A trip to London as a show of solidarity

WHEN the London bombings occurred last month, some people reacted by canceling vacation plans to the city. Others, however, began arranging trips to London, because they think Americans have an obligation to visit as a mark of their solidarity with the British people. They did not forget that in the days after Sept. 11, British travel interests actively promoted visits to New York.

It is nearly as easy to visit London as it is to vacation in the United States. Nonstop and direct flights (stop but no change of plane) are available from 19 major American cities, serving almost every area of the country, and on half a dozen airlines.

No language barrier or visa requirement exists, and you can change your money into British pounds at almost any major bank, at the airport before you leave, at a London airport on arrival and at scores of exchange facilities within the British capital. Or you can use your ATM card.

Some major U.S. tour operators to London have already announced low-cost packages that will take effect Nov. 1 and later. From LAX and other West Coast cities, air-and-land prices are as low as $660 for a round-trip flight and six hotel nights with breakfast daily.

But you may pay even less. Last fall, rates for such packages fell below $600, and similar bargains may be available this year during November, December, January and February.

You can find similar prices by checking sites such as www.go-today.com, www.octopustravel.com, www.gate1travel.com and many other transatlantic tour packagers.

If you don’t want to purchase a package, you can buy airfare, and separately make arrangements with the hotel of your choice in London. To find the best airfare rates, go to www.ukair.com, which specializes in London-bound flights. In spring -- during the desirable months of April and May -- round-trip flights could be found on the site for as little as $444 from Los Angeles or San Francisco.

Those rates will be available in September and October, and they’ll undoubtedly drop by at least $40 to $50 in November and December (before Christmas).

And hotels in London are already dramatically discounting their rates for fall visitors from the United States. Go to www.visitlondon.com, the official website of London’s tourist authority, where some of the city’s most prestigious properties mark down their prices and guarantee them in dollars to attract transatlantic business.

Would you like to stay at the comfortable Strand Palace just off Trafalgar Square? Already on VisitLondon.com, rates are being offered in November for $154 a night for a double or twin room. And that’s at a giant, mid-price hotel just two blocks from the famed Covent Garden and three blocks from the Thames River. It is close to many theaters as well.

If you’d like to stay on Piccadilly Circus, the Regent Palace might appeal to you. It is another giant hotel but offers lower rates than almost anywhere else in town to travelers who don’t mind doing without a private bath. The nine-story Regent is offering double or twin rooms in December for $82(without bath) and $105 (with bath) to tourists who book through VisitLondon.com.

And finally, for Americans craving a transatlantic cruise aboard the Queen Mary 2, the mammoth vessel will continue sailing between New York and Southampton throughout October and November at one-way rates (for a six-night crossing) as low as $999 per person in November and $1,029 in October.

You can get such prices at www.cruiseshopping.com. Most people take the cruise one-way to England, then fly back.