traveling to England...

[bellebud]

I think I asked about this a little while ago, but I have to ask more questions...

dh and I (well, really "I"... dh is hoping I forget about the whole thing) want to take the kids (dd12 and ds10) to Europe for 2 weeks each year. We homeschool, so can go anytime. (we also travel other times of the year, so we'll see a lot of the US too).

anyway, I had thought our first trip should be 'easy', and I thought London/Paris would be perfect. A week in each city.

But now I'm thinking that maybe we should just stay in the UK. About 5 days in London, then the rest of the time elsewhere.

On our list for the upcoming years are Ireland, Scotland/Wales, France, Italy, Germany, Austria... I'd consider the surrounding countries of each place too (A germany/austria/switzerland trip, etc). Even Norway/Sweden/Finland trip. Whatever... I'm very open to suggestions.

So my other thought was stick w/ the London/Paris trip, then on another trip to the rest of the UK for the 2 weeks (the English countryside, Scotland and Wales). I think I'd do Ireland as it's own trip for the 2 weeks, possibly including N Ireland - or not.

anyone have any advice how to best combine (or not combine) these countries? Again, we'll have only 2 weeks per trip (can't leave work much longer than that). But I don't want to miss feeling like we actually visited each country, knim?

thanks for any advice

 

[JaneBanks]

The UK community board may be able to answer your questions a little better.

What a great opportunity you're giving your children. Lucky kids!

 

[tara lynn]

I'm not the biggest fan of Paris so if/when I go again I don't think I'd want to spend a whole week. Maybe 3 or 4 full days. I'm living in London temporarily right now and there's so much to see and do. A week is definitely a good amount of time to spend here, if not more. So I guess if I were planning the trip I would do a week in London, a few days in Wales (it's only a few hours from London) and the rest in Paris. Just my personal preference.

Or, if you want to just do the UK it would be pretty easy to divide your trip up between England, Wales and Scotland. It really depends on what you want to see though. You could easily spend 2 weeks just exploring England.

 

[Kath2003]

I'm not the biggest fan of Paris so if/when I go again I don't think I'd want to spend a whole week. Maybe 3 or 4 full days. I'm living in London temporarily right now and there's so much to see and do. A week is definitely a good amount of time to spend here, if not more. So I guess if I were planning the trip I would do a week in London, a few days in Wales (it's only a few hours from London) and the rest in Paris. Just my personal preference.

Or, if you want to just do the UK it would be pretty easy to divide your trip up between England, Wales and Scotland. It really depends on what you want to see though. You could easily spend 2 weeks just exploring England.

I don't like Paris either. It's only 2 hours from London on the Eurostar, though. London, I could spend forever in.

Ultimately the answer as to what to do depends on what time of year you plan to visit.

 

[Feralpeg]

The only thing I can tell you is that London and Paris are both very expensive cities. If you'd like to cut some costs, traveling outside the city areas will do that. Transportation is easy. The train system in England is great.

I will be visiting England next year. My daughter is currently attending the University of Leeds. The following is the plan I have for our time there.

My daughter will meet me in London. We'll spend a couple of days there to see the Tower of London, Windsor Castle, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye.

Well take a trip to Stonehenge and then tour Oxford.

From there, we will travel to Wales. We will visit Stratford upon Avon, Caernarfon, Pormerion and Chester. One of my ancestors, James Stanley, was beheaded in Chester. His family home still stands there.

We will visit the Lake District. I have a friend who lives there. We will visit her and see Cumbrian Gardens and Hadrian's Wall.

Then, it's on to Scotland where we will visit Stirling Castle and Loch Lomond and tour Edinburgh.

I will accompany my daughter back to Leeds so she can show me around. Then, I'll head back to London for my trip home.

That's the current plan. I'm still working on it, but the general path will be the same.

OP, I hope you have as much fun planning your trip as I am having planning mine!

 

[Terkina]

If you choose to visit Norway, Sweden, Finland. I would recomend the northern parts of these countries. Then you'll be able to see the northern light in the winter (November to January) and the midnight sun in the summer (May to July).

 

[momto2girls]

I'm planning to do something similar (I homeschool too-- DDs are 8 and 11 and DH owns his own business, so we are able to travel a good bit). We plan to start next year as well. I haven't gotten very far in the planning yet, but I'm thinking that we might just go to England for our first trip. Not sure. I love Germany and Austria though, so we might start there instead.

Be sure to post when you make your decision! I'd love to hear what you plan to do.

