London Baby!

-Going to London Zoo-
I have recently moved away from London and decided that on my very last day living in London my best friend and I should visit the zoo. I had spent nearly two years working just up the road from the zoo and had never visited it. I just thought it was one of those things that I should do before I left. Fortunately the weather was warm on my last day so we took a short tube journey to Camden Town and decided to have a pub lunch before visiting the zoo. By the time we left the pub the weather had changed completely but that's the UK for you and being former Swansea residents we weren't going to let the threat of rain scare us away.

Getting to London Zoo could not be easier. If you take the tube to Camden Town underground station and then walk down parkway you will see signs all along the road for the zoo.

-Getting In-
There weren't really any queues when we visited the zoo, even though it was still summer holidays. There were plenty of people on the gate and they were all very helpful, showing people where to go and answering questions.

It is expensive to get into the zoo. An adult ticket costs £18 but if you travel by train you can get buy one get one free. My friend and I took advantage of this offer but in all honesty I wouldn't be complaining if I had paid £18 to get in, it is expensive but it's totally worth it.

-Getting Around-
When we first entered the zoo we picked up a map. We shouldn't have bothered because neither of us are very good at reading maps and we weren't really very organised. We knew which animals we wanted to see but being like overgrown children and too excited (pathetically excited if I'm honest) to sit down for a minute and plan out a route we just darted around from one animal to another, regardless of whether or not there were animals we wanted to see in between them.

The zoo was very easy to get around because it's actually quite small. The map makes it look a lot bigger than it is and because of this the map isn't much help. We tried following the map at one point only to discover that while the map made it look like two things were far away from each other they were practically next door. Instead of using the map we just followed the signposts around the zoo. Everything is very well signposted and the only thing we had any real difficulty finding was the penguins.

-Animals-
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed watching all of the animals. Although I did want to visit the zoo I actually couldn't see the attraction of spending a couple of hours just staring at animals so I went along more for the novelty of the experience than any real interest in animals but I was so wrong. I enjoyed it so much that I would happily spend another afternoon in the zoo.

We visited the aquarium and my first reaction was that it wasn't that interesting but then the further in you go the better it is. There is such a wide variety of fish on display and many of them are very pretty (some of them are also very ugly). My favourite part of the aquarium was the coral reefs. They are just so beautiful and since I found out that they're actually living things I've found them fascinating. In the aquarium there is a lot of information available about the various fish and how climate change is affecting them and the coral reef. This is a subject that I know very little about and the amount of information given was perfect for someone like me. It was very accessible and written in a way that anyone could understand and I thought this was great, a wonderful way to raise awareness of these things.

My favourite section of the zoo was Gorilla Kingdom. There are a number of different primates on display here and I could have spent the whole afternoon watching them. They're just so interesting. I know that when you see monkey's and gorilla's on television you can see how like humans they are but it still really struck me how human like they are. I am not an animal person and neither is my friend but we both loved the monkey's and the gorilla's. This part of the zoo did get quite crowded and it was at times difficult to get a good view of the animals but it's worth waiting around for your turn at the front.

Other animals that I particularly liked seeing were the lions, tigers and penguins. There weren't really any crowds to see these animals which was a bonus but this was probably because they were outside whereas gorilla kingdom and the aquarium were inside and it was not a warm day. Regardless of the weather it was a great being able to watch these animals without having to fight our way to the front of the crowd to do so. I really never thought that I would be so content just to look at animals wandering around a cage but they are just such magnificient animals and where else could you possibly get that close to them without being in danger? (I'm talking about the lions and tigers here and not the penguins.)

I did enjoy seeing the other animals in the zoo too but they weren't anywhere near as impressive as the ones that I've listed. The only disappointment was "Meet the Monkey's". This is part of the zoo where the monkey's are free to roam around but unfortunately they didn't want to roam while we were there and instead stayed in their cage. It was very disappointing but not something I would hold against the zoo and of course if they didn't want to be meeting people then it's better they do what makes them happy.

I did have a slight problem with the size of the cages. I know that London Zoo does a lot of good for animals and that it's much better they're in the zoo than extinct. On a selfish note I'm happy that the animals are there to be seen. But it seemed that some of the cages were just so small. I'm sure the experts know more than me and that the animals wouldn't be kept in cages of that size if they were too small, it was just a concern that I had. I particularly didn't like how low the birds had to fly and thought they could perhaps have the cage a bit higher.

