswolds tour. Richard our SUPER guide has a clever work around for a temporary solution to our cash crisis, He has Letsgonow charge the train tix and then gives him the cash(minus our fares)from his cash box. This gives us a little breathing room.

The London Walks company’s walking tours are great-I cannot recommend them highly enough. We took three of them.

The tour of Oxford and The Cotswold countryside was so beautiful and green. We happened to hit Oxford on ”Open day” when the new prospective students were roaming the campus. This was a very special treat and I am so happy we did this. There is more than enough to see in London-but this was well worth the time and money.

The rest of our week was crammed full of museums and sights to see. We also happened to be there for the London Pride parade and festival-which is a huge event. We did our bit of shopping and we both agree Selfridge’s was our favorite store in London with Liberty being next.

The Victoria and Albert Museum is a special place. I wish we had explore more of it. This was my favorite museum.

Also our walk along the Southbank starting at the Tate Modern and including a ride on The Eye was a wonderful time for both of us.

Our special treat dinner was at Binbendum in the Michelin House, An art deco treasure that serves a great “Sunday Roast”.

The weather the entire week was unseasonably hot and muggy. On some days it was warmer in London than it was in LA! On our last full day we did get drenched a few times in Summer showers.

The hotel turned out to be very well located. Really loved having so many parks and attractions so close by. We started every morning in the lounge plotting our day over breakfast. We only made it up for snacks in the evening a few times-but that was a nice break in the day. Our room was large with lots of storage and had a really nice large bathroom,

One thing that struck me was all of the wealth that resides still in London. It makes Beverly hills look like El Segundo! Rolls Royces, Bentlys , $400,000 Mercedes (ones we do not get in the US) just parked on the street! And so many shoppers on Oxford street and in Knightsbridge. True most of the stores were running sales but still,,,,,

Our day of departure saw us up too early. We walked to the tube station to find we still had 15 minutes before they opened. Got on the Piccadilly line(be careful-there are three separate lines) and headed to LHR=walking right past the place we needed to turn in our Oyster Cards for a refund-oh well next time-and into the huge T5 building. Just Massive soaring ceiling and so many BA counters. Finally finding the F check in desks we are relived of our luggage(mine was over-but nothing was said) pass thru security(easy very small line) and turn right into the Magic door that leads you into the Concorde room.

The Concorde room is very nice, very large and open. A little too open since twice I heard some unfortunates being denied access. It is for F passengers and a guest(and I am guessing VIP’s) only. One of the folks turned away merely wanted to use the magic door to access the Flounge and he was denied(after arguing with the reception desk for ten minutes (the time it would have taken to get to the Flounge the normal route..

We each took a shower(no great shakes)and signed up for a spa treatment and had some breakfast in the very nice dining room
The staff was very strange. All the servers/attendants were foreign and all seemed a little “off” in some way.
The Facial in the Massage chair was fantastic .I wish I could have stayed as relaxed as I was after I left the treatment room but fate had other plans,,,,

WHY BRITISH AIR CANNOT COMPARE TO LUFTHANSA
At least when it comes to the treatment of it’s premium cabin customers.

We asked the receptionist about our departure and asked how much time we would need to get the B gates from which our plane was departing. He told us it would be best to head over presently and we wait for our plane in the lounge over in B terminal.
We take the train to B, check in with the lounge receptionist who informs us that the plane will now be departing from A10.
Dash back to A terminal-and we have to go through security once more! Make it to A10 to find a total scrum of people-total chaos. ONE person in BA uniform surrounded by security(they made it quit clear that they did not work for BA)no premium boarding line-in fact no queue at all. Finally the woman kind of waves her hand and folks charge the stands, No boarding calls are made so all the crowd is in mass confusion. Turns out we were all being shoved onto busses and driven to a very far off remote boarding station. The bus drops us off, we are standing in the rain(a summer shower)waiting to climb the stairs to the 747.No staff is offering assistance of any kind to any passengers. In fact-no BA personnel has been present during any of this fiasco, I have contacted some folks a BA and will report back to this thread upon receipt of an explanation.

I have to compare this to my trip last year on Lufthansa first. Upon deplaning my flight from BCN I am met on the tarmac by a car and driver who drives both Letsgonow (who was traveling with me-but in Y) who drives us to the terminal and asks us if we need assistance with our bags inside the terminal. We are then driven from the main terminal to the F terminal(again we never touch our bags) where all is wonderful. When our flight is ready we are collected and taken to a private area for passport control and are then driven to the plane again-we do not need to touch our bags till we are at the door of the plane. That was first class treatment!

Anyway, once on board our full F cabin trying to dry ourselves off( the crew was not prepared for this) In seat 3 A and 3k and all is fine, Audrey and her crew did a great job of caring for us.
Upon arriving at the slap in the face that is LAX we have to wait 50 minutes for one of our ”priority” tagged bags and then stumble through the everlasting construction mess of TBIT. Thanks to flight delays and the delay with the luggage we made it back to the parking garage exactly 10 minutes into the charge for a new day.

