London/Paris Vacation, must see places?(NA)

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Brad W

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well I say "not aviation" related but I come here hoping for aviation leaning ideas....;)

Planning a summer family trip, flying into London (LGW) in late June
arriving on a Thursday morning departing on a Sunday early afternoon.... so about 10 days total + departure morning
wife wants to visit both London and Paris...in no particular order. Basically play tourist
I think I'd prefer to go to nice smaller towns and villages...but I don't get to pick ;)

I'm interested in aviation of course, and also WW2 and have read tons of WW2 biographies. With thought I'm sure I could come up with many places I'd like to go see but many things that come to mind off the top of my head aren't really London and Paris...more like Normandy, Belgium. I think it would be interesting to visit the Colditz castle in Germany..... but those places aren't in the cards for this trip

& I'm not about to try to make this trip aviation heavy or WW2 history heavy. That would bore the family to tears....But wondering if any of you have thoughts of places I should make a point to see anyway...either aviation related or WW2 related

Or any other itinerary tips for a London and Paris visit? Places to stay, etc...?
Would you split it roughly half and half or spend more time in one city vs the other?
 
Well you’ve got the Paris airshow 23-25 June. I went in 2003 and wasn’t very impressed though. Actually preferred just walking around Paris over attending the airshow. Just a unique city with lots to see. Normandy was probably the best experience but unless your family is into military history they might not be interested.
 
My wife and I did a London/Paris trip right before COVID and then went back to just London for 10 days with our 15 year old daughter last year. We loved London but didn’t care for Paris. To be fair some of the Paris dislike was due to the language barrier. Trying to get around on the tube in London was easy. In Paris they called out the stops so quick with all words merged together that the only way to know your stop was to count the stops between where you got on and where you wanted to get off. Don’t rent a car if you are staying in the city. Use the subway and bus system as it’s cheap and very easy to figure out and use.

For London we went to a lot of Museums. Many are free. I highly recommend the British museum and the museum of modern art. I thought I would be bored at the modern art museum but some of the stuff in there was really cool to look at. The British museum is full of all sorts of cool things like the Rosetta Stone, actual mummies, etc. The science museum also has a floor dedicated to aviation. There are all sorts of britis and European aircraft there that you don’t usually see stateside.

Other than Museums we went to a lot of the food markers and saw a lot of Broadway shows. Borough market was our favorite food market and a great place to grab lunch. For any shows you want to see check out TKTS the morning of the show and you can get some really big discounts. We saw some shows that would have cost $100 to $200 in New York for under $50.

Walking tours in London are popular and a lot of fun. They are great for something to do after dinner. Just Google London walking tours. We did a Jack the Ripper tour. The tours are free and they just tell you where and when to meet the guide. The guides work only on tips and the norm seemed to be about $10-20 a person depending on the length and how good the guide was. You don’t pay until the end.

Tower of London is a little pricy but worth it if you have never been. The Yowmen give free tours of everything inside the tower once an hour and you learn a lot more than you would just walking around. The big draw is seeing the Crown Jewels. I could care less about them but my wife and daughter thought they were cool.

Spend some time just walking around and enjoying the parks. We spent one day walking the parks from Buckingham palace to Kensington palace. The changing of the guards was also interesting but get there early. You either want to stand right up against the fence or at the edge of the statue facing the palace. For a different experience go see the changing of the horse guards or go see the band practicing and then marching towards the palace.

For Paris there is the Eiffel Tower, Arc De Triumph, and the Lourve (excuse the spelling). The Lourve was cool if you are into Art but seeing the Mona Lisa in person was a bit disappointing as it is very small. The church up on the hill (don’t remember the name) was cool to visit for not only the church but also the view out over the city. I wasn’t impressed with visiting Versailles. It was just walking around a palace with artwork and old furniture. We also did a day at Disney Paris. It’s easy to get to as there is a train that runs right to it from the city but if you have been to Disney in the US you will be dissapointed.

The one thing we really liked in Paris was a Van Gough exhibit. It was in an old warehouse. You went inside where it was completely dark. When it started they projected his paintings and animations all over the floor and walls set to music. We went to a similar show in the US but the original one in Paris just blew it away.
 
The Royal Air Force Museum is worth a visit in London for your aviation kick. I’d recommend the hop on hop off bus in both cities. You’ll be able to hit all the major sights at your leisure. Public transportation is great in both cities. Both are great cities and I wouldn’t spend more time in one or the other. There’s so much to see in each city. Highly recommend the Pullman Tour Eiffel in Paris. Great views of the tower and right near public transportation. Can’t really go wrong staying anywhere in London since the tube is so efficient. Just be prepared for lots and lots of lines in tourist attractions in the summer.