-Accessibility?-
The zoo is accessible to wheelchair users.

-Family friendly?-
The zoo is very child focused. Throughout the zoo there are lots of things for children to climb and play on. There is also an area called animal adventure which is baically a big play area with animals in. I was so impressed with this area, it made me wish that I was a child again. There were tunnels that children could crawl through that would take them into a bubble in the middle of an animal enclosure, animals that children could stroke and various other fun and interactive things.

-Eating and Shop-
There are places to eat but as with most attractions they're expensive. The selection of food seemed to be quite impressive but as we had already had a pub lunch and were planning on a curry for dinner we didn't have anything at the zoo.

The shop had some interesting things for sale, most of it was animal related of course and there were plenty of zoo souvenirs.

-Conclusion-
Overall I had a wonderful day. I was surprised at how interesting most of the animals were. It is expensive but discounts are available and it's worth every penny.

Last week it was my sisters 9th birthday and she decided that for her birthday she wanted to see a musical. With the whole family being fans of the film grease and the X Factor Grease seemed like the perfect choice.

-Tickets-
I booked the tickets using ticketmaster, the whole thing was very quick and easy. I used their online booking form and the tickets were delivered less than a week later.

The ticket prices from ticketmaster were very competitive. We paid £271.50 for five stalls tickets and this included all fees and delivery.

-The Theatre-
Grease is currently showing at the Piccaddilly Theatre in London.

Getting to the theatre was quite difficult. It's partly our own fault for not printing off a map but we've never had any problem finding theatre's before so we assumed that we could just be pointed in the right direction and find the theatre easily enough. The Piccadilly Theatre is located on what seems to be a little side street and it's quite out of the way so I would definitely recommend using a map.

My initial impression of the threatre was very good. It was like stepping onto the set of grease with the decorations having a 50s theme. The staff were very friendly and helpful and they seemed more relaxed than the staff at other theatres that I've attended. It almost felt very informal and I liked that.

We arrived five minutes before the show was due to start and I was surprised to find that the queues for the bar and the toilets was not very long. We were panicking thinking that we weren't going to be able to get drinks and use the bathroom before the show started but there was really no need to worry. Everything just seemed so organised. My only real complaint is that there isn't really anywhere to queue in the bar. The queue goes out of the door, making it look much longer than it is and it makes it awkward to get in and out of the bar and to the men's toilets (not that I was using them). I think this could have been organised better.

Sitting down to watch the show I was very impressed with our seats. We had a good view and the chairs were very comfortable. As always when I go to the theatre I wished that they had cup holders because it's so awkward balancing a drink on your lap when you want to clap along with the music, especially because they don't put lids on the drinks. Unfortunately it seems like their air conditioning was broken because it was so hot in the theatre. It was a warm day anyway but it felt a lot like sitting in a green house, it was very unpleasant. My sister is only nine and very small for her age so she needed a booster seat. They provided me with a booster seat but charged me £1. I know it's not much but after paying over £50 for her ticket I didn't expect to have to pay more for her to be able to see the show.

-Refreshments-

I was not impressed with the food and drink. I have no idea if my cola was coca cola or pepsi but it tasted like that cheap stuff you get in tesco. I didn't pay for the drinks but if the food prices are anything to go by it probably wasn't cheap. During the interval I queued up at the bar to get food. The queue wasn't very long but I was quite frustrated when I found out that I could buy my pringles at the bar but would have to queue up again if I wanted ice cream. I paid £3 for 2 small pots of pringles. I then joined the queue for the icecream only to discover that the person had run out of ice cream and I would have to queue again. I thought that it would have been better if the woman selling ice cream had just walked over to the other person selling ice cream and taken half of her stock to sell to the people in her queue, rather than making us all queue up again. When I finally managed to buy some ice cream the choice of flavour was very limited because they had sold out of most flavours and it cost me £3 for each ice cream. I was surprised at how disorganised they were, it was a Saturday night, a hot day, an even hotter theatre and they sold out of ice cream.

-The Show-

*Plot*
As many people will be aware Grease was made into a film based on this musical but the plot of the musical and the film are actually quite different.

Danny and Sandy meet one summer at the beach and have a holiday romance. Sandy is new in town and attends Danny's school but when they meet again, in front of his friends, he won't admit that he has feelings for Sandy. This results in Sandy and Danny alternatively trying to make each other jealous and impress each other. Can Sandy and Danny resolve their differences?

