Going to London For the First Time: Advice?
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Pleeeeeeaaaaaaase don't misquote me.tahrey said:It's just a different type of humour and camaraderie, ya old tossbag. Casual insulting and ripping-the-piss is the way we build friendships. Haven't you got used to that yet?Jedihunter4 said:
If you get to the Midlands, by the way... well done, that'll do you. Coventry's a bit of a hole, thanks largely to the Germans having flattened anything remotely cultural, but you've easy access at the very least to Stratford and the rest of Warwickshire (as it says on the signs, Shakespeare country ... lots of open fields and achingly picturesque little villages etc), the Malverns and Cotswolds if you like your countryside, Wales, and the Birmingham-Black Country conurbation, which can be just as decrepit and shitty as London in places, but is no-where near as up itself... but happens to be the (shared, with Manchester) birthplace of the industrial revolution AND of heavy metal (that's all ours). History just seeps out all over if you look - lots of museums but also just hanging around on random streets because it was never demolished - but we've managed to keep pace. You can burn out the vaguely touristy bits in a couple days to be fair, but you can at least stay for a curry and a boogie in the rock clubs (try to avoid Broad St...) before moving on to northern climes (Snowdonia, maybe have a look around Liverpool, give your very soul chills by driving through Blackpool surrounded by zombies and a Silent Hill kind of climate, stop off in the Lake District for a pleasant couple of days, head across to Berwick and make an ass of yourself asking if they really are still at war with Germany, and find out what Edinburgh's like when the fringe is out of town...) and ultimately returning to the big smoke via a dogleg into Cornwall for some surfing.
On that note
A word of warning. If you are obviously a curry virgin then some bastard WILL trick you into having the hottest possible thing, with masses of chili in it. Unless you are already a spice-head, you will not have felt burn like it and might not be able to finish... you'll certainly end up sweating. Even some of the side dishes (mixed or lime pickle, for example) can be pretty toasty. You get used to it, but it'd be rough to have one as your first try.WolfLordAndy said:
HOT! - Vindaloo, Madras
Middling - Rogan Josh, Bhuna, Dopiaza, Balti, some Masalas, some generic "curry"
Mild(er) - Korma, Pasanda, cheaper/supermarket Masala and generic curries, particularly the glorified thick gravy from chip shops (addictive, though).
Can't be certain - pretty much anything else i've missed, or is made up by the restaurant. Check what their rating may be vs the others. If in doubt, go for the korma. You'll be called a girl but your tastebuds will survive and it's still damn tasty. Some restaurants STILL put a touch of chili in it ANYWAY, and there'll be enough other spice to liven it up.
Come to Brum and have a proper steel (or even better, cast iron) dish Balti (medium, normally, but be careful if you get one with obvious pieces of green chili in), chicken or lamb saag for preference, with a freshly baked peshwari naan (and basmati rice, if you really must)... stack of poppadoms with mild dips and salad beforehand... maybe a bit of kulfi afterwards... pint of Cobra to go with. Bostin'.
Never mind what you see - you'll be paying £100 for the privelege of walking in - and more importantly, safely walking back out of - the door, if you're not "known". Another £100 for a lemonade. Before you even get to see any flesh. Easy pickings for the brick-shithouse bouncers.supermariner said:
(Haven't myself - I've got more sense than to be wandering in through random doors / basements in that part of any town - but I've heard enough stories)
That's going a bit far mate. It looked more like plain sensible advice to me - go in the wrong pub and start sounding off and you'll be lucky to just end up in A&E. Treat pubs like you would /b/, but /b/ in a world where people DO have the power to punch you in the face over TCP/IP, and trolls are everywhere. STFU and Lurk Moar, at least for the first couple weeks. You don't have to act like a worm or brown-nose, just know when to button it... and that knowledge can take a while to acquire, so keep it low-key at first.TheGuiggleMonster said:
There are nothing but good things to say about GOOD pasties. However you may need to go to Cornwall in order to experience it. Possibly they're good from the high street pie shops or a street cart, but I've never yet been tempted to spend the high prices they ask for such a simple food when I've first hand experience of mass produced ones being bland, cardboardy and dry. Pies can be a bit hit and miss also. All I'd say is, don't avoid completely, but if your first one is crap, at least operate on the three-strikes rule and try a couple other places.
