First Day in London (Including Travel)
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- Опубликовано: 25 апр 2022
- We travel to London on British Airways. We do a room tour of our hotel: Hotel indigo - Kensington. We enjoy Borough Market and then ride the London Eye. We see Big Ben and Parliament and Buckingham Palace.
Made me smile when you said how nice it was to not be inches away from someone in a queue. I thought to myself, he does know he’s going to England? The queue capital of the world. Here in the UK we will join a queue before we find out what we are queuing for. Sometimes we will have a pre queue, where you wait in line until it’s your turn to join the actual queue.
One thing I hope we all take from this is not standing so close to each other when we’re in queues. But I doubt that’s going to happen. Everyone was pretty much on top of each other anytime we got in a queue in London. But it’s not just London… We’re at Walt Disney World right now and it’s the same thing.
If you think London is "The queue capital of the world" you obviously haven't traveled.
Try Tokyo or Havana.
As a Brit I have been very impressed to find out that Colombians are even better and more patient at queuing than the British
I was so touched by your commenting on seeing sights like Parliament and the Elizabeth Tower for the first time. I grew up fascinated by England and loved everything Royal. When I first stood staring at Westminster Abbey and the Parliament buildings, I cried because I in the place I only dreamed about. Thank you for letting me relive my most cherished memory..
I teared up a little too. We didn't have much money when I was growing up so I thought travel would be something forever out of my reach. So to finally see Parliament and the Elizabeth Tower in person was very special to me. To KNOW something exists, not just to believe something exists because you've seen it in pictures and movies, is quite the moment.
That's very encouraging from a Brit, thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the experience ☺
That's very encouraging (from a Brit,)
I'm glad you enjoyed the experience ☺
I so know that feeling of finally seeing things in person that you'd dreamed about forever. It's surreal. It was a great reason to go solo, because I wasn't going to finally see these places and just glance and move on and I'd probably drive anyone in my family nuts with it. The one that made me cry was seeing the Bacton Altar Cloth at Hampton Court Palace. It's providence is nearly perfect that it's actually a dress of Queen Elizabeth I. To be in the presence of something like that..
Your first visual of U.K. ,…low flying cloud and rain,…perfect synopsis of our dear and treasured Isle. Welcome and Regards..
The weather overall was very good. We brought umbrellas expecting it to rain every day because London has a reputation. But it only rained for about an hour one day and of course we didn’t bring the umbrellas when we went out that day. Lol.
Britain is not always like that… please stop degrading our bloody country, we get plenty of nice weather… 🙄 I’m referring to Nigel btw not you two.. 🤣
London is such a great city for walking, or hopping on and off of transport. You can feel the history and tradition in the architecture & monuments. I live in central UK and have visited London multiple times, and it always feels magical. Perhaps I am biased because I am Scottish, but for me, Edinburgh is the most magical city on earth, the castle has been there for over 1,000 years and dominates the city centre. To the east you have Arthurs Seat, an extinct volcano, which you can climb and get the most amazing views. I hope one day you can visit my home city and view it in the same positive light that you viewed London.
On our next trip, we plan to spend very little time in London and instead go to Ireland and Scotland.
@@TwoDisneyDudes You should also hit up other English cities that aren't London. Great video :)
@@lordgemini2376 Our next trip will be spent mostly outside of London. We’d love to see more of England and also Ireland and Scotland.
Your city can not compete with the capital of England i have lived in both Edinburgh can be explored in a day London would take a life time.
@@patrickkelly7085 It isn't a competition brother, I have my opinion and your have yours. London just just sucks tourists in, then spits them out again. London will rip you off and invite you to pay 10x more than you need to. Like most capital cities in the world, they want your money, and that is where it ends. Where did you live in Edinburgh?
My husband and I are planning our first trip to London later this year so I’ve been absorbing tons of content on the subject. I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the details you’ve included here. From the plane details and onboard meals to the note about immigration and your segment about the money. Highly appreciated as I don’t see a lot of those details in other videos I’ve watched. I look forward to watching the rest of your trip videos and hearing more great tidbits. Take care!
Thanks for the kind words! I felt the same way so my thought when doing my videos was "what didn't I see that would have been helpful to know before I went" and then made the videos with those segments. Have a great trip to London. I hope you love it as much as we did.
I moved to London 9 years ago.. I've travelled all over and London is my favourite city! Let me know if you need recommendations.. Happy to give you some or atleast tell what NOT to do!
Lots of retailers in the U.K. introduced a ‘contactless only’ policy during Covid to avoid the passing of currency between people and pressing numbers on a keypad for your PIN. I think they’ve just not abolished it
We didn't mind it so much since we were using our cards mostly anyway but all the individual international transaction fees per each touchpoint stung a bit though.
@@TwoDisneyDudes Yeah that's the one reason you'd want to get cash out in larger quantities, to pay less of those fees.
@@Tobberz Yeah, I get that but a lot of places were doing cashless and card only so the cash wouldn't have done us any good in most of the places we ate and shopped at. But thankfully there we enough places that we were able to use up the cash we had so we didn't have a bunch left over that we had to convert when we returned.
Yes, despite science showing that the virus died almost instantly on contact with the metal in coins!
Businesses are trying their best to abolish cash; for example by providing fewer check-outs for customers paying by cash, and by programming self-service check-outs to cause maximum annoyance to customers by dispensing unnecessarily large numbers of coins in change and failing to have the full range of coinage in their floats, e.g. no 50p, £2, 2p, or 10p coins. I was due 50p in change once and got 5p x6 and 2p x10!