*Opinion*
I have to say that overall I wasn't very impressed with this production. I wanted to like it, I love the film and had high expectations for the musical but I just didn't like it. I should point out that my family are divided over this so my opinion probably doesn't represent the majority.

The show felt very flat to me. Being so familiar with all of the songs I thought that it would be one of those musicals that really gets the audience going, where you really feel part of the show but that just wasn't the case. I may as well have been watching it on the television for all the connection I felt with it. At least then I would have been able to switch it off.

I did like the storyline. Of course I was already familiar with it because it is quite similar to the film but there were differences. I don't think these differences added anything to it but they also didn't take anything away from the plot. If anything I think the musical was far more focused on relationships and I thought that this was a good thing. This is a musical about teenagers so it seems realistic that they are focused on sex and who is sleeping with who. Watching the musical I could completely relate it to my own school years, from the boys waiting outside of school to have a fight with people from another school (happened all the time at my school) to the little love triangles and nervousness over asking people out.

Although I liked the storyline it wasn't enough to save this musical from some painful performances.

Ray Quinn plays Danny, leader of the T-Birds. Although his singing is quite good and his dancing is amazing Quinn cannot pull of the role of Danny. His performance is a complete rip off of John Travolta in the film but when Quinn does that accent you can't always understand what he's saying. And Quinn just can't do cool like Travolta could. Perhaps if he had made this role more his own, added some of his own personality to it then it would have worked but he only succeeds in doing a poor imitation of Travolta.

Emma Stephens plays Sandy and I have no idea what they were thinking when they cast her. She sings very well, she can dance but she has completely the wrong look for Sandy. Sandy is supposed to be innocent and naive and Stephens doesn't manage that at all.

The supporting cast are actually very good and I would have been far more entertained if the entire musical had just revolved around them. There are some really amusing scenes involving the supporting cast, the relationships between the other T-Birds and the pink ladies are much more interesting than Danny and Sandy's relationship and the supporting cast have most of the better songs. Whereas Stephens and Quinn can sing and dance but seem to lack any acting skills the supporting cast have it all.

I love the songs from Grease and all of the songs from the film are in the musical with a few extra's in there too. The singing was perhaps the best part of the musical but even the songs were a bit of a disappointment. Quinn's poor attempt at an American accent made some of the songs sound like a cross between someone singing after inhaling helium and a drunken impression of John Travolta. All of the songs sung by Sandy and Danny lacked emotion and seemed lifeless. For me the best performances were Rizzo singing There Are Worse Things I Could Do and Kenickie's Greased Lightning.

There's a lot to do in London, I know because I've been trying rather unsuccessfully to do it all. During my time here and the many trips I made to London before moving here I have found that there are just some things that take priority over everything else.

I haven't done everything that there is to do in London so I can't say for sure that these are the best things but these are certainly my favourite things to do. In no particular order...

1. London Dungeon. The London Dungeon is a great afternoon or morning out but as the name suggests it can be pretty scary. I'm not a brave person but I have made it through this a couple of times, so obviously it's not that scary but probably not suitable for young children. The thing I like most about it is that it's so educational. I just love having fun and learning at the same time and there is no better place to learn about history while enjoying yourself than the London Dungeon. It's a very interactive experience. I'm not going to give away exactly what happens because half of the fun is not knowing what's going to happen next.

2. Covent Garden. I love going to Covent Garden and could literally spend an entire day there. I don't particularly enjoy shopping but there are a lot of nice and unusual shops there, as well as a market, that keeps even people like me interested. For me the best part of Covent Garden is the street entertainment. If you go during the day you will often find a variety of different performers around Covent Garden and there is usually something to entertain everybody. I also really enjoy sitting in one of their outdoor café/restaurants watching the world go by. In the winter these café's have heaters and some shelter so whatever the weather you can sit there and people watch.

3. Victoria and Albert Museum. This is my favourite museum in London and whenever I decide that it's time to go to a different museum I somehow always end up wishing that I'd just stuck with V&A. This is more of an adult museum and not one that I would recommend for families. The reason why I enjoy it so much is because I love looking at all of the different collections from around the world, particularly those that are based around religions.. For those of you who have a thirst for knowledge this museum would be perfect for you. It's quite big and houses a number of diverse collections. I find the building itself to be very attractive. http://www.vam.ac.uk/

4. Natural History Museum. This museum is fantastic for those who either have an interest in dinosaurs or fossils or for people with children. I actually don't find this subject to be that interesting but I love taking young relatives to this museum to see the moving dinosaurs. I still remember being completely awed by them as a child and although as an adult they aren't nearly as impressive as they were it's still a lot of fun to take children to see them. Please note that the museum is free but you do have to pay to see the moving dinosaurs.

