Need help with London trip

[Glynda]

I'd skip Stonehenge on a first trip too. Further afield and has become a very crowded tourist spot. I'd spend my time in London with just a couple of day trips. I would think you can do the Victoria and Albert in half a day. Buckingham Palace could be a half day and you can wander from there down to Harrods. Highclere is another place with limited opening dates. I am seeing September 1, 4 and 5 for 2022. Not because the rest are already sold out, but because they are not open or are only open for special events on other dates. Highclere Admission Tickets Kensington Palace is an interesting visit too. Other palaces.

 

[DaveNV]

Thanks again, everyone. Working on dialing things back a bit, and being more realistic with expectations. I wanted to put destination and activity ideas down in one place, so I can work from there. Before committing to anything, or ruling anything out, I'm going to take @DeniseM's advice, and explore the walks.com site in more detail. I'll work outward from there.

I agree Stonehenge is touristy, overcrowded, and a PITA to get to. But I don't know if/when we're likely to return. The desire is certainly there, but I don't know if or when we might be back. I'd be extremely disappointed if we made only one trip to the UK and we did not see Stonehenge. It's a place I've wanted to see in person since I was in grade school. Just about everything else on this trip I named above are things Jeff wants to see, and I would be fine with visiting.

I should also say that the soonest this trip would be scheduled is probably September of 2023. 2022 is already booked out for us. So lots of time to plan ahead. And Covid makes for a serious reality check.

Dave

 

[elaine]

Most people at Stonehenge (July 2018) seemed to come on tourist buses. We found very few people at Salisbury Cathedral or walking around Salisbury. It was an easy nonstop train. It fit out agenda (on the return from a cruise) to get that bucket list for our teens. But, I agree with others that one could easily skip that. You can also likely do that on the fly. Just make a cancellable hotel booking and decide when you get there. But, it's a good out of the area trip.

 

[DaveNV]

The Walks.com site says their trip to Stonehenge is not currently running. Neither is their Tower of London walk. They don't say why, but I presume due to Covid concerns. So there's that wrinkle.

Dave

 

[DeniseM]

Hi Dave - Isn't your trip like 2 years away?

 

[DaveNV]

Hi Dave - Isn't your trip like 2 years away?

Yes, at least. I send a message to them, asking if this is temporary and whatnot. Trying to plan ahead as best I can.

Dave

 

[Passepartout]

Yes, at least. I send a message to them, asking if this is temporary and whatnot. Trying to plan ahead as best I can.

I think that lots of tourism in UK and EU is back to a shut-down situation (again). Only necessary services like stores and outdoor venues are operating. We ALL hope and pray for a return to 'normalcy'.

 

[nerodog]

I think that lots of tourism in UK and EU is back to a shut-down situation (again). Only necessary services like stores and outdoor venues are operating. We ALL hope and pray for a return to 'normalcy'.

Yes that's true... we are experiencing higher numbers with the new variant even tho Vax are going on like crazy. It's changing daily and I'm expecting more restrictions if numbers continue to rise.

 

[nerodog]

S

Yes, at least. I send a message to them, asking if this is temporary and whatnot. Trying to plan ahead as best I can.

Dave

Good idea.... London has loads to see... if you have your heart set on Stonehenge then you should work it into a schedule with a nice band b and an overnight in the surrounding area. Plenty of time to check out places . We did many farm stays years ago with was really off the beaten path...we had a car tho.

 

[ScoopKona]

I go to Stonehenge nearly every time I go to the UK.

But I call English Heritage and get special permission to walk around the actual stones before or after opening hours. I've done this a dozen times. I took my wife on this excursion for our honeymoon. And every time we go to the UK, we do this again. There is nothing like having the place to yourself (mostly), no tour buses, no crazy. Although last time, we got stuck with a bunch of "druids" from Glastonbury who were doing their new-age wackiness at the site.

Most people have no idea this is possible. And I've never seen it mentioned in a Rick Steves book or video. English Heritage Stonehenge Stone Circle Experience.

And I would absolutely stay at the George Hotel in Amesbury that day. I always do.