@@TwoDisneyDudes Have you considered Wise multi currency account? You can convert all your money to the currency of the country you're going to and then you don't have to worry about individual conversion fees per transaction
Glad you enjoyed your first day in London, I like the way you documented the trip and you seem like a lovely couple too.
Thanks for the kind words!
I thoroughly enjoyed this video and look forward to watching more of your travels.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching.
There have been 3 London Bridges in more or less the same place as the current one. The first, built in 1176 was the first bridge over the Thames in London - it had shops, houses and water wheels on it. It lasted 600 years before it started to fall down (there's a famous nursery rhyme - London Bridge is Falling Down). The second was finished in 1831 but only lasted 140 years - it wasn't built for modern traffic and was sinking. It was going to be demolished but it was sold to an American in Lake Havasu, Arizona ( he was trying to increase tourists to Lake Havasu and thought this would be good attraction). The third and current bridge was only built in around 1970.
I'm a history nerd and I did some overall research but there's so much history in London that it's hard know everything. And I love historical tidbits like I didn't know the London Bridge nursery rhyme is actually based on a real event.
And the American who bought London Bridge allegedly thought he was buying Tower Bridge.
@@darkmatter6714 That's an urban myth alas, he knew what he was getting and was happy with it. It's just one of those stories designed to laugh at the gullible rich person, but not in this case true
@@darkmatter6714 no he didn't. He was over here standing on London Bridge when he signed the papers to buy it. He knew exactly what he was buying.
The dude was so rich, that even the 'lake' that he bought the bridge for to cross over was built by him.
A travel blog delivered by intelligent and informed people. How refreshing, and thank you!
I hope you both had a wonderful time in Britain. Should you visit again, and I hope you do, please do venture further afield as we have so much to offer.
Thank you for the kind words. Yes, the next time we go back we’re going to spend all of our time outside the city. I’d love to see some of the other cities and the countryside as well as Ireland and Scotland.
What an exciting adventure! So looking forward to seeing the sights with you!
This video is awesome. I felt like I was there with you. I just want more. I can’t wait for the rest of these vlogs.
~Inge 😺
Thanks for watching! The other videos will be up soon.
Great video lads, hope you enjoy London!
Thank you! London was great.
This is great, and I'm so impressed by how well you have planned everything, so that you could travel comfortably and get the most out of your time in London. Thank you for letting us join you: so relaxing for us!
Thanks for watching! I enjoy planning our trips but I'm not a beast when it comes to sticking to a timetable. If we decide to change the plan on the fly because our interests changed then I'm all for that.
@@TwoDisneyDudes Yes, that came across and was why your vlog was so enjoyable and relaxing. Do hope you both enjoyed Paris.
It’s essential to do that if you’re visiting London. Very easy to end up walking miles and miles and not seeing everything you want to see (but having lots of cool accidental visits). Even though I usually end up being down there a few times a year, London’s soul is always pulling you back.
From a Brit here. Great video guys. Enjoyed watching and the content and detail was great.
Thanks so much for watching! As a Brit, any places you can recommend for our next trip?
Looking forward to watching really hope you had an amazing time especially in London. From a Brit
Thanks so much for walking. We've only home for a week and I already miss London.
I absolutely loved your video 💕. So lovely to see our country through your eyes. I hope you felt welcomed. York is another beautiful old city well worth a visit, and again I would suggest the Lake District, it is breathtaking xx
I enjoyed London and I hope that comes across. Our next trip will be outside London. I'd love to see other cities and the countryside.
Just discovered your channel and am very impressed. Really well done videos that I absolutely enjoyed watching. Thanks for sharing
Thank you very much for the kind words. Thanks for watching and nice to meet you.
I loved this! Just discovered you guys. The tray machinations at around 11:00 reminds me of when I am on a flight just passing the time before take off 😂😂 It's so exciting!
Thanks for watching! I have always loved flying. My husband thinks of it as a chore but I enjoy nearly every aspect of flying.
"Kensington is a nice neighbourhood" Understatement.
Ha! I did a lot of research of neighborhoods to see where I should get my hotel but you never really know until you get there, right?
@@TwoDisneyDudes You picked a good one !
Have a wonderful time!
Thanks so much!
The warsgip is The HMS Belfast , fired the first salvo on D Day. My Dad was Chief Petty Officer in charge of B turrett
Wow… I bet your dad has some amazing stories.
@@TwoDisneyDudes he really did. Loving your Travel vids. Glad you had a good time in our country
You covered a lot of ground in a short space of time well done and welcome to London😊
Thanks so much for watching! I was a lot of walking and looking at things but I also feel like we covered a lot. But I know there's so much more for the next trip.
Wow they've actually finished renovating Big Ben now and it looks refreshing.
We knew that it was being renovated but didn't look up if it had been finished so we were pleasantly surprised and very happy to see it not covered in scaffolding.
@@TwoDisneyDudes Yup it look amazing but i feel like it's lost abit of it's character now that it's been renovated what do you think?
On the 50p is Britannia.
On the 2p is the Prince of Wales Feathers. The Queen is on the front of our notes not on the reverse.
Thanks for the info! I wanted some videos about the money prior to the trip but obviously didn't remember everything I saw.
@@TwoDisneyDudes You have a mixture of old and new coins. The new ones, like your 10p and 5p, started to come into circulation in about 2009 but still haven't quite replaced all the old ones like your 50p and 2p.
