Travel Tip: How to order free water in London

This might sound like a dumb post, but if we were confused, someone else probably was, is, and will be.

In the states, generally when you go to a restaurant and the server asks what you'd like to drink, if you tell them "water" they will bring you back a glass of ice water. They may even offer you a lemon wedge. There is no charge for this.

At Avista Restaurant in London, we were asked "still or sparkling". Well we knew we didn't want sparkling water. 1. We just didn't prefer that. 2. We didn't want to pay for it. Thus we requested still water. Then when they brought us a bottle of artsianal water we joked about how much this was going to cost us before we researched how to get just a glass of water around these parts!

Turns out you need to ask for tap water if you want the free stuff. Fun fact.

In summary:

1. Tap water - free, from the tap (faucet, spigot, sink, whatever you call it where you're from).
2. Still water - bottled water, no carbonation, available for a fee.
3. Sparkling - bottled, carbonated water, available for a fee.

There you have it! Hope that helps you stay hydrated to your preference! ;) 

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