If you dont mind, I did want to ask all of you, (hereafter refered to as experts ) about some travel tips to London. I will likely be going over Memorial Day weekend (leaving Thursday evening May 20th and returning on the Monday the 24th). Does anyone know of any special travel deals. The best fare I can find for that time is around $400. Also, which of the Hiltons would you recommend there if any. I would prefer to use some of my Hhonors points to save on the room. I will be traveling with a friend so I have been reying to find companion deals as well. She is still a student and am trying to keep the airfare down for her. I will likely be leaving from EWR,PHL or LGA. The purpouse of the visit is pleasure and am looking to try and absorb some culture while I am there. Thanks in advance for any help. A few more weeks and I'll be close to 100 posts!!!

[This message has been edited by milesandpoints (edited 04-11-99).]

Milesandpoints: The pecking order for London Hilton's is:

* Conrad International London
* London Hilton on Park Lane
* Thd Langham Hilton London
* London Regents Park Hilton
* London Mews Hilton
* London Kensington Hilton

If you look at the Hilton thread, we have 'reviewed' most of these over the last 3 months.

If you want any further information on any of them, let me know.
Nick

Miles&Points... enjoy your London adventure and please post a trip report when you come back.

Merry is a good source of information. I wish I listened to him when booking my Hilton HOtel (I had to learn the hard way.)

Make sure to check with HIlton A.S.A.P. on available. This is near high season for tourists invading London so the top Hiltons may NOT have availability.

Another tip: save the money on the taxi fare and TAKE THE HEATHROW EXPRESS!!! FAST AND CLEAN AND RUNS ALMOST LIKE CLOCKWORK!

OMNI: If you have an hour or so... check out the London Transport Museum. It is travel related (about the history of London's underground, the buses, etc.) It's at Covent Garden. And don't do what I did is go for a half hour and end up spending nearly 2.5 hours. (I was like a child again!)

The Conrad located on the Thames is tops!
Spent a night in town a few years ago to see a play and was astounded at the suite and what went with it. Used 35,000 HHonors points. Lived in UK 4 years and traveled to London often. With proper planning you can see many of the normal tourist sites in 3/5 of a day. Key to this is taking a boat down river to the Tower from Parliment. It is narrated too. London has many fastastic
sights and would recommend looking for the offbeat after a quick tour of the "must sees".

Only help I can give you:

US Memorial Day is May 31st this year NOT the 24th!

Thanks for the advice so far. I'll call Hilton tommorow to check on availability. The Conrad sounds great, hopefully it's available. As far as Memorial Day goes, My MS outlook says's its the 24th, I'll have to double check that. Now, I'm off to find some decent airfares..

My calendar says Memorial Day is th 31st

------------------
DtG

Hmmm, MS outlook is wrong on my computer, Very Interesting... Thanks for keeping me alert, otherwise, well things could have been difficult.

Thanks again

Since everyone has been so helpful, I thought I'd give you an update on how my trip looks. First off, thants for the date time, Memorial Day is indeed the 31st.

I will be taking CO over from EWR to LGW for a fare of $451.60. I tried to use certs to make it a bit cheaper but apparently it is a Q fare and we all know what that means. I was also told I can't upgrade w/ miles on this fare either.

Anyone have any helpful tips on this two?

I'll try the President's club before I leave but I doubt they can do anything Internationally. I'm silver Elite so at least I'll get the 50% bonus miles. (I would really like to experience bus class though)

I'll be staying at either the Hilton in Gatwick or Heathrow. Those are the only two Hotels acxcepting Certificates for the 2 free weekend nights that weekend. I am told that the Heathrow Hilton is more convenient to Downtown and the ammenities look pretty nice. Unfortunatally we're flying into Gatwick, but it's gets in a 6:45 in the morning so it dosen't really make a difference anyway.

I'll be sure to post a report when I get back. This is actually my first time in Europe despite being in almost every state on this continent. It should be fun. Thanks again all.

You might want to check and see if CO's code-share on VS is available. I believe VS flies into both LGW and LHR from EWR.

Also, if your companion is a student, she is eligible for student fares from STA travel http://www.statravel.com. On those dates, they have a fare of $310 on VS to either LHR or LGW. VS also buys seats on CO flights from EWR to LGW.

Thanks Leroy. Unfortunatally, the CO codeshare rate is unavailable. I could fly VA for a little bit cheaper but then no miles ro status on VA. Actually, my companion is a student and is already using that deal. Thanks for the tip. (I think she uses Council Travel)

It actually might be more beneficial for you to stay at Gatwick. There is a direct train (the Gatwick Express) route which you can take into Victoria station - and there, you're in town. Trains run literally every 15 minutes.

Did you even try the Kensington Hilton or Regents Park Hilton?

Good luck!

Thanks Celstar, I'll try that. Also, 1 more thing, I have a choice of Flying a CO dc-10 of a Virgin Atlantic 747 on the way back. Which airline is better? Do the planes make a big difference. (I can have the 1st row of coach in each)

Oh, 1 more thing, I will be on a New 777 on CO going over. From what I hear they are very comfortable and have similar ammenities to VA, correct?

[This message has been edited by milesandpoints (edited 04-25-99).]

I would fly the Virgin flight, but book it under the CO banner (they are a codeshare partner with Continental)

Why? Well, the entire Virgin fleet has personal enterntainment systems at every seat in the entire plane. You can watch 20+ UNEDITED movie/tv channels, play nintendo, etc., all for FREE.

see: http://www.virginatlantic.com/usa/service/economy.htm

and: http://www.virginatlantic.com/usa/ent/ent.htm

Why book it under the codeshare? You can earn Continental one-pass miles.

[This message has been edited by steve100 (edited 04-25-99).]