 

[HelenaB]

The only thing I can tell you is that London and Paris are both very expensive cities. If you'd like to cut some costs, traveling outside the city areas will do that. Transportation is easy. The train system in England is great.

I will be visiting England next year. My daughter is currently attending the University of Leeds. The following is the plan I have for our time there.

My daughter will meet me in London. We'll spend a couple of days there to see the Tower of London, Windsor Castle, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye.

Well take a trip to Stonehenge and then tour Oxford.

From there, we will travel to Wales. We will visit Stratford upon Avon, Caernarfon, Pormerion and Chester. One of my ancestors, James Stanley, was beheaded in Chester. His family home still stands there.

We will visit the Lake District. I have a friend who lives there. We will visit her and see Cumbrian Gardens and Hadrian's Wall.

Then, it's on to Scotland where we will visit Stirling Castle and Loch Lomond and tour Edinburgh.

I will accompany my daughter back to Leeds so she can show me around. Then, I'll head back to London for my trip home.

That's the current plan. I'm still working on it, but the general path will be the same.

OP, I hope you have as much fun planning your trip as I am having planning mine!

That sounds like a good plan!

It's a reasonably small country BUT there's a lot of stuff to see so you'll need to decide what sort of thing you'd like to spend time seeing - e.g. Historic cities (York, Canterbury, Winchester, London, Edinburgh), pretty countryside (The Cotswolds, Devon, Lake District, Scotland), Museums, Theatre and Shopping (London).

The more I've visited Paris the more I've liked it - but I'd say even though it's close to London by Eurostar it's worth it's own holiday (in particular since there's Disneyland Paris which is well worth a few days).

 

[AustinTink]

We did a 2 week trip with our son to England and France. We had the best time in England and could have stayed the whole 2 weeks there. We took day trips to Windsor, Hampton Court Palace And other castle tours. My son loved every minute of it.

Paris, on the other hand, bored him to tears. Couple that with the fact he is allergic to smoke and they smoke everywhere over there and he was pretty miserable. Paris is just not the most kid-friendly place. He was generally the only kid in every restaurant we ate in. We kept wondering.... what have they done with their children?? LOL.

We did see what looked like school groups at the Louvre, but that was the only place we saw them.

We're going back this summer to England for a month, based in London. We'll take weekend trips to other countries. Spain and Italy are first on our list. We were not going to return to France, but changed our minds to add in a weekend at Disneyland Paris. We didn't go last time we were there, and wished we had.

 

[Katieinwonderland]

I'm not a huge fan of Paris either, and I don't know that you could spend a whole week just in the city of Paris. You could venture out to Disneyland Paris I guess, but I think a few days would be enough. DH and I are headed back to England in February to see my family, and we're going to Paris for one day, but then moving on to Normandy. There are other areas of France that are worth visiting, I would do a separate trip to France encompassing Paris, then moving on to other places.

I could probably spend a week in London, but there is so much more to see in the country! I'm from Stratford-upon-Avon, I know that is a common touristy area, and I love going home there to visit. There is also Oxford, Bath, Cambridge (which I personally like better than Oxford!), you could head down south to Southampton or Cornwall, or go up north to Yorkshire or Liverpool. Plus the Lake District is very pretty if you go at the right time of year.

I wouldn't think you needed a huge amount of time in Wales, but it's definitely worth seeing for a few days. I've actually never made it to Scotland, but that definitely deserves a few days exploring. I would agree with you that Ireland should be saved for a separate trip - apart from anything else, it's easier and cheaper to simply fly into Dublin than anywhere else in the UK!

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

We took our kids last year, and certainly could have spent a week in Paris, we loved it. The Metro system is great, just as good as London's, and there are tons of things to see. We didn't spend much time in the Louvre, because we didn't HAVE time, but it's easily a full day if you like art museums, it's huge! We did do a dinner cruise on the Siene, and that was fantastic (get the salmon, not the chicken!). One of the things that we wanted to do and missed (stupid airport strike moved out flights up a day) was to go Versailles, so that just means we have to go back. We wen't up the Eiffel tower, saw Notre Dam (but could have spent more time there, it was pretty much just in and out), the Arch de Triumphe, but didn't get to go to the top, again, no time, and went to Monte Marte, which has gorgeous views and is a wonderful church.

We enjoyed London as well, they also have a great subway system ("Mind the gap!"). I would keep to your original plan, spend a week in London, and a week in Paris, you'll have time to see what you want to see, but not be running 99 miles an hour. If you like Harry Potter, I just saw where they are going to be opening up a lot tour to see the stages where the movies were filmed in spring 2012, so that could be really cool!