The polymer bank notes came into circulation from 2016, before that our notes were made from material similar to how you describe dollar bills. The £10 and £20 notes have a tactile feature (the Braille letter G) running down from the top left-hand corner, twice for a tenner and three times for a 20.
@@peterc.1618 I just checked in my wallet. The fiver doesn't have the tactile feature. I wonder if that will be introduced in future issues.
@@henrybest4057 No, I noticed that. The website I checked before posting just said £10 and £20 notes so I don't know whether the £50 note has them either. I suppose for all practical purposes if you have a small note without the Braille, it's a fiver and if you have a large one without it, it's £50.
Sorry had to comment, that large clock tower is the Elizabeth Tower, big Ben is a bell housed in her. It's the bell that chimes the hour.
Thanks for the info! When you said this it sparked a memory so I think I knew this at some point in the past but obviously had forgotten between then and now.
But in reality,even Londoners call it Big Ben (not Elizabeth tower).
Great Vlog guys
I really enjoyed this.
Thanks for watching! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
That's quite a walk. Loved the post.
It didn't see like such a long walk at the time since it was broken up into smaller walks. Like we say "oh, it's only 30 minutes to walk here" and then we'd get there and say "oh, it's only 40 minutes to walk to the next place" and so on. Walking really is the best way to experience the city. We'd have missed so much of it if we used the tube the whole time.
Thank you for posting. My wife and I are planning a trip to London in a couple of years for our 35th anniversary. We’ve been doing lots of research and yours is full of great information. The videos with the most entertainment and informative is Jools Guide of London.
Can I recommend if your staying long enough, there is a lot to see in London, but a trip to Northern England, especially York it's a beautiful little City full of history, Medieval buildings everywhere still has its original city wall ,also Roman ,Viking history.
@@maxwellmoore8424 we’re going to try to get out of London at least one day. Not sure where yet. Thank you for the suggestion.
@@BostonBobby1961 Probably to far for a day Trip mate but if you come again in the future I'd definitely recommend. The city of York .it was the Capital of Viking England 🇬🇧 called The Danelaw .
Thanks for watching! We watched a lot of Joolz Guides before we came. I gave him a shout out in my Third Day in London video that will be out soon. We liked him so much that we wanted to book a tour with him but he wasn't taking tour reservations.
@@TwoDisneyDudes he just put a new video a couple of days ago. He’s a performer and a film maker. He’s very good at what he does.
Best ever video and realistic tour of London kinda on a budget- not shopping too much - good
Thanks for the kind words! We're not really into shopping that much other than for souvenirs. We also packed very light so we wouldn't have had room to take anything new back with us LOL
I really enjoyed this video, most of my family are from London and I live in Hertfordshire (just north of London and also steeped in history!), so it’s wonderful to see it through the eyes of visitors. London is my absolute favourite city in the world!
I enjoyed London and I really miss it now that it's been a few weeks. Thanks for the kind words!
Lovely video.
Thanks for watching and the kind words.
Great video! Looking forward in visiting the UK one day! Meanwhile, I have to settle for my home, sunny Florida! ☀️🌴
Looks a lot like my hometown here in the States...Boston, Massachusetts USA
I wonder why, LOL🇺🇲🇬🇧
I spend a lot of time in FL too. In fact, I’m there right now.
I’m flying to London on Tuesday, 1st time in Europe EVER. Thanks for sharing. I’m flying from Denver also!
Did you get travel insurance? I'm going in a few months. Also what are you doing for a covid test coming back into the US?
I hope you have a good a time as we did. Safe travels.
@@TwoDisneyDudes Thank you so much. I'm definitely going to use some of the great ideas for sight seeing your video provided while I'm there!!
I love Denver airport 😍 - visited several states, Hawaii has gorgeous thatched roof, open sides & pretty gardens but Denver still wins for me. Our nearest City is Ripon which has Fountains Abbey nearby & beautiful York if you ever have time to visit ‘the North’.
@@elizabethw.454 most definitely get insurance and most Boots pharmacies/drug stores you can pre book PCR or antigen tests.
You were lucky with timing your visit. Big Ben has been covered in scaffolding for a few years and has only recently been taken down.
We knew it had been covered but we hadn’t checked into whether it had been taken down by the time we got there so we were pleasantly surprised it wasn’t still covered in scaffolding.
Hope you had a great time in London and return soon 👍
Thanks so much! We had a great time. I miss it already.
The back of the 2p coin shows the Prince of Wales Feathers. Great video.
Thanks for the info! I did some research about the money before I went but couldn't remember every detail. I think money is amazing. Most people use it every day in some form but don't stop to think about the money itself and how carefully designed it is.
@@TwoDisneyDudes The 50p and 20p coins are seven sided, but they are the same diameter all the way round! This is so that they roll easily in coin operated machines. The pound coin is 12 sided and the alternate ridged and flat sides are there to help prevent forgery. The £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes [bills] are all plastic, but you may find some paper £50 notes still in circulation, as the plastic ones have only recently been introduced. The different sizes of the notes is to help those with poor or no eyesight to distinguish easily between them. There is also an economic reason why the lower value notes are smaller. Lower value notes are used more frequently, so wear out and have to be replaced sooner than higher value notes. Smaller sized notes use less material, so are cheaper to replace.