Try a Greggs' steak bake or some of their other variations though (and the sausage rolls ... and some of the sweet pastries too)... omg, to die for. Guaranteed merman-gina free too.
Fish and Chips MUST be taken with salt and vinegar (including on the fish, and/or chicken if you've gone for that... not so much any sausages). They're the flavour enhancers that bring out the natural tastiness of the fatty goodness laid before you. You can mix things up with some curry sauce if you prefer. Again, bear in mind that the 3 strikes rule applies. There are good chippies and bad ones - if your first time is uninspiring (dry, tough or burnt chips, dry and tasteless fish or limp batter etc), try somewhere else. Chips should be crisp with ever so fluffy insides, fish should still be moist inside the batter with a layer of soggy batter mix inside a just-gone-crisp shell. Heavenly. Remember however that it IS cholesterol city... I save such stuff either for special occasions, or after a seriously crap work day where I need a lift and can't be having with cooking or washing-up (maybe once every 3-4 months or longer).
ANYWAY
Welcome to our "great" if slightly faded nation and its capital, I hope you have an awesome time and end up not wanting to leave. We can always use fresh blood and new ideas to stop both genetic and mental inbreeding
Do not hang around Abbey Road staring like an idiot. And don't keep running across it and back again worried you'll get hit. Here we have things called Zebra crossings, where they will wait for you until you cross. Usually.
Driving in Europe scares me. When I was on my ten day battlefield tour, our bus driver scared me.Best of the 3 said:
He always played German techno and yes, he was insane. But we didn't crash once although we did see another bus in an accidentBest of the 3 said:
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OP: I recommend you get a money belt or something that can hold your passport, the larger part of your traveling cash and other vital bits of papers (like tickets) under your clothing. Just for safety and for being secure in the knowledge of where your valuable stuff is. Always keep an eye on your camera too. Nearly lost my SLR in Amsterdam but thankfully some police were walking the beat nearby and saw me chasing the thief. You might not be so lucky so always perform a pat down on yourself. Just my traveling tips. As for London, I haven't been there yet. One of my eventual goals in life
Oh man, you're going to have explain better (and without requoting the ENTIRETY of my post of which reference to yours was but a small part). I didn't even realise that I HAD misquoted you. I pre-emptively apologise, pending highlighting of where I cocked up (but reserve the right to withdraw that should it turn out I didn't).TheGuiggleMonster said:
OMG who is promoting Scotland as a dismal place?!!!!
It's only dreary cos of the climate and all the rain but on the upside it's fucking lush!
Get out and see the country, go up a monroe, it's beautiful!
And ofc visit Glasgow and Edinburgh! I would advise Edinburgh over Glasgow cos i live in Glasgow and i think there are more touristy things to do in Edinburgh.
I have been to London twice and i loved Madame Tussauds but i imagine ppl have already advised that. The weather will be pretty nice down there I imagine, compared to here at least
London is so multicultural i wouldnt worry about things like cargo pants and stuff, people dress how they like. Also it's like super busy. Learn the subway system and get a wee subway map. I found ppl tend to just bump into you in London without taking the time to apologise. So much of a rush. Scotland is different that way, ppl will apologise, or turn and tell you to fucking watch it. One or the other. <3
It's only dreary cos of the climate and all the rain but on the upside it's fucking lush!
Get out and see the country, go up a monroe, it's beautiful!
And ofc visit Glasgow and Edinburgh!
I would advise Edinburgh over Glasgow cos i live in Glasgow and i think there are more touristy things to do in Edinburgh. I have been to London twice and i loved Madame Tussauds but i imagine ppl have already advised that. The weather will be pretty nice down there I imagine, compared to here at least
London is so multicultural i wouldnt worry about things like cargo pants and stuff, people dress how they like. Also it's like super busy. Learn the subway system and get a wee subway map. I found ppl tend to just bump into you in London without taking the time to apologise. So much of a rush. Scotland is different that way, ppl will apologise, or turn and tell you to fucking watch it. One or the other.
