Top Spot: London
Yes, we know half of you live there, and it's a bit too early in term to think of escaping home, but for those of us who live out in the wilds, term-time offers many of us our first opportunity to explore the capital on our own. We've all done the school trip when you look at Nelson's Column and queue for 21 hours outside the Planetarium, but we'd never imagine going to London to get away from it all.
Just an hour and a half away by train and two hours on the bus (or five hours if you get a bus at rush hour, but more about that later) a day in London is the perfect escape from essay crises. Some Oxford students even travel to London for the weekend for part-time jobs.
Doing London on a student budget is difficult. Students who go to the West End, however, can take advantage of some pretty amazing deals. Student Stand-By tickets, available after four o'clock for the evening performance, are priced around £10. If you're even more skint, the National Theatre may allow you to stand at the back of the gallery, if its not very full, for around £7. If you are a theatre fanatic, this is a great way to see plays and world famous actors. You will have to put up with long waits for returned tickets and aching legs if you decide to go for a standing ticket at the National or the Globe. If you need to hang round a theatre in the West End, though, why not pop into Ed's Diner in Leicester Square (there's another one on Kings Road) for an all American experience of milkshakes, burgers and juke-box. Loads of Oxford students recommend it and it's cheap too, about £6 a head for a very filling meal.
If you're in London to burn money or impress someone why not take them to the Belgo Noord, at 72 Chalk Farm Road, which comes highly recommended as a more up-market place to eat. You can still get a meal for under £15, and it would definitely impress.
Lastly, don't think it's a great idea getting the five o'clock Oxford tube back to University. It just means two hours sitting looking at some boring west London suburb and worrying about air pollution.
• You can now book Oxford tube tickets online. A single for a student is £6.50.
• Use the Oxford tube ticket. Ask your bus driver for a River Cruise Ticket and you'll get a free 50 minute Catamaran Cruise on the River Thames. What more could you want?
• The ticket also allows you to skip the queues at Madame Tussauds, but the entry still costs a hefty £33.
• The Oxford Tube runs at 30-60 min intervals throughout the night. There's also a good chips and kebab van near the Victoria stop.
2nd May 2002