IUUTgPC.jpg
 
For local history but not necessarily aviation or WW2 related, epic enough to mention anyway:

London
- Tower of London
- Jack the Ripper Tour (yes it’s at night)

Paris
- Catacombs
 
I am British by birth and grudgingly spend time in the Capital as my wife loves the city…I will be there for the second time in 4 months in a couple of weeks and pass through several times a year on average. There is London, then there is the rest of England…I prefer the latter. If I was going to take 10 days and want to see the best of both I would rent a car at Gatwick for 4 days. Staying close and doing short hauls My first stop would be Winchester just down the road and spend a day in a great market town with amazing history and cathedral. Next day head to Portsmouth and see the Mary Rose exhibit, enjoy Whitebait and a good beer quayside. Next day head to Canterbury stopping in Battle (Battle of Hastings 1066) or maybe Sandwich. Look into the Lodge at the Cathedral grounds a really cool experience. Turn in the car at LGW and train in to London. Do 2-3 days doing the tourist thing and I suggest people stay in Kensington. Hotels are better and less expensive then a lot of London and a short walk to some great museums or a concert at Royal Albert Hall ( always look what’s going on as it’s a wonderful venue). Easy access anywhere in London on the tube. Eurostar to Paris and spend 3 days there and then fly back to wherever from CDG…you could also Eurostar to Brussels which I would prefer…but Belgium is like a second home to my family.
 
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We did a family European trip over Christmas this past year. Finished up in Paris for 3 days and then 3 days in London at New Year's. Our kids are smallish (9 and 11), so we didn't even attempt museums in Paris or London (we did the Mozart museums in Vienna and Salzburg earlier in our trip and they were a total flop). Lots to see just walking around. Lots of the high points are walkable in London - Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square to Big Ben/Westminister Abbey/Palace of Westminister. Take a bus or subway toward London Bridge stop (just to check LB off the list). Borough Market is pretty cool and you can check out The Globe nearby. Walk across the Thames on the Millennium Bridge and end up at St Paul's Cathedral. Bus or Tube over toward Tower of London and Tower Bridge. One thing that we did that was a bit out of the way, but we all really enjoyed was going up north to do the Beatle's pic at the Abbey Road crosswalk. Several Harry Potter spots to stumble onto, but nothing huge (just Google it and there are downloadable maps that you can reference enroute to different places). The double decker buses are a great way to get around and you can see a lot from the top deck. As I mentioned, we were in London for New Year's and it was PACKED everywhere. I imagine close to the same during summer. Get an Oyster card for each person and you can refill the $$ on it as you go for public transportation - both subway and buses.

Paris was surprisingly interesting. I did not expect to enjoy Paris at all, but it turned out I was wrong. EAT CROSSAINTS! As previously mentioned, don't even consider renting a car in the city - public transportation is perfectly acceptable. Download the appropriate subway app so you can pick your on/off spots. I think we probably had a refillable card there as well or maybe we just did the 24 hour paper passes.. Can't remember now. Take the subway to Trocadero stop to get a good view of the Eiffel tower (along with roughly 10k of your closest friends). You can walk from there to get closer to the tower. Reserve tickets for the big things you want to do as soon as you have a schedule in mind. EAT CROSSAINTS! We didn't do the Louvre - mostly because it seemed like a lot of standing in line, but also because it was booked out for two weeks when I checked about a week before we got there. But walking around the area was cool. We stayed near Jardin du Palais Royal in an AirBnB and it was a good spot - quick access to transportation and lots of eating options nearby and seemed safe to me. Marche Couvert des Enfants Rouges was a pretty cool area. Some interesting historical markers and seems like where people actually live - not COMPLETELY overrun by tourists. Lots of cafe's to pop into on a whim. EAT CROISSANTS! Notre Dame was sad to see with all the cranes and reconstruction going on. The walk from there to the Pantheon is pretty, though, and from there over to Le Jardin du Luxembourg - again not TOTALLY touristy like around the Eiffel Tower.

Do the train between London and Paris. ~2.5hrs IIRC through the Chunnel at roughly 185mph.

One thing that we learned along the way in our trip - don't get so focused on getting to the 'next thing' that you miss out on what you have in front of you. Take the time to absorb what you're doing at the time. Go ahead and understand that there is no way you can do it all in one trip, so pick out a few things you want to do, and do them well.

