[falsedan]

Don't catch the Stansted express, it costs too much for the level of service. £5 for an easybus that takes about 90 minutes vs. £12 for a 40 minute train

If you are staying for about a week, get an oyster and buy the appropriate weekly travelcard—a zones 1 and 2 costs ~£24 and gets you a lot of places, and you can stick another £5 on there to pay for travel in zones 3-6 if you feel like it. A 1-2 weekly travelcard gives you unlimited tube, national rail, bus and light rail travel from Greenwich to Acton, Archway to Clapham.

So about £40 should cover transport for a week, hope you've got some cheap accommodation near the city! If not, YHAs are OK if you can stand dorms, YHA St Pauls is right in the city (£19/night) and YHA Holland Park is literally in the park (£22). Also bringing your own food might be a good idea.

The Prospect of Whitby is a relaxed pub in Wapping, though stuffed if I can work out how to get there now that the East London line is closed.
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[falsedan]

OH hell you are staying for three days? Depending on where you're staying, your bet bet is to get an oyster and put about £15 work of pay-as-you-go credit on it. The maximum you'll be charged in one day will be less than the pre-bought paper travelcard.

The Prospect is a nice pub which I'd be happy to buy you a pint in, is what I meant to type.

The only good food that England has over continental Europe is soggy chips. Mmm soggy chips… bring some tins and a fork, you will save loads
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[falsedan]

I cannot comment on the quality of English Italian restaurants until I have had some porcini fettuccine here

also hell I forgot about the tea
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[falsedan]

Hey look I don't even pretend to speak Italian, let alone spell it

edit oh wait I see what you did there
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[falsedan]

Dunno, the best indian food I've had was from a family get-together of a Kenyan housemate.

mind I don't eat tikka masala so maybe it is mindblowingly awesome
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[falsedan]

Well! My Kenyan friend's family were all Jains, which (in my mind) is a religion all about cooking incredible food without animal products. Jainism is an ancient Indian religion and my friend was ethnically Indian, but his family relocated there when India and Kenya were both part of the Empire
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[falsedan]

be aware that the tube doesn't run from 0030 till 600ish, so if you have to get to heathrow early in the morning you may have to bus it or catch a heathrow express
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[falsedan]

I'm not yet totally used to buying things in pounds, so I eat at some incredibly shitty places as long as they're cheap

Temple Foods in Aldgate does sandwiches for £1.50! That's value for money right there
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[falsedan]

Imaging I have a pile of Australian money, and I am using my credit card to buy things in the UK with this monies.

£3 cup of coffee => AU $6.50 cappuchino => bloody rip-off

I am getting paid in pounds now so hopefully I'll stop thinking that £220/week for a studio is ridiculously expensive, what the hell, I could rent a three-bedroom terrace in newtown for that (in AU$)
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[falsedan]

[falsedan]

yeah pretty much
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[falsedan]

Brick lane is all Bangladeshi

Indians are called Asian here, it's wacky
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