What I Like to Call Robbery

Boy cousin comes to visit us this weekend, which I am really looking forward to! We have train tickets to do London this weekend – it’s a ‘pilgrimage’ we make with almost all visiting family and friends who are interested. It is about an hour away from Oxford by train (fast train, might I add) and an hour and a half (with no roadworks and no accidents waiting to be cleared off the motorway) by coach. London’s got lots of things to see and do, as you would know, and if you don’t have the luxury of plenty of time, it can get a bit mad. We have realised that London’s just as lovely simply walking around and not actually getting into any of the major attractions. Buy yourself a Day Travelcard and use the tube and bus to get around and ‘see’ most of London. The banks of the Thames, St Paul’s Cathedral, the houses of Parliament, the London Eye, the Buckingham Palace gardens, Leicester Square, Hyde Park…you know where I’m going with this. If you really want to see things from the inside, there are still quite a few that you can do for free – some we’ve done include the Tate Modern and the National Gallery. All of this brings me to what prompted me to do this post. While planning a loose itinerary for Sunday, I thought we could do Madame Tussaud’s (yes, we’ve been here one year and haven’t done it yet). I went to their website to look up opening times and ticket prices and I was aghast at the £25.00 that they charge as a walk-up entry fee!! Children under 5 years of age go free apparently, but then who would want to take an under-five to a museum with wax models of celebrities?! The London Eye costs a slightly more reasonable £14.50 but you have to queue for hours to get through and if you want to ‘fast-track’ yourself, you have to, you guessed it, shell out more - £22.50 on this occasion! All these are costs for one person, and as dot rightly pointed out, look frightening when multiplied suitably for a group. I think it is robbery, plain and simple.

I do understand that it is expensive to maintain the structures and keep them attractive and visitor-friendly. I suppose regulating the number of visitors is also a challenge, but it’s funny how the numbers don’t seem to go down despite the ridiculous prices and you can see that they’re milking it for all it’s worth! It makes me mad! Discussing this issue with dot, he reminded me that there were different (higher) entry fees for non-Indians at monuments and other tourist attractions in India and we discussed that though it may seem unfair on the face of it, if you think about it, it’s nowhere near how much you have to shell out elsewhere.

That’s my rant for the day done then. I must add though that Tussaud’s or no Tussaud’s, London on a spring day should be a right treat and we’re all looking forward to it.

P.S. GroupSave with 2for1 Entry is worth looking into if you are three or more adults travelling together.