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calling all London goers


Se ky bengal

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If anyone asks me where to stay in Munich, I tell them what's touristy (maybe that's what they're looking for), what's a dump, what's more expensive than it should be, what neighborhoods are boring, and what neighborhoods actually have something to offer.  Maybe no corner of London is boring, but I'll bet that's not the case.

All right Mr DC man. I'll help you out. It all kind of depends what you're looking for and what kind of budget you got (Hallo Captain Obvious! :-))

There are a lot of hotels in the area just North of Oxford Street, which is kind of in the middle of the city. It's kind of touristy, but I wouldn't recommend you to stay away from that area. The thing about London is that it's really big, and the citycenter is rather large. London is made up of these different neighborhoods, all with their own flavor (and price-range), so I guess you should decide what kind of money you're willing to spend, and we'll take it from there.

 

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I'm Mr DE man now, but I'm too lazy to change my handle. 

I'd like to keep it under 100€ (76£) per room per night, and I'll use http://hotel.de for that since the interface lets you do very detailed searching.  I don't need to be in the heart of the touristy area(s) with all the other loud Americans -- especially if they're going to be wearing fucking cowboy hats. 

I take public transit every day, and while I value it immensely, I value my time more.  I'd rather be within walking distance to the evening pub or at least on the same line as where we'll end up.  The orientation to Wembley and Heathrow is not as important since those trips will be not so frequent. 

The kind of place I'd like to end up in would have good food and be full of locals, which I admit is tricky if you put a hotel nearby.  Even when I went to Dublin we were on the edge of the tourist area, and it felt like there were just as many Irish as foreigners. 

Thanks everyone for the tips!  If anyone ever needs Oktoberfest tips, just ask.  ;) 

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My cousin in London has the following to offer.  She's a mid 20s professional there. 

'Check airbnb! Loads of my friends use it all the time, no complaints so far and you can get some really good deals on it. Def worth a look. You can search by budget and search London zone 1 or 2...anywhere in those zones should have a hotel for your price range and a pub, restaurant within walking / stumbling distance.  Anywhere you will want to go will be easy to get to, no horrid areas in either zone, though zone 1 is 90% touristy, zone 2 much less so although north zone 2 has a fair share of tourists (still less than zone 1), the east/west not so much.  Either get a zone 1 or zone 2 day-pass for the tube, or as you Americans call 'Subway' or if you have a contactless bank card I think you can just use that and won't need to get an oyster travel card.  Oh sorry...don't think there are one or two day passes...week is minimum but it will get capped at £10 / day' 

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Any other retired military planning on taking a hop to go to the game?  Me and the wifey planning on hopping to Germany then making it to the game.

thought about it but it requires some flexibility and depends on what bases you can leave from...could definitely save $$ if you can pull it off but it could end up costing you $$ (and convenience) if you get bumped...I sent you a PM...

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I'm Mr DE man now, but I'm too lazy to change my handle. 

I'd like to keep it under 100€ (76£) per room per night, and I'll use http://hotel.de for that since the interface lets you do very detailed searching.  I don't need to be in the heart of the touristy area(s) with all the other loud Americans -- especially if they're going to be wearing fucking cowboy hats. 

I take public transit every day, and while I value it immensely, I value my time more.  I'd rather be within walking distance to the evening pub or at least on the same line as where we'll end up.  The orientation to Wembley and Heathrow is not as important since those trips will be not so frequent. 

The kind of place I'd like to end up in would have good food and be full of locals, which I admit is tricky if you put a hotel nearby.  Even when I went to Dublin we were on the edge of the tourist area, and it felt like there were just as many Irish as foreigners. 

Thanks everyone for the tips!  If anyone ever needs Oktoberfest tips, just ask.  ;) 

ROFL!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm taking my kid - unless his grades tank, then he'll be staying here and I'll go without him.  Since we're gonna be in full-on tourist mode, I've opted to stay right downtown in the middle of everything.  I've booked us into the Marriott County Hall, which is directly across the Thames from Big Ben and right next to the London Eye.  Waterloo Station is a block away, and it's right off Westminster Bridge.

Screenshot_2016-02-14_at_1.thumb.jpg.529

 

lonch_phototour173.thumb.jpg.1db46cbfee5 lonch_phototour142.thumb.jpg.efbd4e4551a

It ain't cheap.  The regular rate is GBP375 ($600) per night.  I've been hoarding Marriott points for years - I've got more than a half million now - so I can redeem points for this stay.  The good news is that if you stay 4 nights on points the 5th is free, so I'm definitely doing that and saving 20%.  The stay will end up costing me 200K in points, which are worth approximately $1400.  So while I'm not expecting a lot of Go-Bengals / Cincy Jungle folks to be staying at our hotel, we *are* saving a shit-load of money.

