Travel Tips for June
1. A very clever backpacking friend of mine recently showed me something wonderful with plastic bags. Basically you cram as many pants (British for underwear) as you can into one, socks into another, shoes into another and so on. This way you can look into your bag, see what is where and pull out the specific, transparent bundle of fun that you're after, instead of unpacking everything, only to discover that your desired object was in your pocket.
2. Don't forget to make room in your budget for some strong sun block. A free, four hour walking tour around London with Sandeman's New London Tour is a great idea but it's definitely worth investing the money you save by not buying a ticket, in some factor 50 skin saver.
3. Download the brand new Podcasts from St Christopher's Inns, onto your MP3 player. This is the antidote to carrying around those pesky print offs from the newsletter and comparatively, it's environmentally friendly.
4. If you're staying at the St Christopher's in Greenwich and you're planning to have a late one in central London, make sure you plan your way home. The trains stop running at 11.30pm, the underground shuts at midnight and taxis aren't too enthusiastic about going that far, without a hefty surcharge on top of the usual fare. A good place to start your drunken monkey way home is Trafalgar Square. It doesn't matter where you're going, there will be a night bus here with your name (or Greenwich) on it.
5. If you want to tick a corny box off your list of totally tourist things to do in London then here's a top tip for the changing of the royal guard. Make sure you are at the gates for 11am to get a good spot before it all happens at 11.30. It's a massive event and that always means a good queue.
6. Look ahead to July in the St Christopher's calendar because there's going to be a brand new St Christopher's Inn within mid air, toilet flushing distance of Heathrow Airport. You'll be able to find the new hostel in Hammersmith, it will have the same budget friendly, competitive rates and there will be a Belushi's bar downstairs with the legendary and traditional, bucket load of drink offers. Also it's only thirty minutes from the airport on the Piccadilly line of the London Underground and if you miss the last tube, there's a shuttle bus that drops you off ten minutes up the road at our sister hostel in Shepherd's Bush. It's easy and cheap to get drunk and sleep with St Christopher Inns.
7. Not that I'm one to hold a grudge but this one goes out to the backpackers who hate the pushy, personal space invading street collectors who want your money for charity – also known as their commission based wage packets. If you're lucky enough to have back up when one of these vermin decides to strike, you and your friends should start talking at him or her, all at the same time, in as many different languages as possible.
- Here's an incentive for giving them a dose of their own medicine. If you silence them you get ten points and the rewarding sense of satisfaction that hey hey, you saved the world today.
- If you make them run away it's 20 points and a major increase in your endorphin levels after you laugh yourself silly.
- If you make them cry and prove it, then I'll send you your choice from the Top 5 Reads on the Road this month. Together we can stop them.
