- Welcome to London.
I'm gonna tell you about the biggest mistakes
I always see tourists make when they come to the city,
so that you know about them
and you don't make them yourself.
By the way, I'm Jess.
I run Love and London,
and we help tourists who visit London like they live here.
And if it's your first time coming to the city,
I have a special freebie for you,
so make sure you watch to the end of the video to get it.
By far, the biggest mistake I hear from London tourists
is that they didn't realise how big that London is.
London is actually the biggest city in Western Europe,
and for comparison we have nine million people here,
and the second biggest city is Berlin
with just 3.4 million.
And even Paris only has two.
So you can fit a bunch of Parises into London.
That just goes to show how massive that this city is.
So when you're here, be prepared to hop on public transport,
whether it's the riverboat, the Tube, the bus, anything,
so you can make sure you're exploring
as much of London as possible,
which leads us to the next mistake.
Not going beyond the very touristy areas.
I see a lot of tourists coming for a few days
and not going beyond a few blocks
where the major tourist attractions are.
And listen, do the tourist attractions, that's fine.
But if you only do that, you are missing out on
a whole entire London that us Londoners love
and that I definitely think you should experience.
So if you wanna get out of Central London,
I've got a bunch of amazing video guides
that will tell you some great things to do,
a little bit more on the outskirts of the city.
And I will link those videos
in the description box of this video.
Not grouping your activities together by area.
I see a lot of tourists that don't realise,
as mentioned before, how big London is,
so they don't plan in advance
to do the same things in the same area in one day,
which means you could spend tonnes of time
traipsing around the city on public transport
and getting taxis.
For example, you don't wanna do Notting Hill in West London
on the same day that you're gonna do Shoreditch,
which is over here in East London.
It's gonna take a tonne of time to get there on the Tube.
So instead, if you do Notting Hill,
also pair that with a visit around Kensington.
And when you go to Shoreditch,
pair that with a visit to the Barbican.
If you're struggling with figuring out
what things to do in each area of London,
I have travel guides that do exactly that for you.
It's called the "Casual Tourist Guides,"
and I'll leave a link to them in the description box.
Thinking you can only go and party on the weekends.
There is something going on at night
every single day of the week here in London,
especially when you're in bustling areas
like Shoreditch or Soho, where we are now.
So don't think you can't go out if it's a weekday.
In fact, the weekdays are super fun to go out,
because it's a little less crowded,
it tends to be more people that actually live in London
versus people who come from the outskirts in.
(relaxed music)
♪ Get me out of here ♪
♪ This is my worst nightmare ♪
Not pre-booking your activities
and your restaurants ahead of time.
Especially if you're coming to London in peak times,
like the summer, like it is right now,
or around Christmas time
you for sure need to pre-book your activities
and your restaurant reservations in advance.
You don't wanna be wasting precious time
waiting in lines for places that you could have actually
booked a time slot ahead of time,
and then you wouldn't have to do all this waiting.
For example, the London Eye, you can do that.
Same goes for restaurant reservations.
If it's important for you to eat well, which it should be,
then you wanna make sure you get your reservations in early
so you don't miss out on the best dining experiences,
especially around Central London and on the weekends.
Only trying British food when you come to London.
Listen, try the Full English breakfast,
have some fish and chips, get a pie and mash,
but you are truly missing out
if you stick to only British food.
That's because London is one of the best cities in the world
for international cuisines,
and we have amazing restaurants that serve dishes
from Italy, Japan, Sri Lanka, the Caribbean,
and loads of other places that are all worth trying.
So don't stick to only British food.
You will definitely be missing out,
and I think there are a lot of other cuisines
that are actually much better than British food anyway.
If you need lots of good local food recommendations,
make sure you go to the Love and London shop.
I have so many amazing places to eat in my London guides.
- I am so sorry. - Hi, that's okay.
Amazing.
Yeah, of course, yeah.
- Inspired our whole vacation.
- Oh my gosh, amazing.
One of the biggest safety mistakes
tourists make here in London
is not looking both ways when you cross the road.
They drive on the left side of the road here,
so if you're not used to that,
you wanna make sure you look both ways before you cross
or look down at the pavement,
'cause it might be telling you which way
you should look before you cross.
But just to be safe, look both ways,
and then you won't have to get run over.
Buying a paper ticket for travelling on the Tube.
The daily travel card is such a rip off.
Do not buy it.