Hello I'm new to your channel and from London , glad u both had amazing time, there loads of places for you see on your NXT visit, going catch up now on your video s
Thanks for watching! I didn't know anyone there before we went but now I'm making a list of places to go to on the next trip based on the comments in the videos.
I'm so glad to have found your account - I'm going to Disney in a few weeks, so this was ideal!
Thanks for the kind words? Which Disney park are you going to in a few weeks?
@@TwoDisneyDudes heading to Paris mid June!
@@FraserAtSea I'm so excited for you. My Disneyland Paris video will be out soon. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
Great video
Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed it.
Hope you enjoyed your stay in London then Paris mate .interesting video.
Thanks so much for watching!
You were wondering who it was on the 50p coin... it's Britannia, the personification of Britain. :) The flower, on the 20p coin, is the English rose. The design on the 2p coin is a plume of ostrich feathers. It's the badge of the Prince of Wales, which is always the title of the male heir apparent to thr throne, presently Prince Charles. It was the badge of the first Prince of Wales, Edward the Black Prince, back in the 1300s. He is said to have taken them from the helmet of the dead King of Bohemia, after defeating the French and their allies at the famous Battle of Crecy. He is also said to have adopted the dead King's motto, 'ich dien' meaning I serv, which is also on the coin. There is some dispute over this origin story but it's more fun than the alternative theory, that he possibly inherited the badge from his mother. :)
Wow... this is very interesting. I think money is amazing. Most people use it every day in some form but don't stop to think about the money itself and how carefully designed it is.
Sorry mate, you're almost correct. The first Prince of Wales was Dafydd ap Llywelyn. Edward of Woodstock (the Black Prince) was infact the 2nd Plantagenet (Angevin) Prince. The first was Edward of Caernarfon (Edward II) his grandfather. The bit you said about the crest was spot on though 👍😊
Good description of the coins. Just to add a note about Britannia, this was the name given to the British Isles by the Romans, and they depicted "Britannia" as a female warrior (usually seated) holding a spear and shield, on their coins in the 2nd century AD. The image was revived in the time of King Charles II (late 17th c), and the spear was changed to a trident in 1797 to symbolize the Royal Navy's victories. Her shield usually bears the image of the Union (Jack) flag.
A great reaction vid and at a relaxed pace 👍
Glad you enjoyed! It was a great time and I find I am missing London now that the vacation has been over for a few months.
@@TwoDisneyDudes another vacation will cure that feeling 🤣 👍
great video
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching.
Great vid. Cool story, the narrow building at 33:18 is the BT building sometimes a light is shone of the top of it giving the impression of a lightsaber.
I'll have to look up pictures of that. That sounds like something to see.
Wish I knew you were coming to London would have loved to meet you I live in North London I've just found your videos and I'm loving em your stars
Thanks for the kind words! I would love to see London through the eyes of a local.
Great vid fellas, just to let you know The Queen is always on the front of the notes.
Thanks for the info! My money ignorance was really showing. Of course the Queen would be on the front.
Great video the warship is called HMS Belfast looking forward to the next videos of your tour.
Thanks for the info! I love old ships but we didn't have the time to visit it on this trip. So it's on the list for next time.
Your hotel room was very stylish, good design in a small space.
We enjoyed it! It might have started to feel cramped if we had been in it all day but we barely spent any time there.
@@TwoDisneyDudes Indeed, and if you ever try a Premier Inn Hub room the concept is small but well designed and techie, with comfy mattress, but you need to get on with any sharer, no proper privacy for the wc/shower, not ideal for a longer stay.
3:30 "queue up". Good man. Learning the lingo already :)
47:42 The Queen is always on the front. Interestingly you thought the back of the banknotes was the front!
I use the word queue in my regular, professional life so it's instilled in me already. Yeah, I was showing my money-ignorance about money foreign to me. We didn't use a lot of cash but I still should have known it better.
You showed what London is like very well. Britain is much farther north the many people realize, so in med summer it gets light at 4:30 and dark at 9 pm . in med winter it's not light till 8:30 and dark at 4 pm . We walk a lot more then you may be used to in the US , so bring comfortable shoes . Also the time difference, jet lag, flying over it would be 4 am your time . But here it would be nearly med-day when you arrive, so you will be tired . The best advice anyone can give you is on your arrival , have a meal then get your head down for a few hours . London is not like the rest of England it is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world ,and one of the most expensive . By all means visited, spend a few days there . But then get out and see a little of the rest of the country there is so much to see here ! We use contactless cards a lot , the maximum on each transaction is £100 . When the pandemic happen , people did not want to touch money other people had handled so we have found it very handy . Also the Police in the UK are very different to some parts of the US , they are polite friendly and helpful . The best time to come over , as far as the weather is concerned is late August early September . Enjoy your visit , but please , please get out of London and see more !
We were trying to fit two major cities and a Disney park in the short trip so we only had so much time. I would love to go back and do some things out of the city. We walk a lot when we are on vacation but everything is so spread out where I live in Denver that it's not easy to walk anywhere unless it's somewhat close. I didn't have any trouble acclimating to the time when we got to England but I had a tough time when we got back. Thanks for watching!
If its nice weather, mid June it does not really get dark at all.
@@kendee4421 I was gonna say. The solstice was a few days ago and right now it's light until about 10:30. Dunno where this dude got 9:00 from
Enjoy my home time. Next time don’t forget to visit Wales and Scotland too. Along with the Dover, York, Cornwall, Stratford and Eastbourne.
Our next trip will be outside the city of London, touring more of the other cities and the countryside.
