LONDON’S MOST INSANE LUXURY HOTEL SUITE – Shangri-La at The Shard

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Okay, so it’s Luxury Fred and our London Luxury Adventure continues with what has to be the most spectacular, the most beautiful, most epic view from a hotel suite here in London. And where are we? We are at the fabulous, beautiful Shangri-La London at The Shard. And in case you didn’t know, The Shard is the tallest building in Europe, and it creates hotel rooms for the Shangri-La with these incredible views. So we’re here on the 39th floor in one of the hotel’s three Signature Suites, and this is the Shangri-La Suite. So I’m going to give you a tour of these amazing views along with this beautiful suite.

So the suite was actually designed by a company that designs yachts because they specialize in putting a perfect amount of luxury into a specifically confined space. So it makes sense to use a company like that to design a hotel room when you have a limited amount of space like this. Obviously this is a big suite, but still, you have specific restrictions in terms of where the walls are and things like that. So as you can see, we have this beautiful dining room here, and this suite comes with its own kitchen and little pantry here. So normally when a guest is staying in the Shangri-La Suite, they always meet with the private chef or one of the chefs that work here at the Shangri-La, decide what they’d like to eat, and then the chef can go about five minutes away to the Borough Market, which is an amazing food, and produce, and meat market here in London, they can outfit the pantry with everything that the guest specifically wants and prepare bespoke meals for them during their stay.

So here we have the dining room area. Again, that was the little kitchen and pantry over there. So from the dining room, we have some of these iconic views. We have Canary Wharf in the distance. Of course Tower Bridge there, the Tower of London. Right across the way here we have what’s known as the City of London, which features some of London’s iconic buildings. Across there we have The Walkie Talkie, behind that, The Cheese Grater, and then to the right of that, The Gherkin. And again, we are inside London’s tallest and most iconic skyscraper, The Shard.

So as you can see, we have this amazing living room area just surrounded by glass that kind of protrudes from the side of the suite, giving you three walls of glass to view London. All the rooms here at the Shangri-La come with binoculars so that you can admire the views, and the suites come with these spotting scopes like telescopes so you can see off into the distance. And you can see that we have this incredible view both of the city of London and London in the foreground, and then off into the English countryside on the horizon there. So again, we have city of London, the iconic buildings there, HMS Belfast on the river, Tower of London, Tower Bridge.

Again, this is the Shangri-La Suite here at the Shangri-La London at The Shard. Tell me that’s not a beautiful place to relax and enjoy the views. Leather chaise lounge. So looking further down the river, the smoke stack, the chimney there is The Tate Modern, and you can just see The London Eye and off to the left is Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster and Houses of Parliament.

Continuing on the tour, leaving the dining room here and the living room. Moving on into the office and the work area. Again, surrounded by glass. All the furnishings, chairs and things like that, are custom made for the suite. You even have a little watch case for your watches. And moving on into this fabulous bedroom with not just a king size bed, an emperor size bed. And just check out the amazing views of St. Paul’s Cathedral right from your bed. And it doesn’t end here. We have a large walk-in closet and wardrobe here. And ending the tour here in the beautiful bathroom. And how about that tub?

And I’ve learned that the designers used this special marble called Wasabi Marble, which has these plant images or plant-like images or veins in it, and they found it was so beautiful that the bathroom didn’t need any artwork, that this Wasabi Marble is the artwork and focused the bathroom design to feature it. So again, Luxury Fred here in the fabulous Shangri-La Suite at the Shangri-La London at The Shard.

How To Travel Around London and Buy an Oyster Card – Important Tips!

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Now, recently a friend of mine was in London and didn’t know which tube ticket to buy or whatever it is that you use to travel on the buses and tubes in London. If you’re from the UK, you can just use your contactless credit card, about which more later, but if you’re from abroad and you’ve just arrived and you don’t know where you live, what your name is, where you’re going, and you probably don’t want to pile all those foreign bank fees on your transactions, so it’s probably easier to get an Oyster card.

Now, don’t be that person who hangs around for ages and gets in everybody’s way. First thing you want to do is come over here and hit get new card. You can decide here how many cards you want, but there’s only one of me so I want one new Oyster card. Hit confirm.

