(OMINOUS PIANO MUSIC)
(PASSENGER ANNOUNCEMENT)
(Boris Johnson: I Urge the British People to do so safely
(NEWS: Scenes like this caused concern at the weekend)
(NEWS: Last week, crowds crammed onto Bournemouth Beach, seemingly ignoring social distancing)
(NEWS: Ministers can only hope, they've got this right...)
Over the past couple of weeks, our hometown of London has tried to slowly resemble pieces
of its former self. But even with
restaurants, cafes, bars and attractions attempting a return to normal, is it still worth a trip
to this fantastic city, post lockdown?
In this video, I want to paint a full picture of what it’s actually like trying to be
a tourist in London. I’ll be giving you our experiences of being out and about, some
of the current Do’s and Don’ts and advice on what activities best lend themselves to
this new way of living. Ultimately, what are all the new changes for visiting the capital
in 2020 and beyond.
This is Suitcase Monkey, exploring London with both new eyes and a mask.
So lets talk about wearing masks first off. Currently in England, face masks must be worn
on all of public transport, inside shops and supermarkets, so not outside in the open air.
The exemption to all this is children under the age of 11 and those with certain physical
or mental impairments.
For public transport, I would say around 80% of people have been wearing a face mask. Oh
and while we’re on the subject, in case there’s any confusion, wearing a face mask,
means covering both your mouth AND your nose. I’ve seen countless people who think THIS,
is sufficient.
Wearing a mask with your nose poking over the top is like wearing your pants with your
sausage poking over the top.
Now, on the times I’ve used public transport I’ve actually felt pretty safe. Initially
social distancing was 2 meters, but now it is classified as 1 meter plus. I have to use
various trains to get to work and so far, I’ve never felt overwhelmed by people. At
its best, this was the Victoria Line at 9:30 in the morning on a weekday. I was literally
the only person on the platform.
At its worse, there will certainly be times when people enter into your 1 meter of space
so have a think if that’s ok with you. But personally, I’ve never experienced it to
be packed or uncomfortable. The advice is to walk or use one of Londons rental bikes
where possible, such as Santander, Lime or Ubers Jump. Everything is automated so you
never have to touch anything - The barriers, the train doors. Trying not to hold the handrails
is probably the hardest thing, but it does add a layer of intensity to the popular past
time of Underground Surfing, so y’know, it’s the little things.
Dining out in London has also changed quite a bit. For one, pubs and restaurants will
now require you to provide your name and contact details on arrival. This is so you’re contactable
if someone tests positive who visited the same establishment as yourself and you will
need to self isolate for 2 weeks if that happens. Most places have just had the waiter come
over and ask us to write down our details but full marks goes to Banana Tree in Soho.
On arrival, we were informed to join their wifi and this immediately popped up a screen
where we gave our information without needing to share a pen. Then, our paper place mates
even had a QR code which we just pointed our cameras to, and this took us online for their
menu. This was a great use of technology and meant it was just one less thing we needed
to handle.
London specifically has been ahead of most places for years in terms of contactless payments.
But now it’s gone even further. Previously, contactless debit or credit card payments
were limited to £30 but they have recently been raised to £45. Google and Apple Pay,
on the other hand, don’t have any limits unless the retailer sets one. You can also
use your phone as payment for using public transport so it helps there also. In addition,
cash is often outright refused in some places, so keep all that in mind when travelling.
A few of you reached out asking how safe the streets are in general at the moment. For
the most part, things have been as safe as they normally are in a big city. There have
been a handful of cases around London that have turned violent but this has been the
exception. The Black Lives Matter protests were peaceful with only small pockets of individuals
causing issues, but nothing like I’ve seen in other parts of the world.
So now let’s cover some of the best things to do in London with all the restrictions
in place, then we’ll go onto the more trickier activities afterwards.
The general consensus is that we are much more safe in outside environments where there
is obviously more ventilation. This relates to visiting London really well. As I mentioned
in my 5 days in London travel guide, the city is perfect for exploring on foot. And since
there will be less people around, at least for a while, I would say that outdoor exploration
is the first thing you should focus your time on. Walking around The City, Tower Bridge,
St Katharine’s Docks, a walk along the Thames, the Southbank, St Pauls Cathedral, Londons
Parks which I’ll cover more in a minute, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar
Square, Covent Garden, Camden, Hampstead Heath. All of these spaces are beautiful and should
be bumped up your to-do list if they weren’t already. From the perspective of wandering
around on foot, these places will be hardly impacted compared to normal. And they are
probably even enhanced by the lack of people getting in your way while you take a selfie.
Although I do think the days of getting people to take your picture for you are gone so get
your selfie sticks ready.
When it is a nice day, visiting Londons Parks is regularly on our own to-do list. St James
Park and Regents Park are probably my 2 favourite as both are incredibly picturesque and we’ve
had a great time in both since Lockdown ended. One afternoon, we enjoyed a really nice walk
from Camden Market following a bite to eat, then a walk along the canal towards Regents
Park. We also stumbled upon this beautiful church along the way which had an adjacent
coffee hut. We grabbed a drink, our own bench and felt normal for the first time in ages.