Great video. It's a gift to see ourselves as others see us. I enjoyed your tour. Sorry you had issues with cards/cash. It's a covid thing.
It wasn’t really an issue it was more surprised because in America you can prefer cashless but you have to take cash by law if someone offers it. We prefer to use our cards anyway. Thanks for the kind words. We really enjoyed London and the people.
I had to laugh at how shocked you were at Harrod`s prices .
There are the regular citizens (us) ,the Tourists(you) and then in the Summer months a great influx of Arab highflyers ,who come to England to get away from the heat in their own countries .They are so rich that they take over whole floors in the most upmarket hotels and the young men ship in their personal high value cars , which they drive at high speeds in all the central London streets ,to the great annoyance of the inhabitants .But of course ,they bring in massive amounts of money, so are tolerated .
These are the people who shop at places with Harrods prices .
What are you on about?? 😂 There are plenty of wealthy people in London (and not so wealthy) that shop at Harrods year round that aren't 'Arab highflyers' as you weirdly put it. Hell, I've been there and bought a few things, they have high prices because they're an established and prestigious luxury department store, nothing more, nothing less
Having never been to Harrod's (and admittedly not doing a ton of research about it), I thought it would be more like Macy's in New York City. Maybe a little overpriced but still reasonable. Boy, was I wrong. LOL. I'm still glad I got to see it though.
@@TwoDisneyDudes No Harrods is both renowned and reviled as probably one of the most expensive shops in the country. If you buy something from there, its more for the bragging rights that you bought something from Harrods than the actual thing you bought.
The whole idea is that, if you can shop at Harrods without worrying about the price too much, you clearly have more money than sense.
@@matthowells6382 Absolutely… I’ve bought bits and bobs in Harrods .. it’s not just for the ultra rich.. 🤣🇬🇧
I remember a hilarious video, Arab dude brought his supercar (can't remember make or model) and it was a drop top but you had to physically remove the metal roof and store it somewhere, anyway the dude shipped it to London without the roof and found himself in a torrential downpour 😅 it was filling like a bathtub lmao 😂
Thanks I really enjoyed that :)
Thank you for the kind words.
You two are very loveable dudes .l have lived in England for sixty years including 9 years in London but you showed few new things .most of the time spent making living .👌🙏👍
Thanks for the kind words! I'd love to live in England. We always said that if we suddenly came into a lot money, we'd get a flat in London.
I need to travel!
I agree! Everyone needs to travel. When I was younger, I thought I would never be able to travel as I lived paycheck to paycheck. But over time my circumstance has gotten better and it allows me the opportunity to travel, although we have to save up for over a year for these big trips. If I became suddenly rich, I wouldn't buy expensive things like houses or cars. I'd spend my money travelling the world for the rest of my life.
Enjoyed your video, love to watch Americans reaction to England. That church you pointed out at start is older the your country and the Queen is not on the back of banknotes, she is on the front. Churchill and Jane Austin are on the back. But, hey great day.
I should have known better. Of course the Queen would be on the front, right?
The (4th) London bridge is quite remarkable, look at it's width.
Being in a land-locked city, I'm impressed with almost any bridge. And the ones in London that I saw or walked across were all fascinating.
apparently the underground stations smell the way they do, due to the presence of ozone gas. The electrical arching the train dose makes oxygen atoms combine to make ozone(O3), which can't escape, hence that odd smell.
This is interesting. I never thought about it before but it makes sense that the electrical components that run the trains in many different cities would have the same smell.
Isn't there the tang of hot brakes as well?
It’s called the Elizabeth Tower actually. Big Ben is the name of the bell inside the tower.
@Hereandthere andnowinyourface yes very true !
Thanks for the info! I'm curious... when Londoners are referencing it, do they call it Elizabeth Tower or do they call it Big Ben.
I thought it was called St. Stephen’s tower before 2012, but l could be wrong.
I'm a londoner and call it big ben
@@TwoDisneyDudes
It’s St Stephens tower… Big Ben is the name of the iconic bell in the tower
The great Arts and crafts architect Pugin designed the Palace of Westminster and Houses of Parliament which is going through a major refurbishment at the moment and years to come
I enjoyed that a full half day and not a "super excited" was heard happy 50th!
Yeah, I probably over use the term super excited. As I watch these myself, I try to listen for filler words or overused phrases so that I can avoid them to help improve the videos. To varying degrees of success.
FYI, the "church" by the side of Borough Market is Southwark (say "suthark") Cathedral which is where William Shakespeare worshipped
while working at the Globe Theatre, just along the river.
And it's 400 years older than the United States.
@@peterd788 We have traffic jams older the the United States !
Thanks for the info! I live in Colorado where we don't have very many old structures so it was mind-boggling to me that people just go about their day next to this structure that's 400 years old than the birth of my nation and it's just normal for them. :-)
@@TwoDisneyDudes Don't worry, the oldest surviving church in England is 1,186 years older than the United States. Hell, my school was founded in 1550.
@@TwoDisneyDudes Our Castles and Cathedrals etc. are thousands
of years old, not mere hundreds ! One of the reasons , in central London at least, for small hotel rooms, is that the houses , now hotels, were always
residential homes, and turned into hotels ! Also, I have heard comments
on narrow roads .... well, most of the UK roads were built for horses
and carriages ! There are, of course, modern motorways between
cities etc. but old towns, villages, countryside, also still have the
original layouts.
