Hi Everyone! I am back and I wish my trip could have lasted longer! We had such a great time in England.

I will write a simple report because our trip was a girls high school aged soccer team trip. We were basically on a tour so not a lot of decision making on our part. Which was actually very nice for a change.

We flew American Air from Richmond VA through Chicago to Heathrow. I have to say American Air had a very friendly flight staff. I have rarely flown American, but I was pleased. No lost luggage. I will say there coach seating is very cramped. When the person in front of me reclined, it was like being in a coffin... for only 7.5 hours!

We landed and were greeted by our tour operators and our bus driver. I can not say enough good things about the kids assigned to our group. It was just luck that we wound up with the two we did. The college aged man tour guide was adorable and young. So every girl on the bus was in love with him. He was very nice and kept it professional. The young lady tour guide was just fantastic and this was a one week job for her. She was in her 20s and every girl on the tour idolized her.

So we set off for Chester England which was our first stay on the tour. On the way, they took the girls out of the bus for some soccer training (in the rain of course). I will say we had very little rain on our ten day trip. The weather was fantastic and we only had some drizzly moments that didnt' last more than a few minutes. Temps were very nice in the 60s and low 70s the entire trip. (We left god awful 100s behind!)

Chester England is a lovely area. We stayed at the Queen Hotel (Best Western brand). It had lots of charm. There is no a/c, which was not a problem since the weather was so pleasant. We had a double and our kids had twins down the hall. The beds were rather hard and older, but I slept which is what is important. The hotel was quiet so sleeping with the windows open was not a problem. Like I said before, the hotel was charming and had unusual statues throughout the hotel. We ate breakfast and dinner here each day we were in chester. The breakfast was ham, eggs, sausages, cereal, fruit and yogurt, oh and beans?
The ham was delicious. The eggs were poached in a huge fry pan of oil which kind of grossed me out. I requested soft boiled and they were brought to my table. I haven't eaten eggs in a couple of years. I had eggs and ham every day in England for 10 days. Check my cholesterol! Breakfast was tasty each day.
Dinner each night was a buffet choice of a few items. Everything I ate was fine. It wasn't gourmet, but definitely fine. It appealed to the kids because there was always something recognizable on the menu for them. (chicken with rice, pasta, basic stuff).
While staying in Chester, we did a walking tour of the city. It is a very quaint city and I would go back. We did a ghost tour at night which was fun for the kids. Some of us parents hit a few of the local pubs at night to try out the English Ales and that was fun.
The kids played two games while in northern england and our team won. The teams we played were as different as night and day, but both very good competition and also very eager to play with americans. Since our team had some issues before the trip, we lost a few players. The teams we played against lent us a few players and they all wanted to play on our side.
We also went to Liverpool for a day trip and visited the docks and the city surrounding area. I was so surprised there was really no rain and we were enjoying the great temperatures. Before leaving the north, we toured Manchester United's Stadium. This was interesting. We also went to an Everton-Preston game. Preston was the home team and we were seated with them. The Everton fans were fun to watch. They were crazy and the singing and all was fun to listen to.
We head to London after 4 nights in Chester.
London is a great city and we thoroughly enjoyed it and wished we had a few more days there. We all enjoyed riding the tubes! Since we had a tour guide who lives in London, she took us all through the tubes like locals. They are very deep down in the earth!
We stayed 4 nights at the Holiday Inn in Kensington which seemed like a nice area. The rooms had a/c which was good since it warmed up in London. The rooms are like cruise ship cabins, literally. They are very small, but modern and the bed was a lot more comfortable than the Queen's in Chester. Most of us were on the 16th floor which gave us all nice views of the city. There was a convenient underground that took us all over while we were there.
Here we were on a breakfast at the hotel plan. Same as chester with the ham, eggs, sausages, etc...
Dinners were set up. The best dinner was at Ask, which is an Italian restaurant near the hotel. Very good food. While in the London area, we saw a Reading-Wolves game and sat with Reading, the home team. The guys behind us were hysterically funny and we egged them on to sing and teach us the chants and cheers. So, our whole group was enjoying the atmosphere.
We also went to Windsor castle. This was a great castle and very interesting information on history of the royals. I enjoyed this trip out to the country.
We did a walking tour around Buckingham palace, parliament, London bridge, the eye etc... We also went into Westminster Abbey and did the audio tour there. Very interesting and beautiful church. While crossing the street by the abbey, the helicoptered a biciclist off to the hospital. He was hit by a cement truck. If anyone knows if he made it, post back.
We did the river cruise down the Thames and we also wandered around London shopping. (we were with a GIRLS soccer team. )
There are several places I missed out on seeing, Harrods, and Covenant gardens. Next time, want to get more in depth in London and see more stuff. We didn't hit any pubs either which was disappointing. Too busy.
My girls both bought cleats, or boots as they say in Lillywhites which was a good deal. The boots my one daughter bought are a new type and they are being advertised here for more than what we paid which surprises me.
The girls played against a london team and we lost 5-3. I think all the walking the day of the game(we played at night) made them already worn out. No excuses though, they were better. I think they were happy to end the game and just hang out with the team afterwards.
Our last night was at the Holiday Inn at the airport. We had a morning flight and so we had to go there the night before. We arrived at 11pm, stayed up until 3pm and woke up and left at 6am. We all slept a little on the flight back. When we arrived, my teenagers got to their room and the door was wide open. We went downstairs to switch their rooms because the girls were uncomfortable. It took 15 minutes and they wound up in the room next to the other one.. I don't think the man understood a word I said. It took a lot just to get them to move the kids.
I must say with traveling with 8 girls,mostly 17 and 9 parents and one sibling, there was no drama and everyone seemed to get along great. The tour guides were great and the kids got to experience England in a way that most don't. They have a trip they won't ever forget and us parents really enjoyed the trip as well.

