Hi everybody,
are you planning to visit London this August?
if you like to help with Drupalgangers' activities in London, please consider joining the team as a volunteer.
If anyone wants to join London team it would be great, please do. There will be lots of free activities, picnics, boat rips and tours for Drupalcon attendees and Drupalgangers this year. Please let me know if you have any suggestions about site-seeing or things you want to do in London.
I started looking for inexpensive (under £130 for a double room) hotels close to London Bridge and Victoria. Those are two stations where you can get direct trains to Croydon (traveling time is about 15 minutes). Here are some popular, inexpensive accommodations near London Bridge:
http://www.timeout.com/london/hotels/venue/2:18244/hoxton-hotel
http://www.timeout.com/london/hotels/venue/2:23900/bermondsey-square-hotel
http://www.lsetopfloor.co.uk/bankside.htm
http://www.timeout.com/london/hotels/venue/2:18173/park-plaza-county-hall
http://www.timeout.com/london/hotels/venue/2:18174/premier-inn-london-co...
and Victoria:
http://www.timeout.com/london/hotels/venue/2:18225/b-b-belgravia
http://www.timeout.com/london/hotels/venue/2:18227/morgan-house
http://www.timeout.com/london/hotels/venue/2:18226/windermere-hotel
Comments
Julia, These are great ideas.
Julia,
These are great ideas. Mike and I are unfortunately not planning to go to Drupalcon at this time. We had to change our plans since I saw you in Chicago. So sad and so sorry!
I think finding a way to get information to the larger Drupalcon attendees would be nice since we did not really have that in Chicago. There was a family lounge but it was only mentioned on the list of rooms and many folks did not find it. I stationed myself there each morning to help people out (and used the Twitter feed to try to encourage groupings if they were desired) but it was not ideal. There were many people with kids so they went off on their own pretty much.
Also, Mike and I have had luck with http://www.airbnb.com/ Check out the listings for London around the time of the event. It is a nice alternative to the hotels. Also, they recently did a London centered story on their Facebook feed: www.facebook.com/airbnb?ref=ts
I hope you all have a fun time. We are pretty sure about Denver since we have family to see out there and have planned to go out there sometime soon anyway.
Happy sightseeing!
Elsa
Drupalgangers twitter feed and forum updates
Elsa, I'm so sorry you have to change your plans. I was really looking forward to see you. It's was great to get together in Chicago. Django and I are thinking of going to Denver too.
Thank you for the Airbnb link - it's very useful. If you think of anything else, please let me know. The accommodations in London are so dear. I'll add Airnib to the list of hotels for London team to promote.
It was great to be able to chat in Chicago and find out about your Drupalgangers experience. Having someone updating Twitter feed and forum is especially useful for families with kids and new people. London team will definitely have someone doing this too. Considering Chicago weather at the time, updating twitter and helping individual drupalgangers was the best thing to do. I went on Architecture Tour you recommended - it was very interesting but because it was done on open El platforms, it was so cold! Walking around in large groups is difficult during the cold winter days.
Croydon Fairfields will not have any specifically allocated space for Drupalgangers (Fairfields Halls don't have rooms for BOFs - double-decker buses will be there to provide more rooms). There is no simple canteen there too - only bars and a brasserie - not a convenient place for Drupalgangers to meet. Croydon borough has not many places of interest, it would be better to meet in central London anyway. I think I will find a nice breakfast place with wi fi in central London near an Underground station and help people from there. I hope the third week of August will be scorching in London. We could do picnics and boat trips and see palaces and the Thames. Even if it rains, it will be quite warm in August.
I'll be there
Hi all,
I'm looking forward to heading over to London for the conference in August. Don't have a clue where we'll be staying yet - I guess that will be decided if/when the main conference puts together some recommendations.
As for activities, I'm game for anything really. The Tower of London is the only major attraction I have left on my list to tick off so a trip there would be good.
Dermot
Update 31/5 - we've decided to stay in one of the conference hotels in Croydon but it's only 15-20 minutes on the train into central London.
Handy
Thanks for the list, very useful as it's been more than a decade since the last time I was in London. Planning to book somewhere near near the Victoria stop.
More places to visit around Croydon with kids
Hi all,
I'm Kate from Los Angeles, and I'll be coming over to DrupalCon London with my husband, Oliver, and my three-year-old, Owen. I've been doing quite a bit of research into fun things to do around Croydon. Aside from the DrupalCon organizers' great suggestions of kids' playspaces in Croydon, here are some other spots I've found:
Crystal Palace Park: About 15 minutes' drive/bus trip northeast of Croydon, this park has five giant dinosaur sculptures that are left over from when the park was a Victorian amusement destination. From the photos I've seen, there's an iguanodon and a megalosaur, among others. Here's a map of the park: http://www.cocgb.dircon.co.uk/cry_pal_park.htm
Crystal Palace Park, Thicket Rd, London SE20 8DT, United Kingdom
020 8778 7148
There's also Lloyd Park in Croydon: http://www.croydon.gov.uk/leisure/parksandopenspaces/parksatoz/lloyd/. It's a five-minute drive/bus trip southeast of Fairfield Halls, and has a children's play area. It also claims to have horse riding, but I'm not sure if there are horses you can rent on the property.
Lloyd Park, 5 Coombe Road, Croydon CR0 1BD, United Kingdom
020 8760 5672
If you're in need of toys, there's the Early Learning Center, which looks to be inside the Mothercare store, in Croydon Centrale Shopping Centre: http://store.elc.co.uk/store/croydon-centrale-shopping-centre
Croydon Centrale Shopping Centre Unit 63 Centrale Shopping Centre Croydon CR0 1TY
Here's a list of the playgrounds in Croydon: http://www.croydon.gov.uk/leisure/parksandopenspaces/playgrounds
As for things to do in London, two things we're definitely going to do are the Changing of the Guard (August 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, and 27 - every two days during the summer - at 11:15am at Buckingham Palace) and Tower Bridge. For those of you who want to see the bridge go up or down to let a ship pass through, here's a list of times it's going to happen: http://www.towerbridge.org.uk/TBE/EN/BridgeLiftTimes/
I'll add more activities as I find them. Hope this is helpful! Please let me know if anyone is planning activities with kids.
late in the game!
Hello fellow Drupal-gangers!
I'm here in London with my almost-2-year old daughter. Monday we stuck to Croydon and today we went to Hampstead Heath despite the rain. I'm hoping to head into the city tomorrow and tackle the Science Museum (free), Westminister Abby around 1 (free concert going on), then the Museum of London (also free) in the afternoon, finishing with the London Wall Walk if my daughter's still hanging in there (with all the playing in the museums she'll probably be happy to sit in the stroller!). I'd love to have dinner in town, but not sure where. Ideas are welcome!! I've got Celiac's disease and a soy intolerance but am usually fine with meat dishes.
I've heard Otto Pizza in Notting Hill & Hell's Pizza (not sure where) are cool with gluten-free options.
Thursday I'd love to do the Zoo, and possibly dinner at the Orrery (55 Marylebone High St) or the Old White Bear pub up in Hampstead.
Friday my hubby will join us and we are hoping to do the Open Bus & River tour, the Tower & the Tower Bridge exhibition. Saturday we want to catch the changing of the guard....
Anybody interested in joining? We're up for company!
There is a cool kid-friendly cafe here in Croydon called Beanies that's off High & George Street. My email is eowyns-heir.blogspot.com, and I'm on fb as Christina Szrama.