Feel free to post any specific questions you may have. We just wrapped our trip up Jan 3, so some of the details are still in memory.
 
CJones said:
don't get so focused on getting to the 'next thing' that you miss out on what you have in front of you. Take the time to absorb what you're doing at the time. Go ahead and understand that there is no way you can do it all in one trip, so pick out a few things you want to do, and do them well.
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This is the very best travel advice, no matter where you go.
 
These are 2 of my favorite cities in the world. You'll have a great time if you follow @CJones advise about taking the time. Obviously, since it's your first time there, you need to do the tourist things, but definitely take time to live like a local Londoner/Parisian. Spend time at a pub just talking with the locals in London. Hang out at a cafe people watching, drinking a Kir.

As far as the tourist stuff everything everyone mentioned (except the catacombs... in my opinion, neat, but not worth it. YMMV). For London, if you want an aviation themed day, go to the Imperial War Museum in Duxford. Also worth checking out is Churchill's War Rooms.

In Paris, the Musée de l'Armée is pretty cool. Also, the Louvre is great, but I'm a bigger fan of Musée d'Orsay. It's smaller and much more manageable.

For European travel, my wife and I are big fans of Rick Steves' guidebooks. We will do his self paced walks that he has set out in the books. We always prefer those rather than touring with a group because, if in the middle of one of these guided walks, we want to pop into a pub/cafe/store/interesting back alley we can do that and explore a bit on our own without being tied to a group. I have a shelf full of Rick Steves books from all our travels, and they haven't failed us yet!

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There is one of the RAF museums in the greater London area. You can reach it on public transport with a bit of a walk.

There is the DeHaviland museum outside London. You can get there by public transport, but at bit convoluted. But the museum is at the farm where the first Mosquito was built and flown out of. And they are restoring that prototype Mossie. Also have two more and a number of DH aircraft.

The Imperial War Museum is as quite good.
 
Pinecone said:
There is one of the RAF museums in the greater London area. You can reach it on public transport with a bit of a walk.

(snip)

The Imperial War Museum is as quite good.
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The IWM was disappointing to me, but is very convenient. Probably worth a 1-2 hour visit. The RAF museum at Hendon is an hour or more by train from the city and is incredible. But the distance makes it a “most of the day” excursion. Same with Duxford.

If you’re taking Kids, there is an incredible Harry Potter studio attraction near the city.

But I really like the countryside. Yorkshire is beautiful and has great places to visit -York, the walled city. Fountain’s Abby. Plenty of stuff. Read a James Herriot book before you go… Lots of other wonderful outlying areas across the country too. I plan to spend a Summer or early fall there once I retire.
 
awesome.. I'm going to have to print this out tomorrow and take notes! Thanks folks.
I'd probably enjoy some of those RAF museums. Don't think I've ever seen a mosquito. Most likely though if it's outside the city it probably won't happen for me on this trip.... I'll make an effort to see the Churchill war room for sure.
I used to enjoy watching those Rick Steves shows way back when. I have been watching a few videos online and was thinking of maybe looking for some guidebooks.... although I wonder how up to date they would be. Anyway, I'll probably back with questions about some of what you've all suggested
 
Best thing we did in Paris a few years ago was the Fat Tire Bike Tour. We did the night time ride which in June is going to be half daytime. Was my teenage kids favorite thing we did there.
 
kyleb said:
TThe RAF museum at Hendon is an hour or more by train from the city and is incredible. But the distance makes it a “most of the day” excursion. Same with Duxford.
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I was talking about the RAF Museum London

https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/

30 minutes from Central London by Tube

The Museum is situated at Colindale Underground on the Edgware branch of the Northern Line. Please alight at Colindale, not Hendon Central. Colindale is in Zone 4.

Route 303 passes the entrance to the Museum. Look at the entire route of the 303 bus on the TFL website. The bus stop for this service is located directly outside the exit of Colindale Underground station.

We walked instead of taking the bus.
 
No one tried to pick pocket us in London. Someone tried the distraction thing at Versailles though, but I realize what they were trying immediately. Overall the feeling of Paris for us was that we didn’t enjoy it as much.
 
We’ve been to both several times over the years.

We did UK this past December, including several days in London (not our first time for either).

We stayed in a small apartment (converted garage) in Twickenham and got around very well without a car and with convenient access to Heathrow. There are other similar cities in the burbs, I’m sure. But the point is, consider staying outside of downtown and using the public transportation system. Rooms and restaurants are much cheaper and the transportation is excellent.

