Jets vs Vikings Travel Thread

[bicketybam]

This is NOT a game day thread. This is a thread for the people that are traveling to the game. It should be used to share information, like where they are staying, places they plan to eat, sights they plan to see, travel arrangements to and from the game, any meet ups they'd like to plan, etc.

[bicketybam]

One thing I'd like to share is that the dollar to British pound rate is pretty awful these days. It's currently $1.34 to £1. There is usually a fee involved and I ended up with a $1.40 to £1 conversation, which is brutal. Be aware of this and I think  it's best is to convert before you go. It's worse over there.

I got a room is the Park Plaza Westminster. If anyone else is staying there and want to have a drink at there bar, PM me.

[slats]

3 minutes ago, bicketybam said:

One thing I'd like to share is that the dollar to British pound rate is pretty awful these days. It's currently $1.34 to £1. There is usually a fee involved and I ended up with a $1.40 to £1 conversation, which is brutal. Be aware of this and I think  it's best is to convert before you go. It's worse over there.

I got a room is the Park Plaza Westminster. If anyone else is staying there and want to have a drink at there bar, PM me.

You get the best rate in ATMs, just always remember to decline their conversion. 

[AFJF]

1 hour ago, bicketybam said:

One thing I'd like to share is that the dollar to British pound rate is pretty awful these days. It's currently $1.34 to £1. There is usually a fee involved and I ended up with a $1.40 to £1 conversation, which is brutal. Be aware of this and I think  it's best is to convert before you go. It's worse over there.

I got a room is the Park Plaza Westminster. If anyone else is staying there and want to have a drink at there bar, PM me.

That seems bad but it hardly makes me blink anymore.  When I first got to the UK it was 1.80 to the dollar and I saw it go as high as 2.14 to the dollar.  That was backbreaking.  Couldn't grab dinner and a couple of beers in London for less than $100.

[AFJF]

1 hour ago, bicketybam said:

This is NOT a game day thread. This is a thread for the people that are traveling to the game. It should be used to share information, like where they are staying, places they plan to eat, sights they plan to see, travel arrangements to and from the game, any meet ups they'd like to plan, etc.

I've been living in England for over ten years now after getting stationed here twice with the AF.  Have pretty solid knowledge of London after spending a ton of time down there.

If anyone has any questions, I'll do my best to answer.

[Alka]

1 hour ago, slats said:

You get the best rate in ATMs, just always remember to decline their conversion

I would like to add that the best rates are at Bank ATM's, and not independent ATM's that are out there in order to take advantage of people.  I came back from Greece and Italy recently, and this is what I learned.

I would assume it's the same in the UK

[bicketybam]

34 minutes ago, AFJF said:

I've been living in England for over ten years now after getting stationed here twice with the AF.  Have pretty solid knowledge of London after spending a ton of time down there.

If anyone has any questions, I'll do my best to answer.

That's awesome 👍 Very helpful for the fans that have never been there 😁 

[bicketybam]

On the flip side, we should have a thread for the non-Americans coming to see a Jets game in NJ. They need to see where Jimmy Hoffa is buried, lol. 

[Alka]

36 minutes ago, AFJF said:

I've been living in England for over ten years now after getting stationed here twice with the AF.  Have pretty solid knowledge of London after spending a ton of time down there.

If anyone has any questions, I'll do my best to answer.

Thank you for offering to help.  I will be traveling to London next year in April, staying there for 3 nights.  My hotel is by Big Ben.  Any good restaurants to refer me to?  I want to see the sights.  What do you recommend?

And thank you for your service!!!

[Alka]

6 minutes ago, bicketybam said:

On the flip side, we should have a thread for the non-Americans coming to see a Jets game in NJ. They need to see where Jimmy Hoffa is buried, lol. 

Great Iberian food in Newark, NJ.  1. Spanish Tavern  2. Fornos of Spain  3. Casa Vasca  4. Don Pepe

Any one of these 4 restaurants are winners!!

