First time traveller to Britain
 

I'll admit it. I'm a newbie. My sister and I will be travelling to Great Britain next year. Everyone has to start somewhere. This will be the first trip to Europe for both of us. I thought a great way to get our feet wet would be to see London & Edinburgh. We have friends in London that can help us out...we're small town girls. Any ideas for must sees? Or travel tips for first time international travellers from US?

P.S. Thanks Natalia.

Natalia, There are a bunch of people here that would love to share our experiences, but that question is pretty general.

Try searching on the word London and on the word Edinburgh and you will find a ton of info. Once you read that and have some more specific questions we can be a lot more help.

Keith

Hi
also, if you click on Destinations at the top of this screen, you will be led to lots of basic info on London and probably on Edinburgh as well.

Buy city maps now (Streetwise is a good series) so that as you read you can orient yourself by finding the sights and hotels and such on the maps.

Get your passports now, no point in waiting. Also contact the British Tourist authority for lots of brochures and suggestions.

I have a file on London; if you'd like to see it,email me at [email protected]

Thanks guys. I have done nearly all of the things you've suggested already. I am brand new to this forum-thanks for your patience. Here's the details. We only have 5 days total. (excludes travel time) :( We would like to spend 2 days in Edinburgh then either train or plane over to London for 3 days. I realize we'd see more if we stayed in one place but both of us want to see both cities. For London we are hoping just to see the highlights from the double decker bus tour. No interest in Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, etc. Places we actually want to visit include the Tate Britain, Tower of London, National Gallery, and of course take in a play or two. Edinburgh is a little sketchy right now. I can't seem to find much information beyond the Royal Mile. Suggestions?

Memejw.

If you email me I'll send you some stuff (you may already have done so; but the email I got had an unrecognisable name)

The Tower of London is outstanding. I only allowed a couple of hours on the first visit, and will stop there again on my next visit. Go early in the day. Unless things seem really quiet, see the Crown Jewels first before the line gets bad. The free tours led by the Beafeaters are worth taking.

I also strongly recomend the British Museum.

With being in London such a short period of time, I wouldn?t give up the time to take the bus ride, but you know your tastes better than I do. I would do a ride on the Themes instead, say between the Tower Bridge and Westminster.

Regarding theater, you can save money by buying tickets the day of the show from the TKTS booth in Leicester Square, but with such a short visit, I would get tickets before traveling.

http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/ will help you learn what is showing and who is performing. http://www.theatremonkey.com will help you sellect seats, find the theatres and contact the box offices.

Many shows in London have short runs and the ones you want may not open until a few weeks before your trip.

The fastest and least expensive way to get around London is the Tube (subway). Be sure that your hotel is close to Tube stop.

Keith

if you arrive dead tired (we always seem to) the bus tour is a great way to see a foreign city stress- free and also you will see the layout of the city...i think the hop on and hop off has a 24 hour time span so you may be able to use it for transporatation the next day for awhile.

I would also suggest a visit to Westminster Abbey. To me, that and the Tower of London are the two must sees. To get to Westminster Abbey take the tube to the Westminster stop. When you come up out of the station Big Ben will be right there, along with the rest of the Parliament Building. You really should see them -- they are spectacular and it takes all of 5 minutes to stand and look. Then you can cross the street to Westminster Abbey -- go inside and take the tour. (And from there you can walk along the Thames to the Tate Britain gallery, which I also enjoyed).

I would second Westminster Abbey. I thought it was the best stop we went to in London.
My first visit to Europe was this year and we went to London along with a 2 week tour of Northern Ireland. I would highly recommend taking a day to explore...this may sound strange...Grocery stores and other types of everyday things.
We spent several hours in Tescos ( a market) just looking at different brands,products,and ways of doing things. The candy alone was an hour.LOL
On the Tower of London we had planned on four hours because we had read that it would take about that amount of time both on the net and in guidebooks. Dont forget to plan the time it takes to get there as well. We spent about 8 hours there and still didnt stop to take in everything. In someplaces we rushed through to make up time. Depending on your tastes times will vary greatly...I have heard people do it in two hours and others in two days.
IMHO I would tend to do one city with the amount of time you have. We spent four days in London and didnt get to half the things on our short list.With 5 days you could do some nice day trips out of the city and it would be much more relaxing.
Most important advice with LOndon...plan your days well...dont spend to much time hopping on and off the Tube and back tracking. The Tube is very easy to use but it can eat up precious vacation time!
Have fun!

They have bus tours in Edinburgh as well, a great way to see alot in a short amount of time. The Scots Monument is worthwile to see, as well as the shops along Princess street. I visited the Royal Yacht Britania when there which is a short bus ride away, docked in Leith. If you take a tour bus you can hop on/off and visit the Royal Botanical gardens as well.

http://www.royalyachtbritannia.co.uk/

Since you have only a short time to see both cities, you could consider taking a flight between London and Edinburgh. There are quite a few low cost carriers (ryanair.com, europebyair.com, etc.)since I think the train ride is between 4.5-5 hours.
I wouldn't worry too much about being small town girls - London is easy to navigate on the tube, and Edinburgh is quite compact itself.
Make sure to brink ziplock bags with you - they are indispensible!

Give me an email about anything else you'd like to know, I'm happy to help...

Thanks Julie. Ziploc bags? What for?

I appreciate all of the suggestions. It would be great if we could take an extra couple days to travel. Westminster Abbey does not really interest my sister and me as we belong to a minority religion that meets in plain servicable buildings. So unless it was simply to appreciate architecture...we'd prefer to spend our time at different locations. What is your favorite thing to do in London??? Shopping is not priority for me but it is for my sister! Will shopping in London be very different from shopping in New York? P.S. Edinburgh is a must for us.

Ziplock bags - great for a multitude of things! Shoes, dirty laundry, things that might leak, to put guidebooks etc in so they don't get wet if something else leaks...

I just booked a flight online with British Midlands from Edinburgh to London one-way for under 27 pounds. Actually, the web fare is only 11 pounds and taxes make up the rest. Don't know what the round trip fare is but it should be reasonable.

You can check it out at www.flybmi.com.