Hi everyone and thank you for your input ahead of time!!

I am a first time poster and will be a first time visitor to Europe in Sept. My husband has been before in college but this is our first trip together there.

Some background : We will have 11 days total on the ground for our trip. We have friends in the UK who live near Chester and they for the most part will be our tour guides while we are on our trip but want us to of course plan what we like while there.

We are flying into London and plan on 2-3 days there in that area. And then they will meet us there and drive us to their area which they said was a 3 hour drive but we are going to stop overnight someplace en route.

While in their area, we plan on going to Scotland with them , as it is only 45 min drive from them. And we know we will have plenty to see as they are also near Wales, etc and looks very scenic.

But we are toying with a side trip and do not know if it is doable with our timeframe. We are considering a trip to Paris via Eurostar while in London (which would mean our friends would not meet us after 3 days, we would go to Paris after 3 days in London and they'd meet us when we come back). We know it is about a 3 hour trip and so it does not leave us a lot of time when we get there and we'd only want to take maybe 2-3 days there. We know that would not even be scratching the surface of course, but somehow Paris draws us!!

The other suggestion from our friends is to skip Paris and just concentrate on the UK this trip and if we chose to do a side trip go to Ireland via ferry (they mentioned a hovercraft type of ferry?) . They suggested Northern Ireland or Dublin. This would be for a couple days.

Like I said in pouring over all the info we have we know there is much to see in the UK without a side trip at all, so wondered what you all thought..those of you who have spent time in the UK and perhaps had the timeframe we have and what you could suggest as to side trips or not?

Thanks so much again for reading this and for your input. Just so excited but it is also overwhelming as I want to see it all!! lol

just a couple of short comments now. Will come back later when I have a bit more time - and others will help you too.

but 1) It is <b>much</b> more than 45 mins from &quot;near Chester&quot; to Scotland. Plus Scotland is a biiiiig place. It will take you about 2.5 hours just to Gretna Green on the very southern edge of Scotland. Anywhere else in the country wil be 2 to 6 hours farther. So don't count on Scotland as a day (or even 2 day) trip.

2) I personally would plan on 3 - 5 days in London and the rest w/ your friends up north. I wouldn't plan on adding Paris too w/ just 11 days since you are going to Scotland and Wales.

I agree about spending time in London. You will have time in the English countryside with your friends, so I would not even suggest some of the shorter days trips. Stay in London and enjoy ALL there is to do there.

I live near Chester.
Your friends would need heavy boots to get to Scotland in 45 minutes. I'd say that 2 hours would be more like it or even longer depending on where you are going. Chester to Edinburgh will take you about 4 1/2 hours according to the AA
You could take a trip to Dublin sailing from Holyhead. Holyhead is not far from Chester.

Some ideas a couple of hours drive east of Chester that we enjoyed are York and Sherwood Forest. Of course, we had kids in tow so Sherwood Forest might not interest you, but York was a lovely city to tour, walk on the city walls, etc. They even have their own &quot;Eye&quot; like London if you're familiar witht.

Just some ideas to toss out for you. Enjoy your visit! The scenery in the UK is wonderful.

eacandrmc,

<i>I want to see it all</i>

I would suggest that people who try to see it all end up seeing nothing. Slow down and experience the satisfaction of really seeing and enjoying just a little.

I am a contrarian and would say get out of London as fast as you can (I can hear the objections from Fodorites even now) as it is a crowded, expensive place. It may have many tourist attractions, but there are plenty of others throughout the UK which are just as good and much less busy.

If you're friends are near Chester (is flying to Manchester out of the question?) there is plenty of good countryside and many interesting places not that far from there. I'm thinking of Shropshire and the Welsh Marches, North Wales, Peak District, and - a little further away - Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and the North Pennines.

And, as others have said, Scotland is a lot more than 45 minutes from Chester. It's also a good three hours from London.

Michael

Thanks to everyone who posted. Just a few replies :

janisj, MissPrism(and others)..

--Obviously I got the 45 min from Chester wrong.

--janisj and DanM: yes I am feeling as you mentioned that we could see a lot with London , our friends' area and a bit of Scotland (which we realize is vast)

--wasleys (Michael) :
re when I said : &quot;I want to see it all&quot; and you said :
&quot;I would suggest that people who try to see it all end up seeing nothing. &quot;

my &quot;want to see it all comment&quot; was my enhusiasm for this trip coming across..not a literal comment.

I could not agree with you more that those who want to see it all sometimes end up seeing very little.

Thanks everyone for your input

If your friends live near Chester, and you want to plan a side trip, you could consider a &quot;low-cost flight&quot; from Liverpool airport with Easyjet; it's their main operating base in the north of the UK; and Liverpool airport is very close to Chester. Going from Manchester airport is another possiblity; that's only 45 minutes up the M56. It has more scheduled services, but a few low-cost airlines operate out of there, too. www.skycanner.net is a good site to use to find low cost flight deals...