5. Madame Tussauds. When I think about what Madam Tussauds is it sounds really boring. A museum full of wax works of famous people is not something that sounds appealing to me at all but I have been there three times and always had an excellent time. There are some parts that aren't suitable for children so please do keep that in mind if you're visiting with family. I've been there with some children who found the wax works scary so that's another thing to consider. However, for the most part everyone I've been there with has enjoyed it immensely.

6. The London Eye. Although for the majority of the flight your view is obscured by other capsules when you get to the top this attraction offers you amazing views of London. It is a bit expensive but I think it's possible to get tickets combined with other attractions or discounts. I certainly wouldn't pay full price for it but if you can get a discount then it's worth doing.

7. The Tower of London. This is by far my favourite attraction in London. I love history and the Tower is just full of it! Included in the ticket price is a guided tour that was by far the best part of the day. I had such a great time that I'm planning to go back as soon as I have some time.
http://www.igougo.com/journal-j72704-London-London_Baby.html#ReviewID:1362411

8. China Town. I love going to China Town for dinner because in my opinion you get the best Chinese food there. I've tried a number of restaurants in the area and to be honest they're all pretty much the same to me. The food tastes good in all of them, they all have friendly staff and quick service and the prices are all pretty similar. As well as restaurants there are a number of bakeries where you can get Chinese cakes and desserts. I can't comment on how authentic any of it is because I've never visited China.

9. The Houses of Parliament. I love visiting the Houses of Parliament. As I said I love history and I also enjoy politics and you get both with a trip to the Houses of Parliament. If you get the opportunity to take a tour then do it. I learnt so much from my tour and left feeling like I had connected with the history of democracy in this country. It probably sounds a bit melodramatic but it was such a great experience and really renewed my enthusiasm in politics and democracy. For those of you who are more visual it is a very attractive building and is just as impressive inside.

I remember the first time I came to London semi independently. I was 17 and attending a history conference...nothing too exciting but being in London without parents and with very limited teacher supervision seemed pretty amazing at the time. Right up until the point I found myself on the wrong tube with two equally as clueless friends.

I remember very well what it's like to be travelling around London alone for the first time!

I also know what it's like to be stranded in London in the middle of the night because you didn't bother to check the tube updates to see that the line you thought could get you home is actually closed. I would like to say that this is another thing that happened to me when I was seventeen, but unfortunately it was less than a year ago and I was 24 but feeling like I was seventeen again!

So I decided to put this guide together for those of you who will be travelling around London.

-Oyster Cards-

The first thing you need to do is get yourself an oyster card.
An oyster card is basically a swipe card that you can use on buses. the overground and the underground in London. You can either buy a travel pass or you can go pay as you go and just top up as and when you need more money on your card.
Oyster cards are easy to buy at tube stations and you can top them up either at the desk or at one of the many machines that you will find in the tube stations.

Why do I recommend oyster?
The first reason is that it's easy. The last thing you want to worry about when you need to get a bus is where to buy the ticket from. You simply swipe it when you get on the bus and the money is taken off of your card. The same thing happens when you get on the tube.

The second reason is that it's cheap. A bus ticket costs £2 but if you use an oyster card it's only £1. You get similar discounts on the tube.
Some people do opt to buy an all day travel card but I would NOT recommend doing this. There is a maximum amount that you can spend on an oyster card each day before travel is free and this does not exceed the amount that you would pay for an all day travel pass but with oyster you know that if you don't travel as much as you had intended you will pay less and if you get lost and end up out of the zone that you bought the pass for you won't have to pay for another ticket.

-The Underground-
So you've got your oyster card, picked up a tube map while you were at it and you're ready to get around London.
The easiest way to get from A to B would be to use the underground. Although this is the easiest form of transport it is also the least pleasant, in fact I am convinced that the reason why many Londoners can be so miserable is that they spend so much time underground. London is a beautiful city, there's so much to see and I think it's such a waste to travel underground. It's also crowded and at the moment has no air conditioning which awful in the summer. They're due to put air conditioning in next year but until then in the summer anyone travelling on the London underground will have to put up with sweaty people, unbearable heat and plenty of delays due to people fainting on trains. It's not pleasant.