 

[DaveNV]

I go to Stonehenge nearly every time I go to the UK.

But I call English Heritage and get special permission to walk around the actual stones before or after opening hours. I've done this a dozen times. I took my wife on this excursion for our honeymoon. And every time we go to the UK, we do this again. There is nothing like having the place to yourself (mostly), no tour buses, no crazy. Although last time, we got stuck with a bunch of "druids" from Glastonbury who were doing their new-age wackiness at the site.

Most people have no idea this is possible. And I've never seen it mentioned in a Rick Steves book or video. English Heritage Stonehenge Stone Circle Experience.

And I would absolutely stay at the George Hotel in Amesbury that day. I always do.

Thank you! This is precisely what I would like to do. I'm not interested in the Druid thing - I don't do religion in any form - but it wouldn't bother me if they were there. Just to stand amongst the stones would be so worthwhile to me. I have bookmarked the English Heritage site, and will make sure we can do this when we visit.

Dave

 

[ScoopKona]

The "druids" are annoying. The one thing they stress over and over if you do the stone circle experience is don't touch.

And these druids are hugging the stones to "feel the mystic energy."

They're going to get the whole thing shut down because they can't let well enough alone.

The only problems with the tour is that it must be booked far in advance, paid for over the phone, and you're locked into a specific day and time -- and English weather doesn't care if you have your heart set on a pleasant day at Stonehenge. We've been rained on several times. In fact, the coldest I have ever been in my life was Stonehenge at daybreak in July.

 

[DaveNV]

The "druids" are annoying. The one thing they stress over and over if you do the stone circle experience is don't touch.

And these druids are hugging the stones to "feel the mystic energy."

They're going to get the whole thing shut down because they can't let well enough alone.

The only problems with the tour is that it must be booked far in advance, paid for over the phone, and you're locked into a specific day and time -- and English weather doesn't care if you have your heart set on a pleasant day at Stonehenge. We've been rained on several times. In fact, the coldest I have ever been in my life was Stonehenge at daybreak in July.

I appreciate how you feel. I lived in the San Juan Islands in Washington state for nine years, surrounded by tree-hugging second generation hippies who'd rather sit in public places and bang on a drum or play a flute, than get a job.

I see on the English Heritage site that they're already booking out through March 2023. I'll keep an eye on things, to make sure we have our best chance of getting in.

Dave

 

[DaveNV]

I just received a reply email from the Walks.com site. They say they're resuming out of town trips "next year, all things going well." They said to keep an eye on their website going forward, to schedule something when it becomes available again. So it sounds as I expected, that they've been having Covid-caused issues.

Dave

 

[beejaybee]

I agree Stonehenge is touristy, overcrowded, and a PITA to get to. But I don't know if/when we're likely to return. The desire is certainly there, but I don't know if or when we might be back. I'd be extremely disappointed if we made only one trip to the UK and we did not see Stonehenge. It's a place I've wanted to see in person since I was in grade school. Just about everything else on this trip I named above are things Jeff wants to see, and I would be fine with visiting.
Dave

Dave-
My DD, DSiL and 3 older teen GSs had a whirlwind Christmas week vacation to London and Paris 5 years ago. DSiL is all about cramming as much into a trip as possible so, yes, they included Stonehenge, during their short stay in England. They did have a rental car and spent a night near to Stonehenge at an airbnb. Their advice was to get to Stonehenge 1st thing in the morning to avoid the crowds. DH and I did so 2 years later and were on the 1st bus from the visitor center. We are fast walkers and got to the monoliths just about ahead of everyone for some great photos as the sun was rising in the east. Just got a new laptop and would have added a photo to this post but not all my pictures have transferred.

 

[Limace]

We did a few days in Bath after London a few years ago and we loved it-rented an Airbnb apartment on one of the canals and walked everywhere. The free city walk was fabulous. We did a one day van tour to Stonehenge and would highly recommend-we didn’t find it overly crowded at all and it is still really compelling.


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[Ken555]

I go to Stonehenge nearly every time I go to the UK.

