- Good morning from London. It happens to all of us when
we travel to a new place, that we end up overpaying for
a bunch of different things and that happens for a variety of reasons. But in this video, I'm gonna
tell you about five things I always see tourists overpaying for, and how you can avoid
doing that, so let's go. Getting from the airport
to the centre of London, there are three ways that I see tourists overpaying for this, so let
me walk you through them. Let's start with taxis. Almost all of London's airports
are not actually in London, so a lot of tourists will walk
off the plane and be shocked when they find out that
a taxi to their hotel is going to cost them 100 Pounds or more. If that's not in your budget,
every airport has at least a couple of public transport
options that will get you into Central London for a lot cheaper. With just a quick search on Citymapper from the airport you're
flying into to your hotel, you can see all of your available routes and also how much each
of them will cost you. Just be sure to adjust your
arrival time in the app because the availability
of public transport drastically reduces very
early in the morning or late at tonight. Now let's talk about the Heathrow Express. If you fly into London Heathrow Airport, you're gonna see loads
of signs telling you to take the Heathrow
Express into Central London. You can do that, but the Heathrow Express is the most expensive train
per minute in the world, at 25 Pounds per ticket
for a 15 minute ride. But if you're booking your
ticket 90 days in advance, or more, you can avoid paying 25 Pounds and instead opt for an
advanced purchase ticket, which just five Pounds
50, which makes it cheaper than taking the tube, which
actually takes way longer. If you aren't booking your
tickets 90 days in advance or more, you can still avoid
that 25 Pound ticket price by avoiding the Heathrow Express and opting instead for the Elizabeth line. This goes into Paddington as well, takes only 28 minutes, and
only costs 12 Pound 80. So it's much cheaper, just a bit slower. The Elizabeth line also goes
well into Central London and even to East London, so
Google Maps might actually tell you that taking the
Elizabeth line to your hotel is a much better option anyway. Now if you're not flying into Heathrow, chances are you're flying
into Gatwick Airport instead and we've got another
tricky one there as well. There is the Gatwick Express,
and that is a hard no. In basically all instances, if
you take the Gatwick Express, you will be overpaying for your transport into Central London from the airport, why? Well, one-way the Gatwick Express ticket, when you buy it at the
station, is 20 Pounds, and the train takes 30 minutes to get to London Victoria Station. But there's also a
Southern train that goes from the exact same place
to the exact same place, that is only 12 Pound 50 and
has two extra stops in between, making it only three minutes longer than the Gatwick Express. So if you take the Gatwick
Express, you're paying a lot more money for saving three minutes of time. So it's basically just never worth it. By the way, this video is
sponsored by Google Pixel. I have been using Google
Pixel phones for years, and I just got my hands on the
brand new Google Pixel 7 Pro, which is made out of
100% recycled materials. There are lots of new features that come with the Google Pixel
7 Pro, but as always, my favourite new features
have to do with the camera. The new super res zoom is very impressive, giving you 30X zoom, which
makes for very dramatic, very up close photos. I also pair the phone with
my new Google Pixel Watch, and I use it with Google
Maps so I can navigate around London without
having to have my phone out. If you wanna find out about
all the other features that come with the Google Pixel 7 Pro, click the link in the
description box of the video. And now let's get back to the things that tourists always overpay for. - It's my first time here. - Oh!