Re public transportation, at first I looked at getting an Oyster Card but ultimately, I used my iPhone and the wallet feature. You just tapped in and out with your phone. And there’s a max you’ll pay for the day. It was great.

The V&A museum was really great - wish we had budgeted more time for it.

One surprise was Portabello Street, in Notting Hill. There’s a huge flea market on Saturdays, which is fun. Also, there’s this massive open-air food court near the north end with all kinds of interesting international foods.

Others have pointed out some excellent ideas as well. Having a car in either place opens up a lot of options but I wouldn’t recommend having one if you’re just focusing on either city. We were in the UK for two weeks, rented one for the first 9 days, then turned it in while staying in London.
 
Busflyer said:
… Fat Tire Bike Tour. We did the night time ride which in June is going to be half daytime...
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X2. We did the day bike and night river tour, both were fun.

For London, changing of the guard at the palace is worth it for the pageantry. Spend time in a pub. I’m a Fuller’s fan, so those are the pubs I look for. Cask beer. Track day at Silverstone was cool.

For both cities, expect 10-20,000 step days, every day.
 
We did 8 days in England last year.

The British Museum is amazing, but also overwhelming. If it works for your schedule, a good way to see the British Museum is in smaller bites. We stayed in a rented flat about a 15 minute walk from the museum, and actually visited 3 times for less than 2 hours at a time. We were there in mid-March, so lines were virtually non-existent. One of my teens is a history nerd, so a lot of the trip was based around his interests, which wasn't hard to do...at all.

If you want to see some really neat history, take a day trip out to Bath, which has really cool Roman ruins and has a lot of interesting more recent history, particularly if you're interested in architecture. You don't need to go with a tour group, it is pretty simple to take the train there yourself and hook up with a tour company there for a walking tour. I can send a recommendation on this if you're interested.

Churchill War Rooms is a must-see. Changing of the guard is neat, but what we did was do a walking tour of the palaces area that included a changing of the guard. The tour guides know how to get you a good experience without getting trapped in a mob of people or waiting around for a long time for stuff to happen.

It's been over 25 years since I was in Paris, so my memory probably isn't that useful on that.
 
Jeff Oslick said:
The British Museum is amazing, but also overwhelming.
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Best tour I ever had there was a docent's tour. Took an hour or so and hit some of the major items with a running commentary as we passed from room to room. After that, you were free to explore on your own. My challenge with the museum is there is just so much of it. You really need to pick what you want to see, or you can get bogged down for hours looking at display after display of Viking ruins (for instance). My now 12 year old son still remembers seeing things like the Rosetta stone, Elgin's Marbles, and the huge statues borrowed from Persia...
 
Jeff Oslick said:
Fair to say, much of the world would consider the vast majority of the British Museum to be "borrowed". :D
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Latin: Veni, Vidi, Vici - I came, I saw, I conquered.

English: I came, I saw, I took it. Seriously, when you're the world's superpower and control huge colonies, lots of stuff comes back on the boats. I imagine there are many pieces still in private hands in England that would be amazing finds if they ever see the light of day.
 
I’ve spent nearly three weeks in London over the past year and a half. So far I’ve seen Trafalgar Square, a few pubs, a couple pie and mash shops, and every coffee and sandwich shop within a five minute walk of the Royal Exchange, Bank tube station, and the Hoxton Holborn. Oh, and I got a brisk walking tour through Selfridge’s one night on my way to the James J Fox shop there. And Jermyn Street, that was fun.

One of these days I’m taking my wife over when I’m NOT working so I can actually see something if England. Ireland (both of them) were grand.
 
Sluggo63 said:
These are 2 of my favorite cities in the world. You'll have a great time if you follow @CJones advise about taking the time. Obviously, since it's your first time there, you need to do the tourist things, but definitely take time to live like a local Londoner/Parisian. Spend time at a pub just talking with the locals in London. Hang out at a cafe people watching, drinking a Kir.

For European travel, my wife and I are big fans of Rick Steves' guidebooks. We will do his self paced walks that he has set out in the books. We always prefer those rather than touring with a group because, if in the middle of one of these guided walks, we want to pop into a pub/cafe/store/interesting back alley we can do that and explore a bit on our own without being tied to a group. I have a shelf full of Rick Steves books from all our travels, and they haven't failed us yet!

View attachment 115267
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We've used Rick Steves' books for a number of years. One no longer in print is Europe in 2 to 22 days. We used the 22 day itinerary and expanded on it when we took the kids there in 1992. We used his book on the British Isles in 2001. In both cases he NEVER steered us wrong. Even his "if you have the time' places were great.

