Things London Tourists ALWAYS Overpay For 🤦🏽‍♀️| Love and London

something that always happens to me when I travel is I end up overpaying for certain things just because I don't know how things work for them to maybe nervous to ask so today I thought I'd tell you about some things that London tourists always end up overpaying for and I've also asked for contributions from our community of things that people who have been to London already totally overpaid for when they came here by the way if you're new year I'm Jess and I make videos for people who are coming to visit London and they want to visit like they live here and if you've never been to London I was special a freebie for you at the end of the video ok let's start with the category of attractions I prefer to experience a place through food or through talking to local people doing experiences that like the locals would do in my opinion I feel like tourists often overpay for tourist attractions in London but instead of me just going on about that because obviously it's different for every person there were some people in our community that submitted attractions that they felt that they overpaid for aisle 80 said Madame Tussauds that is the creepy Wax Museum Mira happened said the Tower of London if you're not really into history you're probably not going to find that ticket price to be very good value for you and just commanda and a few others said the London Eye and wadays said a Harry Potter tour a melt 2007 said certain museums were overpriced falesha toast said Buckingham Palace but she must have done this summer opening so how do you know if you're gonna overpay for an attraction so there's a couple things that I always think about when I'm traveling first off are you going to actually be interested in the experience that you're going to get for example the Tower of London is completely history based so if you're not that interested in history which personally I'm not spending two hours touring around the Tower of London isn't truly how I'd want to be spending my time probably then the ticket is not going to be worth it you're gonna feel as if you paid way too much money for the time that you spent there also research if there are any cheaper alternative so for example a lot of people felt that they paid a lot of money for the ticket to the London Eye which essentially is a viewpoint however there are places that have view points over the city that are either cheap or free like the sky garden is completely free to visit so you might find that actually instead of paying that really high ticket price you're happy with the alternative even if it's not exactly the same at the end of the day remember that nothing is a must-do if it's something that you don't feel like you're gonna be that interested in even if it's considered something you have to do when you're in London don't pay the money for it because you're not gonna enjoy it hey Larry QB said that she overpaid for attractions because she ended up just buying tickets on the door just walking up on the day and buying them whereas for most attractions you can save 10% if you buy them online now let's talk about transportation I had a lot of things I personally have seen tourists over the years overpay for when it comes to transportation in London so listen to me people okay let's start with taxis a lot of timid travelers come to London and they get too afraid to try the public transportation system and then they just end up taking taxis everywhere picks a web Emily 809 and J Rose TX also this and they spent so much money on taxis so instead of doing that and getting too nervous and taking taxis and spending a load of money there are a few ways to familiarize yourself with public transportation so when you actually get to London you'll be like okay this isn't really that big of a deal first off I have a bunch of videos that help with public transportation and you can watch that playlist by clicking the card up in the corner this corner or that corner this corner corner you get one of these quarters I also have a super comprehensive public transportation yeah I also have a super comprehensive public transportation course over on fright trip that will help and I've a discount code for that in the description box of this video and also just have a little bit of faith in yourself if you messed things up a couple of times it's not a big deal if you're english-speaking then you will be totally fine the staff are very helpful you can also just ask people it's not that big a deal I mess things up all the time if you do it's not that big a deal I promise also people often overpay for their airport also people often open also people often over people often overpay for their airport transfers and that happens in a few different ways people often end up looking up how far away their hotel is from the airport when they're getting into London so if you decide you're just gonna hop in a taxi and just tell the taxi driver oh this is my hotel that could end up costing you literally hundreds of pounds for example if you're flying in to Gatwick Airport Gatwick is like not anywhere in London it's so far south of the city that if you do end up taking a taxi just to get into London is probably gonna be over a hundred pounds and then from there you still have to get driven to wherever your hotel is so look up before you go on Google Maps or citymapper what your public transportation options are Allyson conscious ended up paying a ton of money and the cab actually took forever because I think she got stuck in traffic and just command and knows better now - and Sue hitch as well people also overpay for the Express trains from the airport so km dubs submitted this one it's a good one to cover so think about the Gatwick Express and the Heathrow Express is that quite often there are not worth the money so let me explain if you buy me Heathrow Express tickets less than 90 days in advance there 37 pounds round-trip for what is essentially 15 minutes in to Paddington and then 15 minutes out of padding to get back to Heathrow Airport now it is a very fast way to get into the centre of London however it might not actually make sense for you depending on where your hotel is because then you're gonna have to either get a taxi to your hotel which could still be quite far or public transportation when actually other options might have been better depending on where you're trying to get to however it does make sense to get Heathrow Express tickets if you buy them 90 days in advance because they're only five pound fifty one-way and kids will also go free with adults now with the gallic Express there's really no reason ever I don't know why they have it it's a ripoff it only gets you into Victoria Station about five to eight minutes faster than if you were to take a regular train which departs from this same station at Gatwick Airport and arrives into Victoria at the same spot and it's a lot more expensive so there's really never any reason for you shake the Gatwick Express definitely something that people overpay for okay also Alison said she wasted money on daily travel cards for public transportation you should never a daily pass for public transportation they cost so much more than if you just used a norsu card or a debit card and then you have a daily cap like the cost of the daily travel card is way higher