Silkspike laying down some serious knowledge - good posts!
Illegal to sell and illegal to buy. It has been “de-criminalised” to the extent that you won’t get thrown in jail for possessing small ammounts. It is not worth the risk.
Do not under any circumstances smoke it anywhere in public.
There are not enough licensed taxis to go around in London. A licensed taxi can be one of two types:
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a “black” cab, not all are balck these days. This is your traditional london taxi that can be hailed in the street. If the orange light is on it is available for hire.
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a minicab. A minicab is usually a normal car or people carrier with a driver that is licensed to operate as a taxi. You will have to get this at
A) a taxi office
B) by phoning them
C) at some taxi ranks
Short fall is made up by unlicensed cabs, these are the guys who will approach you in the street outside a bar or club and say “minicab”. These are very dangerous for women alone, there have been many reported cases of sexual assault of women who have gotten this type of cab alone, but are pretty safe for blokes, especially if you are in a group and/or larger than average. Feel free to barter the price on these and walk away if they won’t take a significant cut on their first offered price.
Do NOT barter with a black cab, they operate on agreed rates on a meter.
If you are going to be in London for a week or longer and you are going to be moving about lots the most cost efficient thing to do is get week long travelcards. Zone 1&2 should cover most of where you want to go within the city. You get Oyster free with a week’s travelcard, it costs £3 otherwise. Make sure you know your zones (tube map) if you are travelling further out you will need an extension ticket, get these at any ticket office. A zone 1&2 travelcard is valid on buses in all zones.
Tubes don’t run past 12:30am, there are nightbuses but these can be confusing and infrequent. If you’re not going far and there is more than one of you a cab is the best way.
Is now illegal in all enclosed public spaces (yay!)
Pubs and clubs are very expensive… get used to it. Off licenses and supermarkets are really cheap so if you want to drink at home before going out you can save a lot of money.
People in the UK drink, a lot. I’m not sure how old you are but most young americans cannot keep up with the locals, we go out heavy and often to pubs and clubs from the age of 16 and there is a huge binge drinking culture, plus half of London is aussie and they like a pint or 12. Most places will shut between midnight and 3am but we do have 24hr licensing and some places (not many) are open all night.
You will find lots and lots of continental beers on offer in pubs in London, as well as good old english bitter. Try them all.
Places that are a good night out:
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Soho
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Covent Garden (touristy)
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Leicester Square (even more touristy)
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Angel (just north of The City, very young professional area, lots of bars and restaurants)
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Clapham (similar to Angel, but South of the river)
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Brixton, next to Clapham, more down and dirty and dangerous but cooler
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Putney, for drinks by the river and partying with hoorah henries out on daddy’s dollar.
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The City - Thursday night is the big night in the city for the after work crowd.
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Toilets
AKA: loo, Gents/Ladies, bog, crapper, shitter.
It may be labelled WC or water closet but saying “Water Closet” outloud will induce laughter.
A bathroom should contain a bath. When was the last time you saw a bath in a pub toilet?
You should be pretty safe unless you stray into some of the scummier areas dotted around. There’s not much to see in the shit areas so you shouldn’t need to go anywhere near them.
Oxford St, Regent St, Carnaby St, Saville Row, Jermyn St, Picadilly etc etc etc.
It will cost you a fortune to shop in London because
A) the dollar is currently worth fuck all against the pound
B) it is expensive here anyway.
Things are gonna be roughly twice as expensive here as they are in the US.
Hope this is useful… enjoy your visit.
I think this is my longest ever post!