The 'church' at Borough Markets is Southwark Cathedral...William Shakespeare and family used to go there. Renee Zellwegger's film Bridget Jones was partly filmed in the market area, and a walk through the market to Bedale St you'll find the flat where Bridget Jones lived above the pub next to the railway! I love London!
I thought Southwark catherderal was only a couple of hundred years old?
Thanks for the info! I live in Colorado where we don't have many old buildings so I'm fascinated by the fact that people just go about their day next to a building that's centuries old and it's just normal for them. I guess you get used to it, right?
@@TwoDisneyDudes I guess it’s normal to degrees. I mean we still like going to visit 1000 year old castles etc because they’re old, but most of us live stones throws from churches of some description that are usually hundreds of years old without really batting an eyelid lol. London is a crazy place though just because of the density of old stuff, extremely old stuff, and brand new stuff.
@@Superdelphinus Started in 1100, completed 200 years ago.
Glad you had a nice time. The palace guard you saw are all real battlefield soldiers. They guard the palaces as part of their ceremonial duties and are made up of five foot guard regiments in the British army. Grenadier guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards & Welsh Guards. There are slight difference in their uniforms so you can tell which they come from such as number of buttons on their red tunics & how far apart they are spaced. Sometimes commonwealth troops from around the world are invited to guard the palaces too.
Thanks for the info! The palace wasn't initially on our agenda so I didn't do much research on it. But then we saw it was along our walking path so we had to drop by.
UK born and bred but I didn’t know about the monarchs changing direction on the money Josh.
Like these videos you seem like nice guys.
Hope you enjoyed your trip to our capital
Thank you for the kind words. And yes, we had a great time. Can’t wait to go back.
In answer to your question about pain meds, in UK you can buy ibuprofen and paracetamol, antihistamines and stuff for digestive issues in all convenience stores, supermarkets and petrol stations.
Thanks... that's good to know. I watched a lot of London and Paris videos before I went and I think some details became confused in my head.
Also the big chemists like Boots, also have resident pharmacists, that you
can consult for FREE, about any doubts , or simple treatment.
I remember when i visited New York a fair while ago i needed some pain killers went into a local drug store/pharmacy and asked for paracetamol. All i got in response was blank stares and i couldnt understand why they were confused. I realised later that i guess some Americans only know the drug brand names there not the actual name.
Remarkable.
Thanks for watching!
The sound of the underground is what I notice rather than smell, each line in London has its own distinctive sound, I could be blind folded and say what line the platform served, different rolling stock and motors built at different times.
Wow... that's amazing! My superpower is my smell (slightly diminished now since I had COVID a while back) so it's the smell that I pick up on. But if your superpower is your hearing then I can see how each train and track would sound different.
@@TwoDisneyDudes Like The American phone freakers from the 70s/80s Evan Doorbell has uploaded many of his old US phone network tapes to YT,
he and his friends could tell just by listening to the network how to manipulate the old analogue American phone network, now he can share this preserved archive with the world.
Lol at you saying Borough Market is modern, there's been a market there since the 12th century and that one actually opened in 1851.
Just discovered your channel, loving the content so far and have subscribed.
Thanks for the kind words and for subscribing. I live in Colorado where we don't have many old buildings. So it's fascinating to me that people just go about their day next to a centuries old building and it's just commonplace to them. I guess you just get used to it.
All the major London museums and galleries are free. Something to be aware of, if being sold passes for such things. :)
I think the only free museum we went to was the British Museum. Otherwise, we got pretty good use out of our London Pass. But I'd love to hit some of the other museums the next time we go like the Tate Modern.
Enjoyed that thanks guys, subscribed. The coin and notes helps the blind which is cool. There was talk recently to abolish the 1p and 2p but this has been delayed for a long time as the government are concerned business will round up prices however the cost to keep replacing these coins is into the millions each year as people don’t bother with them and if anything chuck them at times or save them in a jar for years effectively taking them out of circulation for a period of time
Thanks for watching and subscribing! Our coins are different sizes here in America but the bills are all the same so it doesn't help the blind. We've heard talk of getting rid of pennies here too but there hasn't ever been much traction. I think we should get rid of dollar bills and replace them with dollar coins you you already have.
Great video fellas. Not wanting to sound like a nerd, but Big Ben is the name of the bell. The tower you saw is called the Elizabeth Tower. You can often hear Big Ben, but you can never see it. I know - I need to get a life. Looking forward to the next one, enjoy your holiday.
Hi! Thanks for watching. Other commenters said the same thing about Elizabeth Tower but then admitted that they also call it Big Ben when referencing it. What do you call it when you casually reference it?
Lucky to see Tower Bridge open.
I understand it only happens once a day so it was quite a sight to see
@@TwoDisneyDudes - not even that often, I used to work in the old World Trade Centre 30 years ago opposite the Tower of London, read about the double decker bus that "jumped" the bridge or the Australian pilot you flew under it.
51:28 The 3 feathers represent the Royal title: "Prince of Wales" (Prince Charles). You can also see it on the side of our Navy's brand new Aircraft Carrier "HMS Prince of Wales" and as the emblem of the Welsh Rugby Union.
Thanks for the info! I watched some videos on the money but I didn't remember every detail. I think money is fascinating. It's something we use every day but don't stop to think about how well-though-out it is.
