Tips and tricks for London.

First off let me say, I am in no way a pro at visiting London - this blog is based off my personal experience and how my trip went!

Let me start by saying if you are coming from America, London is fairly easy to navigate and comprehend. There were a lot of similarities with streets, pricing, rules, etc... you catch on quick. Of course, London is also very different in ways. They use different words for things, the money is referred to as pounds and the overall mannerisms are just better. IMO.

Use the toilet before you leave:

Yes, some toilets cost to use, and they only use change. We ran into the issue of having to use the restroom and there was nowhere to go so if there's a free toilet near you, take advantage. Most stores and pubs offer free toilets. They also don't use seat covers or paper towels.

They prefer contactless pay:

You pay as you go everywhere. No keeping tabs open. It was actually very handy because then you can bounce as soon as you're done. Places still do take cash, but most prefer cards. We had £200 on us just in case and sure enough we had to order a £140 taxi one night -cash only- so better to be safe than sorry.

The way they say hello:

When someone asks, "You doing alright?" they don't actually mean that, they mean hello. We slipped and answered a few times but a simple "hello" is the way to go. We heard this often. But we didn't hear "cheers" often which made us sad lol. Whenever we said it though, they said it back.

The tube:

The tube was pretty easy to figure out once you figure it out. There are tons of stations so you can pretty much catch it anywhere. You do need a physical ticket to get on and off. It offered both round trip and one way. There are ticket booths to purchase your ticket before you enter.

Pubs:

Majority of the pubs close around 11pm - 12am. We thought it was interesting at first then it started to grow on us because we could still get a good amount of sleep and not get too drunk.

They have different outlets:

Here is the one we have - UK ADAPTER - it charges up to 3 devices. Also, our hotel room only has ONE outlet so that's something to look out for! You also have to turn the outlets on to sue them. I kept forgetting!

Restaurants:

They dip their fries in mayo. I didn't run into any issues with sauces but I have heard they aren't big on them so it might depend on the establishment. They rarely serve soft drinks or water with ice; you have to ask for it.

that little number and barcode in the corner is how you order and pay!

I will update this as I think if other things! For the most part, like I mentioned - it was very easy to adapt do. Just a little different :)

For more tips and tricks check out my LONDON highlight on my Instagram. And my other blogs - Places I visited in London and Coffee shops in London.

-xoxo, Aimee