First week

We lucked out in Philadelphia. Our original flight was two hours late leaving and US Air put us on a non-stop flight to London Gatwick Airport so we didn't have to fly to Manchester and take the train. No additional cost to do this. Ms. Williams at US Air was so helpful and made sure our bags followed us to London. What a great airline! We took a bus to London and walked a few blocks to our apartment. The apartment is very nice, two bedrooms, kitchen, living room, bath on the 7th floor of a 16 story building. We got membership for a month to swim at a nearby pool, Ironmonger Club, and it is free because we are 60 plus. They allowed Nancy to get the membership free even though she won't be 60 until August 13. The pool is very nice and a great way to cool off. Speaking of hot, it is HOT here, but cools off at night. The apartment is cool with lots of breezes and lots of windows to open. The hottest places are the buses and subways. Nothing is air conditioned, even most of the theatres. The hottest day was 91 degrees last Friday. It is supposed to cool off later this week-to the low 80's. At night, it gets down in the low 70's and high 60's. The newspaper had a picture of Hyde Park on the front page the other day and called it the Sahara Desert as the grass here has turned very brown due to the heat.

We went to a Mozart concert at Royal Albert Hall last week and it was a celebration for the Queen. We got standing tickets, on the floor, and the Queen herself and Prince Phillip were in the Royal Box just above where we were standing. We could see them very clearly and I think the Queen even looked into our eyes. They both look very good for 80 years old. We went to a musical in the West End on Saturday night-an Andrew Lloyd Weber play that never made it to Broadway called "Whisper Down The Wind." The original book was written by Haley Mill's mom, the child actress from the 50's and 60's. Tonight we are going to the Opera. There is lots of culture available and the prices are somewhat reasonable. We have tickets to the Sam Shepard play, A Fool for Love, tomorrow night, starring the American actress Juliette Lewis - $16 tickets. Also, we plan to go see Patrick Swayzee in "Guys and Dolls" in the West End. Also, we are going to the International Car Show here in London in a few days.

We have found some very good grocery stores and have been eating quite healthy and good food for reasonable prices. We did have lunch at a local pub yesterday-beef, vegetables, potatoes, and a beer -$30. We are on track on spending, according to Doug. But, everything is about twice what you pay in the US. A liter of Diet Coke is $2, whereas in the US it might be $1.19. They are having a sale during July on Diet Cokes at my favorite grocery store, Waitrose, so we go by there and stock up periodically. We have a wonderful kitchen at the apartment, but no microwave. But, the gas stove, oven and broiler are modern and nice to use. We even have a dish washer! And, a clothes washer.

We have been checking out thrift shops today-some nice ones in our neighborhood. Went to Brick Lane and Columbia Road market yesterday. They had so many beautiful flowers and lots of odds and ends to buy. We also went to the Islington Farmers Market-that is the town we are staying in. They have so many organic foods here in London. We went to Neals Yard, a wonderful cheese shop, and bought some very good English cheddar cheeses-$18 per pound on average. But, Whole Foods in the US sells these cheeses at about this same price. In fact, Whole Foods is called Fresh & Wild here in London. They have several stores and we visited the one near Picadilly, but it was small. The one in Notting Hill is larger and we plan to go there.

We went to a classical concert at the Barbicon and Grant Llyelwn, the NC Symphony conductor was conducting the orchestra. The Barbicon is a wonderful arts center with musci, dance, movies (like Lincoln Center in NYC) and within walking distance from our apartment. We also went to see the opera "Katerina Izmaylova at the Coliseum theatre. It was performed by the Marisnky (Kirov) Opera Company from St. Petersburg, Russia.

Doug left his knapsack in the restroom at Mark & Spencer (nice grocery store and department store). The bag turned up at the information desk about 4 days later-nothing missing, but a stale piece of bread! We kept checking every few days and it did turn up-amazing!

We spent a total of £400 ($800) our first week on fun, food and miscellaneous. Bus and subway passes (Oyster pass) cost us £181 for both of us. They have been so handy as we can hop a bus or subway or both to get around-well worth the money. By the way, when converting £ to $, just double the £ amount. Everything is twice as expensive here in Britain as in the USA.

pre-trip

I had been looking for a rental away from NC for the hottest part of the summer. Our first choice was Russia but they had too many questions such as when where & how. We like travel with no strings attached. I was checking LA, San Diego & Paris when this London place came up. For years we had wanted to again stay in London but the natural expense and changing exchange rate had prevented our visit. I found it on Craigs list for $55 per night for 34 nights. It appears to fit our wants. Close in and two sleeping areas. The owner warned us that there were 3 running children in the apartment above us. NKO says if it worries us too much then we will just go to the coast of France for a while.

I found a cheap fare from Philideaphia to Manchester for $511 each. I think we can get from NC to PHL by Hertz rental for $120 and from MAN to LON by rail for $22. The return may cost aliite more but we will be saving $500 or $600 for the extra time and trouble over a RDU to LON ticket.

We are planning on getting the cheapest tickets for the entertainment. We think that we can average $20 per ticket. Opera standing is $15, the cheapest PROMS tickets are about $12, but the west end plays will be above $20. I am hoping to cut my addiction to internet & cable as neither are available in the flat. Food buying will be one big form of entertainment.

Food will be the biggest cost! We are planning to avoid restaurants. Hey, it is not France! We are hoping to stock up at CARFOUR or similar; shop the local bread and butcher shops; visit the "farmers" markets; and buy prepared foods at the deli and grocery stores. At home, we spend about $40 per day. We are planning on $80 in London. This is a big change from our spring trip to Buenos Aries where we ate out every meal and only spent $30 per day.

I am planning on the transport pass costing $5 per day each.

So our budget is entertainment $40, food $80, transport $10 or $130 per day total for the two of us. We hope this will result in our over spending only about $1,000 above our normal rate for travel days.