London visit, help me please!

[golondrina]

Hi

We live in Spain. DCs have been to the UK once (10 and 7 yo) and London briefly to see the dinosaurs at the Nat History museum.

We're coming over for a flying visit in a couple of weeks, central London and then 2 nights near Windsor to see friends.

I grew up near London and worked in central London briefly but apart from a brief UK visit 2 years ago, haven't been back for years.

We've only got from the Wednesday afternoon (arriving Gatwick at about 330pm) to Friday lunchtime, so feel we need to plan what to see. We're staying at the County Hall Premier Inn.

We want to not spend too much and see/do:

Big Ben/parliament (outside)
Changing of the Guard or just the guards standing there
Trafalgar Sq
Covent Garden
Picadilly Circus
Science museum
Mummies at the British museum
Fish and chips somewhere
A curry
Tower Bridge (either the tour, did it with DH years ago) or see the bridge open.
Ride a double decker (I think there's one that does a particularly scenic route?

I've been on visitlondon.com but getting a bit overwhelmed with too much choice. Do I need an Oyster? Where can I get them? How can I get the children added to one? Is a London Pass worth it as we're not interested in most of the expensive attractions really.

Argh, help?

Hmmm, actually the hop on hop off doesn't seem that great after all actually.

You can get free family trails from the info desk in the great court at the British museum. There's one that takes you through the mummies. Go early or late though, when it's busy it's not great fun.

Don’t get the Gatwick express, it’s not much faster than the normal train and both take you into Victoria. You could change at Clapham to get into Waterloo which would be better for county hall. I really liked the tower bridge tour. Brick lane is best for curry.

Should we get oysters and use them for the normal train into London? How much should I put on the oysters? Can I buy them and add the kids (I understand they go free if included on an adult oyster) at Gatwick airport?

Following for curry house recommendations!

Off tomorrow! Thanks for all the tips!

Anyone know if it's possible to get a walk-in ticket for the Sky Garden? There seem to be walk-ins between 2 and 4.30 pm, wondering if it's worth trying?

The cheapest way to get from Gatwick is to split the ticket and buy a single from Gatwick to East Croydon, then East Croydon to Waterloo East (probably best for you for County Hall with a change at London Bridge). Alternatively, you can now use Oyster to pay and it costs about £8, I believe. If you pay for your train from Gatwick with Oyster, it's probably worth topping up at least £20 to start.

With seeing Big Ben and Westminster, you'll be right across the bridge at County Hall. Trafalgar Square and Horse Guards parade are really close too.

Could I not just do Southern trains direct to London Bridge and then tube to Waterloo for County Hall, or does that not make sense?

Also, I read that kids are free, but you add them to the oyster, how does that work when swiping for the tube gates, you swipe and you and the kid squidge through together?

I expect you can tell I've been away from London for a veery long time by all these silly questions.....