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So where's the healthy competition Americans are always talking about?

The two biggest European budget airlines -- Ryanair and EasyJet -- take shots at each other (Amusing example) in their advertising. Ryanair claims smaller fares, but EasyJet claims lower extra fees and better service. The non-budget airlines claim no fees at all, and more legroom, baggage allowance etc, and that they fly to major airports (rather than less-convenient, cheaper airports).

Given the choice, I choose EasyJet over Ryanair since I know the cost of the trip is 2*(flight price + luggage), whereas Ryanair is 2*(flight price + luggage + check in fee + pay-by-card fee + increased train/bus fare to more remote airport + having to listen to stupid adverts on the plane).

Ryanair tries to get free press with the CEO saying daft things -- like that they will start charging to use the toilet, or have "standing only" fares, or charge passengers extra if they're fat.

Wish it was that way. Gatwick doesn't seem to have any flights at all from and to Germany. Gatwick is more the Charter airport nowadays

It has several, try EasyJet, or try here.

I'll second the Imperial War Museum, the Science Museum, Tate Modern, etc. Someone else also mentioned the Design Museum -- that's pretty cool, too.

On the laptop question: If you have a netbook, or something under about 3 pounds (~1.5kg) I'd consider taking it. Otherwise, leave it behind. I've traveled quite a bit in Europe, and I often bring along my 2.2 pound (1kg) Toshiba Portege 2000 (ancient ultralight notebook, more or less equivalent to a netbook, but a little slower.) What I've found is that on short trips (2-3 days) I hardly use it and wish I'd left it behind. On longer trips, especially when traveling around with no pre-set plan, I find it useful for getting directions, booking tickets to events, hotels, flights, checking the opening and closing times of certain attractions, and the occasional e-mail, but I still use it less than I thought I would. Anything heavier/larger is just a drag. The key to having fun is to travel light. Of all the times I've stayed in London, I've never been on the first floor of the hotel, and only about 25% of the hotels I've stayed in had elevators. If you simply fly to London and stay in the same hotel for two weeks, that's not a big issue, but if you travel around a bit (and if you are there that long you SHOULD) the extra weight and bulk of a laptop is really annoying. Bring a carry-on sized bag and *maybe* a small shoulder bag and that's it. Anything more and you stop having fun because you are dragging around your closet with you. Do a load of laundry after your first week rather than bringing two weeks worth of clothes. There are internet cafe's all over London (and most of Europe for that matter.) Easy Internet has several large internet cafe's in central London -- just look for a bright orange sign. (There are loads of other places to go, too.) Bring a digital camera and a bunch of memory cards (they are cheap) and take lots of pictures.

With two weeks, I would strongly consider seeing more of the country (or even other countries.) Easy Jet and Ryan Air have cheap flights all over the place (warning though: these airlines often fly to regional airports rather than major airports, so you have to take public transit to actually get where you want to go even after getting off the flight. Sometimes, it just isn't worth the hassle, and you are better off taking a "regular" airline -- research before you book! They also charge fees for EVERYTHING, so pack light, and bring your own snacks.) Still, it can be a cheap way to dash up to Edinburgh for a few days or see Paris for a weekend. It will make your trip so much more memorable. Get on a train and go somewhere -- many other posts here have great ideas (Bath, Bletchly Park, etc.)

Also, WALK places. You see and experience so much more. Go into Soho and just wander around. See a show, stop off in a pub for lunch, find a little hole-in-the-wall curry place filled with locals (you'll recognize them because they will not be wearing t-shirts, jeans, or sneakers.) It is nearly impossible to get lost in London, because if you get turned around, just ask a passer by where the nearest tube stop is, check the map in the station to see where you are, and take the subway to someplace else you want to be. (As many have said already, get an Oyster card.)

Don't stay at big chain hotels, don't eat at places you've been to in the U.S. (McDonald's, TGI Friday's, etc.) Ask locals for recommendations of where to eat. Don't ask them for what to see -- like locals everywhere, they rarely see the sites that are next door. Get a good tour book for that. Generally spending more (on food, hotels, transportation) simply isolates you more from the people in the country you are in, and robs you of the experience of being somewhere with a different culture. Take public transit, walk, and go to a local pub and talk to people. You'll have a lot more fun!

That's actually a fantastic idea.

With the introduction of RyanAir and EasyJet in Europe, air travel has taken off, forcing the standard companies such as British Airways to drop their prices and offer more affordable travel. A passenger on there one said to me, "I travel home to Rome once a month because it's cheaper than driving there."