- And I've seen all your videos and all your
things before coming here. - Oh cool! Overpaying for public transport. Okay, so now you're in Central London and you wanna get around the city. The number one way that tourists overpay for the tube and the bus while you're here is by getting a daily travel card. Now you hear daily travel
card and you think, oh, unlimited rides, that
surely is gonna save me money. But it actually doesn't,
it actually ends up costing you more than if you
had just used an Oyster card or contactless payment
methods, let me explain. The daily travel card costs 14 Pound 40 for travel through zones one through four. Now, most tourists end up
staying in zones one to two, which if you pay for public
transportation in those zones, the daily cap or the
most that you'll ever pay for the entire day in zones one to two is just seven Pounds 70. So if you stay in those two zones and you get a daily travel
card, you're basically paying double the price for
the same type of travel. Even if you do travel through
zones one through four, the daily cap for those
zones is 11 Pounds. So you're still paying more if
you get a daily travel card. If you're super confused, don't worry, all you have to know is don't
get a daily travel card, you'll end up paying a lot more. And instead, pay for your transportation with contactless payment
method or an Oyster card, and you're good to go. Okay, enough about public transport. Let's talk about attractions. I get mixed reviews from my community who go and do the must dos in London, like the London Eye or
the Tower of London. The tickets for major
attractions like this are like 30 Pounds plus. So some people feel as
if they have overpaid for going to these things. So, how do you know if
you're gonna feel like that? Well, it seems simple, but ask yourself, why am I gonna go to the Tower of London if I'm not really that
interested in history? Or if you don't really like musicals, don't feel like you have to
go see a show on the West End. It's important for you to
think about what you like to do and what you're interested in, and not what someone
tells you is a must do when you're in London. We have so many things
that you can do here, that no matter what your interest, you'll always find something
that will be of interest to you and that you'll feel that you
got good value paying for, and that you didn't overpay for it. Okay, now let's say you are
here to do all the big must dos and the big tourist attractions,
that's totally fine. Let me give you a couple
tips to help you save a little bit of money and help you feel like you haven't overpaid
for your attractions tickets. First tip, most tickets are 10% cheaper if you order them online versus
getting them at the door, so make sure you do that ahead of time. Number two is to check out the London Pass and the London Explorer Pass. These are two different city
passes that give you discounts for going to a bunch of the
attractions around the city. And I have articles for both of them that will help you figure
out if either of them are gonna be a good fit for your trip, so I'll leave links to those
in the description box. Overpaying for bad food near
the tourist attractions. Make sure that you plan out your meals when you're going to be sightseeing, and don't just leave it to, we'll find something when we're there. That is the perfect recipe for ending up at any old restaurant, that's
probably a tourist trap, where you're gonna pay a load of money for some really bad food. By doing your research and
planning your meals out, you can ensure that you're not
trying to find any old place while on an empty stomach. You can make reservations
at the good places, you can make sure you
can actually get a table at the time that you want. And you can just do your
research and make sure that you're finding places
that you are gonna feel like you got really good value for your money. It could mean the difference
between paying 30 Pounds for a terrible burger at Planet Hollywood, or paying half the price at a
market just around the corner that has delicious street
food that you knew about because you did your research. Overpaying for your accommodation, just 'cause you think you'll be safer. I once had a follower tell me
that a friend of his told him that the only way to ensure
that your accommodation in London is safe enough is
to make sure you're paying at least 600 Pounds a night for it. That is absurd and also completely wrong. I do hear of a lot of
tourists who end up spending a lot of money on mediocre, international, overpriced hotel chains here
in London because they think they'll be more comfortable
and more safe there. But the truth is that here in London, we have even budget hotels and hostels that are incredibly safe. So you don't need to overextend
yourself to be able to feel comfortable and safe where you're staying. That's tip number one, tip
number two is we have lots of accommodation recommendations
on loveandlondon.com. But if you're looking
at a particular property here in London, the best way to get a feel of if it's going to be safe is simply to read through the reviews. So make sure you check those booking.com or TripAdvisor reviews
before you book anything. Tip number three, don't be
afraid to book accommodation a bit outside of Central London where all the main
tourist attractions are. Generally, you're gonna get
a bit more for your money if you do that, but it doesn't mean that you're gonna be
anywhere that isn't safe. If you stay outside of Central London, you can get to better know
some of the more local areas that we have in the city
that are also perfectly safe. And you get to know the tube and the bus system really well, which I think is a great
part of staying in London. If you want more tips
for your London trip, I have literally hundreds of
videos that you can watch. And you can do that by
clicking one of the boxes popping up right around me. (inaudible station announcements)
