England / Scotland anyone?

[Rajah]

My mom has invited me to join her on a vacation to England (and probly Scotland) next spring, and I was wondering if anyone has any experience over there?

Two women, traveling alone. No experience with driving on the "wrong" side of the road, but now that I've successfully navigated in French-speaking Quebec I *think* I'd be okay with driving in England.

Our thoughts are to fly and drive rather than take a big tour, and just take smaller tours at our preferred destinations.

Thoughts?

 

[Pam]

Yes, please, Tammi!!!

Oh - you just need info. Regretfully, I don't have any to share. But Scotland/Ireland is my dream vacation. The one I hope to take with my DH (along with an Alaskan Cruise) when our children finish HS/College and hopefully move out!

TartanTigger and Bouncy are both from Scotland. I havven't seen them on the boards lately, but I bet they would have tons of advice, info, etc.

I hope you get to go -- what a great trip that would be!

 

[minkydog]

DH & I went to England 4 years ago and had a fabulous trip. We also do not "do" tours, but we read up on everything we could about he UK and planned our trip around what we wanted to see. Since they have a well-run mass transit system we never felt the need to rent a car, preferring to use the Tube, train or buses. We spent much of our time in London, but we also went out to Bath to see the Roman ruins and on to Wales to visit the Museum of Welsh Life. Every day at lunch we'd hit a local store for fresh bread & fruit or a sandwich and then eat something local for dinner.

I'd go back in a heart-beat. The advantage of going without a tour is that we could pick only the things we really wanted to do and spend as long as we wanted soaking it up without feeling rushed. When our feet got tired we sat down. If you really want the local flavor stay in a bed & breakfast--it's very different fro a B &B here in teh states. It's more like staying at your Aunt's house, with boarders. And it's much cheaper than a hotel.

Now you've made me want to go to England...

 

[carolfoy]

Any specific questions? join us on the UK community board, plenty of Scotland and England posters who will be more than happy to help,
just my twopence worth - you'll find driving fairly easy but we almost always use manual drive cars, autos are available but are less common!

 

[Rajah]

That's exactly why we want to tour ourselves instead of take a tour. And B&Bs are our preference over hotels!

Thanks Carol, will do. I forgot about that board. And a manual is no problem -- that's how I learned to drive. So assuming your manual cars operate the same way ours do, there'll be no trouble there.

 

[Rajah]

Oh, yeah -- specific questions... heh.

Okay, first off -- if we want to do basically a "grand circle" type tour of the west coast, maybe even hitting Wales, do we *need* a car? We're assuming yes.

What's a good time to go to see the flowers? The Chelsea Flower Festival is something my mom would like to see, but will things be more crowded then? Would it be better to go the week before instead?

We want to go before Memorial Day so as to avoid the crowds of families from the US who are touring after school is out. Is the first week/2 weeks of May too early?

We're interested in historical places, scenery, castles, quaint gardens, lakes, etc... my mom has Bath and Lock Ness and Stonehenge on the "must see" list, I'm still looking. And we'd both like to throw in that "Roslyn Chappel" (sp??) that was in the Da Vinci Code because that just sounds so neat. Neat old churches are also things we enjoy. Suggestions?

What would be a good place to fly into? We've heard don't fly directly into London if we can avoid it, and we aren't big city people anyway -- we want to *see* London, but not spend the majority of the time there if that makes sense.

Any other suggestions?

I'll cross-post this in the UK forum as well.

 

[Sian]

Manchester is the biggest airport outside of London with direct flights from some US cities (but perhaps not Texas).
Public transport here is very good in terms of coverage but you would struggle with out of the way places like Stonehenge. Distances are relatively small in the UK but traffic is terrible and it can take a very long time to get from A to B. It might be worth travelling by train to various 'bases' and hiring a car for a day at a time when necessary.
May is a good time to visit as long as you avoid the last week which is a school break here. If you want to visit the Chelsea Flower Show, book your accommodation as far in advance as possible, or plan to visit for the day by train.

 

[Cindyluwho]

My first bit of advice is read "The Mists of Avalon" then have a blast touring the Southwest of England - Glastonbury, Bath, Stonehenge, etc then continue on with your trip. I've done it twice, once with my husband and another time with his cousin Maryann. The people are so kind and the B&Bs are amazing! Driving was kind of hard getting used to but we did it with no problems. The main thing was getting used to a stick shift on my left! My left arm isn't used to taking commands from my brain!! A car is definately the way to go if you want to see old towns and stop at old churches and cemetaries.
Most of all - HAVE FUN!!!

 

[Rajah]

Oooh, good idea Cindy! Gotta start reading up on the area. :

 

[NMAmy]

Thanks Carol, will do. I forgot about that board. And a manual is no problem -- that's how I learned to drive. So assuming your manual cars operate the same way ours do, there'll be no trouble there.