But I call English Heritage and get special permission to walk around the actual stones before or after opening hours. I've done this a dozen times. I took my wife on this excursion for our honeymoon. And every time we go to the UK, we do this again. There is nothing like having the place to yourself (mostly), no tour buses, no crazy. Although last time, we got stuck with a bunch of "druids" from Glastonbury who were doing their new-age wackiness at the site.

Most people have no idea this is possible. And I've never seen it mentioned in a Rick Steves book or video. English Heritage Stonehenge Stone Circle Experience.

And I would absolutely stay at the George Hotel in Amesbury that day. I always do.

This is a great suggestion. I’ve only seen Stonehenge once, in 1990. Somehow I don’t think it’s changed much since then, other than the visitor process. An extended visit with a guide and limited people sounds quite nice, actually. I’ll be back in May and not sure I can dedicated the time and rearrange our schedule, but if I can I would certainly consider this (I checked and there is availability on the day I will be in that part of England).

FWIW, I also enjoy other standing stones in the UK. I’ve seen some in the Lake District which are very interesting.


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[Armada]

Wow!

You have received some really good advice here. Especially regarding the hop-on, hop-off bus and London Walks. My wife and I have done at least 20 of their tours. We really like that reservations are not needed. You just show up and pay 10-15£ (depending on age) and off you go. If the weather's not good, just change your plans without penalty.

I would like to add one tip. Look at a subway map of London. Then Central Line looks like a bottle laying on its side. You want to stay either 'inside or on' the bottle. Doing this makes things much more convenient.

 

[nomoretslt]

Thanks again, everyone. Working on dialing things back a bit, and being more realistic with expectations. I wanted to put destination and activity ideas down in one place, so I can work from there. Before committing to anything, or ruling anything out, I'm going to take @DeniseM's advice, and explore the walks.com site in more detail. I'll work outward from there.

I agree Stonehenge is touristy, overcrowded, and a PITA to get to. But I don't know if/when we're likely to return. The desire is certainly there, but I don't know if or when we might be back. I'd be extremely disappointed if we made only one trip to the UK and we did not see Stonehenge. It's a place I've wanted to see in person since I was in grade school. Just about everything else on this trip I named above are things Jeff wants to see, and I would be fine with visiting.

I should also say that the soonest this trip would be scheduled is probably September of 2023. 2022 is already booked out for us. So lots of time to plan ahead. And Covid makes for a serious reality check.

Dave

Late to the party here but wanted to add my two cents. When we did our 40 years anniversary trip in September 2019, we did two weeks in Italy (mostly with a Globus tour and we had the good fortune of only having 15 in our group instead of the expected 40). Then the two of us flew into Heathrow. We were scheduled to board the Disney cruise line in Dover for the transatlantic cruise to NYC, but our plan was to visit England on our own for a few days. We originally were going to stay in London, but decided to do the countryside instead....we are not “city” people. We should have taken a deep dive into understanding their rail system as it would have saved a lot of angst. We had decided to rent a car....how hard could it be to drive on the wrong side of the road? Huge, huge mistake. I always do the driving....I was never so frightened in my life. Thank goodness the nice lady at Avis gave me a free upgrade to an Audi with an excellent on board navigator. I had purchased a Garmin with the international upgrade and it was worthless.

Our first night we spent near Leeds, as we wanted to visit Leeds Castle. I actually sobbed when we arrived at the Hilton. The major roadway we were traveling on was closed due to an accident...and the alternate route also was jammed due to another accident.

Leeds castle was lovely and in such a wonderful setting, they were getting ready for a big flower festival and everything was just beautiful. The next couple of nights were spent in an old bed and breakfast/pub not too far from Dover. It was a delight. Our room was very up to date with a private bathroom. It included a full English breakfast but we told them to not bring the black pudding. They opened the pub at night and it was like an episode from Midsommer Murders on Netflix. All locals out for a pint with their dogs.

We ventured to Canterbury and were very disappointed. The cathedral was under renovation. But we did have the best fish and chips there. And I got us back and forth without driving into a ditch.

