How to visit the U.K.?
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I would like to take my wife to the U.K. this coming April/May for our anniversary. I don’t have the slightest idea how to go about planning something like this and keeping it within a certain budget. We’ve cruised and traveled to Mexico, but that’s the extent of our foreign travels.
I’m thinking it would be best for our first time to go with a tour company. Costco has some packages that seem reasonable. We would only have about 10 days available, so we can only see and do so much.
I’m thinking we’d like to see London and also a castle or two in Ireland and Scotland. Both of us have ancestors from the U.K., and I think it would be cool to somehow rent a car and visit our ancestral towns. I don’t know how interested we would be in visiting Buckingham Palace, etc. this time around.
I think I have enough miles to make the airfare cheap or almost free. We are usually 3-star hotel people. What is a realistic budget for something like this–$4,000? $6,000?
I really have no idea the “right” or safest way to visit, so any hints or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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My cousin swears by Tauck tours. You might have them send you a catalog
I’m not much help on the pricing estimates. I don’t think a tour will give you time enough to visit ancestral towns but it’s worth asking. It sounds like fun! I am happy for you guys!
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Congrats on what can be an amazing experience if you’ve never been to Europe. You are going when the exchange rate is very good. You may want to confirm that May is still the shoulder season. If not, April lodging rates will be much lower. Once you decide what you want to see / do, you can then determine if there is a tour that covers those things.
My wife and I went a dozen years ago, but we won’t be tour people until at least our 70’s, if then. For us a significant percentage of the fun was deciding what to see and where to go. We both spent a few nights researching (cost, location, time required) and ranking the sites that we each wanted to see. We then spent a little time each night discussing and narrowing down the sites. It was a packed two weeks that we will never forget. We actually hit everything that we planned to do, but weren’t allowed into two of the castles due to the queen being in residence, or about to be in residence. We used Priceline and Betterbidding to pick a great rate on a great hotel next to the tube in London, took a train to Bath for a half-day, rented a car and drove to the Cotswolds, Nottingham, York, Inverness, Edinburgh, and lots of smaller places along the way. We met tons of wonderful people, saw historical sites with a whole new perspective, and thoroughly enjoyed the entire trip, including our 1.5 “rain days”. The people of England, including London, were much warmer and friendlier than we expected.
I can be kind of thrifty :-), but we did not pinch pennies on this trip (nor did we spend like a drunken sailor). This was going to be, in all likelihood, our only trip to England, and I did not want to constantly be calculating the exchange into dollars. I don’t recall exact numbers, but our two weeks were way under $3000, including airfare. We stayed at one B&B for 2 nights, one 3 star hotel for 3 nights, one 4 star for 4 nights, and a five star for 1 night. The remainder were with family. To get a very rough idea of costs, just figure out how much the trip would cost you in comparable areas in the U.S. and then multiply it by the exchange rate.
Finally, although we saw tons of sights, the two that stand tall above the rest are the British Library and the Cambridge American Cemetery.
Whether you do a tour, or do everything on your own, have fun.
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@ruthie Thank you for the lead. I’ll look into them. Good point about the time to visit towns vs. being on a tour.
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@honkinggoose Wow, that sounds amazing. I consider myself pretty skilled at planning domestic vacations, but I guess I’m not so confident about a foreign one. If we rent a car I guess I need to do some research on driving laws and licensing! They’re all left-side drivers over there, correct? Yikes! Thank you for the pointers.
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@frett I travel internationally independently and alone. I’ve travelled to the UK several times although not recently.
I choose hotels based on neighborhood, price and reviews. Book cheapest upgradeable air fare and use miles to upgrade to business class. Really nice to be able to stretch out on a long flight. Makes it special too, like an anniversary should be.
I use local transport to get to hotel from airport.
Are you familiar with TripAdvisor.com?
For guidebooks I like the Lonely Planet series but it depends on your style. Guidebooks are targeted to specific audiences. Rick Steves is much less adventurous than Lonely Planet but more adventurous than e.g. Frommers.You will be jet lagged when you arrive. Typically I check into hotel then if I’m with someone who’s never been to London before, we take a city tour. London Transit used to run one where you could get on/off stops all for one ticket. I suggest just riding cuz you’ll be tired. You’ll go past places you’ll want to return to and places you don’t care to revisit but at least you’ll have gone past Buckingham Palace even if you don’t want to watch the changing of the guards. Then walk around a bit, have dinner and go to bed early.
Its a long drive from London to Scotland by car. Maybe 8 hrs.? I’ve only done it by overnight train. If you don’t mind spending 2 days of your 10 day trip just driving then go for it. You could spend 10 days just in Scotland. Ireland? Even longer to get there. Again, a place you could spend a week. Maybe that’s what you want this trip to be, the experience of travelling to/from Scotland and staying in B&B’s along the way.