Just remember, you'll be shifting with your left hand, not your right. That's what freaked me out. I didn't drive when we went but moved one of my nephews' cars in the driveway. That was enough for me. I get a little seasick just riding in the car when it's driving in the left lane so I left the driving to DH who is British.

I hope you have a great time! There's so much to see--I can't wait to go back again.

 

[Rajah]

Hmm, that'll take some getting used to, but if we play our cards right and don't try to drive the car until we get to a smaller area, I think I can handle it.

 

[JuliaEeyore]

I'd give my eyeteeth to go back to England and Scotland! GO FOT IT!!!!

I lived in England for a bit and travelled to Scotland frequently. I went over all alone, and travelled quite a bit solo!!!! I absolutely ADORED it. But don't knock the "tours." I did a MacBackpackers tour out of Edinburgh that was one of the most fun trips of my life!!! It was a good range of people, ages, and nationalities. (A girl I planned the trip with and I were the only Americans.)

It was physically demanding a few times on some hikes up some beautiful mountains, but we saw SOOOO much and got a real feel for the countryside and "life" that I wouldn't have gotten on my own. We stayed in BEAUTIFUL hostels... and met some really interesting people.

I'm 28 now and would do it again in a heartbeat if I had the money to get my butt over there.

Have a GREAT time!

 

[Rajah]

Okay, that's not the usual tour type, Julia. LOL!! Does sound like fun, but not what my mom would be up for unfortunately.

Here's a question...

I'm pricing out airfare and see two options. It would cost us almost the same to fly round-trip from Manchester as it would to fly *in* to London then *out* from Edinburgh, which would allow us to not have to spend one more day getting back to London or Manchester once we get up to Scotland. Would y'all recommend that, or avoid it?

 

[carolfoy]

I certainly don't see any real problem with flying in london, out edinburgh, an ideal itinerary would be (and I appreciate you may not have the time for all this)

london, 4 days tons to do
southampton, 2 days naval history
dorset, 3 days the jurassic coast
plymouth 3 days and outlying areas from whence america was discovered
wiltshire (stonehenge) 1 day
bath 2 days beautiful city
cardiff 2 days lovely castles and a right royal city
liverpool 2 days any Beatles fans?
windermere 3 days beautiful lake district
glasgow 2 days architectural/historical importance
ben nevis/loch lomond 2 days stunning scenery
inverness/ loch ness 2 days more stunning scenery
edinburgh 3 days very historical, great castle
may/june is a good time to visit, weather very changeable but fairly mild and kids in school!
check out thenationaltrust.co.uk for info on castles and stately homes

 

[carolfoy]

p.s. forgot to mention, I'm a british travel agent and deal in all our train networks, not many of these places are covered well by the train networks, ie stonehenge you'd have to stay in a wiltshire town or village and rely on a bus tour to get you out there!
HTH

 

[Crankyshank]

If you're interested in the whole Medieval experience, you must go visit Warwick Castle.

 

[Rajah]

*falls over*

Nope, don't have that much time. I wish!!! I'm going to be pushing it to get 2 full weeks, but I'm going to try...

Ooooh, cool, thanks Carol!

Okay, here's a question you might be able to answer...

If we were to fly into London and spend 2-3 days in London at the start of the trip, then wanted to pick up a car on the outskirts of London (so we don't have to try to figure out how to drive in London proper), what would be a good way to do that or *would* there be a good way?

 

[Rajah]

If you're interested in the whole Medieval experience, you must go visit Warwick Castle.

Absolutely interested in that!!

 

[carolfoy]

Hi Rajah, if you have to cut the whole thing a bit shorter I'd say
arrive London, I think you'd need at least 3 days here realistically to get over jet lag and try and make the most of the amazing museums and sight seeing, then catch a train to Bath, have a night here before picking up a car, head straight up to Warwick then spend a night there, the next day drive up to the Lake District (this is a really beautiful area, home to Wordsworth 'I wandered lonely as a cloud' and Beatrix Potter) take a couple of day here before then travelling along the north west coast up to Loch Lomond (miss out Glasgow if you must) then have a couple of days around here before heading north East to Drumnadochit (home of Nessie) then return along the east coast to Edinburgh for a couple of days.
It'll be easier driving out of Bath than London and its a frequent service so not a hassle!
you could probably do Stonehenge as a day trip out of Bath try visitbath.co.uk for more info
pm me if you want!
always happy to help

 

[Rajah]

Cool, thanks Carol! That's a great idea, and I'd be so much more comfortable driving out of Bath rather than out of London.

Any recommendations on plays in London?