My point being, nothing here in North America comes close; we are desperately in need of a discount airline that provides affordable travel. Google could leverage this need with their advertising model to produce something pretty damned reasonable, and they ARE the types to do something that radical.

For example, Southwest has the fastest turn around time in the industry (20 minutes)...

I presume you're talking about the US airline industry here? EasyJet does turn arounds in 8 minutes.

Of course, in London we're used to being jammed into a tube.

I am a foreign student currently studying abroad in Europe, meaning that probably I represent one of easy*'s biggest demographics. I (and all my friends) almost always fly easyJet to travel, we rent easyCar to drive to France or Andorra, and we check our e-mail abroad at easyInternetCafe. easy is the real thing--it's cheap as hell, especially if you book really early. On the other hand the "customer experience" leaves a lot to be desired. For example, in an effort to cut costs even further, easyInternetCafe literally fired all their employees except for about 15 at the home office. No actual easyInternetCafe employees, work in the easyInternetCafes. Which is at once dumbfounding and frustrating. If your computer crashes or the machine eats your money when you try to buy time, well, you're fucked. No recourse. Lots of the computers are broken, people leave their trash laying around, there are always wierdos looking at really sick, graphic porn, and worse, the cafes are unsafe. Twice now I have seen people brazenly mugged, in broad daylight, in nearly packed easyInternetCafes. Similar experiences on easyJet; they farmed out the personnel contract (at least here in Spain) to some company named EuroHandling, whose ticket agents are assholes and unwilling to help you out in any way, especially if you arrive after 40 minutes before departure time. So I'm a little skeptical of easyCinema, even though I'd probably give it a whirl if it came to a town near me. But sentences like "All we ask is that you don't leave any litter behind" sounds like a sweet way of saying, "we're not paying for janitors, please don't trash our theaters." Personally, I'll gladly pay the extra 2 to avoid sitting on someone else's half-eaten nachos, but hey, that's me.

I just hope that the seats they have in these easy cinemas are more comfortable than the seats in EastJet planes. If you've ever flow EasyJet you'll know that they have the most horribly uncomfortable seats.

I have, and have also flown on pretty much every shorthaul airline flying in UK airspace. Easyjet fly 737-700s, the same as BA and BMI, and the seats are generally standard seats (although BA & BMI do some customised improvements for business class). Where you will find differences is in seat pitch (ie legroom) and the amount of wear that the seat has endured. Doing very well in filling capacity is naturally going to have an impact on the number of bums that have sat on each seat...

Also to fly easyjet you have to get both a train and a bus from central london all the way out to luton - adds a heap to the ticket price.

Compared to the free transfer to Stansted, Gatwick, Heathrow and City? (not) With the exception of City, they're all miles out. The Thameslink up to Luton is fast and not too expensive (compare: Heathrow or Gatwick express). The bus is a wee shuttle bus from the off-airport station. It takes 5 mins and it's free.

then there is no allocated seating so you just have to scramble for a seat, with entry order based on the order you arrive at the airport and check in.

You want allocated seating? Fly BA and pay for the priviledge. Or show up in time. Or remember that compared to BMI/BA etc, few of EJ's passengers are regular flyers, so don't know which seats are the better seats.

they often delay and cancel flights at the very last minute because there are not enough seats filled.

No, they can't do this. They can't voluntarily delay because then they'd lose slots (actually, they're under a lot of timetable pressure to get the planes turned round in much less than traditional timeframes), and if your aircraft is needed in Luton to take a plane full to Barcelona, there's damn all use in it being still in Glasgow because they haven't sold enough seats. Scheduling airlines is a complex business, which is why bad weather or strike action in one location can screw the entire network for quite a long time.

BA's eTicketing is very smart, though, and they don't arse about with the 'You must have govt issued photo id to get on a domestic flight' crap. Although this didn't stop someone making it all the way through Luton security right onto the plane without so much as a ticket last week (fortunately, EJ's on-plane headcount didn't tally so they found him/her before takeoff).

Perl is real programming language, and as for the readability aspect: Perl doesn't hold your hand. It's perfectly possible to write clear code in Perl. If I was to show you one of my scripts I'm sure anyone with basic programming knowledge would be able to understand it.

Rumours abound that it was a Microsoft idea, in the first place. While we can't be sure if Microsoft thought up the idea before anyone else - I believe EasyJet tried a similar thing in Belfast, Northern Ireland with chalk drawings on the pavement, and were sued accordingly - it's been rumoured that Microsoft was forced to get their checkbook out after hiring spraypaint artists to advertise the X-Box in a number of cities.

So, if it makes you feel any better... it's not just the Penguins who are causing all that pollution. :)