The next thing I think that lends itself to this current London is visiting a local food
market. This is probably what we spent most of our initial time doing when full Lockdown
ended. In recent weeks, we’ve visited Borough Market, Greenwich Market, Camden Market and
Spitalfields, all of which were a great few hours. The first time we visited Borough Market,
we actually had to queue for about 15 minutes before we could get in. This limiting of people
meant things never felt too crowded once we got inside. We were encouraged to buy the
food and then move on after purchase to eat it away from the market to make room for others.
There were no sit down areas inside the market but the Thames is only a minute away so I’d
advise walking there where you’ll easily find a seat and a nice view.
If you plan to venture a bit outside of central London, Greenwich is always a lovely visit,
as covered in my 5 Days in London video. Greenwich Market in particular was decorated really
nicely and although being the smallest market mentioned here, there was ample seating either
in front of the Cutty Sark or in Greenwich Park itself which is massive.
Spitalfields is probably the best undercover market. It’s a pretty good size and has
some great independent shops and retail stalls than most. Camden Market is also similar,
but is a great outdoor space with tonnes of energy.
While not a market, Covent Garden is also a really nice area for lunch. With lots of
cafes in the surrounding area, they have laid out this outside seating so that anyone can
just grab a seat and relax.
Londons Museums are a great way to spend an afternoon and in terms of being indoors, are
probably the most spacious rooms you’ll find yourselves. Currently, to control capacity,
most will require you to pre book ahead of time. When I went online to book, the next
available slot was up to 2 weeks away so plan ahead if there’s somewhere particular you
want to visit. I intend on doing a full guide on London museums in future so keep an eye
out for that but in a nutshell, my favourites are the Natural History Museum, British Museum
and London Museum. Most museums are currently expected to open by around the end of summer.
It’s worth noting that if you book online, although you can book for free, there is the
option to provide a donation at the time of booking to help support these important institutions.
And that’s one thing I’ve personally found interesting. Normally, although I have donated
to museums and I do tip the waiter, I do so more because I’m supposed to. But for the
first time in forever, I actually want to tip the waiter, I want to donate more money
than usual to the museum, since it’s needed and appreciated more than ever. I’ve also
found that London is feeling more personal and warm than ever before. Typically in London,
if you make small talk, everyone involved will want to die from embarrassment and awkwardness.
But I’ve gotten into so many more random conversations with strangers and the city
feels more welcoming than ever. And that’s mostly because for 3 months, we were all locked
inside our homes and now its this thing that we’ve all gone through and share in common.
The thing we’ve avoided most is going to bars or pubs. The nightmare pictures from
the first day they opened seems to have been a worst case scenario as lots of people went
crazy for opening day. Ultimately though, alcohol and social distancing don’t really
lend themselves to one another so we’ve just avoided it. You can no longer order at
the bar, all drinks are table service and brought over to you. Which personally to me,
sounds like something I hope continues long after all this is over.
We were wandering around Soho on a Sunday evening a couple of weeks after bars reopened
and everything seemed pretty calm.
So, here’s the big question. If you have a holiday that’s already booked, is London
still worth the trip?
Well, I would say, that if you are happy with some of the compromises mentioned here: Pre
booking the odd thing, checking reduced opening hours, waiting outside to get into a shop,
or just generally being flexible,
then you can absolutely still have a great and relatively safe time in London. It will
certainly be quieter than what it would have normally been but there will be a bit more uncertainty.
Definitely just be prepared for the odd thing to be closed.
At the time of editing, The London Eye and Harry Potter Studios are still closed
All in door theatres are obviously still closed
The Tower of London is open but only for half of the week at present
And lots of the museums I mentioned, have reduced hours with some exhibitions or areas entirely closed.
Unless there's a resurgence of cases, this will obviously get better as time goes on
But who knows how long this will take?!
I think if you’re thinking of booking a new trip to London, then obviously keep up to
date with any changes that happen. There have been a few areas in the UK that have gone
into a local quarantine and that may well happen in London at some point. Then there’s
potential cancellation fees and all that stuff. For what it’s worth, I’ve found Booking.com
who I usually use, to be pretty flexible in terms of cancellations for our own holidays
I’ll leave a London hotels link in the description
below, which supports the channel at no extra cost to you, if you click it and book through
there.
But I think as long as it’s deemed safe and you follow the tips mentioned here, this
city still has heaps of amazing things to offer. A London holiday consisting of taking
in the architecture and history, sampling some of the best, more varied food in the
world, exploring its numerous parks, Food markets, museums and streets sounds like a
pretty good way to spend your time. As long as it can be done safely.
I plan on making a follow up video where I go through fascinating London facts and quirky
stories that really bring the city alive for yourself so please subscribe if you haven’t
already and check the bell icon to be notified whenever that drops. Follow us outside of
YouTube also, as I’ve been posting thoughts and videos on our days out in London as they
happen. And if you have any questions or thoughts about any of this, do let us know in the comments.
When do you plan on visiting London, if at all. Thanks for watching Suitcase Monkey.