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HOW TO NAVIGATE LONDON LIKE A TRUE LOCAL
Finding your way in your own town is not a difficult thing to do. The same goes for London. However for people coming to London as visitors that might be a real challenge. There are many popular streets for shopping in Mayfair District, but getting to certain locations might give you a headache. It involves navigating through concealed addresses and some uninviting Dickens’ era buildings.
THERE IS AN APP FOR THAT
Fortunately, someone took that in mind and created a set of self-guided travel plans for non-Londoners to find roaming through the district easier. Hilton’s Conrad Hotels decided to make these guides to help clients have a pleasant experience navigating the cities their hotels are located in.
As you can guess from their name, 1/3/5, these mini guides are made to help visitors that want to explore the city as much as possible, but are short on time and have 1, 3 or 5 hours as most. Luckily, you don’t have to be staying in Conrad’s to be able to procure them. They are also accessible from their smartphone app and StayInspired.com.
Strangely enough, you will not find the Buckingham Palace, which is very close to the hotel, in the suggestions. In fact, no buildings connected to the Monarchy’s history are. According to the author of the 1/3/5, Nilou Motamed, that is intentional, since all of those locations would be in a conventional guidebook, and these are not like that. These guides are meant to make the visitor feel like a true local.
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
The advantage of any self-guided tour is that they give you the possibility to choose what to pay more attention to, and omit something that doesn’t appeal to you. For example, the mini guide suggests checking out Benugo café in Brown Hart Gardens, a place that even Londoners may not have heard about, since its location had been closed for more than 25 years. However, if you are not into impeccable coffee you might just skip that suggestion and get on to the next one.
Instead, if you are into luxurious art pieces from the British Isles, you should pay a visit to the New Craftsmen on North Row. The store offers a variety of unusual crafts and handmade pieces of art.
Although, as it was mentioned, everyone can get their hands at them, it is perfectly understandable that these self-guides are designed based on the location of the Conrad Hotel, regardless of which city it is about. However, there are some things you might find not so user-friendly. For example, most of the contents are about shopping and entertainment rather than history and culture. That being said, their Portuguese version helps you find where President Obama got his Portuguese water dogs from. Furthermore, they are much more appealing to a richer audience than the conventional traveler.
Everything has its advantages and disadvantages, and so does Conrad’s 1/3/5 small tour guides. Nevertheless, the fact remains, they are made to help visitors find their way in London, or any other city the hotel is located in.
