I've lived in Devon since I was about three. As a child I always loved history, and to visit London was the height of my ambition in those days. My parents took me as a school holiday treat after Christmas for about four days when I was 13, and I had the time of my life. Next I went on a few school trips while I was studying A-level art, then went to college there (Ealing) for a couple of years - and though I came back to Devon, I always try and get back there again for the odd day about three or four times a year.
I don't really enjoy travelling that much, and don't care for the idea of going abroad again. Been there, done that, etc. etc. But going to London on my own, partly for research, partly for shopping, sightseeing, visiting galleries and museums, meeting friends and the like, is always fun. I try and plan everything using a well-thumbed and rather worn but still serviceable London A-Z, get myself a one-day travelcard if it's a Saturday, or after 9.30 on a weekday, which gives me unlimited travel on the tube for that day (cost last time, August 2001, £4.00 for Zones 1 and 2). The tube stations are rather few and far between once you get out of central London and you have to negotiate your way around ordinary trains and buses, but you can get by.
My personal favourite shops are bookshops and record shops. Granted, you can buy stuff pretty painlessly through Amazon these days, but at least if you can see the stuff in London first, you know exactly what you're getting. And if you don't want to struggle back weighed down by bags and bags of stuff, you can always just look!
Admittedly, spending a whole day in the city can be rather tiring. My experience is that it's either in the middle of a heatwave, so thank goodness for the shade of the trees in Hyde Park or Kensington Gardens), not to mention a drinking water tap in the gallery loos, or else it's tipping with rain. Last time, I was caught in a flash flood and several tube stations were closed because of security alerts, so there was a lot of walking to be done through a lot of puddles. And if you carry an umbrella, it's difficult to put it up without catching somebody in the eye. Moreover, after you've belted down the escalator and fought the crowds to leap through those underground train doors two seconds before they shut for the eighth time in a day, it can be exhausting. But unless you feel mildly knackered by the end of the day, then perhaps you haven't really made the most of 'the London experience'.
So in conclusion, my advice is go there, but plan what you want to do first. And until you've been to London a few times, it's a good idea to make some sort of priority list in case you don't have time for everything in one go. All right, that might sound very efficient, organised and boring - but better that than trying to cram too much in and being disappointed. With luck, there will always be a next time.
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