London, UK

Accomodation

Star Hotel is a good option for cheap-ish accommodation. It’s near the Hammersmith tube station, and is very well connected to the rest of the city. The Picadilly, Central, and District lines are available; between them you can easily reach most of the city. There is no hotel safe available. Rooms are small. Located in west London, in the Hammersmith area, with relatively low crime.

Getting around

Contactless cards or mobile payments like Google/Apply Pay will work. An Oyster card isn’t necessary. If deciding to get an Oyster card, they can be purchased from tube stations or at newsagents.

When taking the tube, tap in and tap out. When taking the bus, only tap in.

Use the CityMapper app to plan trips.

Safety

General tips:

• Snatch thieves are common. Don’t walk around using your phone. Be aware of your surroundings if you need to use your phone.
• Pickpockets are common in tourist areas. Such places include Westminster, Oxford Street, Covent Gardens, Leicester Square, etc. Be particularly protective of your belongings in these areas.
• Pickpockets also exist in other parts of London, so don’t get complacent.
• Look up crime statistics in your area before booking accommodation. You can use the official site or other sites.
• The east side of London generally has higher crime.
• At night, keep to lit areas when walking. Especially if walking alone.
• Women should be extra careful walking alone at night.

Tips for East Asians and other minority races:

• If you are East Asian, you will be at higher risk due to anti-Asian sentiment in the wake of COVID-19. You will be more of a target of criminals.
• Violent hate crimes against Asians are on the rise. This is not limited to London.
  • Asian woman punched 125 times in New York
  • Christina Lee was stabbed to death in New York; assailant followed her into her building
  • Michelle Go was killed; intentionally pushed onto the train tracks in London
  • Singaporean student assaulted in London
  • Another Singaporean assaulted in London
• Non-violent crimes against Asians may be more common compared to other races, due to perceptions to submissiveness.
  • South Asian experiences racism in Europe
  • East Asian experiences an attempted mugging on the tube
  • Another attempted mugging on the tube
• On tube stations, don’t stand near the tracks. People have been killed by being intentionally pushed onto the tracks. Stand behind a pillar, or with your back to the wall.

Things to do

This section will only consist of things that I’m interested in. It will not be exhaustive or to everyone’s taste.

Museums

• British Museum
• Natural History Museum
• Museum of London

Parks and nature

• Hampstead Heath. In the south-east corner sits Parliament Hill, providing a vantage point of London’s skyline.
• Other royal parks: royalparks.org.uk
• Kew Gardens
• Finsbury Park. There are slackliners here on most days, and particularly on Sunday. People also tend to post on the Facebook group when they’ll be slacklining.

Theatre

• Book of Mormon
• Come from Away
• & Juliet
• Lion King

Recommended places to get tickets are either TKTS (online or at their booth in Leicester Square), LWTheatres, or TodayTix.

Day trips

• Bath
• Canterbury
• Cambridge

Tours

• https://www.liquidhistorytours.com/drink-london-tour
• https://www.walks.com/

Miscelleneous

• Comedy shows:
  • check https://guides.ticketmaster.co.uk/comedy-guide/
  • https://thetopsecretcomedyclub.co.uk/
  • https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/bill-murray/
• Find meetups on meetup.com. There are usually indoor bouldering meetups. There’s a tree top climbing + picnic meetup that looks fun.
• Find meetups on /r/LondonSocialClub
• Ordering at a pub
• https://randomlylondon.com/london-guide/
• https://londonist.com/