Instead use a contactless payment method
like Google Pay, Apple Pay,
or just a contactless debit or credit card to pay,
or if you've got an Oyster already,
an Oyster card works, too.
Those methods of payment have a daily cap,
which is automatically applied,
which is a lot cheaper
than if you were to buy a paper daily travel card.
So, there's really no reason to buy it.
(gentle music)
Not observing Tube etiquette.
If you wanna see a Londoner get very frustrated,
but also try to have patience at the same time,
stand on the left side of the escalator in a Tube station,
and you'll very quickly hear a, "Excuse me," from behind.
That's because the left lane is the express lane,
you keep moving.
And if you wanna stand on the escalator
make sure you're standing on the right side.
And when you're waiting for a Tube, when one arrives,
make sure you're not stood in front of the doors,
step to the side, let everybody step off the train first,
and then you can get on.
Thinking all of London
is going to be quintessentially English.
A lot of tourists come here
and think they're gonna see Londoners
running around with top hats on,
saying, "Cheerio" to everyone,
and sweeping chimneys like Bert from "Mary Poppins."
But actually London is a lot different
from the rest of the UK.
It's an incredibly multicultural city
with people from all over the world,
and we have global influences on the food,
the architecture, the people, everything.
It's one of the best parts of the city.
So make sure you embrace it and enjoy it.
(gentle bright music)
Thinking you can predict the London weather.
Now listen, here in England we have all four seasons,
but it can vary significantly from day to day.
For example, you might have a day like today,
where it's hot and sunny, and you don't need a jacket,
and then literally tomorrow it could be so cold
that you feel like you need a proper winter jacket on.
It does vary that much.
So, check the forecast a couple of days
before you come to London, pack according to that,
but also pack in case there are any major changes.
And if you need any help with your packing
and planning what to wear,
I have that all in the "London Packing Guide,"
which I will link in the description box.
Leaving the city for a day trip too early in your trip.
There is so much to do and see in London
that you could be here for weeks exploring
and still have not even scratched the surface.
So I see a lot of tourists leaving to go on a day trip
outside of the city, like two days into their trip,
before they've even really like properly seen anything.
My rule of thumb is to not do any day trips
unless you are in London for at least seven days.
And if you find yourself getting bored of London
after a couple days,
you're just not doin' it right.
Sorry.
(upbeat music)
Thinking there is a best time to visit London.
You might have a favourite season to come to London.
Mine is summer.
But every time of the year has its pros and cons.
For example, summer is gonna be the best chance
for getting good weather,
but it also means there's gonna be the most crowds
and the highest prices.
But you can come in January
where it'll be the lowest prices and the least crowds,
but you're also gonna be dealing with dark and cold weather.
So it completely depends.
In this video I talk about the pros and cons
of coming each month of the year.
So have a watch of that after this video
to figure out what's gonna be the best time of year for you.
(relaxed music)
Another big mistake London tourists make
when they come to the city
is to spend any time in Leicester Square.
Like literally, don't spend any time here.
London tourists apparently think
that this is a great place to come, and they're wrong.
Unless you wanna experience international cuisine
at Pizza Hut,
or experience world class arts and culture,
or to get overpriced American candy,
a candy shop that's currently being investigated
for money laundering,
or go to one of the three movie theatres slash casinos
in this immediate area.
If you wanna do those things,
you can come to Leicester Square.
But otherwise, completely avoid it.
M&Ms?
What is the point?
Thinking you can pay in any currency besides British pounds.
It's a little bit of a weird one.
I don't know why you'd go to a foreign country
and try to pay in your own currency.
But I've heard it be done.
We use Great British pounds here,
and even though we are in Europe, we are not on the euros.
You can't use euros here.
You can't use American dollars.
Only use British pounds.
If you find someplace that says
they will take your home currency, run.
It is gonna be a huge rip off.
Something is goin' on there that is really weird.
And sometimes if you're paying by card,
the machine will ask you if you wanna pay
in your home currency or Great British pounds.
Always pick pounds,
because when it converts to your home currency
it's actually gonna severely rip you off.
Now if you wanna avoid even more mistakes
when you come to London,
make sure you grab my free "London 101 Guide."
It has everything you need to know before you get here.
You can get that by clicking the link
in the description box of the video.
And also make sure you watch
one of my many, many other videos about London
before you come,
which you can do by clicking one of the boxes around me.
These daily paper tickets that you can buy
are such a rip off...
Oh, that was very New York.
Such a rip off. (laughing)
I love crowds.