HOW MUCH YOU WILL SAVE WHEN YOU USE A LONDON PASS

We were able to visit six London attractions for two consecutive days using the two-day London Pass that we bought at Heathrow airport for GBP 54.00 each. The London Pass is real value-for-your-money. We were able to save GBP 29.70 or P 2,000 + each as we were able to enter all six London attractions without further payment using the London Pass.

Below is a rundown of the London attractions that we visited with the normal entry price for each for your reference.

1. Westminster Abbey
    Normal entry price - GBP 16.00
    Free entry with a London Pass

The Westminster Abbey is a gothic church which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site

This is inside Westminster Abbey. This is the only photo inside Westminster Abbey that my friend managed to take before we were asked to stop taking photos as it is prohibited.

Aside from enjoying free entry to this place, we were also able to skip the long queue with the use of the London Pass. We were grateful for this benefit because we would have froze from the cold if we were not able to get in quickly. 

An audio tour was also included with our London Pass. This helped us greatly in appreciating the history of Westminster Abbey.

I was fascinated by the tombs of kings, queens and other people of past centuries where effigies of them above their tombs are common. The architecture was also intricate especially, when one looks up at the ceilings.

I was in awe and felt surreal when I saw the burial places of Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin, the special Scientists' corner which is home to a memorial for Isaac Newton and also King Edward's chair where many Kings and Queens, including Queen Elizabeth II, have been crowned.

2. The Jewel Tower
     Normal entry price - GBP 3.20
     Free entry with a London Pass

The Jewel Tower is minutes away from Westminster Abbey. This was designed to house the King's Privy Wardrobe (King Edward III), the branch of the King's household responsible for buying, storing and transporting the King's valuable personal property.

We were disappointed when we saw the inside of the Jewel Tower. We were expecting to see a king's elegant wardrobe and some of his most valuable personal property as described in the brochure but, there was not much to see. It was mostly empty space with boards filled with information as the photo above.

Looking back, taking photos of the building from the outside would have sufficed just to be able to say that we have visited the place.

3. The Kensington Palace
     Normal entry price - GBP 14.50
     Free entry with a London Pass

The Kensington Palace Gardens

Queen Victoria's Monument in front of the entrance to The Kensington Palace

The Kensington Palace is divided into two - the historic state apartments, which visitors are allowed to see and a separate private wing where members of the wider royal family have their homes.

I enjoyed our tour of the Kensington Palace where we were able to take a glimpse of the childhood and family life of Queen Victoria. I was especially struck by Queen Victoria's writings where she told of the love that she had for her husband. I felt her deep love for him just by reading the quotes from her writing.

The room where some of Princess Diana's wardrobe were kept was still being completed at the time of our visit. Nevertheless, we were able to get the opportunity to view several of her famous wardrobe which she wore in royal functions.

4. The Tower Bridge 
    Entry to the Tower Bridge is free
    Normal price to The Tower Bridge Exhibition - GBP 8.00
    The Tower Bridge Exhibition is free with the London Pass

London's Tower Bridge. It was when I saw this iconic landmark that I felt that I have truly arrived in London : ).

Never miss the Tower Bridge Exhibition. It is worth seeing.

I learned about other bridges aside from the common famous bridges that I've heard of like the Golden Gate Bridge and this, the London Bridge or The Tower Bridge. I was inspired to dream of travelling to those countries which are home to the other beautiful and historic bridges included in the exhibit. I actually made a mental note to seek if there are historical bridges in the countries I will visit in the future and take photos of them to put in a collection.

5. The Tower of London
     Normal entry price - GBP 19.00
     Free entry with the London Pass

The beautiful view from The Tower of London

There is so much on offer in the Tower of London. One day is not enough to visit the whole place. 

The highlight of our visit was her majesty's Crown Jewels. We were exposed to the splendid and glistening crowns and robes of royalty. Also, a grand collection of plates and mugs used in state dinners was on display.

The Crown Jewels is definitely a must-see.

6. The London Bridge Experience
    Normal entry price - GBP 23.00
    Free entry with the use of the London Pass

Although I am not a fan of horror houses,  my friend convinced me to visit The London Bridge Experience as it was advertised to have won "The Best Year Round Scare Attraction" at the Screamie Awards for two years in the running. We just had to find out how scary the experience is!   

The first part where we were brought back in time wherein the London Bridge Experience delved through the history of the bridge was quite boring. Maybe, it was because most of us in the group were not familiar with the history of the bridge that we were not able to relate very well. The real-life actors were not very successful in scaring the group.

The only thing which scared me was the experience of "The Squeeze". We were asked to fall into a single file and the person ahead would lead us through a totally dark space where there is a rubber-like curtain which squeezed our bodies like invisible hands when we went through it. 

We were just glad that entry to the London Bridge Experience was free with the London Pass since the normal entry price was expensive and was not value-for-our-money as far as my friend and I are concerned.

The London Pass is definitely worth it. We only did not save money, we also saved time : ).

LONDON PASS AND OYSTER CARD: TRAVEL HELPERS

If you are budget travelers like my friend and I are, the London Pass and the Oyster Card are two of the value-for-money purchases we highly recommend that you  buy when travelling to London as tourists.

I came across the London Pass while browsing the net about London. I actually already wanted to buy one online after reading the benefits of having one while in London. However, I had second thoughts because when you purchase it online, you still had to go somewhere in London to redeem the pass. Since I had no idea yet how to go anywhere in London at that time, I decided against buying it.

My friend and companion in the trip also brought up the idea of buying the pass online before leaving for the trip. And, although I still had my reservations on the idea, I gave her the nod and just positively thought that we would surely find  our way and be able to redeem our London Passes. 

But my friend, too, was not able to buy the London Passes online. Attending to last minute things at work before our trip prevented her from doing so.

Finally, upon setting foot at Heathrow airport (Yay!) and having passed through customs and collecting our luggages, we were deciding whether to grab some food before leaving the airport, when lo and behold there it was, our eyes suddenly landed on a desk selling London Passes! My friend and I immediately went to the desk and inquired. After some discussion, we settled to purchase one for each of us  a 2-day London Pass worth GBP54 each or P 3,600+ each.

Since the London Pass is available at the airport, it would be better to purchase it from there and do away with the inconvenience of redeeming (especially if it is your first time to be there) if purchased online.

The three benefits of the London Pass we enjoyed:

1. It gave us entry at no further cost to a choice of 60 favorite attractions in London. So our problem then was how to plan to visit all those 60! One nice problem to have : ).

2. It enabled us to beat the queues at selected attractions.
Definitely one cool reason to get the London Pass!

3. When entry to the attraction is normally free to the public, the London Pass gave us more great offers such as free entrance to exhibitions. An example would be the exhibition of famous bridges in the London Bridge which I will tell you about in my succeeding posts.

Source: The London Pass guide book

The Oyster Card, on the other hand, is similar to our LRT and MRT value cards except that in the Philippines we cannot use our LRT/MRT value cards to pay for other means of transportation like public buses. The Oyster Card is the cheapest way to pay for single journeys on bus, tube (or what they call the London Underground), tram, DLR, London overground and most National Rail Services in London. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14836.aspx

Purchasing an Oyster Card also gives one convenience not having to queue every time one needs to ride the Tube.

Note: The Oyster Card can be purchased right in the ticket booths found in the Underground Tube line which can be accessed through the airport.

So on your trip to London, be sure to grab these two important passes!