Spanky Deluxe

Two day tickets are available. I asked there today. You can either buy a 2 day ticket today for Friday+Saturday or tomorrow for Saturday+Sunday. They're £40.

There are the standard overpriced places inside the Excel. They're not that bad to be honest. A short walk down Western Gateway from the West entrance to the Excel will get you to a grocery store on the right. A little further on the right is a small Tesco Express which is likely the cheapest for food in the area. If you're looking for a more substantial meal in the area then the Chinese restaurant just outside the West Excel entrance is really very good. At the West end of the dock, a few minutes walk from the Excel, is a Thai restaurant that is really excellent in my opinion (at least it used to be). In terms of the hotel restaurants, they all charge about the same but the Docklands Bar and Grill in the Crowne Plaza is by far the best - eat there instead of the other hotels. Whatever you do, for the love of God, do NOT eat at the Novotel. Breakfasts are probably fine there but don't even consider eating dinner there. The Bar and Grill costs about the same and is infinitely better. Some relatives visited us a couple of years ago and stayed there. We decided to eat there one night and the food was some of the worst I've ever eaten (clearly just badly defrosted frozen vegetables) and the service was the worst I've ever experienced. I've never had such a negative experience in a restaurant! Prices at all the restaurants are normal London rates for nice areas. I lived just south of the dock in Britannia Village for three and a half years up until April so I know the area pretty well!

How do I know when I need to start queueing for my booked photos with the captains? I've got one booked with each one on Sunday. I know most have two sessions but some have sessions that conflict with others (Kate Mulgre and Avery Brooks). Secondly, can my wife queue with me for the photos? She's not getting photos done - it'd just be to keep me company.

Circ81: For the taxi back, get the Addison Lee app on a smartphone and book through that. Addison Lee are the biggest 'private' taxi company in London and will be a bit cheaper than a black cab. It should cost about £25. You're only going from E to SE London - it's only about 10 minutes drive. In terms of walking, it's not really convenient. The area around Excel is actually quite nice and not 'dodgy' at all. However,the DLR line just north of it separates the 'quite nice' area from the 'dodginess' of Canning Town. As far as Greenwich goes, North Greenwich can be quite dodgy but Greenwich itself is really ultra nice. The Greenwich Travelodge is located in Deptford Bridge I think, which is a short walk from Greenwich. Deptford itself is a bit grim and I wouldn't walk there at night. Deptford Bridge is mainly composed of newly built highrise flats and is quite nice. I think the Travelodge is nesstled within the newbuilds. I wouldn't really recommend walking from there to Greenwich though as the road you'd want to go down (Blackheath Road) isn't particularly well lit and at the place where it turns into Blackheath Hill, there is quite a bit of social housing (that's all due to be knocked down and redeveloped). Greenwich and the areas around it is typical of the whole London feel where there are really nice places next to not so nice places. Walk up to Greenwich and Blackheath and there are big houses that cost in the millions! If you've got some time to spend around Greenwich, go check out the market on the weekend - especially the Chinese takeaway stall if it's there. The only problem with Greenwich is that it can get a bit 'touristy'. Have a walk over the heath to Blackheath Village, it's really nice there too. In Greenwich, check out the Greenwich Union pub - absolutely brilliant place. FYI I used to live just south of the dock near to the Excel but moved to between Blackheath and Greenwich about six months ago so I know both areas pretty well!! :) Jod1710: If you're concerned about parking, one idea might be to park in North Greenwich near the O2 and use the cable car to get over the river. This does depend on the hours you're thinking of going though as the cable car does stop running earlier than the tube.

I've got two weekend passes, one for myself and one for my wife. She's not really a Trekkie and so is unlikely to want to go for more than one day. Can my friend use her ticket on one of the other days instead? I don't really want to be alone for two days there!

Ok, I was a little worried that the only way to get bridge photo shoots would be via one of the package ticket prices up front.

Is there any news when the bridge photo shoots will become available for purchase? I though they'd go live with the other photos today but alas it seems not.