[AFJF]

11 minutes ago, Alka said:

Thank you for offering to help.  I will be traveling to London next year in April, staying there for 3 nights.  My hotel is by Big Ben.  Any good restaurants to refer me to?  I want to see the sights.  What do you recommend?

And thank you for your service!!!

Any particular type of cuisine you enjoy?

History buff? Pop culture/movie geek? 

Beer or wine?

[bicketybam]

58 minutes ago, Alka said:

Great Iberian food in Newark, NJ.  1. Spanish Tavern  2. Fornos of Spain  3. Casa Vasca  4. Don Pepe

Any one of these 4 restaurants are winners!!

How do explain Bayonne? 🤢

[Jet_Engine1]

16 hours ago, bicketybam said:

How do explain Bayonne? 🤢

You don't

[bicketybam]

Well despite the loss, I had an amazing time during my short visit on London. I stayed at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge which across the river from Big Ben. I give the hotel a 4.5/5. It had a nice selection of restaurants and all the amenities you would want. Price was very reasonable for a 4 night stay. I booked a room starting Thursday even though I didn't arrive until Friday morning. This way my wife and I could take a power nap before we did some exploring.

Friday afternoon we walked over the Westminster Bridge and up towards Trafalgar Square. We ate a late lunch at a pub called the Red Lion. Fish and chips were amazing as well as the stout. The entire area was very crowded and getting across the bridge was a pain in the ass. We were in bed by 7. 

Saturday we did a walking tour of Westminster Abbey, Green Park, St. James's Park/St. James's Palace, Buckingham Palace and the changing of the horse guard. Our guide was phenomenal. Super engaging and funny. We ate lunch at a pub called the Horse and Guardsman. Food was decent and the decor was amazing. After that we had to navigate through a protest which was really annoying. I didn't realize that Saturday in London is protest day and we got stuck in the middle of it.

We finally made our way through the angry protesters and went to the Churchill War Room. It was very informative and you felt like you took a step back in time, but the overall experience with the audio guide was lacking. There was no clear sense of direction in the underground maze and the audio presentation was weak. I expected more. I'm still glad we did it and would recommend it, especially any history buff.

Saturday evening we ate out in a restaurant that was pretty good. It was a chain but it didn't feel like one. Drinks were well made and my burger was great.

Sunday was game day and we learned how to use the London Underground. It wasn't very complicated and if you can use the NYC subway, you can use the tube. I found an app that would lay out all the transfers for you. We took it to the game and it was about 35 min of tube and then a 30 minute walk (we could have changed to the overground but opted for the walk.)

The stadium was super nice. The field was exposed to the elements but the stands were covered. I caught some mist on occasion but nothing terrible. The game was the game and it truly felt like a Vikings home game. It was loud when the Vikings needed to make a stop. They had their cheerleaders and that dude who bangs the drum while their fans chant SKOAL. I had some Jets fans behind me and we had a great time. If they could have pulled off the last minute win it would have been the ultimate trip. 

We ended the night with room service and followed some games on my iPad. Woke up at 5:30 for a 6:30 pick up. Got to the airport at 7:30 and was through security in about 25 minutes. I'm currently in the Centurion Lounge waiting for boarding.

Anyway, London is awesome and I'm definitely coming back in the future. We barely got to see much of it. It is certainly expensive though, especially when you factor in the conversion. But in my opinion it was well worth it.

Cheers! 🍻 

 

[mrcoops]

I just got back home, took the sleeper from London to Edinburgh, then another train home. The sleeper really is a misnomer...I forgot just how hard it is to sleep on this thing.

So, I'm tired and grumpy today - and it's not just the lack of sleep. The Jets make it hard work being a fan.

It was a good experience, and I wouldn’t have missed it, I just wish the team had shown up before the 2nd half.

[bicketybam]

3 minutes ago, mrcoops said:

I just got back home, took the sleeper from London to Edinburgh, then another train home. The sleeper really is a misnomer...I forgot just how hard it is to sleep on this thing.

