The rest of the world may finally have caught on to the credit crunch, but tight budgets are nothing new for students. Orla Tinsleysets out for London with £200 - and even after a West End show brings back change
AS A STUDENT in these economically challenging times, a budget of £200 (€235) to survive in London seemed like a lot of money for a long weekend. My aim was to see if I could eat, see a show, visit an exhibition and do some shopping on the cheap. Luckily, my accommodation was already sorted with a friend's couch in Canary Wharf that had my name on it.
I arrived at London City Airport on a Friday evening and made my way to West India Docks, where my friend had set up house. Instead of getting a taxi I got an Oyster card, my ticket to survival. The card can be topped up at any Tube station. For £1 (€1.20) I took the Tube to my destination.
At night the industrial dockland of Canary Wharf is an enchanting strip of bars, restaurants and high-rise apartment blocks overlooking the Thames. We visited the reasonably priced Portuguese chicken chain Nando's in Jubilee Place for dinner. It is known for its chicken in piri-piri sauce, but I opted for a beanburger with rice, corn on the cob and a bottomless Coke, which cost a total of £9.30 (€11).
JD Wetherspoon, a British bar chain, was our next stop for unwinding after dinner. There, cranberry and seltzer cost £2.50 (€2.95) and a pint of Carling £3 (€3.50).
ON SATURDAY morning we visited Camden Street Market. This hip student area has stalls selling clothes ranging from goth to girlie, plus everything in between. We bumped into Amy Winehouse lookalikes, potential rock bands and kids with some serious fashitude.
A dress caught my eye, and I tried haggling, something I hadn't done since the market stalls of Portugal on family holidays as a 13-year-old. It was £20, so I said £15. He said £17, and my friend jumped in with £10. The man looked confused. He said his boss would be angry. We walked away, but he shouted £13, then £11. Sold!
From a stall outside the market we grabbed lunch, a piled mixture of Chinese noodles. A half-hour of looking at prints later, we ended up at McDonald's, filling the void left by the shared Chinese.
Next we took the Tube to the Cartoon Museum, an independent venue on Little Russell Street that has an ever-changing collection of work by some of the most popular cartoonists of our time, and before. With a student card you get in free. A cartoon around the entrance to the first exhibition room reminds tall people to mind their heads. Despite a Beano and Dandy exhibition geared towards children, the place was clearly not their preserve. The rooms were filled mostly with adults. We learned how the Dandy's original cover star, Korky the Cat, was ousted by the cow-pie-loving Desperate Dan.
The museum also displayed red T-strap wedges by Angeline Tournier made for the Beano's 70th anniversary, with Beano characters on the heels of the shoes.
ON SUNDAY morning we visited Speaker's Corner, in Hyde Park, a forum for people to voice their opinions. Spectators are free to respond. That morning two men were arguing about the face of God while two policemen kept an eye on the crowd. We listened for about 30 minutes to an incoherent argument. Then it started to rain. On our way to the Tube we came across people splashed in ketchup and ghoulish make-up. It turned out to be World Zombie Day, when people dress up as brain-eating ghouls and march to combat world hunger.
Our brush with the undead didn't kill our appetite. Instead of attempting a reservation in the budget-busting Japanese restaurant Nobu, we ventured to the affordable Wagamama. A scrumptious lunch for two cost £21.90 (€25.80). On the way back to the Tube I was attacked by a zombie. "Mmm, hat. I want to eat hat," it drooled as it lurched its ketchup-bloodied hands towards me and cornered me for a scary five minutes.
When I caught up with my friend he shrugged, having missed my terrifyingly narrow escape from zombification.
That evening we took the Tube to Southbank Centre, where the Hayward Gallery and, outside, the London Eye attract thousands of visitors a day. Other Voices, Other Rooms, at the Hayward, was our next stop. The Andy Warhol exhibition, which runs until January and costs £6 (€7) for students, was atmospheric in a way that echoed Warhol's famous Factory of the 1960s. The collection of 21 films, 33 photo-booth photographs, 100 Polaroids and many other Warhol works would leave any fan, or indeed friend who had been dragged along, wanting to find out more. The best part was the Silver Cloud Room, at the end of the exhibition, where we threw around helium-filled silver balloons until a security guard wagged his finger at us.
On my last full day I booked two tickets for Wicked, at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. The deal is that if you turn up with your student card you can get the best tickets for that night's performance for £25 (€29.50). I had two student cards, mine and my friend's. Despite this the ticket lady wouldn't give me two student tickets, because all student-card holders needed to be there. I tried everything, including getting him to book them on his credit card over the phone while I showed her the student card, but it wouldn't work. After arguing for 25 minutes I accepted it. My ticket in the stalls cost £25. His, directly beside mine, cost £60 (€70). With my budget blown, and dreams of rummaging through Covent Garden evaporated, I decided to take the short stroll to Buckingham Palace to stare for free.