Nice one!

I think you were probably subjected to fried eggs, if oil was involved (poaching usually involves just water. Ask for scrambled next time - much nicer!

Hope the football chants weren't too rude!

No drama, no trauma, that's good.
Bill in Boston

girlonthego:

The breakfast was ham - most likely Back bacon which has almost a ham like quality. Streaky bacon is similar to that served in America. Did you have grilled tomatoes?

Thanks for sharing your trip report - sounds like everyone had a terrific time.

Sandy

Sandy:They served grilled tomatoes at some of the breakfasts. Bacon? ouch. Cholesterol is probably in overdrive!LOL Delicious ham or bacon or whatever it was. Definitely better than what I get here in the US.

Bill, yes it was great that there was no drama or traumas! LOL Since it was a sports trip! Still it was nice with that many teenage girls, they amazing all had a good time together. 10 days was the perfect time.

RM, loved the football chants! I would like to go back and see some more games that are in season. The fans make the game more fun. At least the Reading game, the guy behind us really made it fun for us.

RM, loved the football chants!

I take it they were not the 'traditional' ones then!

Glad you had a good trip.

Thanks for sharing, glad you had a good trip.

Sounds like such a fun trip, girlonthego. Thanks for the report.

May I award several brownie points to the OP for actually dating her report.
No eejit will be able to annoy us by topping it in 10 years time.
BTW, I'm surprised that you are unacquainted with fried eggs.
When I was in the US many moons ago, they were offered "sunny side up" or "over easy".
Mind you, in those days coffee came as black or "reglar" ;-)

We still fry the occasional over easy over here, Miss P. I love the "reglar"; never heard that one.

Fried eggs are one thing. These poached eggs were sitting in about 4 inches high of oil. They didn't taste greasy, but I was thinking about my arteries clogging at that point. So, I then asked for boiled, but I had already eaten them for several days fried like that mmmm..They were good...
Maybe the water was just dirty? and looked like oil?

Trip was great fun!

I recently stayed in a hotel where they offered soft boiled eggs with soldiers.

soldiers? sausages?

soldiers = fingers of bread or toast to dip in the egg.

By the way, I hate boiled eggs, and reading this thread made me gag....