<3oh yeah, almost forgot.
if you see any large, muscular guys with clean-shaven heads, scars and tattoos, wearing white or blue shirts that say "CYC" on them... be forthright in telling them that "millwall are c**ts". They LOVE that.
disclaimer: don't do that.
if you see any large, muscular guys with clean-shaven heads, scars and tattoos, wearing white or blue shirts that say "CYC" on them... be forthright in telling them that "millwall are c**ts". They LOVE that.
disclaimer: don't do that.
Well, maybe I didn't. It's been a while now. But I looked mainly at what you wrote in that section and the parts immediately after didn't seem to change it... I mean, it's a good warning to someone from a different culture that may not necessarily have such elements, but being surprised about it yourself seemed offJedihunter4 said:
On that front I totally know what you mean. You do have to be careful about picking your pubs in some places, and on occasion quickly changing your approach to be pretending to look for someone and bolting when "they" prove to not "be there" is wise. Try some of the more backstreets places in Bangor for example ... 3 years I lived there and some of them were never that comfortable to visit unless you were in a group of 5+ on a pub crawl. (even worse because in at least a couple you'd hear people talking english as you pushed the door ... soon as they clapped eyes on you it'd flip to welsh. thankfully not that often however, and the best, still heavily traditional pub in town was run by and frequented by people who didn't care who you were so long as you weren't a complete tosser)
Always best to check out an unfamiliar bar with a buddy anyway though, isn't it?
Phew ... I'm so glad I can now get away with saying that without feeling so guilty (I'm a filthy brummie
).... unless it's one of those "only black/gays can use the N-/F-word" things.It's a great place to use to get between various midlands towns, if you can't go on the M6, I'll say that much. It's well engineered for such a purpose.
Heh ... I wonder what it'd be like if they'd missed it entirely, and flattened more of Brum instead?
Never even been there. I don't really know what it has. I figure it was probably mainly a coaching and market town that's since been bypassed... Both N-S AND E-W...
What I do know however is that Warwick uni is in Coventry, so how does that work?!
Well if they're only here for a week or less, fair play. There is a lot to see, and it'd be stupid to cut out any of the sights when you're only around for a limited time and that's specifically where you've "gone".
But if it's going to be a longer trip - 10 days or more - I'd counter-argue you're missing out by staying stuck in there all the time. You'd surely either exhaust it or just get burnt out from hitting all the typical tourist spots. But then, that's maybe just my nature. If I'm on hols somewhere I can't last two weeks in the same resort without at least catching a bus/train or renting a car/scooter/bicycle to go off for a bit of independent exploration further afield, out of the tourist trap (or at least, out of the local one). I've seen some awesome things in, say, Sardinia or Andalucia that you'd never get on the usual package deal, and it made things a lot more interesting even though the remainder of the trip was spent back in the original "base". (And similar on a trip to France with friends where we had a coastal house to stay in but would bust out every couple days and go find what a nearby medium-large town had to offer, at random)
GPS makes it a lot less risky nowadays, too!
Plus, otherwise you'd go back home as yet another foreigner who's been to central Larrrrrnden and thinks they therefore know "England", when it may as well be the fifth kingdom of the union. I don't claim to know Spain, Italy, France from the slivers of them I've seen, even with those extra excursions. Because what I've mainly seen is their tourist resorts. Central London is a lot like some kind of wierd theme park based on itself. Walking around Canary Wharf, for example, is just bizarre and the tube is unlike any other form of transport I've experienced.
