Louise

At the risk of messing up your itinery, you ought to visit York. But it's been here for a long time, and it'll be here for a long time yet, so you could come on your next visit?<BR>A lot of small English towns that don't have much industry rely on tourism to remain decent places to live, so negative comments aren't helping anyone, Mr Yawn!

Jim

Louise, you're not the first person to say good things about York. Problem, as always, is too much to see, so little time!

Tim Tilt

Jim, first let me say I was disguted with that small minded bigots message at the begining of this thread-I suppose every country has these sort of idiots.ANYWAY!! the idea of "doing it" in 2 weeks seems virtually impossible as you really will not see much at all as you will be rushing from one thing to the other with no time to appreciate antything really.All the threads are true about the best places to see(possibly we are all biased about our little bit of this green and pleasant land)All I can say is my own biased opinion and if you do go to Stratford do try and go to the Cotswolds(not far from here) and get off the beaten track of all the tourist traps and get and see the little villages that are dotted all over the rural countryside there are so many that I can not start to say which is better than the other.Whatever you do end up doing have a wonderful holiday here with us and disregard the purile few idiots that take perverse pleasure in nasty replies.<BR>Tim

Jim

Thanks for your kind sentiments Tim. We do plan to go to Stratford. We have tickets to see The Tempest at the RST. The thing is, after Stratford, we will have 3 days before we have to fly home (9/12, 13 and 14). What to do? Our thought was to drive through the Cotswolds from Stratford to Bath. Maybe overnight in Bath??? Then the next day, trip to Avebury and Stonehenge which we really would like to see. If you have any suggestions for these final 3 days, they would be welcome.

Tim tilt

Dear Jim,well it looks like you are starting to get some sort of itinery together.As you are going to drive down to Bath(my wife says I hope he has a fair bit of money,Bath is not cheap to stay at!!)think about driving through the Cotswolds-off the beaten track- with an idea of maybe heading for and staying in CHELTENHAM for 1 night.Cheltenham and Bath have an annual rivalry for best kept and prettiest town(this year Cheltenham have pulled out all the stops)They also have many entertainments and outdoor exhibits going on through the summer-you would have to check when you get there(also there are plenty of hotels in Cheltenham)The down side is my mother in law lives there LOL!!!Cheltenham to bath round about 2 to 3 hours driving TAKING YOUR TIME!Stonhenge and Avebury Circle can be reached from Bath quite easy.Also just in case you dont know yet petrol(gas)is very,very expensive here it works out at about $2-20 to the gallon(our gallon is slightly larger than yours)just be aware of it.This is one of the reasons we holiday in your country with a motorhome.<BR>Tim

janis

Tim's suggestion of overnighting in or near Cheltenham is a very good one. There are so many wonderful Cotswold villages and you would miss most of them if you drove on to Bath from Stratford. If you stay somewhere between Cheltenham and Stow on the Wold you will have enought time to see Broadway, Stanton Hailes Abbey Winchcombe, etc. etc. Then drive on to Bath the next morning. Visit the sites in Bath and then stay outside of the city Like in Bradford on Avon or Melksham. The next day you can see Avebury and Stonehenge.<BR><BR>And I hope Tim meant a &pound; symbol instead of a $ - because petrol is definitely more than $2.20 a gallon (They price it by the litre because the price in &pound; would cause sticker shock!) Count on $4.50+ per gallon.

Jim

That sounds good. The day after we do Avebury/Stonehenge (9/14), we will be flying home (9/15). Do we dump the car in Salisbury after doing Stonehenge (unless it'll be too late in day), and take a train to London and stay in London, or do we stay near London-Heathrow and drop car off there the next morning before the flight?

janis

Whatever you do DON'T drive into London.<BR><BR>You could use the extra night in the Cotswolds, Salisbury or Windsor. All are within reasonable drives of LHR.<BR><BR>My rec would be to visit Stonehenge and Salisbury then head north to Avebury. Then on to Windsor to spend your last night. Windsor is only a few miles from LHR.<BR><BR>If you wanted to go into London instead - drive from Avebury to LHR and turn in the car and then take the train into London. <BR><BR>But if you have an early flight, Windsor is more convenient.<BR>

Tim Tilt

Jim, Janice is right I should have multiplied and not divided my figures SORRY!!!Petrol is an obscene price here not to mention the proliferation of speed cameras everywhere-just keep an eye out for yellow boxes on posts by the side of the road.Also Janice is spot on with the Windsor idea and then drop off at LHR.If London must be done the train or underground is by far the best means to get in from the outskirts,you could spend hours and hours hardly moving in the totally congested roads that are London let alone trying to find somewhere to park.If you drop the car at LHR you can take the Heathrow express straight into Londons Paddington station which then gives you access to the underground network without having to go out of the station.