I returned to York in 2011 for EMC Europe. The fellow heading the committee was a professor at the University of York. More importantly to me was that he was also an instructor at the local glider club. I have 0.4 hours of dual in a glider in my log book curtesy of he and I playing hooky one afternoon from the symposium to go flying. I see how people get hooked on flying gliders. Way too much fun!

I've been to Paris a number of times over the years and my wife has been with me a couple times. It's fine, but our two favorite cities in Europe are London and Rome. While you are in London the IWM at Duxford is a must. I went there in 1998 while the US museum was still under construction. I've been donating to them for years and I'll get back "someday". They have a Concorde airliner there that you could walk (and I use the term loosely) through. That plane was a tight fit!
 
After having visited the Tower of London this past week I would definitely recommend it. Make sure you do the tour led by one of the Beefeaters. Tour is only 45 minutes long and gives you a basic history and will get you pointed in the right direction for seeing what you want to see inside the walls.
 
Busflyer said:
After having visited the Tower of London this past week I would definitely recommend it. Make sure you do the tour led by one of the Beefeaters. Tour is only 45 minutes long and gives you a basic history and will get you pointed in the right direction for seeing what you want to see inside the walls.
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That is one (and maybe the only) thing that I regret NOT doing on our trip in Dec/Jan. We just walked to the Tower of London in passing on the last day in town. We didn't do any tours or go inside or anything. I wish we would have done that. BUT... We WILL be back some day.
 
kyleb said:
Latin: Veni, Vidi, Vici - I came, I saw, I conquered.

English: I came, I saw, I took it. Seriously, when you're the world's superpower and control huge colonies, lots of stuff comes back on the boats. I imagine there are many pieces still in private hands in England that would be amazing finds if they ever see the light of day.
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What's "not serious" and "hilarious" is their reasons for not giving any of it back. A lot of arguments that essentially tries to suggests they are better care takers than the colonials they stole from, and that more people see it at the BM than if it goes back to the cultures the artifacts came from. Never mind that some of the artifacts are from places where the people there still can't afford to come see their own stuff.

Is the BM a great place to visit? Sure, I enjoy it very much myself. Just don't forget you are visiting a nicely dressed halls of loot.
 
In another note about the trip and for less culturally/politically ambiguous sites than the British Museum, why not go see stuff outside of London? Hampton Court is a good visit and the train ride out is easy as long as there's no strike. For another location of interesting artifacts they maybe should give back try Windsor, you can see a fair amount of stuff the Royals got back from their colonies, to their credit you do get the story about how they got certain things if you listen to the audio guides.

Hampton court is a nice set to go with other of the sites in London like the tower as the history of the two are so linked via Henry VIII, his wives and successor.

If you go to Greenwich you can also do well to visit the Maritime Museum where you can see the artifacts related to Nelson's last moments. Also visit St Paul's and visit the Iron Duke's sarcophagus. The two London sites book end well with Paris and visiting Napoleon's final resting place. And you can contemplate what the world might have looked like if things had worked out differently between those 3 men.
 
SebIp said:
What's "not serious" and "hilarious" is their reasons for not giving any of it back. A lot of arguments that essentially tries to suggests they are better care takers than the colonials they stole from, and that more people see it at the BM than if it goes back to the cultures the artifacts came from. Never mind that some of the artifacts are from places where the people there still can't afford to come see their own stuff.

Is the BM a great place to visit? Sure, I enjoy it very much myself. Just don't forget you are visiting a nicely dressed halls of loot.
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I used to think the same way as you, but I softened a little after seeing this:


https://news.artnet.com/art-world/isis-cultural-heritage-sites-destroyed-950060

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/...-looting-ancient-sites-iraq-syria-archaeology

Not that this was the motivation 100+ years ago, but I bet some history buffs would rather have had these kinds of things appropriated and in the hands of someone who may care for it rather than be destroyed and lost forever.
 
It's a little off the beaten path for London, but we really enjoyed Cambridge and the aviation museum at RAF Duxford. We took the tour at the Harry Potter Studio.

It's been a very long time so not sure if they're still open, but the ww2 white cliff tunnels in Dover were very cool.

In Paris I enjoyed Moulin Rouge, and just drinking and dining around the latin quarter.
 
