When searching for a London Vacation Package there are many operators that offer deals for flights, cars and hotes.

1. London Is A Seething Metropolis

London is a huge city, the largest in Europe with a population of over seven million. It's a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic city and this is reflected in the fact that over three hundred different languages are spoken in the city. So you shouldn't necessarily expect everyone you meet to speak English.

2. Divided by a Common Language

Was it Oscar Wilde or George Bernard Shaw who said America and England are two countries divided by a common language?

Whoever it was, here are a couple of illustrations of what he meant - these two are particularly noteworthy:

An Englishman might say, for example 'I could murder a fag right now!'.
An American would be horrified to hear such a thing, surely. But what the Englishman actually means is 'I would really like to be able to smoke a cigarette right now!'.
Fag, in English, means cigarette.

An American might say to someone 'Park your fanny there'.
An Englishwoman, on hearing this, would be mortally affronted. The American means 'why down you sit there' as to them fanny=backside.

In England, however, fanny has a different and altogether more intimate meaning!

There are endless examples of the kind of confusion that can be caused by our common language but the above are likely to cause the most raised eyebrows.

3. Spelling

Sometimes the Brits spell things in a way that's difficult to match with the way the word is pronounced. Leicester square for example looks like it should be pronounced LY-CESTER SQUARE. The English pronunciation is LESTER Square.

So don't be confused when you see directions for Leicester Square.

4. Driving

In England, cars drive on the LEFT hand side of the road. If you're hiring a car in London try to make sure you spend a little time getting used to driving on the 'wrong' side of the road before venturing forth. London is a very busy city and you could be taking your life in your hands if you don't familiarise yourself with the local driving conditions first.

5. Climate

No, it doesn't always rain there!

London, like most of the rest of the British Isles, has what's called 'a temperate marine climate'. The city and England in general rarely see extremely high or extremely low temperatures. The summer is generally warm with average highest  temperatures coming in at 73 °F and lows of around 57 °F. It's not unusual for temperatures to exceed 80 °F on many days. On at least a couple of days in the last few years temperatures have reach almost 100 °F in Central London.

Winters are chilly, but temperatures don't often dip below freezing, while spring has mild days and cool evenings.

6. Just Go To London!

It's one of the most exciting cities in the world!

What Are You Waiting For??