I JOINED the throngs of people hovering about, their noses stuck between the black railings that surround the palace, trying to glimpse something invisible to the rest of us.
The changing of the guard happens every day at 11.27am, and when I arrived, at 12.10pm, it was still going on. It reminded me of the AA Milne poem about Christopher Robin and Alice, and I chortled. Beside me a mother was remembering Alice, too, and asked her daughter what the queen says. The daughter stared blankly until the mother replied: "Off with her head!" The child burst into tears. Another little girl pulled at the bars. "Mommy, which room is she in?" she asked wistfully.
On the way back I grabbed a cheesy baked potato and Diet Coke at Pronto A Mangia on Buckingham Palace Road. It cost £6.60 (€7.80), which left me with roughly £5 (€5.90).
Exploring London for free, I took a stroll through Hyde Park and ended up spending three hours there. I took part of the Diana Memorial Walk, a 10km stroll the princess used to take, and visited the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain. Afterwards I found the Peter Pan statue donated by JM Barrie and watched birds feed on leftover sandwiches that littered the empty tables of the park.
One of the eight Royal Parks, Hyde Park offers many activities, including pedal boating and horse riding.
Later that evening I arrived back in town, on my way to Wicked, but I couldn't get out of the Tube station. I spent about £25 (€29.50) on the Tube while I was in London, and had just topped up my Oyster card, but according to a security guard I had forgotten to scan my card out at the last stop. This meant the system had taken my credit off it. I eventually managed to convince him that I was not trying to cheat the transport system, and he topped up my card.
Wicked is the story of how the Wicked Witch of the West and the Good Witch of the East came to be. It was a fantastic spectacle and showed Dorothy in a whole new light. A bag of jellies and a Slush Puppie later I had been to Oz and back, and it was worth the trouble.
If you look hard enough, the good in London as a city for students certainly outweighs the wicked.
Go there
Air France (www.airfrance. ie) flies from Dublin to London City Airport.
Aer Lingus (www.aerlingus. com), Ryanair (www. ryanair.com), Aer Arann (www.aerarann.com) and BMI (www.flybmi.ie) also fly from, variously, Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Galway, Kerry, Knock, Waterford and Belfast to London Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton.
Where to stay
I stayed on a couch, but you can also go cheaply by staying in hostels such as Astor Quest (45 Queensborough Terrace, Bayswater, 00-44-20- 72297782, www.astorhostels. co.uk). It's near Hyde Park and within walking distance of Oxford Street. From £19 (€22.50) per night.
Where to eat
Nando's. Jubilee Place, Canary Wharf, 00-44-20-75132864, www.nandos.co.uk.
Pronto A Mangia. Eat in and take out. 9-11 Buckingham Palace Road, 00-44-20-78282560.
Wagamama. Leicester Square, 00-44-20-78392323, www.wagamama.com.
Tai Pan. Chinese restaurant and takeaway specialising in Cantonese food. 665 Commercial Road, 00-44-20-7790118, www.taipanrestaurant.net.
Where to go
The Hayward, part of Southbank Centre (www.hayward.org.uk), features exhibitions, music, dance and performance arts.
The Imperial War Museum's For Your Eyes Only, which runs until March 2009, explores the life of Ian Fleming and how he drew on his personal life to create James Bond. Lambeth Road, 00-44-20-74165320, www.iwm.org.uk.
The Cartoon Museum, Little Russell Street, 00-44-20- 75808155, www.cartoon museum.org.
Wickedis due to run until September 28th, 2009. Wilton Road, www.wickedthemusical. co.uk.
Hyde Park. www.royalparks. org.uk
What it cost
FridayOyster Card £1 (€1.18), Nando's £13.90 (€16.40), JD Wetherspoon £2.50 (€2.95). Total £17.40 (€20.50).
SaturdayCamden Market dress £11 (€13) and hat £15 (€17.70), Chinese £3.50 (€4.10), McDonald's £3 (€3.50), pencil sharpener gift £6 (€7), Diet Coke £1.50 (€1.77), breakfast £2 (€2.35), takeaway £9.70 (€11.48), Tube £6 (€7). Total £57.70 (€68).
SundayWagamama £10.90 (€12.80), Warhol exhibition £6 (€7), bagel and cream cheese £4.50 (€5.30), takeaway £10 (€11.80), sweets £5 (€5.90), Tube £4 (€4.70). Total £40.40 (€47.70).
MondayWicked £25 (€29.50), lunch £6.60 (€7.80), food at theatre £8 (€9.45), Chinese food £8 (€9.45). Total £47.60 (€56.20).
Weekend total£163.10 (€192.70), excluding flight.