There's so much history and wonderful architecture in both cities, I bet your kids will have an amazing time, and don't forget to have chocolate crepes in Paris if you can!!!!!

 

[AustinTink]

We took our kids last year, and certainly could have spent a week in Paris, we loved it. The Metro system is great, just as good as London's, and there are tons of things to see. We didn't spend much time in the Louvre, because we didn't HAVE time, but it's easily a full day if you like art museums, it's huge! We did do a dinner cruise on the Siene, and that was fantastic (get the salmon, not the chicken!). One of the things that we wanted to do and missed (stupid airport strike moved out flights up a day) was to go Versailles, so that just means we have to go back. We wen't up the Eiffel tower, saw Notre Dam (but could have spent more time there, it was pretty much just in and out), the Arch de Triumphe, but didn't get to go to the top, again, no time, and went to Monte Marte, which has gorgeous views and is a wonderful church.

We enjoyed London as well, they also have a great subway system ("Mind the gap!"). I would keep to your original plan, spend a week in London, and a week in Paris, you'll have time to see what you want to see, but not be running 99 miles an hour. If you like Harry Potter, I just saw where they are going to be opening up a lot tour to see the stages where the movies were filmed in spring 2012, so that could be really cool!

There's so much history and wonderful architecture in both cities, I bet your kids will have an amazing time, and don't forget to have chocolate crepes in Paris if you can!!!!!

Yes, my son still talks about the crepes in paris. We had them everyday from the different crepe stands. He recently triedone in the France section of Epcot and didn't even finish it. Nothing compares to the real thing, I guess.

It sounds like we went to all the same places in Paris. We did take the day trip to Versailles and it was our favorite day of the entire week. You must check it out if/when you return. We actually spent 2.5 days at the Louvre and didn't even scratch the surface. You could spend a week there easily. One of the museum guides mentioned it would take a full month to view all the works of art in their entirety.

 

[disneynp]

Just wanted to say i stareted to think about going to london/ paris myself TODay and did a search and this was the only link that came up. how cool is that. please post your plans and anydeals or websites

 

[bellebud]

OP here - thank you all so much for the replies!

momto2girls - that's funny that you're thinking of the same thing. We own our own business too, but we can't stay away for too long at one time, but we do manage to travel throughout the year. It's awesome!! I figured since we homeschool, how can I NOT take advantage of the educational benefits of traveling?

JaneBanks - thanks for the UK community board suggestion. I'll have to peek over there.

ok, so now I'm leaning towards spending the 2 weeks in England, Wales and Scotland. I'd save France (w/ Disneyland Paris!) for another trip, and do Paris, and the other places people mentioned. Maybe France and Switzerland together?? Germany seems amazing too, and it's high on my list.

I priced Adventures by Disney for a trip like this, and I got sticker shock! (and I don't sticker shock very easily... I'm very willing to spend money on vacation). But it at least gave me some ideas. Then I ordered some brochures from a couple of family touring places, and I'll get ideas from them too (as to where to go, where to stay, etc).

I've been on tripadvisor too, which of course is a great site.

I'm also looking into renting a flat for the week in London instead of staying in a hotel. Anyone have any opinions on whether or not that's a good idea? I'm not going to be "cooking" (quick breakfasts would be great though), and it's not like we'll be spending a whole lot of time in a room no matter where we end up staying, but the extra space would be nice, and it would be cool to feel like we're "living" there for the week. On the other hand, a hotel is simple, there's housekeeping, restaurants in the building, etc. I'm torn.

my dh doesn't really like to talk about it. he's ok w/ me planning it by myself, which I actually hate. I need someone to bounce ideas off, so hopefully some of my DIS friends can do that with me



Any other ideas anyone has, please let me know.

 

[minkydog]

Look into staying at a bed & breakfast. When DH & I went to London, we tried to steer clear of resorts and stuff. We had our travel agent find accomodations for us. We ended up staying in a B&B, which was so much better. And the breakfast in the morning was outstanding--toast, jam, eggs, ham, baked beans, mushrooms, and tea. For lunches we usually just popped into a local shop for some sandwiches, fruit, and cheese. Be aware, they don't serve iced tea. In fact, they don't put ice in your drinks at all unless you ask for it. And then it's like 2 ice cubes.

