2-week trip to Britain, Yanks need advice
 

Is it possible to cover the island in a 2-week trip. We have been to London before, so we would not need to spend more than a day or two there. The problem is that we want to see it all, but I don't want to spend all my time driving from place to place without living the experience. As of now our ambitious itinerary includes Bath, Shakespeare Country, North Wales, Lake District, Edinburgh, and Highlands. Any way to work all that into 2-weeks (keeping in mind that we may not be back for many years to come).

Advice to Americans visiting UK:<BR><BR>1. Talk loudly about how everything is bigger/better in US.<BR>2. Wear shorts and white tennis shoes.<BR>3. Invent new names for parts of the country like, "Shakespeare country."<BR>4. Treat every small village/town as if it was put there for your viewing like some disneyland attraction.<BR>5.Wear Baseball cap.<BR>6.Try and see as much of the country as possible by following a ridiculous itinerary rather than actually getting to know a place or people.<BR>7. Tick places off a big list without getting to know them.<BR>8. Expect England to be all tea, Royal family, cockney slang and buttered muffins.<BR>9. Drive terribly.<BR>10. Generally get in the way, annoy and interfere with people trying to live their lives in peace.

In my opinion, you would "see" more and be less stressed if you did either the first three or the last three destinations or areas. You could easily spend 3 days to a week in each of North Wales, the Lake District, Edinburgh, and the Highlands. Bath doesn't need more than a day (could be a day trip by train from London), and Stratford could be missed entirely imo. But some people thrive on a packed trip! What time of year are you planning on visiting?

hmm, now that someone brought it up...what &lt;i&gt;should&lt;/i&gt; you wear in britain so that you don't look like a tourist. i'm told people are now wearing attire from retailers as far-fetched as abercrombie now! is this true? no one wants to look like a tourist - what's the best way to accomplish this master task??

Very helpful Mr "advice". What's wrong with wearing shorts? I've seen plenty of British people wear shorts. What's wrong with wearing hats? I've seen plenty of people from lots of places wear hats. If you have some legitimate advice, such as "I think your proposed itinerary might be too ambitious", then offer it. If you just want to make yourself and your countrymen look like jerks, then don't waste people's time with your posts. <BR><BR>

Thanks, Ruth. We'd be visiting in September. Personally, I could do without Stratford, but I don't think I can convince my girlfriend to leave it out. Contrary to that other guy's opinion, we are interested in getting to know places and people.

Hmmmm- How to not look like a tourist in Great Britain. Well from what I have seen of the British here in the U.S. you would have to wear really bright neon everything. (Such a compliment to a pastey complexion of posters like advice([email protected])

Yes - you can "cover" it all in 2 weeks. But it is a terrible idea. Many Americans see how small the British Isles are and think they can see/do it all. Well you can do 10 Eurpoean capitals in twelve days - but should you? No.<BR><BR>If you have been to London before consider dropping it entirely. London is one of my fvorite places on earth - but "a day or two" there is not really worth the expense/trouble.<BR><BR>So flip a coin - do you want to see SOME of southern England and Wales, or SOME of the Lake District and Scotland.<BR><BR>Then two weeks is reasonable.<BR><BR>A wonderful itinerary flying into Edinburgh or Glasgow and out of Manchester would get you to Edinburgh, some of the Highlands, Hadrians Wall, the Lake District and maybe a day or two in N. Wales.<BR><BR>Or you could fly into LHR, pick up your rental car and head west. See Avebury, Stonehenge, Bath, 4 to 6 days in Wales, Warwick, Stratford (it is only "touristy" if you go into the gift shops - the RSC theatre ans Shakespeare's grave in St Mary's Church alone are worth the visit), the Cotswolds, Windsor - and maybe the last night in London.

Fair enough Janis, thanks for the suggestions. Your point about trying to do too much is well taken. That's why I asked the question in the first place. Your suggestion about starting in Edinburgh has got me thinking . . .

Consider:<BR> Open-jaw tickets<BR> Using a combination of car rental for the more rural areas and trains between the major cities. We found this to be a nice mix.<BR> I cannot recommend North Wales enough.