When we left the Bed and Breakfast, we took the short drive to Dover port. We dropped our car off at the Avis place and headed for the Disney Magic.

Our first stop was Plymouth, England. We were very excited because we signed up for the excursion to Stonehenge!!!!! I completely understand why you want to go there. Since I was a young child, I was fascinated by the pictures I saw. Seemed like the National Geographic magazine always had stories about the place. It was a long bus ride and the tour lady droned on and on. It was worth all that pain. It was just fascinating. There was a light mist when we arrived and it made everything a little spooky. There was an area with food for purchase. It didn’t seem like there was much else around there, but we had come in from the coast, not much to see.

When the ship was leaving the dock, they had some kind of send off ceremony and shot off a cannon.

We really loved the people from the English countryside. So friendly and loved to hear us talk. They seemed to think we had accents.
Many people on the cruise were from England and told us the trains are pretty much easy to use. So if you venture out of London I strongly recommend you either go with a tour group or take a bus or train. You have plenty of time to plan! Writing this made me miss England. I spent most of my life thinking I was English on my fathers side, with some Irish mixed in. Surprise! My daughter took one of those DNA tests. My Dads side is Irish and Scottish. No English blood. I was a little disappointed.

 

[DaveNV]

Late to the party here but wanted to add my two cents.

What a great post. Thank you! It sounds like you had a great vacation, and made some excellent memories. I wouldn't dare drive there, so it'll be buses, trains, and tours for us, thanks. We're still planning, but so many other options are opening up, I'm not sure how soon we'll get to England. It's definitely on the list, but I'm not sure how soon we'll make it there.

Ironic you'd find your ancestry wasn't as English as you thought. I had a similar (but different) experience: My whole life my Mother said we were "Scotch-Irish, and a little English." My daughter has spent a lot of time on Ancestry, researching every nuance of the extended family in all directions. We all took DNA tests, since my siblings and I all have different fathers. Turns out I'm 55% English, 30% Scottish, and only 3% Irish. I have more Norwegian, Swedish and Dane in me than Irish. So much for my Mom's wishful thinking!

Thanks for your excellent post. I appreciate the tips!

Dave

 

[geist1223]

Driving in the United Kingdom is fun. I have driven in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, New Zealand, and Australia.

 

[SmithOp]

What a great post. Thank you! It sounds like you had a great vacation, and made some excellent memories. I wouldn't dare drive there, so it'll be buses, trains, and tours for us, thanks. We're still planning, but so many other options are opening up, I'm not sure how soon we'll get to England. It's definitely on the list, but I'm not sure how soon we'll make it there.

Ironic you'd find your ancestry wasn't as English as you thought. I had a similar (but different) experience: My whole life my Mother said we were "Scotch-Irish, and a little English." My daughter has spent a lot of time on Ancestry, researching every nuance of the extended family in all directions. We all took DNA tests, since my siblings and I all have different fathers. Turns out I'm 55% English, 30% Scottish, and only 3% Irish. I have more Norwegian, Swedish and Dane in me than Irish. So much for my Mom's wishful thinking!

Thanks for your excellent post. I appreciate the tips!

Dave

I’m a little more English than you Dave, 65% but I have 7% Swede/Dane also - that was the Viking conquests spreading their DNA. Traced my mothers side back 500 years in the same village, not a very adventurous lot until migrating to US before WW1.


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[nomoretslt]

Not sure why a moderator deleted part of my post regarding black pudding. It is quite repulsive and is actually banned in the US. It’s made using drained sheep or pork blood, sometimes the lungs of a sheep, and other stuff that I would never want to eat on purpose. Kind of like scrapple in the south.

 

[SmithOp]

Not sure why a moderator deleted part of my post regarding black pudding. It is quite repulsive and is actually banned in the US. It’s made using drained sheep or pork blood, sometimes the lungs of a sheep, and other stuff that I would never want to eat on purpose. Kind of like scrapple in the south.

Do you eat hot dogs?

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[ScoopKona]

Black pudding is awesome. So is haggis.