You don't need a special tour to see London. Just get some travel books and figure out what you want to do. Transportation is very easy with the tube. Be sure make time to go to the British Museum. Honestly, you could probably spend a week right there. DH & I found that a few hours were about all we could do at a time, otherwise you just go into information overload and then it's "Ho hum, another mummy..." We took it in 2 days and still only saw about 40% of the museum. The Tower of London is a must--that's where Henry VIIIs suit of armor and the crown jewels are--and you can get a little lunch there. Also St Pauls Cathedral is beautiful and you can go below to the crypt! they even have a small eating place down there.

You might want to take the train over to Bath, so see the Roman ruins and have tea & biscuits at The Pumphouse. That's about a 1 day visit. Then you can catch the train to Cardiff, Wales and go see the Welsh Museum. That's also about a 1-2 day visit, if you want to see some castles.

There are so many things to do in the UK, I think I'd save Paris for another time. Take the Hop on-Hop off double decker bus--it's a lot of fun and very informative. And if you're on foot be sure to look right before you step off the curb--they drive on the left side of the road. It's easy to forget and step right into oncoming traffic.

 

[golfgal]

I don't like Paris either. It's only 2 hours from London on the Eurostar, though. London, I could spend forever in.

Ultimately the answer as to what to do depends on what time of year you plan to visit.

I think this is one thing that people from Europe don't get about the US-I can't even get out of MN in 2 hours going most directions let alone to another country .

OP, I went on a German/Austria/Switzerland/Hungary trip in high school. It was two weeks long and no where NEAR enough time to see it all. I would suggest condensing most of your trips to fewer places. You can spend a day in each town just walking around looking at the buildings because they are all so different in each place, let alone seeing the "sights".

 

[NotUrsula]

One BIG thing to be aware of in terms of budget: the add'l flight fees to the UK are now horrific. If you price it out you'll see that on most flights now, the taxes and fees are averaging out anywhere from 50% to up to 300% of the price of the fare itself, especially if you are flying into London. For instance, I just priced a fare in January on Virgin Atlantic from NYC to LHR: it's a sale fare, a really good one, the base fare is $86 -- but the taxes, fees and fuel surcharges are $564.90, giving you a total price per ticket of $650 pre ticket. (The UK passenger taxes are just under $150 pp; Ireland's, by contrast, are $20 pp. On 4 tickets, that is a savings of $520.)

Bottom line is that if you are considering visiting another country other than the UK, then it may pay off to price out flying into and out of there and taking internal flights or trains as necessary back and forth to your point of departure. Intra-European flights can be astoundingly cheap.

 

[kerstfan1]

try looking at flying into amsterdam its an easy connection point

 

[Kath2003]

One BIG thing to be aware of in terms of budget: the add'l flight fees to the UK are now horrific. If you price it out you'll see that on most flights now, the taxes and fees are averaging out anywhere from 50% to up to 300% of the price of the fare itself, especially if you are flying into London. For instance, I just priced a fare in January on Virgin Atlantic from NYC to LHR: it's a sale fare, a really good one, the base fare is $86 -- but the taxes, fees and fuel surcharges are $564.90, giving you a total price per ticket of $650 pre ticket. (The UK passenger taxes are just under $150 pp; Ireland's, by contrast, are $20 pp. On 4 tickets, that is a savings of $520.)

The taxes and fees are nuts, but $650 is NOT a good deal from NYC-LHR. We went in May (peak time in the UK) and paid $100 less. In January, I would be looking at paying $450 or less. The basic taxes and fees are $200. Not sure what Virgin are adding on there...

Virgin are expensive, anyway. It's costing us $630 return to go to Orlando next year (Spring break, peak times!). Virgin wanted $2250 for the same dates - in coach!!!

 

[Bonnie151]

I've been on tripadvisor too, which of course is a great site.

I'm also looking into renting a flat for the week in London instead of staying in a hotel. Anyone have any opinions on whether or not that's a good idea? I'm not going to be "cooking" (quick breakfasts would be great though), and it's not like we'll be spending a whole lot of time in a room no matter where we end up staying, but the extra space would be nice, and it would be cool to feel like we're "living" there for the week. On the other hand, a hotel is simple, there's housekeeping, restaurants in the building, etc. I'm torn.

I think renting a flat is a great idea. We're just back from 5 nights in London and rented this flat (found on Trip Advisor but this is the owner's website): http://www.toweroflondonapartment.com/ It's probably a bit too small for you, but just to show you that renting is easily done! I loved having the separate living space and kitchen.