The London Pass is a heavyweight travel accessory. Just swipe it and in you go to more than 55 London attractions you can visit free as well as a few sights out of the city such as Stonehenge, Canterbury, Stratford upon Avon and Windsor, including the Castle’s State Apartments.
And, if you include the Travel Pass, apart from free journeys on buses and the underground, you can ride on a traditional bike or mountain bike on routes specially selected to keep cyclists away from traffic and this gives access to areas that would normally be missed and are difficult to see by car.
Both Passes are like a credit card with a computer chip and, with these in your wallet, you can do more than you ever thought possible.
They also buy you one of the best, and probably one of the cheapest, holidays you’ve ever had and take the hard work and much of the expense out of sightseeing.
Not only do you see things for free; you also become a visiting VIP because you can skip the queues for entrance wherever there are London Pass signs.
On top of all that, you get a guidebook, an optional travel card and special offers for certain shops and restaurants, including some “all you can eat” buffets.
Another great advantage of the London Pass is that most tourists who use it see far more attractions than they would if left on their own with their guidebook, as well as many attractions they probably didn’t even know existed or would never have thought of visiting.
Conservationists, have you ever heard of the Chelsea Psychic Garden founded in 1673 by The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries for apprentices to study medicinal plants?
From the 17th century to today, this is the most important educational and learning centre of its kind in the world.
Then there’s the London Wetland Centre, full of water birds, amphibians, otters, beavers, water voles and flamingos right in the centre of the city.
This is considered one of the most important conservation and research projects of the 20th century and has already helped to save more than 20 species from extinction.
For history buffs, London is full of excellent and little known museums including The Cartoon Museum, just a stone’s throw from the British Museum, which has a complete exhibition of cartoons, caricatures and comic art from the 18th century until now, the London Canal Museum housed in a former ice warehouse, which stored ice for months long before refrigeration, and the Old Operating Theatre Museum, which is hidden in the roof of St Thomas’s Church near London Bridge Underground Station.
This contains a wooden operating table surrounded by observation stands where spectators sat and watched surgery
performed minus all anaesthetics and antiseptics.
The Churchill Museum, the Cabinet War Rooms and the Churchill Suite were built in the strongest structure of any Whitehall Building, which happened to be in the basement of the Office of Public Works.
Here Churchill, his ministers and advisers worked, slept in safety and helped to win the war while the bombs rained down. The “Winston Churchill Britain at War Experience” is a little known but interesting London attraction demonstrating through drama, light shows and sound effects what life was like in World War II. It recreates the blitz as experienced by ordinary Londoners and includes recordings of some of Churchill’s most inspiring speeches.
Apart from free travel on buses and underground trains, the Travel Pass offers you the opportunity to glide down the river on a Thames River Cruise to or from historic Greenwich, home of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and with its famous Wren Buildings including the Naval College, the National Maritime Museum and the Royal Observatory.
This river journey passes many of the famous sights that you might already know, but they look entirely different from the river. These include Canary Wharf, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, HMS Belfast, which is the only surviving battle cruiser from World War II, St Paul’s Cathedral, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, the Tate Museum and the Millennium Footbridge. If you want to visit one, or all of them, you can hop on, hop off and cruise up and down the river all day for free.
There are regular guided tours of the Royal Mews, the home of the collection of coaches and carriages used by the British monarchy since 1760, including the Glass Coach soon to be used by Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Gold Coach, which is used for every coronation, and the Australian State Coach, which even has central heating.
When Pass holders have finished admiring the coaches, most stay on to see the Changing of the Guard.
There is something for all tastes. Sport enthusiasts can visit Wembley and Chelsea football stadiums, Lords cricket ground , Wimbledon lawn tennis club and the Rugby Museum. Theatre buffs can go to the Globe Theatre, a reconstruction of Shakespeare’s original theatre built in 1599 and now complete with resident story tellers.
A favourite with most people, particularly those who love to be scared, is the London Bridge Experience and the London Tombs.
This two-part attraction under the arches of London Bridge takes tourists on a realistic trip through time with actors enacting the history of the Bridge from the time of the Druids, the Vikings and the Romans through to Victorian times in an interactive adventure with stunning sound effects and animation.
Only the brave head for the second attraction, a blood-curdling adventure in the tombs that has won the “best year round scare attraction” for a second year running at the Screamer Awards.
Some of the benefits of the London Pass and Travel Pass
• Free entry to 55 attractions
• No waiting in queues
• Free 120-page guidebook
• More than 40 special offers
• Free public transport and boating on the Thames.
How to get your card
The London Pass is valid for any number of days you choose. If you buy it in London, get it as early in the morning as you can – buying later can mean wasting part of your day. You’ll be astonished at its purchasing power. It can be collected in London from the Britain and London Visitor Centre in Regent Street, using the Piccadilly Line on the Underground and getting off at Piccadilly Circus Station. You can get a London Travel Card at the same time. A six-day adult pass costing £13 a day is thought to be the best value and is the most popular option.
Cards can also be bought online in South Africa ([email protected]), printed and taken with you or sent to you from PO Box 365 Jersey, JE4 9WR, but you must allow plenty of time. You can also order by telephone: 09 44 164 485 020 (from SA) or 0870 242 9988 (in Britain). - Sunday Tribune