So, I'm tired and grumpy today - and it's not just the lack of sleep. The Jets make it hard work being a fan.

It was a good experience, and I wouldn’t have missed it, I just wish the team had shown up before the 2nd half.

Do you live in Scotland? I went back in 2014 and loved it. Spent time in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness and Glasgow.

[laurenceofarabia]

I had a very difficult time teturnung from Tottenham stadium.

The lines and crowds were terrible. Required 3 switches to central london.

The stadium itself is nice. But the transportation infrastructure is inadequate.

Sent from my SM-S908U using JetNation.com mobile app

[mrcoops]

2 minutes ago, bicketybam said:

Do you live in Scotland? I went back in 2014 and loved it. Spent time in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness and Glasgow.

Yeah, I'm originally from just outside Glasgow and now live in Falkirk which is about half-way between Glasgow and Edinburgh. I was actually up in Inverness just last weekend for the Loch Ness marathon.

[mrcoops]

5 minutes ago, laurenceofarabia said:

I had a very difficult time teturnung from Tottenham stadium.

The lines and crowds were terrible. Required 3 switches to central london.

The stadium itself is nice. But the transportation infrastructure is inadequate.

Sent from my SM-S908U using JetNation.com mobile app
 

The queue for the underground was quite an experience. I was fine once I got on, but the wait seemed like forever.

[bicketybam]

12 minutes ago, laurenceofarabia said:

I had a very difficult time teturnung from Tottenham stadium.

The lines and crowds were terrible. Required 3 switches to central london.

The stadium itself is nice. But the transportation infrastructure is inadequate.

Sent from my SM-S908U using JetNation.com mobile app
 

 

7 minutes ago, mrcoops said:

The queue for the underground was quite an experience. I was fine once I got on, but the wait seemed like forever.

I must have gotten lucky. We left when the game ended. We were field level and was able to get out of the stadium rather quickly. Then we just followed the crowd to Seven Sisters Station. Once we got to the station, I'd say it took us less than ten minutes to actually get into the station and though the turnstiles. From there we rode 6 stops to Green Park to switch to the Jubilee line and then it was one stop to Westminster Station. The ride took about 25 minutes. It was a million times easier and faster than trying to get out of the MetLife parking lots!

[maury77]

This was my first trip to London and I had an excellent time. We rented an AirBnB in Parlham Junction and it was reasonably priced. Overall, I felt London was cheaper than I expected as I had been warned it was very expensive. Not bad at all. 

I crammed in a lot of the typical tourist attractions (River Thames tour, walking tours of London, Stonehenge). The food and weather were better than expected. 

On the weekend, the pubs fill up very early (by 10 or 11am some of the placed in my neighborhood were already full) but I was surprised at how early many places closed (11pm-12pm). 

My only major gripe was leaving Tottenham Stadium after the game. We could not hail an Uber anywhere and it took us about 45 minutes to walk to a tube that was not ridiculously packed. I'll never complain about leaving Metlife again. 

[AFJF]

3 hours ago, bicketybam said:

Well despite the loss, I had an amazing time during my short visit on London. I stayed at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge which across the river from Big Ben. I give the hotel a 4.5/5. It had a nice selection of restaurants and all the amenities you would want. Price was very reasonable for a 4 night stay. I booked a room starting Thursday even though I didn't arrive until Friday morning. This way my wife and I could take a power nap before we did some exploring.

Friday afternoon we walked over the Westminster Bridge and up towards Trafalgar Square. We ate a late lunch at a pub called the Red Lion. Fish and chips were amazing as well as the stout. The entire area was very crowded and getting across the bridge was a pain in the ass. We were in bed by 7. 

Saturday we did a walking tour of Westminster Abbey, Green Park, St. James's Park/St. James's Palace, Buckingham Palace and the changing of the horse guard. Our guide was phenomenal. Super engaging and funny. We ate lunch at a pub called the Horse and Guardsman. Food was decent and the decor was amazing. After that we had to navigate through a protest which was really annoying. I didn't realize that Saturday in London is protest day and we got stuck in the middle of it.