Jim<BR><BR>I agree with the Jan-ster. You could do this trip however it would give you only a fleeting glimpse of what the remainder of Britain is like and, as you feared, you'd spend a considerable amount of timebehind the wheel of a car.<BR><BR>Choose a general part of Britain: The south (not london), Scotland and the North, etc.. The rest will still be here next tim you visit. <BR><BR>Tony

Thanks for all your help. Personally, I would really love to experience Scotland and North Wales more than the other areas (no offense to anyone from England!). If I could fashion a two week itinerary with these areas I would be very happy. Janis' proposal sounds pretty good.

Thanks for your help. Based in part on your suggestions, we have reworked our plan. We will now be spending 1-week in Scotland, 4 days in North Wales, and the remaining 3 days visiting Bath, Stratford and Stonehenge. Does this sound better?

Your itinerary looks much improved! Some words of warning if you are planning to drive anywhere near the coast in North Wales<BR><BR>1. Practice driving on the narrowest roads you can find. I mean really narrow. The Welsh had to hack most of their roads out of solid stone and they didn't muck about making them nice and wide. Also, they used the left-over stone to make nice 6-foot stone walls on either side. <BR><BR>2. Don't worry about driving fast along the above roads - there will be between 1 and 50 cars towing caravans in front of you. 2 mile crocodile anyone?<BR><BR>3. Avoid travelling on Fridays, they are the worst for the caravans.<BR><BR>4. Pack patience, and be really, really realistic about how far you can get in one day.<BR><BR>Off the coast, the roads are fine.<BR>Have a great holiday.

Jim: Your new plan is much better.<BR><BR>A week in Scotland (as long as you don't try to see ALL of it but concentrate on Edinburgh and one or two other areas) 3 or 4 days in N Wales and then a route south to the other places is very doable.<BR><BR>From N Wales to Stratford is a reasonable drive. Be sure to also visit Warwick which is only 7 miles from Stratford. The castle, town and St Marys's church are really wonderful. In fact, most people spend more time at Warwick Castle than at all of the Shakespeare properties combined. If you overnight near there you can go to the RSC in the evening.<BR><BR>Then a leisurly drive down through the Cotswolds to Bath - if you stop along the way in a few villages it will take a full day. <BR><BR>Then a day in Bath and on to Stonehenge before driving to either LHR or LGW.<BR><BR>That could be done in 3 days but 4 might be easier. Think about 3 full days in N Wales and 4 for the route south. <BR><BR>But either way it is a nice itinerary.

Thanks. I guess I should have mentioned that we were planning to start in the south, and finish in Scotland. Any advantage to doing it the other way around?

Not really - just do it in reverse. I may have missed it - when are you going? The only (minor) advantage to doing it north to south is if you are going in the Fall since the earlier you are in the north the more likely you'll have nice weather.<BR><BR>The reverse goes for early Spring - south to north makes slightly more sense because the later you get to Scotland the better.<BR><BR>But we are only talking about two weeks here so it really doesn't make much difference.

Jim - I don't know Great Britain well enough to really comment on your itinerary (well, OK, one little comment, if you can fit in York, do it! Well, OK, just another comment - we loved Stratford Upon Avon, the Cotwolds, Warwick, and Bath. If I cut anything it would be Stonhenge - just not my area of interest)<BR><BR>Another comment - many threads on this forum have been devoted to the best way to connect between Edinburgh and London Heathrow and the consensus seems to be train - this could be useful to your planning if you find you cannot do an open jaw ticket in London/out Edinburgh but rather have to fly roundtrip to London.<BR><BR>Last, I think you can safely ignore the unfriendly poster above. I have found the people in the UK to be wonderfully friendly to Yanks and feel the treatment should be returned in kind. I don't think, ultimately, "looking" like an American tourist is the issue. Most important, is how you behave not how you look. I find that I go to see the "sights" but in the end, it's my people-encounters that make for the fondest memories. Go, have fun, and represent us well (I'm jeolous!)

Thanks. We are planning to go the first two weeks in September. Incidentally, do you think we are already late when it comes to making reservations for that time?

No, but I'd consider making reservations ASAP for your main arrival city and for your last stop as well as (if you plan to overnight) in Stratford Upon Avon.