I travel by public transit, ie buses, trains. You can get just about anywhere you want from London, just know that depending on where you’re headed will determine which station you leave from.
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@frett If you’re planning skills are good here, they’ll be good there. At least they speak English. As @my4mainecoons mentions, guidebooks are great place to start. We used one of Rick Steves’ guidebooks to pick the places that we wanted to see.
As for car info, yes, they all have steering wheels on the right. It took quite an effort on the first day to adjust, especially the right hand turns. After that it was only a problem when there was no traffic (nothing to remind you to stay to the left). I went through a few empty traffic circles the wrong way. “:-)” Almost all rentals have manual trannies, but with so many changes to vehicles in the last decade, I don’t know if they still have clutches.
One oddity that I had to learn on my on was their traffic signals go from red to yellow to green. The yellow is kind of like a green light ( but not an arrow ) in a turn lane - you’re free to go if it’s clear. There are speeding cameras on a lot of the M series highways, where the fast lane is to the right, and it’s illegal to pass on the left. Despite my first day jitters, and catching a few curbs on right hand turns, driving was one of my fond memories of that trip. People in England seem to take driving a lot more seriously than Americans. On the not-very-crowded M1 driving at 60 - 70 mph, I felt quite confident that if anything happened, I knew exactly what the vehicles near me would do. To me, that was an incredibly freeing experience, and made driving very enjoyable.Okay, so now I am long-windedgoose. “:-)”. One last thing that talking about the driving reminded me of - everywhere that you are a pedestrian, remember to always look to the right as you come to a curb. We are so programmed to look to the left that we often have a foot half-way off the curb as we look to the right. In Great Britain, it is exactly the opposite.
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Ok, this is all such awesome advice. That’s a great idea about using miles for business class–never would have crossed my mind, and I have long legs! I’ll do some research and planning and check back in. I want to get the tickets by January (our anniversary), and then we can sit down and decide what we want to do. Y’all have given me some great ideas. Thank you!
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@frett You really need to narrow down what you want to do. You can’t do it all in one trip.
I’ve done several “types” of UK trips.- London alone - usual sights and maybe a day trip
- Hotel in London but ignoring London sights and just taking day trips using terrific train system: Stonehenge, Cambridge, Bath, Stratford on Avon, Windsor, Hampton Court, etc. Spent a day in each. Rail stations are in the middle of town. No car needed. If you want guided tour TripAdvisor.com has links.
- Theatre. Stayed in London for a week and went to the theatre twice a day. Really. Unlike the U.S. where matinees are only on Weds, Sat or Sun., matinees are on different days in London. I found matinees for each day of the week then filled in evening performances.
- Landed in London then took train north to Edinburgh stopping at a few towns along the way, spending a day in those towns.
I can’t say enough about train system. I spent 4 mos traveling around Europe by train. Can’t imagine wanting to rent a car. Most locals travel by train. Its American mind-set that have to have a car because US doesn’t have the infrastructure-- and its too big.
Street corners in London have “look right” painted on the road for tourists.
Indian food in London is good and really hot. Consider having high tea instead of evening meal. Have a ploughman’s lunch in pub. Of course fish & chips if you like fish. These things are all cheap. Window shop but don’t buy at Fortnum & Mason or Harrod’s. Unless you’re staying in a B&B, make your own breakfast in your room. I travel with coffee (either a small Melitta & grounds or instant) and pick up fruit/scones at local supermarket. Shopping local is fun. To make the most of my money, I spend it on stuff that’s more important-- not breakfast & lunch.
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I agree do not rent a car, unless you have a specific need for it. In London, the streets will be confusing, they drive on the left (more confusing) and you’ll have a hell of a time parking it. The metro goes everywhere a tourist would want to go. Use that.
If you don’t use a tour company, look at sites like Viator, and plan some day trips from cities you’ll be at.
10 days in the UK you can cover a lot. I suggest splitting half the time around London, and the other half in Scotland, staying in Edinburgh. You can either travel by train between the two cities, or take a plane (about an hour flight). There’s much to do in both areas, but I like London better. Also, you might consider half your trip in London, and the other half in Paris, taking the Eurostar (chunnel train) between the two cities. Arrive from the U.S. in one city and leave back to the U.S. from the other. Between London and Paris, I still like London better.
That’s my two cents. I’ve been overseas 21 times since 2008, and over half of that in Europe. Not once have a considered a car.
Don’t get wound up with trying to save a bit on exchange rates. It’s not worth it. It won’t make any difference in your life. Just enjoy your trip.