Busflyer said:
After having visited the Tower of London this past week I would definitely recommend it. Make sure you do the tour led by one of the Beefeaters. Tour is only 45 minutes long and gives you a basic history and will get you pointed in the right direction for seeing what you want to see inside the walls.
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Also, the best time to do the Tower is first thing in the morning on a weekday. Get your ticket ahead of time and line at least 30 minutes early.
 
Well it sure seems like a formal tour in the Tower of London is a must do thing. I'll look into booking that for sure.

My son is in college search mode and the other day he expressed interest in visiting Cambridge. I wouldn't mind it...and that puts us in the direction of the IWM up that way.

Right now I'm feeling pressured because we haven't had time to sort out our schedule and hotels. I was first thinking to get the train the day we arrive and go to Paris first then return to London mid trip so we are closer to the departure airport.... but that puts us in Paris fairly late in the day...a very long travel day. I'm not a fan of this but it looks like we'll probably do a few days in London, then go to Paris, then either return to London or go someplace else. I'm just worried about finding good hotels the later it gets. I'm really hoping for little Euro style hotels and locations that are walkable to where we want to go, rather than larger american style hotels. I've gotta get busy.
 
Brad W said:
Well it sure seems like a formal tour in the Tower of London is a must do thing. I'll look into booking that for sure.

My son is in college search mode and the other day he expressed interest in visiting Cambridge. I wouldn't mind it...and that puts us in the direction of the IWM up that way.

Right now I'm feeling pressured because we haven't had time to sort out our schedule and hotels. I was first thinking to get the train the day we arrive and go to Paris first then return to London mid trip so we are closer to the departure airport.... but that puts us in Paris fairly late in the day...a very long travel day. I'm not a fan of this but it looks like we'll probably do a few days in London, then go to Paris, then either return to London or go someplace else. I'm just worried about finding good hotels the later it gets. I'm really hoping for little Euro style hotels and locations that are walkable to where we want to go, rather than larger american style hotels. I've gotta get busy.
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You won’t find many large American like hotels in London or Paris. We had good luck with the premiere inn chain. They don’t advertise on sites like Expedia, you have to book directly through their website. The rooms are fairly small but functional and they have some really good locations throughout the city depending on where you want to stay and what you want to see. I think we paid just under $150 US a night for a hotel within 5 minutes walking distance of Big Ben.
 
Brad W said:
Well it sure seems like a formal tour in the Tower of London is a must do thing. I'll look into booking that for sure.

My son is in college search mode and the other day he expressed interest in visiting Cambridge. I wouldn't mind it...and that puts us in the direction of the IWM up that way.

Right now I'm feeling pressured because we haven't had time to sort out our schedule and hotels. I was first thinking to get the train the day we arrive and go to Paris first then return to London mid trip so we are closer to the departure airport.... but that puts us in Paris fairly late in the day...a very long travel day. I'm not a fan of this but it looks like we'll probably do a few days in London, then go to Paris, then either return to London or go someplace else. I'm just worried about finding good hotels the later it gets. I'm really hoping for little Euro style hotels and locations that are walkable to where we want to go, rather than larger american style hotels. I've gotta get busy.
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Probably not the 'best' scenario, but we did an Ibis hotel in Ealing (west of London). It was nice and clean (and small rooms). It was about 5-10 minute walk to the Ealing Broadway Tube station which takes you wherever you want to go OR just hop on one of the several bus routes that use the street in front of the hotel for a more scenic ride into London. It was much cheaper than staying 'in' London and while we didn't get the ability to walk directly to places in London, it was an easy ride on the Tube to get home, and got us away from the crowds to find something to eat or grocery stores to stock up the hotel for the day it rained ALL DAY LONG.

Also.. We were there over New Year's, which is probably the peak of peak for hotel rates downtown. Even with my elevated status with both Hilton and Marriott, I couldn't afford their rates (cash or points).
 
Windsor castle isn't far from EGLL and is easily accessible via train and bus. There is a good changing of the guard, too.
If you are lucky, you can see the castle on final approach to EGLL:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jacksilver/24928215350/in/album-72157665037978405/
The people on the port side of that plane got a good view!
No NIMBYs there! I'm pretty sure that castle predates the airport :)

Someone mentioned the hop-on-hop-off bus tour in London and the RAF museum- there is one close to London, and as mentioned in the thread, a train goes there. I chose to walk from the train station. The RAF museum, like the USAF museum in Dayton, or the Smithsonian, needs a few days to see it properly. I only had a few hours.
Here is what you might see on a bus tour, Windsor, and the RAF museum:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jacksilver/albums/72157626682370205

The pictures in the links are geotagged so if something is of interest, the place I took the picture is shown.
 
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