At the very least ride out to the end of one of the "spoke" tube lines and wander round the environs of that terminal station for a bit
The suburban areas of London are far less Wonderlandy.I can't remember if that's what I said or someone else, now
But it maybe wasn't meant so seriously if that's how it came across.There does seem to be an endemic thing of "this is how things work here, therefore that's how the rest of the country also works, or at least, should...", even though such things are largely wierd. But it is also just a city with people in it. I don't have a problem with people who live in London (I know a few, and they have been affected by its madness to various degrees - one of them is just A Guy who happens to have a flat within spitting distance of Gordon Ramsey's pub but is otherwise perfectly real, another has gone Full Hackney Hipster and there's barely a week goes by I don't tell him to move back to the midlands before his brain finally melts out of his ears... the way his life runs simply wouldn't wash in the provinces...), more those who are identifiable londoners, massively over and above even the characters portrayed in Only Fools & Horses
(much like identifiable Brummies always strike me as a bit off - I only said I was above for comic effect and to show where I am. Hardly anyone has that strong an accent, a Timothy-Spall-in-Red-Dwarf outlook, or a true hatred of the yam-yams).Some of them are well up themselves, and often they're the ones who wield the influence. So the whole place can come across similarly. There are millions who aren't...
And it is an amazing place ... but boy, I wouldn't want to live there. Or stay for more than two weeks. If nothing else, I'd be skint!
Redlin5 said:Driving in Europe scares me. When I was on my ten day battlefield tour, our bus driver scared me.Best of the 3 said:
He always played German techno and yes, he was insane. But we didn't crash once although we did see another bus in an accident
Foreign bus drivers are terrifying. Same as their taxi drivers. British (or if you like, London) ones are a little less so, but may still come as a shock if you're used to taking buses/taxis anywhere other than New York. Despite the reputation for a somewhat gruff demeanour, the bus drivers I see depicted in American media (for example) seem INCREDIBLY laid back in outlook and driving style compared to ours. And all the same, the continental ones scare me in a way Brit ones never could. They're fearless. The only worse ones may be the Indians.
However we don't tend to have a culture of road rage (or queue-/register-rage, out of the cars, etc) the same way that America does. There was a brief flare up in the late 90s but it never really caught on. I think we're still just too reserved to really get that mad for that long. There may be some shouting and exchange of hand or light signals, but it dies down quickly afterwards. And driving standards seem to be largely a lot better. If you see someone doing something really retarded, everyone else will be thinking the same, rather than shrugging it off as "oh well... it happens". Brake/throttle confusion, driving the wrong way round a roundabout or down the wrong side of a divided road is incredibly rare (I had my first, and so far thankfully only encounter with the latter a couple months ago, when some old dear got confused by one side of a dual carriageway being shut and so figured she'd contraflow on the other, still-open side, rather than the service alley everyone else was being shuttled down), people tend to have slightly better lane and signal discipline, etc. But never, ever trust someone's signal or highway-code mandated lane progression over what their wheels, speed, in-lane positioning and your own gut feeling suggests they're actually going to do...
And again, have a nice time
Native Vermonter here. Sub-cultural stance here is that if your fighting, then you're doing something wrong.Ghengis John said:Fair enough. lolmikozero said:hey i never claimed we were "civilized"Ghengis John said:
i think it's fair to say we have some dark aspects to our national character which are seldom discussed. we know how to see "it" coming (to varying degrees...and some women are completely blind), trying to explain "it" to someone else is...well, difficult.
Also, Vermont tends to be a little more 'rustic' than other areas of the country. That said, there's a notable hunter population; with venison being a relatively popular food item. And, although it's legal, you just don't walk around with a firearm in public.
What are you saying? Your commentary is too vague for me to infer your meaning. Are you insinuating americans carry firearms every where? Are you stating there's never a need to carry a firearm? Are you stating the importance of cultural mores or the effect of person and place? Are your comments snarky or serious? You're going to have to elaborate a bit here.GodofCider said:Native Vermonter here. Sub-cultural stance here is that if your fighting, then you're doing something wrong.Ghengis John said:Fair enough. lolmikozero said:hey i never claimed we were "civilized"Ghengis John said:
i think it's fair to say we have some dark aspects to our national character which are seldom discussed. we know how to see "it" coming (to varying degrees...and some women are completely blind), trying to explain "it" to someone else is...well, difficult.
Also, Vermont tends to be a little more 'rustic' than other areas of the country. That said, there's a notable hunter population; with venison being a relatively popular food item. And, although it's legal, you just don't walk around with a firearm in public.