Loved London-miss it already. Love the wonderful BA flight crew, but BAA and the BA ground staff really soured the whole FIRST experience for us.

ND76

Go over Thursday night, get back either Monday or Tuesday. I particularly like going over in February, when airfares are low and I can get a cheap deal in a hotel.

I love the sporting scene in the UK; I've attended seven different soccer venues in greater London, along with rugby union, rugby league, and even one day out at Lord's Cricket Ground, along with horse and greyhound racing.

I'm a Skyteam Guy, and the only drawback with them is that I have to go someplace other than a Washington-area airport to fly to the UK, not that I mind that too much.

Anyhow, I appreciated your trip report.

TravisMT81

Great report BGP, thanks for sharing!

1P

This is because nearly all European credit and debit cards now have chip-and-PIN, with a computer chip embedded on the card. Simply entering your PIN is how you pay in a store or obtain cash – nothing to sign. I have not yet seen any US credit or bank card with a chip. I don't know why they are not catching up with the rest of the world, who have had chip-and-PIN for several years now.

It makes traveling in Europe somewhat problematical. Many European stores and restaurants will still have a facility to give you an old-fashioned "sign the slip" transaction, but some can't. Paying on toll roads in Europe is an inexact science. Some toll companies accept US credit cards, some don't. If you can get hold of a European credit card in addition to the US one, it always makes life easier.

SkiAdcock

Except BigGuy was referring to the ATMs, not stores, and I doubt people going over just for a holiday think about getting European credit cards just because of the pin-n-chip scenario.

PS - I agree w/ bringing some cash to get you through things at least for the first day. I go to London quite a bit and normally have no problem w/ getting cash from ATMs. A couple of times though, even though I've used the same ATM card & same cash dispensers at LHR, I've had problems. Next time no problem, but w/o cash when it did occur, it was a bit tricky.

BigGuy, glad you had a great week (BA aside on the return) & thanks for the report! Cheers.

youreadyfreddie

Great trip report BG! Sorry to hear about the ATM problems. I've never had a problem with ATMs in the UK, and I usually am there at least twice a year, but I have had problems using my credit card in places like Boots where not all the cashiers know how to deal with a non-chip-and-pin card. I usually make sure I have about 200 GBP on me when I leave the UK so I have some walking around money the next time I'm over.

I love London, and yes July can be quite warm there.

srbrenna

The banks will guarantee payments on chip and PIN purchases. If the payee accepts a signature then they take the risk of the transaction failing so although this can be offered anywhere, not a lot of people offer it.

skye1

Great report!

Wondering if if the OP's account was locked after a second or third attempt: Some visitors find that their US-based bank will auto-lock their account after a few usage attempts in another country, for security reasons. The bank is just trying to look after its customers, as from the bank's point of view, it's the possibility that someone internationally has access to the account. Yeah, it's a hassle, but Usually a simple matter of a call or e-mail to the bank, prior to leaving the US, and it's settled.

Wondering which ATM's: the ones directly at a bank branch/office (Lloyds, HSBC, etc.) usually accept int'l cards w/o a hitch. The ones inside stores are another story.

One hassle is that US banks are charging conversion fees (usually a small percentage of the withdrawal). Didn't used to be this way, which made ATM withdrawals a hedge in front of credit cards (which have charged those conversion fees for some time).

bigguyinpasadena

My new Chase ATM card is"chipped and pinned"and worked fine as such when making purchases.
All of our attempts to get money was at major banks.And it was a fail from the start.
The reason I always do large cash withdrawls when traveling is to have one fee versus the many I had on this trip by having to charge almost all purchases on the card.

itsaboutthejourney

Great trip report, sorry to hear of your BA boarding hassles as the button on your trip, then again it sounds exactly like my usual SkyTeam experience in Europe.

Do I dare ask... what's letsgonow?

(pictures next time ok?)

chanp

Great report. London is one of my favorite cities! Cant wait to be back next month.

AJO

Don't let the people on the BA forum read this...

Night Flyer

I'm sure you considered this but I have occasionally found certain banks in Europe to have odd ATM limits that don't necessarily coincide with the limits set on your own account, although I've never experienced this in London (but never encountered an ATM in London that wouldn't give me cash, either). I found a conveniently located Eurobank ATM in Greece that would only give me 300 euros at a time, even though I'd withdrawn more at other banks in the area and even though 400 euros was a default choice on the screen, and the only message I received was "your transaction could not be processed." An immediate retry for 300 euros would be perfectly fine each time.

So your reference to large withdrawals makes me wonder if you might have run afoul of some such issue.

JCinNYC

Nice report! Glad you had lots of fun, too bad you had to experience BA's bad ground customer service. After all, no too many people are to thrilled about LHR.

I'm curious to know more details about Oxford's Open Day... sounds like a fun interesting experience!

bigguyinpasadena

"Do I dare ask... what's letsgonow?"
Both you and JC have met Letsgonow-in fact sat next to him at table.
He was the official photographer of the trip and hopefully will post a few photos.

JC "open Day" is an yearly event for prospective students.And yes it was as much fun as it sounds.