AussieJ visiting London in November

Taking a cue from Mary's thread about her visit to Glasgow, I'm making this thread about my intentions to re-visit London in November.


Why?
I'm booked in for the London Swingvitational event on Nov 20-23, and have yet to finalise when I'd be fly/train/bus-ing it down to London.

I thought to myself, instead of flying in and out of London for just that weekender, why not visit London/SE a few days out from the event, maybe do a bit of sightseeing and perhaps do some weeknight dancing in London/SE area? :D


What I'd like to figure out
On the days leading up to the Swingvitational, I would like to attend WCS classes in the London/South East area. I've not yet had the fortune of attending various WCS venues such as Enfield, Finchley, Solihull, Twickenham, Goudhurst, Docklands :blush:

So I was thinking, if someone in the London/SE area who regularly goes to any of these WCS classes/venues, can be so kind as to let me stay at their place for a couple of nights - so that I may join them in attending these classes - then that would be fantastic! :cheers:

If I do have to resort to finding a hostel to stay at in the London area, I'm guessing that would make it a lot harder for me to attend certain WCS classes due to the distances involved, e.g. Solihull or Goudhurst Kent on Tues nights?


Any recommendations are most welcome - I've not yet booked my transport, but I will have to soon!

Thanks in advance! :flower:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AussieJ

If I do have to resort to finding a hostel to stay at in the London area, I'm guessing that would make it a lot harder for me to attend certain WCS classes due to the distances involved

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Actually you'd be surprised - public transport in London is actually really good

(I have had this debate with a few Londoners who disagree with me, but it's only when you leave London do you see what bad public transport looks like!)

The last time I was down to a Twickenham I managed to get by with public transport really easily - the tfl website makes it really easy and they update it with all the transport works in progress on a daily basis. (www.tfl.gov.uk)

That also saves you the problem of finding not only someone to put you up, but also people to provide you with transport!

Hey Fi! :nice:

I didn't mean to imply that London public transport was bad!

Assuming I find a place to stay *within* London, then yeah I think Twickenham should be (fairly?) easy to get to via tube/bus. Its only places like Solihull (WestCoastSwing UK) and Goudhurst Kent (DanceSwingUK) that would seem too far out, i.e. I would guess that public transport options to those venues look rather scant/way too difficult/messy.

Thanks for the TFL website, I haven't used it for ages so I'd forgotten about it!

All the same though, if someone on the forum (or a dancer friend of theirs) can kindly let me crash on their floor for a couple of nights (particularly if they regularly go to any of the WCS venues in London/SE area), then I reckon that'd give me a little more peace of mind, in terms of knowing how to get to and back from WCS classes.

Besides, I also think that'd be more fun than my staying in a hostel dorm room with muggles! :lol:

Ooops, forgot to update this! :blush:


I'm arriving this Thursday afternoon at London Victoria Coach Station.

I will then make my way to Slough (thanks Mary! :hug:) - and then hope to make it to Simon and Nicole's class that night at Berkshire. Should be interesting as I'd never been to their class before!

My Friday is free, I was thinking of checking out Windsor Castle during the day - I imagine I make my way there and just pay at the door for a ticket(?). Not sure what dancing I could realistically get up to this Friday night...

Saturday night I'll be at a friend's birthday bash in London town, Picadilly Circus area.

After that, the only definite thing I want to attend is Twickenham WCS class on Wednesday. And then of course, I'll be off to attend the Swingvitational weekend that starts on Friday 20th :D


Apart from that, I only have a vague plan on certain things to sightsee/checkout - I was thinking of visiting Westminster (Parliament and Abbey), V&A Museum, Shakespeare Globe, Imperial War Museum. That's all I can think of at the mo... I'm probably missing a heap of stuff I could get to do :eyebrow:


If anyone has any suggestions - dance nights throughout the week, stuff to sightsee - I'd love to hear about them! :nice:

Hope to run into some of you London forumites during my week there! :cheers:

AussieJ