It took long enough to feel the benefit, but it's rather nice being 'Dinkies'.





They sent me an email a couple of weeks ago telling me there were still tickets – got some at slightly reduced prices.



Mind, we saw the first two productions by the company and I've now booked for the [iDream[/i in October and Jude Law's [iHenry V[/i in January.

We shall be partaking of the delights of that there London at the end of August.



First time staying in serviced apartments rather than a hotel, be interesting to see what they are like. Just fancied the freedom and having our own cooking facilities etc.

Only tried that once, at Citadines, Holborn.

Mostly "studios", which means the sittingroom/kitchen has a sofabed.

Not impressed tbh but maybe the ones with a separate bedroom are better.

Don't forget to get one of the free London Tube Map apps, they are very good, and will of course sort out your tube route for you

I believe there is also a hardcopy version which never needs recharging and works almost as well, even in areas of low signal strength, available for free download from a rack in most tube station foyers.

Mind you, it doesn't need a 500 quid phone to run it on, so it's obviously crrap.

If you have practically no knowledge of London, how easy is it to negotiate a difficult journey? It's difficult, You have no idea of the distances between stations of the complications between switching between one line and the other.



Going around London on the tube with a paper Tube Map when you don't really know the place. Pretty stressful.



Stick the journey in the Tube App and out comes a few sentences telling you the quickest route there. That app has practically given you a cabbie's knowledge without years of riding around London on a scooter.

No it's not, millions do it every single week. The map of the underground is one of the easiest maps to read.

F**k me! Words fail me.

Is the London Underground map great? Yes. A complicated map brilliantly executed.



But we're talking about someone with no knowledge of London. Even finding the stations they need is going to be a pain. I deliberately said a difficult journey.



Judging by the LU map, a journey that looks the easiest could take twice the time than it would take a Londoner who knows the Underground.



A good tube app will absolutely wipe the floor with the paper map for a new visitor to London.

Having live in London and used the tube daily I have seen at first hand how easy people find their way round the system, unless you have a decent net connection your app is as useful as a dumb map.



There is also the reduced risk of not having tourists wandering around with £400 smartphones in their hands.

Er, the app is in your phone. It doesn't require a connection. If it did, there is wifi across the majority of the underground (Virgin).



Second, the point of it is to let it work your route out before you set off. You are most unlikely to need any more than 2 changes, and unless you have the memory of a goldfish, most routes you won't need to remind yourself.



Even if you did, you can leave the route up on your screen so you need only glance at it.



Next, you haven't seen any such thing. You have seen many thousands of people, but you have no clue how experienced they are, or how hard or easy they find it to use the system, or would do if it was their first day in the system. Most of them will likely be doing the same old. Once you know where you're going, it doesn't really apply, does it?



Half the people on the train will be doing something on their phones. Don't have nightmares. If prone to nightmares and paranoid in case a mugger is on your shoulder, write the route on a scrap of paper. Though there is little that shouts "TOURIST" as loudly as someone poring over their tube map.

Tube maps can be misleading if you were in Oxford st and you wanted to go to Bayswater you go central line to nott hill gate the c&d line to bayswater on the map. But i'd get off at Queensway and cross the road outside. The app tells you, the paper map doesn't, for the layman the app is better.