We finally made our way through the angry protesters and went to the Churchill War Room. It was very informative and you felt like you took a step back in time, but the overall experience with the audio guide was lacking. There was no clear sense of direction in the underground maze and the audio presentation was weak. I expected more. I'm still glad we did it and would recommend it, especially any history buff.

Saturday evening we ate out in a restaurant that was pretty good. It was a chain but it didn't feel like one. Drinks were well made and my burger was great.

Sunday was game day and we learned how to use the London Underground. It wasn't very complicated and if you can use the NYC subway, you can use the tube. I found an app that would lay out all the transfers for you. We took it to the game and it was about 35 min of tube and then a 30 minute walk (we could have changed to the overground but opted for the walk.)

The stadium was super nice. The field was exposed to the elements but the stands were covered. I caught some mist on occasion but nothing terrible. The game was the game and it truly felt like a Vikings home game. It was loud when the Vikings needed to make a stop. They had their cheerleaders and that dude who bangs the drum while their fans chant SKOAL. I had some Jets fans behind me and we had a great time. If they could have pulled off the last minute win it would have been the ultimate trip. 

We ended the night with room service and followed some games on my iPad. Woke up at 5:30 for a 6:30 pick up. Got to the airport at 7:30 and was through security in about 25 minutes. I'm currently in the Centurion Lounge waiting for boarding.

Anyway, London is awesome and I'm definitely coming back in the future. We barely got to see much of it. It is certainly expensive though, especially when you factor in the conversion. But in my opinion it was well worth it.

Cheers! 🍻 

 

Must have just missed you.  My son and I left the hotel at 5am to get him back here in time for school and he's currently passed out in bed.  He collapsed in a heap from the adrenaline fueled two days we spent down there.

Protesters messed us up a bit on Saturday as well.  We were at Jets fest and Chrebet and Coles were over an hour late because they got caught up in the protest.

Glad you enjoyed London.  I don't get down there as much as I'd like because it's so damn expensive but will be heading down again this Friday.

[AFJF]

3 hours ago, laurenceofarabia said:

I had a very difficult time teturnung from Tottenham stadium.

The lines and crowds were terrible. Required 3 switches to central london.

The stadium itself is nice. But the transportation infrastructure is inadequate.

Sent from my SM-S908U using JetNation.com mobile app
 

That would all just depend on where you were heading in Central London.  We took the tube six stops to Oxford Circus and got a taxi from there.

But yes, getting in and out of the stadium is a pain in the ass IMO given the length of the walk from the tube.

[AFJF]

2 hours ago, maury77 said:

This was my first trip to London and I had an excellent time. We rented an AirBnB in Parlham Junction and it was reasonably priced. Overall, I felt London was cheaper than I expected as I had been warned it was very expensive. Not bad at all. 

I crammed in a lot of the typical tourist attractions (River Thames tour, walking tours of London, Stonehenge). The food and weather were better than expected. 

On the weekend, the pubs fill up very early (by 10 or 11am some of the placed in my neighborhood were already full) but I was surprised at how early many places closed (11pm-12pm). 

My only major gripe was leaving Tottenham Stadium after the game. We could not hail an Uber anywhere and it took us about 45 minutes to walk to a tube that was not ridiculously packed. I'll never complain about leaving Metlife again. 

I've lived in England for twelve years now and I've never once heard anyone say London was cheaper than they expected...LOL.

Went to breakfast before the game and paid 13 pounds for a beer and an apple juice for my son (the beer was for me btw).

But yeah, the stadium is amazing but that walk is a huge pain in the ass.  If you take too long to get out then the wait to get on the tube is absolutely insane.  Happened to me vs the Falcons a few years ago because I was waiting on some drunk friends.  Yesterday me and my son bolted as soon as the game ended and the wait once we got to the tube wasn't nearly as bad.