You don’t have to decide how much money you want to put onto your Oyster card.

It’s pay as you go, so it depends on how many journeys you do per day, and then you’ll cap it as a day travel card.

Now, a lot of people panic when they first arrive in London at Heathrow for example, and they say, “Look, do I buy a weekly pass or do I buy a pay as you go top up pass?”

Now, I think the best thing to do is when you arrive, just stick £15 credit onto an Oyster card and then that buys you some time to decide what kind of journeys you’re going to be making after.

So, it’s only £15. The Oyster card is a £5 deposit, which you pay, and then your pay as you go credit which you’re going to have is £15. So, altogether will be £20.

Now, don’t worry. You’ll get your deposit back when you return your card, plus any unused credit, as long as it’s under £10.

And voila, my nice fresh Oyster card ready for use.

Now, the left side of the escalator is for people who’re much busier than you. So, as far as Londoners are concerned, if you’re standing on the wrong side, you basically have no human rights and you will be plowed out of the way by people like me.

Excuse me, can you get out of the way, please? You’re on the wrong side of the escalator. So, did you honestly not notice that everyone was-?

All right. It’s pretty obvious that I didn’t see the signs. Sorry.

On no account must you speak to anybody. Make sure that you keep your headphones in.

Your next station is Angel.

You’re not allowed to speak to me.

Sorry.

We’re in London.

Sorry.

You’re not a Londoner?

No.

No. So, that’s why we’re talking to you. We’re from the North.

All right. I keep meeting Northerners. What’s going on? They actually speak to you on the tube. You really are amateur? You haven’t even got your headphones in.

No, we don’t pay for [crosstalk 00:02:25].

No, no [crosstalk 00:02:26]-

We guess train order?

Amateur. Excuse me, I’m going to stare at my phone now.

Don’t worry. Carry on.

So, if you’re in a real hurry, you can just swipe your credit card or your debit card as long as it’s got this contactless symbol on it. Now, that will work in exactly the same way as the pay as you go credit on an Oyster card, but you don’t have to top this up on the machine or anything. You just take it and you just scan it straight onto the machine. Don’t be one of those people who gets in the way and stands in front of the ticket gate. Sorry.

Remember, you can’t use cash on the bus, so you’ve got to use your card.

Now, the thing about the Oyster is that you can use it again, and again, and again. If you use is say, 50 times in one day, it won’t go above a certain amount, so you can just using it all day long. They call it a capping. I think it’s about six or seven quid or something.

I particularly like the number 15 bus, because you can get one of these old Routemasters, and they’re really good. They follow a route all the way from Trafalgar Square past the Royal Courts of Justice, the Monument, Sweeney Todd’s Barber Shop, and then it finishes up by the Tower of London. There is so much more space on these as well. I just feel so much more comfortable and you can even open the window here. Look at that.

I hate those horrible new ones. These seats over here in the corner is what my friend used to call it the molester’s seat. Weirdos and pervs used to sit in this one. I rather like it. You can sit at the back of the bus and just sort of observe everybody who gets on from over here.

It’s the last stop please.

Thank you.

The last stop.

Thanks, man.

Thank you.

See you.

See you.

Thank you. You can even use it on the boats, but it does cost a little bit more.

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You really have to remember to swipe out. It’s very important, otherwise you get charged extra.

And sometimes the gates are already open, and a lot of people think, “I know, I won’t get charged if I just walk straight through.” But that’s not the case. You’ll get charged £8.

Some stations don’t even have ticket gates.

So, make absolutely sure that you do swipe in and out properly, otherwise you can get absolutely skimmed on the fare. Be careful.

You can even use it on the Emirates Airline. Excellent. They cost £3.40 for adults, and £1.70 for a child if you have an Oyster card.

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In many ways, there’s no need to pay for one of those expensive guided tour buses. With so many Joolz Guides online, you can just access them on your phone, and with an Oyster card you can get around London for a reasonable price. So, if you enjoy my films, do please subscribe to the channel, and [French 00:05:04].

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