where I've been; where I'll be

I was offline for a bit (sort of) because my laptop had to go in for repair, leaving me mostly functioning off a tablet for the duration of its absence. Not conducive to blogging, nor to anything much resembling productivity. :-P

But! There are interesting things afoot, and I would like help from you all, dear readers, in prepping for them.

To whit, the kniedzw and I are going to England. (Mostly to London, though we'll be attending a friend's wedding in Oxfordshire, and I'll be winding up in Brighton at the end for World Fantasy. Also, we're probably going to pop over to Paris for a bit to see his old roommate.) We'll be there from October 11th through the end of the month . . .

. . . and I have no idea where we should stay.

"But swan_tower ," you say, "haven't you stayed in London, like, a bazillion times?" Why yes, yes I have -- for values of "a bazillion" that equal half a dozen or so, that is. But the first of those, I stayed with a friend's sister, and the last four, I stayed in the cheapest hostel possible, neither of which are really what we're looking for in this case. (The remaining time -- or possibly two -- I have no memory at all of where I stayed.) I honestly don't even know what neighborhood we should aim for. We're there for sightseeing, not research, so I don't need to be smack dab in the middle of the City. In fact, I'd prefer not to be, since you can't get food there after 6 p.m. :-P

Where should we look at? Our price range is flexible; we're not looking for luxury, but we want better than a backpacker hostel. Convenience to a Tube station is key, though probably not hard to get. Moderately central location preferable, i.e. maybe we could save a bundle by staying somewhere out in Richmond but it isn't worth trekking back and forth.

Recommendations? And feel free to propose nifty things to see in London that I haven't already done.

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