England in September......... tips?
 

Can anyone give me a bit of advice on footballing in September in England? Are there a good # of matches? I'm planning a 2 week trip to England in September. My friend and her husband will be stationed there with the U.S. Airforce. Although not particularly excited about meeting a bunch of U.S Airforceman in England, I AM excited about visiting my friend in her new 2 year home, and about finally spending some time in England where my dad grew up. I would LOVE to get to a football match. My favorite clubs are Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, in that order. I realize it's probably tough to get tickets, so if anyone has suggestions/advice I'll take it! As of right now-it looks like mly trip will be the first half of September.
Another thing is, that since my girlfriend has a husband and daughter, she won't be traveling with me the entire time. Any suggestions for some good cities to travel to on my own? My dad grew up in Lincolnshire. Is it worth checking out for more reasons that just that?
I love the countryside, anwhere green and wet and beautiful, old castles and ruins combined with cool cities (I am in love with Edinburgh in Scotland if that is any indication of my tastes),. I'm 29, female and single. I'm non-hostel staying and all-night clubbing, but not opposed to a pub night, good restaurants, and socializing, meeting other young professionals, etc. I've got a British Passport and somewhat feel like I'll be finding a bit of my roots on this trip.........
thanks in advance for any/all suggestions!

B

if you don't get much reseponse soonre the football, I suggest reposting with "calling CW" in the title - he is our resident expert.

though you can't expect much help from him getting tickets to Arsenal or Chelsea matches. [he, ;like me, is a Spurs supporter!]

there ahve been some threads about this too is you do a search of the forum.

as for places to visit, Lincoln itself is very interesting, and though some of the surrounding countryside is not stellar, teh area over towards Nottinghal is very pretty as I've recently learnt through my DD being at uni there.

From Lincoln, you could easily access east anglia to the south, or Yorkshire to the north; I'm sure you would enjoy York if you like Edinburgh. Durham, another lovely neglected town woudl then not be too far away, and in in between you have the lake district which should be less busy in September.

liverpool on the way back!

regards, ann

Thanks Ann! I'm glad to hear someone has some positive feedback on the area my dad and his siblings grew up in. They all moved to the US in their early teens (12-15 yrs) but my cousin and I (who I will be traveling a bit with during part of my trip) are very excited to visit what we consider to be a bit of our roots :) My mother has visited England extensively and absolutely LOVES Yorkshire so I think I'll make that a definite goal.

Brooke

Glad to help, Brooke

Premiership tickets for the 'big 4' are not easy. Try a search on this board - look at http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...s-356715-2.cfm for a start.

If you know people here already, can you not get them to try to get tickets for you? Some clubs will not sell tickets until the purchaser has registered with them, for security reasons.

If you want a match with atmosphere, there are plenty in the lower leagues. You won't see Ronaldo but there are 96 clubs in the Football League, all with dedicated followings.

Lincolnshire - some interesting places, mainly flat. It wouldn't be my first recommendation to a visitor.

stfc-I actually don't know anyone in the area unfortunately. My grandmother was an only child and she married an American soldier. When they left-she really had no family left :( However, I was talking to a guy here in San Francisco the other day who is from Liverpoole and he said we should be able to get tix for around $50-$60. He suggested Tottenham, Chelsea or Arsenal in London. Not sure why he would suggest that if they were impossible to get......... So I'm going to check it out. I'm also going to check out your link. I'm sure we'll be able to see see a game of some sort-and I'm sure any match will be exciting to us :)thanks for the pointers!

Brooke

My hubby is a huge Arsenal supporter (sorry CW and Ann!) and it is nearly impossible to get tickets unless you belong to their club...and even that has a waiting list years long! He has only been able to go to 1 game in the 2 years we have lived here because our friend is a member.

I'd try to get tickets to some of the 'lesser' (sorry to their fans) teams like Fulham.

It's hard to get tickets for the Goon's home games in the league. But their support is as soft as a two minute egg and it may be possible to see them in the league cup or early Euro stages (you will have to wait until the fixtures are released - usually the end of June).

The same goes for Chelsea.

Fulham is a piece of cake, you can usually turn up on the day if they're not playing a big team (or any other London team).

However If I were l ooking to watch football in London and didn't want to see a bunch of south london woolwich parasites (that's the Arse BTW) or a russian gangsters toy box (chelsea) I'd look at going to Crystal Palace. They're not a bad side and they have a good support (the stadiums a khazi though).

Also it's possible that Milwall will be in the Championship (the playoff are on Sunday)in which case they are well worth a visit (but check here before you book as some of their games can get very, very "tasty").

Al are bloody long way from Lincoln though....

worthwhile cities
Lincoln, York, Leeds, Cambridge all of which can be visited by train. this also gives you two Yorkshire cities to enjoy. York and Lincoln are medievel/tudor + cities which get tourist crammed but worth the visit. Leeds has a small centre with art galeries, great food and shops, Cambridge has the colleges and the backs

I'm definitely going to try to make York a priority. We may do London, Brighton, York, and Lincoln. How would Oxford fit into all this? We'll have 10 days. Also-I think the best bet for us for the football match will be to take your suggestions and show up and try to get tickets for one of the smaller teams

B

London, Brighton, York, Lincoln and Oxford in 10 days is nigh on impossible.

Is your ten days the total length of your trip or your "on the ground" time? Your OP said 2 weeks so please clarify how long you actually have.

But to get you started thinking/calculating:
• 1 day flying over the Atlantic.
• 1 day a mostly jet lagged stupor
• 1 day flying back home

Then you'll want at least 4 or 5 days in London (and that will only give you a teensy taste of the place)
1.5 or 2 days for York
1 day for Brighton
1+ day for Oxford
1 day for Lincoln and nearby
part of 1 day for whichever football match you choose

Plus all the travel time in between these cities - they are spread all over the country.

You'll have to decide for yourself which things to cut/eliminate.

janisj-

I have traveled abroad before quite a bit-so I know how much time I'll personally need get over 'jetlag'. I like to arrive during the morning or mid-morning so I can have a nap and then enjoy my evening/night in whatever city I may be in. I have 14 days for my whole trip but plan to fly over to Berlin for my last 3-4 days to visit someone I know who lives there. I never pass up an opportunity to see a city if I have a place to stay! That gives me 9 days on the ground in England-not counting arrival day. I definitely plan to do 3-4 days in London and will in all likelihood end up only seeing two-3 other towns. I'm not a crazed traveler who needs to pack in every city I've ever desired to see into one trip. I've learned through my travels that 3-4 days in one great place is much more enjoyable than 3 cities in 3 days (however I have great friends who thoroughly enjoy that method of travel....). I've always wanted to see Oxford but I'll skip it if I really like Brighton or york and want to stay longer. Or.....if I meet fun people who suggest somewhere else nearby :)

Any opinions on Oxford, Brighton, and York for concentration/quality of:
a) historic castles/churches/etc
b) food/nightlife
c) outdoors
d) proximity to the other cities and ease of departure/arrival in reference to distance from main center of town?
d)

first highest score
a) York, Oxford, Brighton
b) Brighton, Oxford, York
c) Oxford, York, Brighton
d) ? huh? all miles from each other. By train York, Oxford, Brighton. By Road, Brighton, Oxford , York (both the last two operate seriosu park and ride)