It’s almost impossible to get around London without having to ride the London Underground, or more commonly known as “the tube”, at some point. But, before venturing out on your own, there are a few things you should know. For starters, when you first arrive in London with all your luggage, I would not recommend you take the underground to get to your hotel or wherever you are staying. Navigating the underground for the first time can be an almost terrifying experience as there are so many lines going in every direction and 99% of the time to get anywhere you must go down…..sometimes way, way, way down. Most stations do not have elevators so trying to maneuver your luggage down and then up the longest escalators on earth can be quite cumbersome-especially when hundreds of thousands of people are trying to rush past you. You’d swear they could smell your fear and are easily annoyed by your lack of tube etiquette. Secondly, grab a tube map and don’t be embarrassed to use it-even Londoners do. They are available everywhere and will prove invaluable during your trip. You’ll find that you will be a pro in no time, hopping on and off as if you’d lived there forever. It really is the best transport system I have ever seen and I’ve traveled to many large cities all over the world.