I just wish I had a line on tickets.  Game sold out quickly to scalpers and speculators, but I'm hoping the Stripes announce some sort of ticket package.  A lot of us have been ticket holders for a very very long time (my account dates to 1988 - more than half my life) and I'm hoping the team will take care of us.

Meanwhile, if any of you hosers *do* want to join me and ABF Jr at County Hall, here's their reservation link:
https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/lonch-london-marriott-hotel-county-hall/

We're arriving Thursday 10/27/16, and checking out Tuesday 11/01/16.

 

 

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I'm taking my kid - unless his grades tank, then he'll be staying here and I'll go without him.  Since we're gonna be in full-on tourist mode, I've opted to stay right downtown in the middle of everything.  I've booked us into the Marriott County Hall, which is directly across the Thames from Big Ben and right next to the London Eye.  Waterloo Station is a block away, and it's right off Westminster Bridge.

Screenshot_2016-02-14_at_1.thumb.jpg.529ba509080050fd8c976e3af76d549d.jpg

 

lonch_phototour173.thumb.jpg.1db46cbfee55721fc74f184d925102c9.jpg lonch_phototour142.thumb.jpg.efbd4e4551a11ec7d7c7ebcffb75e5af.jpg

It ain't cheap.  The regular rate is GBP375 ($600) per night.  I've been hoarding Marriott points for years - I've got more than a half million now - so I can redeem points for this stay.  The good news is that if you stay 4 nights on points the 5th is free, so I'm definitely doing that and saving 20%.  The stay will end up costing me 200K in points, which are worth approximately $1400.  So while I'm not expecting a lot of Go-Bengals / Cincy Jungle folks to be staying at our hotel, we *are* saving a shit-load of money.

I just wish I had a line on tickets.  Game sold out quickly to scalpers and speculators, but I'm hoping the Stripes announce some sort of ticket package.  A lot of us have been ticket holders for a very very long time (my account dates to 1988 - more than half my life) and I'm hoping the team will take care of us.

Meanwhile, if any of you hosers *do* want to join me and ABF Jr at County Hall, here's their reservation link:

https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/lonch-london-marriott-hotel-county-hall/

We're arriving Thursday 10/27/16, and checking out Tuesday 11/01/16.

 

 

Wow! Good for you! Hope you and your family have a wonderful time.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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  • 2 weeks later...

I had 2 others going to London with me, and I optimistically bought 4 tickets.  Turns out the other 2 have bailed, so if anyone needs 1-3 tickets at cost and wouldn't mind sitting next to me, just say the word.

They were £525.48, so £130 each.

I wish. If I win the lottery, you're the first one I'll call.

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CincyInDC:  Hang on to them.  The Bengals will be releasing ticket/travel package info in about a month and I'm positive that after /their/ prices come out you'll get takers.  If not someone else then likely me.  :)  Since I've already got lodging squared away (at least for now) and am primarily interested in the air/ticket portion.

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Speak of the devil, I just now got an email from the Bengals about this:

Dear Bengals Fan,

 In October your Cincinnati Bengals will travel to London to take on the Washington Redskins at Wembley Stadium. As our most valued fans, here is some important information to consider.

 On Tuesday, April 5th we will host an exclusive Season Ticket Member only pre-sale for official Bengals Fan Travel Packages to the game in London. Full details on travel, lodging, game tickets and pricing will be made available in late March/early April. These packages will go on-sale to non-Season Ticket Members on Friday, April 8th.

 If you are interested in purchasing just game tickets without the travel package, we will host a Season Ticket Member only pre-sale for single game tickets on Tuesday, May 3rd. Tickets will go on-sale to non-Season Ticket Members on Friday, May 6th.

 Quantities are limited and are available on a first come, first served basis. All sales will be online only. The game will be played on October 30th at Wembley Stadium, kickoff is TBD. While this game is considered a home game for the Bengals, the London game is not included in a Bengals Season Ticket Package.

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Speak of the devil, I just now got an email from the Bengals about this:

Me, too...

Not to duplicate but this is what it looked like in the ol' in box.  REALLY thinking now...

Bengals Week in Review
Who Dey in the UK

Dear Bengals Fan,

In October your Cincinnati Bengals will travel to London to take on the Washington Redskins at Wembley Stadium. As our most valued fans, here is some important information to consider.

On Tuesday, April 5th we will host an exclusive Season Ticket Member only pre-sale for official Bengals Fan Travel Packages to the game in London. Full details on travel, lodging, game tickets and pricing will be made available in late March/early April. These packages will go on-sale to non-Season Ticket Members on Friday, April 8th.  

