London

that would be a fun one to see on the big screen!

Other daytrip possibilities I would recommend: Whitstable (fishing town with lovely old buildings, pebble beach), Rye (similar but set on a hill above a salt marsh which gives it a very isolated atmosphere, with Camber Sands and Dungeness nearby- Dungeness is a weird headland with a nuclear power plant and lots of beach shacks dotted around a pebble beach which is a bit like a moonscape); Lewes (near Brighton, great big castle, a large tourable brewery, interesting shops, good pubs & restaurants); Warwick Castle (another huge castle). Oxford & Cambridge also recommended.

You could also go to another big city for a daytrip- Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham, Liverpool and Sheffield are all just about doable (each c. 2hrs on the train), but if you do that definitely book in advance.

all of those sound like great places to take pictures and stare into the distance and think about wg sebald and scribble stuff in my notebook i wont be able to make out later.

is there any great travel book re: london or any of these day trips any of yall know about?

Derek Jarman had a cottage in Dungeness, innit?

Kent is really good for a day trip in spring/summer (of course its utterly depressing at most other times). xp

Yeah, Dungeness was Jarman territory.

Whitstable & Rye definitely Sebald-esque, but you could go to the Suffolk coast for the real thing- Rings of Saturn is set round there IIRC, but I don't know that part of the world at all. Dunwich, the town now under the sea, was on that part of the coast.

Re. guides: Time Out London city guide is good. I have one called "London by Pub", which is basically a load of pub crawls plus some incidental stuff about architecture.

This obviously is no use for travel plans, but 20 degrees! http://static2.bigstockphoto.com/thumbs/8/9/2/large2/298016.jpg

ooh here's another daytrip suggestion: Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, nr. Oxford. Gigantic Vanbrugh country house, with Capability Brown grounds. Proper Hanoverian Ascendancy architecture-as-power stuff.

unlucky s1ocki, we're having summer in march this year

Also, you can get to the middle of Paris in like 2 hours.

i would love to visit paris again (lived there for a little bit), is the train affordable at all?

we're kind of having summer in march over here too, it's a bit weird!

again booking in advance is advisable- if you do so you could get tix for £90 return. On the day would be £200+.

cheapest return from london is £69 iirc

that's not terrible.

what are your thoughts on mega-cheap airlines?

do those still exist?

xpost and s1ocki if you make it out to whitstable you should eat something here imo. it is fucking great

ooh lala!!!

any and all food suggestions are welcome to, i am a food writer and i love to eat so 'foodie' stuff is definitely on my agenda

the cheap airlines still exist! i think the thing is just that the train is so much easier, you go from the centre of london to the centre of paris.

right, the cheap airlines don't let you bring bags and you're not allowed to pee and you have to bring food for the cabin crew right?

xp and so much nicer, you sit on a train

any and all food suggestions are welcome to, i am a food writer and i love to eat so 'foodie' stuff is definitely on my agenda

oooohh london restaurants are some of my favourite things. you want to know more about high end stuff or cheap local ethnic food (which is often just as good)?

there's a london restaurants thread which should be a good starting point if you can bear the occasional smug tone, also of late it's just devolved into burger talk because there's an inexplicable and apparently unending burger obsession going on right now. ignore all that.

lol but also otm

haha lex, i want to hear about both and i would be happy to grab a bite with you if you have free time!

i might even pitch an article about 'em in which case we may eat on whatever publication i can coerce into publishing me's dime!

burgers in london, i can probably do without.

i would be happy to eat with you too, that would be awesome! god i don't even know where to START recommending though, i have all my local and regular favourites but i still feel like i've barely scratched the surface, and my favourite thing is checking out places i haven't been.

a while ago some friends of mine were gonna do a project which involved eating out in london to represent every country in the world. it never got finished cuz the girl organising it got deported (to canada, lol) but i still kind of want to steal her idea and finish it sometime.

maybe i can show you how to cook (JOKES)

but yeah, think on it, i would love to hear any and all suggestions.

this is gonna sound weird but do time out london actually post their articles to their site? http://www.timeout.com/london/ seems to be just listings?

― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Thursday, March 22, 2012 12:02 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

does anyone know about this? would love to read that london theater scene article tracer mentioned

i don't know, their website is super confusing.

i think if you go to the 'theatre' page there's something called 'theatre features' that might contain the article Tracer mentioned but as i haven't read the article tracer mentioned i can't really confirm.

thank u good idea.

Xxpost

Let's start 202 meals again, sure M&A won't mind if it means someone else is doing the organising.

A friend and I have been doing the all-nations food thing too, though because neither of us actually live in London it's going quite slowly. Last month we ticked off "Cockney".

u bought some crisps?

Pie/mash/eel bonanza

o eely

id forgot abt eelpienmash

First off we went to Manze's which was fun (provided you like jellied eel), then later on we tried F. Cooke's in Shoreditch, which was empty, cold and a bit grim overall.

anyone been here?

http://www.west-mersea.co.uk/articles/35-featuredbusinesses/63-the-company-shed

I haven't been yet but I've heard good things..

It's a fair drive from London though.

me & my buddy were thinking of renting a car and makin' a day of it.

I went to Manze's once with an American visitor but they'd run out of eels! We had pie & mash which tbh was digusting, so I've not been tempted to go back in search of eels since.

Also, where do I find really nice eyeglass frames?

I was here on Sunday; http://www.cutlerandgross.com/ Nice selection.

I was there on Sunday too!

Seems like that's the best (only good) place I've been able to find. Since my misplaced glasses aren't turning up I will likely return soon.

There are some others, this place had a good selection last time I was there; http://www.mallonandtaub.com/

hey guys i have a question!!!

i am thinking of unlocking my iphone and getting a uk sim card while i'm there. are there any particularly decent pay-as-you-go things i could jump on for some voice/text/data so i don't get totally reamed by my canadian carrier if i use my phone? (their overseas plans are ridic.)

Xpost: Thanks, I had planned to go there today but completely forgot what it was called. Fortuitous timing!

I currently have a pay-as-you-go as you go phone, for which I pay 5 pounds a month for data (with free incoming calls); for 15 you can get voice and text and unlimited data which you're likely to not use up. Mind you I use an Android phone, so I have no idea how this applies; this is also with 3, who have irritated me enough with little things to not want to recommend them.

I'm curious about unlocking also, since my phone is made only to be used with 3, but I'd like to keep it when I move back to Canada in September.

15 pounds sounds pretty reasonable for like 2 weeks of 'full phone' use while i'm there

yo EDB i have repped for this place in camden market before, but the guy who runs this place is wonderful. all his frames are vintage, and most are cheaper than new. no proper web site at the moment but just go! you will be delighted and amazed.

http://www.arckiv.net/