The "Incredibly Impossible to Derail This Thread" thread | Page 193 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

Linde said
My mom and I are going there in June, but we don’t know anything about the city and about hotels. Does anyone know good affordable hotels which are close to the centrum or at least to a metro station?

It’s difficult knowing that you can’t provide credit card details to confirm booking. I have the same problem myself. Most hotels now ask for credit card details (as you seem to be finding out). I have handled it differently on the times I have been away in recent years. Usually it is best to contact the hotel directly, rather than go through a site. It is always better to be speaking to somebody directly, so that you can explain your situation. I have at times had family members prepared to offer their credit card details as confirmation, and found that has been accepted. Credit card details are merely a guarantee of the booking, and how you choose to pay once there is up to you. I do not know of a hotel that would insist you pay using the credit card you booked with. I also found with one hotel that insisted on credit card details in my name to confirm the booking, when I asked if a prepayment of part of the cost would help, they were happy to confirm the booking based on a cheque, eurocheque, or money transfer, covering the first night of the booking. The third way, often the riskiest, but also often the cheapest, is to find a few places you might like to stay, and then find out whether they have any rooms when you arrive. A hotel will often be offering reduced for empty rooms on the day to earn something from it rather than nothing. That can involve moving hotels from day to day. I stayed four nights in Liverpool a few years back, in three different hotels, and didn’t pay the advertised rate on the room on any night doing it that way.

Just to correct fabfouremily on something. If visiting museums is on your list, you won’t find them any cheaper in June than in any other month of the year. The vast majority of London national museums and art galleries have free entry, just have collection boxes if you want to make a contribution. I’d recommend the Victoria & Albert Museum. But you go to Exhibition Road and you have museum next door to museum. You’ll find the V&A there, the Science Museum, and the Natural History Museum. I’ve spent days on end lost there. The V&A has a small Beatles display, or has always had when I’ve been there, the last time being about nine months ago. If museums are something that interest, the best are free.

Don’t know whether this rambling has been any use, but hey! – tongue-in-cheek – if push comes to shove, I’m 45 minutes from central London and have a spare room!

Glad the credit card option seems it’s going to work out.

Couple of points to make.

Joe wasn’t recommending Paul’s old house. Cavendish Avenue, a five-ten minute walk from Abbey Road , is the only London home Paul has ever owned. He still owns it. The last time it featured in the news was when he and Nancy left it as he and Linda had years earlier to get married at the same Registry Office. If Paul is in London for the night, that’s where he is.

Public transport in London. It can be very expensive. At your earliest opportunity, what you need to do is either get a seven-day travelcard (the shortest time period available) or an Oyster Card. I don’t know the exact difference nowadays because I have been on free travel due to illness the past couple of years, The last time I had to pay for travel, non-Oyster travel added about a pound to each journey. A travelcard is probably your best option, but paying for transport as you get on it is your worst, and most expensive. Travelcards and Oyster cover all main London public transport. Tubes (metro), buses, and trains. All are between 50%-100% more expensive without.

Hope you have a great stay.