I skated in on my first trip to London in January 2020. Juuuust barely made it before the poop hit the fan. I remember being in Denver and seeing that plane and having a tiny moment of panic of once I got on, there was no going back! I went solo and planned the trip myself and it went off without any major disasters ;) One of my fondest memories ever. Just turned 51 myself. Planning on going back next fall, but SAILING back to the US on the Queen Mary 2 :) It's such a long way off, but I'm a planner and I'll have plenty to chew on between now and then. I LOVED it there. If I didn't have family obligations (aging mom) I'd be looking into a work visa to spend some extended time there. Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong country. Edited to add: Oh thank you for correcting yourself on the River Thames. I watched some recent popular travel bloggers and cringed every time he said the Tames River. Just put a little love put into the research of your trip, and a real desire to get to know the place. And the wife half of them is a travel agent. Reason #463 I won't use a travel agent.
Thanks for watching and commenting. I honestly feel that we had a better experience because we did some homework first. Josh and I always say that if we suddenly came into money, we'd move to London and use it as a base for other world travels. I didn't miss it when I first came home but now that it's been several months, I find myself missing Europe every day.
@@TwoDisneyDudes I don't know much about Europe, but London, and the UK really, is something special.
Borough Market looked different from what I remember but I know that some railway works (or was it Crossrail) were said to be going to affect Borough Market so I guess that's why it's changed. I remember it looking more like a traditional indoor market.
I’ve learned from other comments that there are different areas and we only scratched the surface of Borough Market. So your memory might be correct and we just didn’t experience that area.
That was a long time ago, it was the work for Thameslink 2000 project where they had to literally remove the middle floor of a pub so a new railway bridge would fit, the part of the market they were in was like the hot food area thats typically only there on Friday and Saturday, the rest of the original part of the market where said chopped in half pub is is behind the railway arches across the narrow road that divides the market.
Not much a Disney fan but you boys are adorable
Thank you for the kind words. Disney is not for everybody but we enjoy it. Heck, we’re at Disney World right now. Lol
hi guys just found your channel, im a brit, i lived london for 10 years as well as many other places, bit of a Nomad you could say lol, I thought that seat at the back of the plane is genius, we go to spain alot, and pay the bit extra to pick our seats, might see you on the back row sometime, , this comment is at the start of your video, i will comment more as i go through your video
Thanks for watching! We recently went on a vacation to Japan and did the back row for our flight from Japan to Canada. The open space wasn't as spacious but it was still a comfortable bit of room.
@@TwoDisneyDudes thanks for the reply, just got done watching your london videos, they were great, im from the UK lived london 10 years, i will be looking at the rest
Those chips, while not extortionate, are definitely on the steep side. Price-wise. the cone you got them in also helps disguise who few chips you're getting. I'd expect £2.50 for a smallish portion of chips but you never know with London prices.
Also, London has always been at the forefront in terms of new technologies so they almost always had contactless ever since its introduction and made the full transition in most places due to Covid.
Oh yeah, we were right next to the London Eye so I'm sure everything is way overpriced in that area since it's full of tourists. I didn't mind using my card but all the international transaction fees really stung. I was just surprised because in America you can prefer to take cashless payments but you have to take money by law.
With regard to drugstore/pharmacies in the UK normally you have your normal drugstore type place that mainly sells beauty products. A pharmacy is where you can get prescriptions filed and buy over the counter medicine.
Often the pharmacy is located inside the drugstore
Thanks for the info! I watched a lot of videos about London and Paris and so I think I occasionally mixed up a detail. Thankfully we didn't need a drugstore while we were there but this is good info anyway! Thanks for sharing.
I remember shortly after they opened the London Eye i visited with a group of friends and as we were waiting we saw a very tall familiar person, it was Richard Thomas that played John-boy Walton with i assume his wife, once the ride was over we then walked down the river and he also walked down the river he even popped into the same place to go to the toilet, I then realised he was on morning breakfast tv that day so he had visited the eye after. I never realised how tall he was.
Wow… What a great celebrity sighting! Every time I go to a big city like Los Angeles, New York, or London in this case, I hope to see somebody famous but I’ve almost never run into anybody famous.
Hi guys, welcome to the Sceptred Isle. Really enjoyed the video - you've got yourselves a new subscriber.
Thank you so much for the kind words and subscribing. I appreciate it.
I think it was the wall flowers you could smell rather than the tulips. All very beautiful.
Really? There were so many tulips that I figured it must be those making the wonderful scent. But maybe not.
❤❤we just did a London Paris and Disney trip and we loved it!! I absolutely loved Disney Paris 😍😍. It was so cool riding the same rides that’s a Disneys Orlando but they were COMPLETELY Different!! Loved the Star Wars Space mountain. omg👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽. Anywho, we stayed at the Hilton in Kensington. Did you all have problems with things getting into your eyes. It was THE worst. We are also Disney fanatics
I enjoyed Disneyland Paris. I liked Paris's Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, and Phantom Manor better than any of the other parks. No, I don't especially remember things getting into my eyes. Do you mean like flying debris or dirt or something?
Interesting to see your display of British coins. I live in the UK but haven't used or seen cash for some years.
I think money is interesting because we use it almost every day but many people don't stop to think about the planning that goes into it. But I get what you're saying... we almost never use cash when we're at home either.
Ah I love borough market (pronounced ‘burrah’) - so many crazy different types of food
We were very impressed. I wish we had more time to stay there but our plane got in late and we had plans after the market. But I could see myself spending hours in that place.
the city cruise boat was passing under the Millenium bridge, which was in one of the Harry Potter films, ( Tower Bridge - a well known landmark 2012 Olympics, " London has Fallen " probably some Bond films as well)
Thanks for the info. Oh yeah... those poor bridges never do well in movies.
