Tonya

We will be in London for one week in late July, early August. Originally, we'd planned to rent a car for the second week and wander around, checking out small towns, and see where we ended up. Once I realized how expensive gasoline will be, though, I began to rethink the second week. So the new options are: stay in London the entire time and take day trips by train; Amsterdam; Brussels; Scotland; Ireland. I've never been to Europe and I feel like a child in a candy store, but I can't decide! Can anyone offer any suggestions?

Richard

Rent the car and head for Wales!

wes fowler

Tonya, <BR>You can still "wander around checking out small towns" by using England's public transportation and taking day trips from London. Bath, Salisbury, Canterbury, Oxford, Stratford are all relatively short trips (under two hours or less)and will give you the flavor of Britain. Day trips to Paris, Brussels are feasible but allow you little time to truly get a sense and feel for the experience. Stick to day trips from London or one of its neighboring cities where accommodation costs may be less.

Patrick

Our first three trips to England we followed the same routine. We'd stay in London the first week, then take a train to somewhere outside of London to pick up a car for the second week returning it to Heathrow and flying on. One year our week was the Cotswalds, Lake District and Chester. One year it was York, Lincoln, and again the Cotswalds. And one year (my favorite) was Devon and Cornwall. I think that original idea of yours was the best. By the way, don't worry so much about the petrol costs. Most of their cars are very economical mileage wise (at least compared to my gas eater at home) and you will be using a lot less fuel than you think. Also staying in delightful hotels in the countryside is likely to save you half of what you will spend on your hotel if you stayed in London. And you would have to rent one helluva car and drive one helluva lot of miles to equal the cost of two day trips by train to Amsterdam or Brussels!

StCirq

&lt;&lt;Once I realized how expensive gasoline will be, though, I began to rethink the second week&gt;&gt; <BR> <BR>Wait a minute! Have you evaluated the difference between spending money for gas and staying in what would likely be MUCH cheaper accommodations, against staying in a hotel in London? I haven't got my calculator handy, but I would bet that any extras for car rental would be more than mitigated by the price of lodging and food outside London. Or am I the only person on earth who thinks London is the most expensive city in Europe?

Bob Brown

Question. Tonya, how many is we? <BR>If there are 3 of your, compare the cost of 3 train tickets to one of your destinations with the cost of a car rental. For me, it was cheaper in Switzerland to rent a car for two people than to buy two train tickets. <BR>I think you also must throw in the costs of parking in many instances, which is sometimes not cheap. <BR>But to off set the costs, you must also factor in the convenience. There are places we have seen by car that would have been out of reach by public transportation.