than what the daily cap is I don't know why they even exist I even tweeted TfL once being like why would somebody buy this and they were like they shouldn't really because it's too expensive so just never use a daily travel card okay let's do food and drink tourists always end up overpaying for food and drinks in the most touristy parts of the city Alejandra said she paid a lot for fish and chips in Hyde Park the Buckeye chef said drinks in a touristy area that he or she overpaid for and Irene said she got some ice cream there Tower Bridge that was overpriced as a rule of thumb pretty much anything that is very near the major tourist attractions or the major just the major touristy areas are going to be very expensive and also the food's not going to be very good if you have my three-day itinerary you will have recommendations for where to get food in those areas places that locals actually like and that's actually good food and good value here's an interesting one Lucien's said my meal at the Hard Rock Cafe was overpriced so I visited the Hard Rock Cafe the first time I ever went to London when I was studying abroad I was studying in Antwerp Belgium they took us as a group to the Hard Rock Cafe so I didn't pay for it myself I do remember the food being like mediocre even though like my palate was not very sophisticated when I was 20 years old but Hard Rock Cafe is like a tourist attraction let's just like Planet Hollywood and all those like weird chain restaurants and I know the Hard Rock Cafe originated in London but at the end of the day it's like kind of the same thing so you can't expect very much and you're gonna be paying a lot also another thing that tourists and also Londoners so don't worry always overpay for like these instagrammy food and drink cafes and restaurants a dress Samba said the st. Ives cafe which has like really pretty decor outside and inside they felt that the food and the drink wasn't worth it that's because in these places end up charging a lot for like the experience because I know people want to just come and take photos and don't actually care about how the food or the drink pacer eats so another example that is Peggy portion also sketch but there's there's an Elan cafe there's a bunch of places that are like that here's an interesting one afternoon tea Teresa said this or did Jai Hal and Jean Gonzalez so afternoon tea in London there's a really big range of prices for it any place it's under 20 pounds per person you're gonna get what you're pay for it and it's not gonna be very good at all then there's places are like mid-range so that's about 20 pounds per person up to about 35 and that is kind of the sweet spot some places are good some places are not so for example the firm Dale hotels do a really good quote unquote affordable afternoon tea the service is usually very good the food's really nice the tea is very good and then there's places that are like high-end luxury that are like 40 pounds per person and up and that's places like sketch the Ritz Claridge's the rosewood Hotel in terms of those really high-end experiences sometimes there with the money in my opinion and sometimes they're not for example I thought Claridge's was absolutely worth the experience it was just so beautifully done you got unlimited amounts of food and obviously drink the atmosphere was really beautiful there's really nice piano playing and it was like elegant and luxurious whereas the Ritz I didn't feel was worth the money because it felt like manufactured luxury I really know how to describe it besides that but it felt more elegant at Claridge's than it did at the Ritz and another and I thought was worth it was the Rosewood Hotel they do this really beautiful art afternoon tea the pastries are beautifully made inspired by different pieces of art and they also do other themed teas throughout the year too I have not been to sketch for afternoon tea but I do not recommend it because Claridge's afternoon tea is one of the most famous in the world and one of the most elegant and luxurious sketch charges more per person however if you have a food allergy intolerance preference instead of making like oh you're vegetarian we'll just swap out a couple things oh you can't have dairy we'll swap out a couple things they just have one blanket t-that covers like every food allergy and intolerance I honestly really want to try it just to see like if I'm being silly and actually it's really good but I'm not gonna spend sixty five pounds to eat dirt thought they're gonna serve me because I'm vegetarian and therefore I also get the gluten free option the sugar free option the vegan option this and that's them okay so the category of hotels no matter how you break it down London hotels are just expensive in general so you do have to just accept that however I've also noticed that more timid travelers to try to ensure cleanliness and safety will often pay a lot of money to stay in the center of London but also very expensive American chain hotels like Marriott sand Park lanes that's totally up to you but you don't have to break the bank there are actually so many great boutique hotels and small independently run hotels and Airbnb s that actually are super safe really clean and probably much better experiences than like the very cookie cutter and old school chain hotels so we had a couple people submit their suggestions taina said the hub by Premier Inn is great that is a budget hotel chain Rheingold said that she also chose a good Premier Inn by Earls Court it's an area that doesn't really have that much going on but it is very well connected to the rest of the city if you need help with figuring out what areas are gonna work for you when it comes to visiting London and booking your accommodation you should watch my video series about how to find the perfect hotel clicking by card somewhere up here people also often overpay for hotels just because they offer breakfast in some way complimentary breakfast isn't a huge thing in London so instead why don't you take the opportunity to find a really cute cafe either nearby where you're starting your day or just buy your hotel where you can have a really nice lovely London or breakfast there are lots of cafe and breakfast spot recommendations along each day's starting point in the three day itinerary if you've never been to London before then you should get my London one Gide it has everything you need for your first trip to London all the things that you need to know and you can get that by clicking the card popping up in the corner or the link in the description box of this video and tell me in your travels anywhere in the world what is something that you have definitely overpaid for while you have been traveling and just didn't know any better let me know down in the comments and for more tips for your trip to London click the box that is popping up right below me

Channel: Love and London

Views: 181,137

Keywords: save money in london, london tourist traps, london scams, what to avoid in london, local london guide, budget london, first time in london, london honest guide, london tourist mistakes, things to skip in london, worst of london, scams in london, visit london, tips for london, travel london, london travel guide, love and london, london

Id: pKfbHuQh8UU

Length: 13min 37sec (817 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 03 2020