All year round you will find yourself getting more intimate with strangers on the underground that you would like to ( I have yet to be stuck between two sexy people but I live in hope).

Before making travel plans it's always best to go to www.tfl.gov.uk to find out if there are any severe delays or station closures. There's nothing worse than getting halfway to your destination before realising that the tube station you want is closed.

A few things to remember when travelling by tube:
If you're on the escalators stand on the right hand side, walk down the left.
Don't stop at the bottom/top of the escalator for five or ten minutes while you figure out where you're going, it's annoying and it could cause an accident.
Check the direction of the train before you get on it and if you're confused ask station staff...don't worry about them being rude, just take it as part of the London experience!

-Bus-
Travelling by bus is much more pleasant than travelling by tube but it can take a lot longer. I personally think that it's worth taking a bit longer to get somewhere if you can see where you're going but it will probably depend entirely on your priorities. The degree of pleasure you get from your bus journey will probably depend on where you're travelling from but if you're staying in Central London it seems quite likely that you will pass by some lovely buildings and parks and that's much nicer than just staring at the black walls of the underground.
Bus travel is also much cheaper than tube travel which is another plus and I find that it gives you more of an idea of where you are. I thought London was much bigger (and more intimidating) when I travelled everywhere by tube.
Many buses run throughout the night and are your best bet for getting home at night...unless you want to pay a fortune for a taxi.

-Walking-
I'm not suggesting you walk from the outer areas of London to central London (although depending on where in London you're walking from it could be quite pleasant) but to get from one place in Central London to another walking is often a lot easier than you would think. London is actually not that big and many attractions are in walking distance of each other.

The best thing to do is buy a map which seems really obvious but I have been known to go sightseeing without one and have always enjoyed my five or six hour walks around The City and Westminster, I've found that getting lost is a good way to find new places and is a lovely way to waste a couple of hours. But if your time in London is more limited than mine and you have a lot of places that you want to see then you will probably want to take a map!
Walking by the Thames is always particularly pleasant.
If you're particularly into walking you could always check out the walking routes on www.tfl.gov.uk.

Here in London we are susceptible to the rain and being stuck in soggy clothing is never fun so I would not recommend walking if the weather is miserable, as it so often is.

-Boat-
If you are on the Thames and want to get to somewhere else on the Thames then you can always take a boat. There are various different kinds of boats that go at different speeds so you're able to choose a service that suits you best.
Unfortunately I rarely get to do this because I don't live near the river. I don't think you can use oyster cards on boats.

-Rickshaw-
Don't do it!
I took a richshaw once. It cost me and two friends £20 for about ten minutes and I spent the entire time being terrified. It just doesn't feel safe, especially when you're on busy roads surrounded by vehicles that are much bigger than you.
I also found out afterwards that if you have an accident you're not insured. Not that you'll be worrying about that if you end up under a lorry.

-Everything Else-
For information regarding accessibility (which is shamefully poor for the most part), the overground, trams, driving, maps and timetables please visit www.tfl.gov.uk.

-Buying the Tickets-
We bought the tickets at Visitors Centre in Trafalgar Square. We did have some difficulty finding the visitors centre, but this is my own fault entirely as I didn't bother to look for directions, I just turned up in Trafalgar Square and hoped that I would be able to see it! Fortunately the building is very noticeable with big, bright window displays.

The service we received at the Visitors Centre was excellent. The woman who served us was really friendly and helpful. She explained what the tour would include and where we could get the buses and boats from. Throughout the whole conversation she remained incredibly cheerful and she was constantly smiling. If I was working with her it would really annoy me but as a customer it was quite nice to actually get friendly service in London!

There was a lot of information on display at the Visitors Centre but we didn't stick around to look at it all. The woman gave us our tickets, a map and some advice about making the most of our tickets and then we went on our way to enjoy what I hoped would be an educational day out in London.


The tickets include:
-The Bus Tour. There are three different routes and you can hop on and off of the bus at designated bus stops around London for 24 hours. The buses don't actually run for 24 hours but the tickets are valid for that time.
-Walking Tours
-The Thames River Cruise

I think that this is actually really good value for money, considering what you could be paying to do all three things. If you want to make the most of your ticket you will need to get up early and spend the day doing the tours.

