At the end of the day, they are stones, they do not move, and I'm like,
why are these people in London seeing wax figures?
Hey, guys, welcome back to the Girl Gone London channel.
If you're new here, my name is Kalyn.
I'm an American expat living in the U.K.
and today I am talking all about the most overrated UK and London attractions.
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when you take your once in a lifetime trip.
So before I start, I just want to say disclaimer.
These are my most overrated attractions in the UK.
Seeing as how I've lived here for 10 years, I feel qualified to speak on it.
But obviously people have different
opinions when it comes to what is worth their time.
And I don't necessarily think that all of these things are not worth visiting.
I just think they're a little overrated.
So the first for our London base, this is the Girl Gone London channel,
after all, and the final one is elsewhere in the UK.
Number one, the Shard.
Now, the Shard is the tallest building in the UK.
It was basically built right before the 2012 Olympics.
I was actually studying abroad here as a student when it was being built.
And I remember there was kind of a fear that it wouldn't be finished in time
for the world to descend upon London for the Olympics.
But it got finished and it is basically
really pointy building in London that is known for having great views.
I'm not saying it doesn't have great views.
I'm just saying those views are really expensive compared to the view that you
get from the walkie talkie building, which has the sky garden on the fifth floor.
A lot of people think, oh, the Shard, I think it's 20 pounds plus per person.
And you go up in an elevator and you get to kind of walk around the perimeter.
I'm not saying it's not worth doing.
If this is like your life goal to go up
in the Shard or it comes in your London pass or something similar.
But if you're looking for my favorite view
in London, it's from the Sky Garden, which is completely free.
You do have to book ahead.
And it does get kind of busy during
the really busy months, especially on the weekends.
But as long as you know that you want to do it and you book ahead of time,
I really prefer the free view from the Sky Garden to going up to the Shard.
OK, the next one, and this may be controversial, is the London Eye.
Now, I have lots of caveats when it comes
to the London Eye because I do think that is a really good view into London.
I was built for the millennium in 2000 and it stayed up ever since.
You rotate about 30 minutes around
in these capsules and they have 360 degree views of London.
Again, I'm not saying that is not a good view.
I'm just saying for the price for many
families, I'm not necessarily sure that it's worth it.
I think it is a little bit overrated as like the thing to do in London.
But I would much prefer to take a boat
ride along the river or just to walk actually below the London Eye.
You'll get really good views,
kind of panoramic views of houses of parliament and things like that.
If you do go on it,
I really think you should try for a sunny day or on a clear night.
The problem with the London Eye is the London weather.
So I think on a beautiful sunny day, definitely worth it.
Probably not that overrated.
The problem is on a gray, drizzly London day when you can only see
like this far in front of your face, suddenly the London Eye does become
overrated, and especially at night, if you also have limited visibility or
it's super foggy, you know, it can just feel like you're going up
in a bubble and seeing nothing but on a clear night may be worth it.
Definitely.
Do your research on the London Eye, I think overall is an attraction.
It's overrated, but I also do recommend people to go there.
So it's kind of one of those things that you need to figure out for yourself.
But definitely I would say if the weather
is gray and gloomy or foggy, the whole point is for the view.
So maybe ditch it.
Next up, do not go to Madame Tussauds in London.
The lines that I see outside of Madame Tussaud's are horrendous.
They are so long.
And I'm like, why are these people in London seeing wax figures now?
I don't have anything against Madame Tussauds.
I'm from Orlando, home of the let's fake it and have fun.
And so I understand wanting to go
to something that is, you know, not everything needs to have some cultural
significance, but like maybe go to Madame Tussauds
in Orlando or like in Vegas if there's one or.
Somewhere where there's not as much to do
as London, that is fun, historic, cultural, I just don't really see while
these tourists are waiting for wax figures, again,
if you love Madame Tussaud's in London, comment below and let me know.
But my opinion is Madame Tussauds
in London is overrated and should definitely be skipped.
And the final London overrated thing to do is to walk through Leicester Square again.
This is where the overrated part comes in, because I do think that if you're
in London, you should check it out, see what it looks like.
But Leicester Square is kind of popular
for in tourists minds is being this place where they do like movie premieres.
And it's kind of this like bustling Leicester Square.
It's so, so touristy.
It's in the heart of central London.
So you're probably going to pass it.
I'm not saying don't walk through it.
I'm just saying, like,
there's an Eminem world and really, really, really touristy restaurants.
They know that tourists come
to Leicester Square and there's just not that much going on.
But I really feel it's necessary in Christmas time.
They do have some lights,
which are really pretty to look at, but most of the year,
like walk through Leicester Square to get to somewhere else.
But I'm not sure that Leicester Square in and of itself should be your must do.
And the final thing I think is overrated about the UK.
Again, don't come for me or do let me know your opinions.
That's all part of traveling and all part of the fun.
But I think Stonehenge is overrated.
I'm not saying don't go.
I'm saying it's a bunch of rocks.
They do have a very good visitor center nowadays.
They didn't always used to have this nice visitor center.
So if you visited in the past,
it definitely was pretty much just a bunch of rocks.
The thing about Stonehenge is it's kind of out of the way of a lot of stuff.
I thought it was very strange on the drive
in on the bus when I like pasta KFC, because it kind of took me out of this
like mystical, magical Stonehenge experience.
At the end of the day, they are stones.
They do not move.
They have it moves in a very long time.
And again, for some people, this is like a pilgrimage.
And this is something that you're going to do no matter what I say.
And I say go for it. Good for you.
I just think that it's overrated in the sense that it's been built up to be
this really mystical, magical like wonder of the world.
And I'm not sure I've ever really gotten that feeling being there.
And if you do get that feeling,
it kind of wears off quickly because you it's just a bunch of rocks in a field.
The sheep nearby are really cute.
A lot of tours will combine Barth and Stonehenge.
So you're not spending your whole day
at Stonehenge, which you couldn't even spend a whole day there.
But there are tours that have it as a stop, which I think is great.
Again, I'm not saying don't do it.
Or if this is on your itinerary, then that's a problem or anything like that.
And I think that if it's your once
in a lifetime trip and you're never going to be back or this is always been on your
bucket list, you've got to go and make the decision for yourself.
If it's overrated, for me, it's overrated.
But I am always willing to change my mind
if they add more or suddenly the stones magically, mystically move.
OK, so that takes us to the end
of the video on things that are overrated in the UK.
Comment below on which wouldn't you agree or don't agree with?
If you visited the UK and you found things
that you thought were overrated, let me know again.
This channel is meant to be an honest
channel and we're not always going to agree.
And also I'm going to tell you things that I don't necessarily like about the UK
or things that I think visitors should skip.
And hopefully you appreciate that honest advice.
I hope you enjoy the video.
And I'll see you next time.