"Free walking tour" shouted the headline, and we, like dumb tourists, believed it. On further investigation it seems that the "free" London walking tours are only free if you've bought a ticket on the Original London Sightseeing Tour hop-on, hop-off bus.

Just the same, we are rather attracted to walking tours and the outfit has both a "classic" walk through central London and a Changing of the Guard walk as well. Walking tours are often led by young backpackers spending a summer in London, so as well as regurgitating some of the local history, they can be extraordinarily good at pointing out the best pubs.

These "nearly free" walking tours cost £5 (nearly $9) if you haven't bought the too-expensive hop-on, hop-off ticket (which costs £20 ($35) for 24 hours). We advise checking out the walking tour guide first to see if they fit your bill and if not, well, just buy a map. Then you can make your walking tour an entirely free "getting lost" tour instead.

Related Stories:
· Original London Sightseeing Tours Introduce Free Walking Tours [eTravel]
· Walk Around London If Your Eurostar Is Late [Jaunted]

[Photo: Salim Virji]]]> amandak 2008-09-05T09:05:22-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/9/2/121827/6203

He's clearly crazy enough to make a go at commercial space travel, but is billionaire Richard Branson really gonna buy up an English airport? Maybe!

A government agency will soon decide whether BAA, the Spanish-owned subsidiary that runs Gatwick and six other British airports, is acting against consumer interest, and most everyone is betting that its holdings will be broken up. If that happens, says the Telegraph, Gatwick, Stansted and either Glasgow or Edinburgh airports will be sold off. Branson says he's trying to secure funding to make a bid for Gatwick, where Virgin Atlantic could spruce things up to compete against British Airway's T5 at Heathrow.

Other bidders are also interested, and it will be months before we even find out when Gatwick could go up for sale. That should give Branson enough time to scrape together the £2 billion ($3.6 billion) it might cost!

Related Stories:
· Branson Weighs Bid for Gatwick [Telegraph]
· Gatwick coverage [Jaunted]]]> pbb 2008-09-02T12:30:21-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/29/102217/973

Up Box is a stylish, easy way to get fast food in London that's not crap. The shop offers quick, top quality meals packed in a sort of urban picnic box. A main course, salad and dessert runs about $10.

Not only is the food good but the packaging is eco-friendly, too. The compact box is made of unbleached cardboard, and the cool looking cutlery is recyclable as well.

The menu covers all kinds of world cuisine including Turkish, Mexican, Thai, Moroccan, French, Indian and Italian. Selections are low-carb when possible and--naturally--use locally sourced produce.

Related Stories:
· Up Box [Official Site]
· Urban Picnic Lunch Box [Wallpaper]
· London Travel coverage [Jaunted]]]> Dan Gould 2008-08-29T12:00:19-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/26/114248/924

A retired railway carriage in Southeast London has gotten a fresh makeover that's transformed it into a beautiful new gathering space. Called The Deptford Project Cafe, the rail car has been hand painted with retro song lyrics, bright colors and bold fonts by Studio Myerscough and Luke Morgan. The cafe is the opening move of a regeneration project to breathe life back into the Deptford Train Station area.

Besides serving locally sourced food and sustainably farmed coffee, The Deptford Project Cafe will also play host to art shows and a weekend creative market that will showcase art, design, music and film.

If you get there soon, you may also be able to catch one of their barbecues--and be sure to check out the bathroom dedicated to Elvis.

Related Stories:
· The Deptford Project Cafe [Official Site]
· Derailed Delight in Deptford [Joes[a]fiend]
· London Travel coverage [Jaunted]]]> Dan Gould 2008-08-26T13:30:17-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/25/7343/43958

A few months back we we speculated about just how unnecessary the London Ripley's Believe It or Not museum was going to be. Last week it officially opened so now we are all invited to spend a whopping £17.95 (over US$33) to see the latest collection of the weird and wonderful.

The stats say that this Ripley's has just 500 artifacts, which doesn't sound like much, but they do spread over four floors and include such local specialties as a replica of the Tower Bridge made out of matchsticks. Gotta see that (not).

We're also not sure we need to see the two-headed cow (apparently not much of a rarity--the Ripley's company has 80 of 'em) or the graphic of singer Ray Charles created out of 8,000 Post-It notes. Yes, there'll be tourists who visit this new museum, but no, we won't be among them. We have enough weird and wonderful stuff on our desk.

Related Stories:
· Ripley's London [Official Site]
· Welcome to a Weird Old World [This is London]
· Ripley's Believe It or Not Coming to London in August [Jaunted]

[Photo of non-matchstick Tower Bridge: wallyg]
]]> amandak 2008-08-25T09:33:16-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/20/82734/7454

Clearly when Lily Allen isn't on the road, she gets restless: The British pop singer got involved in a brawl during a night out when a woman emerged to heckle her.

Allen has been at home in London working on her follow-up to 2006's "Alright, Still." On Monday night she left the exclusive Groucho Club and was hanging out with friends outside Ronnie Scott's Jazz when a drunk girl came up to try and start something. Sadly, the singer took the bait and punched her.

We thought the road was the place where all the crazy stuff went down? Clearly Allen has been listening to her inner Amy Winehouse instead of her inner Miley Cyrus.

Related Stories:
· Lily Allen and Boyfriend Clapped in Club [Jaunted]
· Lily Allen Gets Her Fight on [Popbytes]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Stupid Celebrities]]]> egw 2008-08-20T09:15:13-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/18/54536/6256

The miracle budget airline that is Ryanair continues to buck the trend of low cost carriers across the world by actually decreasing prices, with a promise to cut fares by five percent--and with a huge sale on now with five million seats going for €10 (including taxes and charges) for September and October travel.

Anyone would think that Ryanair had a mystery supply of cheap fuel, but no, CEO Michael O'Leary has admitted he's messed up on the oil price front already; that's why Ryanair will probably only just break even this year. Even so, he's sticking with the price decrease promise anyway.

The other big drama for Ryanair these days is the crackdown on "scraper" websites that have been selling the carrier's flights. Any customer who buys one of these fares (which, ironically, often end up more expensive anyway) will have their booking canceled, so there's definitely no benefit in going to third-party sites. We're keen on picking up a few €10 fares ourselves, but we'll book direct. Promise.

Related Stories:
· I Screwed Up, Ryanair Boss Admits [Belfast Telegraph]
· Ryanair Clamps Down on Internet Ticket Touts [Reuters]
· Ryanair coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: fabbriciuse]]]> amandak 2008-08-18T09:33:12-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/