Jim

Thanks. I had NO intention of driving in London. I would just drop off at LHR the day before, train it into town, stay overnight, and train it back the next morning.

Jim

By the way, what does it mean when a show "previews" for a while and then what is "press night"? I just found out that the show I am seeing at RST in Stratford, previews starting 9/7 and "press night" is 9/12. Because of my schedule, I got tickets for 9/11, which I now discover means that it is during the "preview" period and the night before "press night." It's too late to change it now, but does that mean an inferior show? When the box office said "preview special price" I had no idea what that meant, but that it was cheaper.

janis

Don't worry about preview performances. This is the custom at all the theatres in London as well. They are not dress rehearsals - but full blown performances with the regular cast. Previews usually last about a week. Sometimes Press Night is actually the 2nd night of the regular run and sometimes the last night of the previews. <BR><BR>Previews are cheaper but not lesser quality - and you are there towards the end of the preview period anyway. Any bugs will have long been worked out. <BR><BR>Many in-the-know theatre goers make a point of going to previews because of the money savings.

Martin McGuire

Jim, Do yourself a favour and give the UK a total miss, the people are like their country, sullen and unsociable, you will also be 'ripped off'. Come over to old Ireland where you will be welcomed with open arms, thats a quarantee, Americans are especially welcomed. You are a great people and nation.

Jim

Thanks Martin for the kind words. Our tix are booked, however, but next time we will visit Ireland! By the way, I've visited London before and found the people to be very friendly.

Alan

Joining this thread late as I've just happened upon this site. First, let me say as a Brit that you will be very welcome here - especially in Scotland. I'm a Londoner but given your objectives I think you're right to leave London out of your main trip - even though it is better than ever these days. (Tate Modern ... Shakespeare's Globe, built to the design of the original Globe theatre ... the Londoin Eye - giant ferris wheel opposite the Houses of Parliament ... and, finally, excellent, good value restaurants. Though I have to say that hotels in London tend to be expensive.)<BR><BR>Next to Yorkshire, where I was brought up (talk about rural beauty!), Scotland is my favourite part of the UK. I agree with the poster who recommended visiting the west coast - around Loch Maree and Loch Torridon is so beautiful, and especially the coast road from Loch Torridon down to Applecross. Also, try to drive through Glen Coe. Read up the history first. Personally I would spend more time in the Scottish Highlands rather than N Wales - but this is just personal preference I guess. The Cotswolds are also beautiful, eg Broadway. And if you're staying in or near Bath (a wonderful Georgian city!), take a detour through the charming village of Castle Combe - which won the most beautiful village competition for several years.<BR><BR>Enjoy my country!<BR><BR>Alan

Jim

How much time to leave for a connection at Heathrow? Flight gets in at 7:05 AM. I assume no problem with a 9:00 or 9:30 connection to Edinburgh?

Jim

Oops, meant to say 8:30 connection.

janis

Jim: Your Edinburgh flight will likely be from a different terminal. Term's 1,2 and 3 are near each other while Term 4 is more remote -- almost a different airport. <BR><BR>If you only have carry-on luggage, or if your bags are checked through, AND your arriving flight is not delayed and gets a gate quickly, you can do it in about an hour+/- - and I have done it faster. But if you have checked bags to claim plan on 2 hours MINIMUM.

Jim

Thanks Janis. Guess you're saying that an 8:30 flight's not a good idea. Problem is that the next one (for that price, anyway) is at 12:50, so we'd have a long and tiring layover.

Jim

Also, how difficult is it to drop off a rental car at London Heathrow if we were to spend the night before someone nearby, like Windsor? By "difficult" I'm referring to the driving, since I don't want to drive in London (although by that point I'll have driven in UK for nearly 2 weeks). Am I better off returning car somewhere like Salisbury?