Karen

Hi. I have read so much here, and I thank everyone for posting their experiences. I am going to England in January. My plans are to spend 6 (not necessarily consecutive) days in London, and also do the following day trips: Hampton Court, Salisbury/Stonehenge, Bath, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick/Kenilworth, and Windsor Palace/Oxford. I have a free place to stay in London. <BR><BR>Do you think I should go back to London each night, or would that be too much? The alternative is to kind of go from city to city and find B&Bs, in a circular route - Salisbury to Bath with a stay in Bath, to Oxford then Stratford with an overnight in Stratford, then stop in Windsor on way back to London, or some variation of that. I will be using the BritRail Flexipass either way. Thanks for any tips or thoughts!

ron

So the choice is being able to travel unencumbered and return to free accommodations every night vs. having to deal with your luggage while touring, finding accommodations, getting to and from the accommodations and unpacking and packing for each overnight stay? Wouldn’t be a hard decision for me to make.

Lori

Karen,<BR>It's an easy decision, particularly since you have free accommodations! Just take day trips. All the places you plan on going are relitively close to London so it's not a big deal travel wise. Hampton Court is only 30 min. from Waterloo Station so that's hardly out of town. I certainly would not be bothered looking for places to stay, dragging luggage around, etc. when I had a spot in London already. We go to London every year and love the fact that we can take day trips (even as far as York) and still come back "home" at night.

starspinners

Hi Karen,<BR>On my first trip to England ,a friend and I traveled a lot via train.<BR>Except for Stratford-Upon-Avon and Kenilworth (where we didn't go)we did all the trips you have mentioned as day trips from London. <BR>We combined visiting Salisbury & Stonehenge into one day. (We were more interested in seeing Salisbury Catherdral than Stonehenge, only went to Stonehenge because it was so near.)<BR>Oxford, Hampton Court, Bath, Windsor, & Warwick Castle were each seperate day trips for us.<BR>We were in London longer than 6 days though so we were able to spread out our trips , alternating days inside London with days outside of London.<BR>We usually left on our trips about 9 AM and were back in London about 9 PM . <BR>This plan worked very well for us, we had a passable amount of time to explore , to find a nice place to have lunch ,and then explore some more before we headed back to London.<BR>We really made good use of our Britrail Passes and didn't have to pack and repack or haul a suitcase from place to place. <BR><BR>

Steve

I tend to look at travel in terms of getting the most bang for my buck. For example it's cheaper to go from Heathrow to downtown London by tube than by cab, and if you are really pinching pennies, perhaps this is good advice. But in my opinion the cab ride offers much more. The scenery is better, and the cabbie may be talkative and helpful.<BR><BR>So I would tend to look at travelling back and forth between my outer stop and London each night as a bit of a bore. Based on where you say your day trips are, you'd be spending 4-5 hours each day en route including travel time to and from the station from your free lodging. That is . . . 15-30 minutes from your free lodging to the train station, 90-120 train ride, then the reverse. Also, it'll be dark after 5pm so you won't see anything from the train while returning to London. <BR><BR>Maybe spend the first night in London, pack lightly, travel for three days, return to London, repack and head out again.<BR><BR>Steve

Karen

Thanks everyone! I actually kind of like Steve's idea of breaking it up and going back to London in between. I can bring a small suitcase that I can pack for a few days at a time. I have a feeling we will probably wing it as we go, since we have the flexibility. Thanks again for your ideas!

Dave

Another advantage of staying in London: you can choose which days to go where. In January, you may not get sunshine and warm breezes everyday. At least if you're in London you can decide to go to a museum, concert or play instead of standing on Salisbury Plain during a driving rain in mud up to your ankles.