-My Experience-

*Bus Tour*
As soon as we left the Visitors Centre a bus pulled up to the stop and we hopped on it. I thought this was great because I hate waiting. Unfortunately the bus was not one of the buses with an actual person giving the tour, this was entirely my own fault though. I was quite aware that some buses had people giving the tour and others had pre-recorded information but I was so impatient to get on the tour that I didn't bother to check.

Although I had wanted a live tour I was quite pleased with the pre-recorded one. We were given those little earpiece things, I can't remember what they're called! Anyway, you plug them into the wall next to the seats which is not ideal because I had to sit next to a stranger and it was awkward leaning over him to plug them in. It would be much better if the plug was in the middle of the two people.

The tour was fantastic. It was wonderful being able to go around London and take the time to actually see things. Most of what we passed I had seen many times, some things I walk by regularly and just never look at. Some of the views, particularly of the Thames were beautiful.

The best thing for me though, and the main reason why I decided to take the tour, was all of the information that was provided. The information was very basic. It would tell you what things were and maybe a few interesting facts about attractions but it didn't go into nearly as much depth as I would have liked. It has inspired me to actually visit a lot of the places that we passed by which is a good thing but I do wish that they had given us more information. However, the information that was provided was very interesting and probably just enough for most people to take in without getting bored.

The buses were comfortable enough, pretty much the same as any bus. There were people smoking on the top of the bus but you can't really blame that on the company. There were clear no smoking signs but obviously no one to enforce the rules. I hate smoking so this did ruin my enjoyment slightly but like I said, it's not the fault of the company.

Unfortunately I was only able to do the one bus route so I can't comment on the live commentary.

*Thames Cruise*
My first impression of the Thames Cruise was not a good one. The woman who greeted us and gave us directions to the boat was really rude. She answered our questions but she did so in one word answers without once smiling and rarely making eye contact. She didn't say please or thank you when she asked for our tickets.

However, the cruise was lovely. We travelled from Westminster to Greenwich.

Downstairs there are a number of chairs and tables and the room is surrounded by windows so you can look outside. The view from the bottom deck is not very good, it's too low down to really see anything but it is nice being able to see the river. I found it too hot to sit on this level and it felt quite suffocating. They do have toilets and a bar on this level. The drinks are quite expensive, I can't remember the exact cost but it was something like £1.50 for a bottle of water so I would recommend bringing your own. The toilets were disgusting. They were dark and while they weren't exactly dirty they were very messy. There was water on the floor in front of the sinks and toilet roll on the floor of the cubicles.

The top deck is just row after row of chairs and the view from here is wonderful. You can see so much from this deck and the views are absolutely breath taking. The weather was lovely the day that we visited, which of course makes a big difference. There would be absolutely no point in doing this tour if you couldn't sit on the top deck.

The people who work on the cruise are not professional tour guides but I think they should be. They were so amusing and knew so much about the buildings along the banks of the Thames and about the history of London. They delivered it all with a huge dose of humour that had me laughing throughout most of the cruise. You can hear this throughout the boat, even in the toilets!

We spent some time in Greenwich before getting back on the boat and going back to London Bridge. On the way back they didn't give any information, which is understandable, you wouldn't want to hear the same thing twice. On the way back we sat on the top deck again, even though it was getting cooler and the sun was going down. I did have cause to complain when some of the customers asked the man who was working if they could have a cigarette. He responded that they could as long as they gave him a cigarette. I was very annoyed, I hate smoking.

I did make a complaint about the smoking to the bus tour company. They responded asking for a copy of my ticket, so I sent them a copy. They didn't respond for almost a month so I emailed them again earlier this week. They finally responded saying:
"We provide the complimentary river cruise tickets in order to enhance our customers visit to London and we are sorry to hear that people were smoking on the boat. Please be assured that your comments will be passed onto the River Cruise supplier City Cruises." (The Original Tour)

They did offer me, my friends and my family 20% discount if we book online. As everyone I don't know is just a friend I have yet to meet I am passing on this discount code to you.

"I would like to offer you a promotional code for future bookings with The Original Tour. Just book via our website www.theoriginaltour.com, or over the phone (020 8877 2120) and use the promotional code 'relations' you will receive a 20% discount off your tickets. This promotional code can be used as often as you like, and can be passed on to family and friends."

Although it took them a long time to respond to my complaint and they only responded when I prompted them I was quite pleased with how they did deal with my complaint. All I wanted was an apology and to know that my complaints would be passed onto the relevant people. I thought the discount was a nice gesture, although more likely just a way for them to ensure that I would spend more money with them.