If you are interested in purchasing just game tickets without the travel package, we will host a Season Ticket Member only pre-sale for single game tickets on Tuesday, May 3rd. Tickets will go on-sale to non-Season Ticket Members on Friday, May 6th. 

Quantities are limited and are available on a first come, first served basis. All sales will be online only. The game will be played on October 30th at Wembley Stadium, kickoff is TBD. While this game is considered a home game for the Bengals, the London game is not included in a Bengals Season Ticket Package. 

If you have questions please call the Bengals Ticket Hotline at (866) 621-8383.

WHO DEY! 

Duane Haring 

Director, Ticket Sales & Service

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  • 1 month later...

Reminder, travel packages go on sale TOMORROW (Tuesday 4/5) at 10am EDT.   These are "land-only" packages.... hotel plus game tickets.  Airfare is NOT included, but can be added for an extra charge.  No idea about ANY of the details... I have found nothing on the PrimeSport site, and when I called PS last week after the announcement hit our inboxes, they knew nothing about it either.

My guess is the Bengals will email each of us an access code and URL, and will do it just before 10am tomorrow.  Sucks that they can't release the pricing/package info sooner so we can look at the details and decide whether we want to buy in or not.  It would at least be nice to know which hotel and how many nights.

Anyway, here's a cut/paste of the most recent email on this topic.   I know nothing more than what you see below....

 

 

Dear Season Ticket Member,

In October, your Cincinnati Bengals will travel to London to take on the Washington Redskins at
Wembley Stadium on 
October 30th (kick off is to be determined).

As previously communicated, on Tuesday, April 5th at 10am, we will host an exclusive Season
Ticket Member only pre-sale for official Bengals Fan Travel Packages to the game in London. All
fan travel packages will be ordered through our partner, PrimeSport.


Fan Travel Packages will range from $1835 to $2775. Airfare is not included, but can be added on
as an upgrade. 


Quantities are limited and are available on a first come, first served basis. All sales will be through
PrimeSport only. While this game is considered a home game for the Bengals, the London game
is not included in a Bengals Season Ticket Package.


As a reminder, Season Ticket Members interested in purchasing game tickets ONLY will have a
pre-sale beginning 
May 3rd

For questions regarding travel packages, please call PrimeSport at 1-800-591-9198. For all other
questions in regards to your Season Tickets, please call our Cincinnati Bengals Ticket Hotline at

(513) 455-8888.

Who Dey!

Katharina Boes 

Manager, Season Ticket Member Services

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Everybody noticed that airfare is not included in that ticket price.

I noticed that as well.

Linky:  https://www.primesport.com/d/cincinnati-bengals-london

Here are the package specifics:

DELUXE PACKAGE
3-Night Package (Arrive Fri 10/28, Depart Mon 10/31)
Hotel (London Hilton on Park Lane)
Upper Level End Zone Ticket (can buy ticket upgrade)
Roundtrip Transportation to Wembley
Pregame Party Admission
Team Rally & Bengals Pub Party Admission
Sightseeing Tour w/Guide
$1835.00 per person

PREMIUM PACKAGE
Everything in Deluxe Package plus...
Add 1 Night (Thurs 10/27)
Add River Thames Dinner Cruise
Ticket is LOWER End Zone
$2575.00 per person (+$740)

ULTIMATE PACKAGE
Everything in Premium Package plus...
Ticket is Lower SIDELINE
$2775.00 per person (+$200)

AIRFARE: Not included, but available for $1500 additional per person.

If the schedule matters to folks:

Thursday: Sightseeing Tour [Premium/Ultimate Pkg]
Friday: Sightseeing Tour [Deluxe Pkg], Dinner Cruise [Premium/Ultimate Pkg]
Saturday: Bengals Team Rally & Pub Party
Sunday: Game Day (Transportation + Pregame Party)

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Parking for future reference:

Linky: https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/visiting-london/visitor-oyster-card

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A Visitor Oyster card seems to be the way to go if you're going to depend on public transportation while in London.  Not only do you get a discounted fares on everything, but once you hit a daily spending "cap" all remaining rides that day are free.  Oyster cards are, essentially, debit cards that you preload with cash.  It's a contactless system, so when you board that train/bus, you "boink" your card against the scanner, and then repeat as you leave.  The system automatically deducts that trip's fare from your card. 

For us, we'll be arriving at Heathrow (Zone 6) on Thursday and taking the tube to Waterloo Station (Zone 1).  That's a £6.00 fare that's only £3.10 (off-peak) with Oyster.  For days we'll be playing Tourist and staying in Zones 1 & 2, each fare is £2.40 (less than half the £4.90 cash fare), and once we spend £6.50 we're "capped out" for the day and can ride the tube for the rest of the day without paying a dime.  Wembley is in Zone 4, so that's £2.80 for me on Game Day (not £5.90 cash fare).