The policeman on the left was very very cute😊
I agree that they were both nice on the eyes
I live in the UK in Essex but I really enjoyed your take on our Capital, so p,eased you enjoyed your first day 👍🏽🙋🏽♀️The feather plume on the 2p is the emblem of The Prince of Wales, Who is Prince Charles at the moment.
Thanks for the info! I think money is so interesting. It's something most people use every day but don't stop to think about the money itself and how intricate it is.
The church next to Borough Market is the Anglican (Episcopal) Southwalk Cathedral (pronounced Suth'uck). Although only a cathedral for just 145 years, the present structure has portions dating back to 1102, when it was a priory church. The history of the church goes back to St Swithin, who was Bishop of Winchester in the 860s.
Thanks for the info! I live in Colorado where we don't have very many old structures so it was mind-boggling to me that people just go about their day next to this structure from 1102 and it's just normal for them. :-)
@@TwoDisneyDudes Yes, my nephew lives in Westminster CO, so I have visted the Centennial State several times, particularly when I lived in the US in the 90s. I was sent to a choir prep in London from aged eight to 13, all the way from Kenya. It took me a while to get accustomed to singing each day at the Abbey, where services had been sung since 1066. My youngest I also sent to a choir school, at Winchester (founded by King Alfred, two centuries before that even). He now attends senior school in another cathedral city in the SW of England. His present school was founded in 909AD. This was about the time site B at your LaDaiSka site in CO was founded.
49:47 Depending on your age, the fifty pence of your youth is gone. They changed the coin in 1997 to make it thinner and smaller in diameter. The previous coin is the one that feels nicely balanced for holding or flipping imo.
And the image on the obverse is Britannia sitting. Britannia is a goddess that the Romans made up but has continued as representation of the British Isles till the present day. There are roman coins from about the year 150 (one-hundred-and-fifty) that have a very similar image to the current coins.
I turn 50 soon so yeah, the old 50 cent pieces are a thing of the past. I have one from the year I was born, which would be the old style. I don't use cash that much anymore so I haven't seen a 50 cent piece is a long time.
Hi, if you don't mind me asking, what should the budget be for one person? Also may I ask what the covid travel restrictions were at the Denver airport and at the London airport? Thank you!
These are good questions. There weren’t any travel restrictions to go to London other than having a passport, of course. But to get back to Denver we had to take a COVID-19 test within 24 hours of the flight. I kept looking at the CDC website to see if they dropped that requirement but it was still in effect when we came home.
Our budget ended up being about $5000 for two people. It wouldn’t exactly be half that for one person because the costs of the places to stay aren’t that much different if it’s only one person versus two so I would say plan on a good $3500 total including flights and hotels and spending money. But we also purchase tickets for a show at the Shakespeare’s Globe and an expensive afternoon tea so it can be a lot cheaper if you stick to less expensive options.
@@TwoDisneyDudes Thank you so much! I appreciate your for answering. I plan on visiting London later this year, so this information really helps a ton. I hope you had the most wonderful time during your stay. Take care!
An interesting bight size video, a balanced view with context in a short visit, some England/London travel videos done by apparent professionals i cannot watch, they are toe curling, (Rick Steves/Wolters world) the biggest anxiety I've noticed for American visitors at this time are the hoops they have to go through when they return to their own country, i'm sure the US will lift all travel restrictions in the near future.
Thanks for the kind words. And yeah... the whole testing process to get back home was very time consuming and not what we wanted to interrupt our vacation to do. But, that's just one of the consequences of travelling right now. It could have been worse though. When we first started planning there was a test for entering England and a test for entering France and then a test to go back to the US. So I guess it was better that we ended up only having to do one test.
Don't know if you tried Covent Garden, touristy , but it's one of my fav places in London, they have street entertainers ( v good ones) , a good market and some good places to eat
No, we didn't get there. I really wanted to but we just ran out of time. It's on the list for next time through.
So many free places in London, I wonder if it was really worth buying a multi entry tourist pass, when you’re staying for just two days?
We were tourists and we wanted to do the touristy things and would have had to pay for individual entry anyway. The London Pass was worth it in the end. If we go back then we wouldn't get the pass and would hit more of the free places instead.
So nice to see people without masks on. You really miss seeing people's facial expressions.
I understood why masks were important but I agree that it's nice to see everyone's face again.
The Victoria monument (opp Buck Palace ) is the end point of the London Marathon, and boy are you glad to see that !!
After running for that long, I'm sure that's a very welcome sight.
Fun fact, a 10p weights double the 5p and 2p weights double the 1p. Why? Because if you sort round coins by material colour ( silver or copper) and weigh them you can tell the value by weight. 10x1p weights the same as 5x 2p and 3x2p +4x1p all weigh the same and all add up to 10p
Wow... this is really interesting. I think money is fascinating. It's something most people use every day in some way but we don't often think that hard about the money itself and all its intricacies.
A lot of places in NZ are card only now, especially in big cities.. Started before covid but is more common now since covid.
If you think about it, it is safer not to be out with lots of cash on you ...
but also look at all the street food places you have eaten at ...
obviously the server cannot handle cash and serve food ...!!!!
We didn't mind using the cards since that's what we'd normally do in non-vacation life but all the international transaction fees stung a bit.