For busses, Oyster gets us a flat £1.50-per-ride price with a £4.50 daily cap.

Note: The daily spending cap depends on the different Zones you travel through that day.  If you stick to Zones 1 & 2 is only £6.50, it goes to £7.60 if you travel to Zone 3, £9.30 to Zone 4, £11.00 to Zone 5 and £11.80 to Zone 6.

"Visitor" Oyster cards can only be purchased before you travel (from visitorshop.tfl.gov.uk).  You pay for the first pre-load (they recommend £30.00 for stays of 4+ days) and there's a £3.00 fee for the card itself plus postage and delivery to your home, worldwide.   And the clincher, my 15 y/o kid gets his fares at HALF my rate, as long as I have them add the "he's a kid" endorsement to his Oyster Card after we arrive but before we start to travel, which allegedly can be done at any Tube station (including Heathrow, I believe)

 

 

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British Airways has a nifty non-stop from JFK to London City Airport.  (Not Heathrow, not Gatwick.... City Airport!)  They fly a modified Airbus A318 that has been reconfigured internally to be an all-Business Class flight.  There are only 32 seats on the entire aircraft and each seat is a lie-flat bed "pod".

 

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(LCY has its own Light Rail station that's in Zone 3 and connects to the Jubilee Line at Canning Town - it's about 20-25 minutes total from the airport to Westminster or Waterloo station, depending on where we get off for the hotel.) 

Due to takeoff weight restrictions in London (City Airport's runway isn't as long as those as Heathrow/Gatwick/etc), the A318 has to make a scheduled stop on the return flight in Shannon (IRL) to take on extra fuel.  This is actually pretty cool, because Shannon Airport was the first airport outside of the Americas to offer Full US Preclearance facilities to folks flying to the US.  This means that passengers can deplane and pre-process through Customs during the brief stop so when the flight takes off again it's treated like a Domestic Flight from that point on.... you can skip Customs/Immigration when you land at JFK, and you don't need to claim your luggage at JFK as it'll be automatically forwarded to your final destination just like any other domestic flight.

It's pricey (> $3000) for a round-trip ticket, and you still gotta get to JFK from wherever "home" is for you, but if you hit the lottery of a rich uncle dies between now and Halloween, it's something cool to consider.  :)

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In the interest of player safety the team will make a 10+ hour flight, play a violent, physically-demanding full-contact sport at the equivalent of 0900 in their home time zone, then make another 10+ hour return flight.

Because The Shield & integrity & stuff.

What a fuckin joke.

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  • 4 weeks later...

^bump

Tickets are now available for pre-sale to Season Ticket holders, and go out to the General Public on Friday.

All seats are in the Upper Bowl.  Here's the pricing scheme:

All of these are in the Upper Bowl (Level 5)
£55.00 for Category 4  (Midfield, top half + Goallines, bottom half)  ORANGE
£50.00 for Category 5 (Goallines, top half + Corners, bottom half)  PURPLE
£45.00 for Category 6 (Corners, upper half.... Seats for children 16 & under are £20.00)  LIGHT BLUE
£40.00 for Category 7 (End Zone, all rows)  GOLD
 
This is before TicketBastard slaps on any of their nuisance fees, which I expect will amount to a 30-50% tax.  And these are in £ not $, the exchange rate right now is about £1.00 = $1.45.  So my best guess for the ACTUAL price in dollars is:
 
$115.00(?) for Category 4  (Midfield, top half + Goallines, bottom half)
$105.00(?) for Category 5 (Goallines, top half + Corners, bottom half)
$95.00(?) for Category 6 (Corners, upper half.... Seats for children 16 & under are $40.00(?)
$85.00(?) for Category 7 (End Zone, all rows)
 
I am a season ticket holder and I am willing to coordinate a buy if anyone needs tickets but does not have tickets.  I can purchase a maximum of 8 seats.  If there are any child seats in the mix, there has to be at least two adult seats with them.  And in addition to the 8 ticket cap I have a 3 transaction cap which would only come into play if there's a nutty mix of seats in different sections people want.
 
I would be buying them immediately.  Tickets will be mailed to me 2-3 weeks before game day, I'll pay to overnight them to you.

 

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Note: Once these are available to the general public, I expect they will sell out right away.  Not necessarily to Bengal fans, but to ticket brokers and speculators in the UK who snapped up all of the first batch of seats (those not reserved for fans of the "home" team).  These prices are steep, without a doubt, but they are barely half what tickets are going for on the open market over in the UK and Europe right now.  As soon as they can be bought, I expect that they will be bought.
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