Londinium and the South UK
Apr 13th, 2011, 02:26 AM
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Londinium and the South UK
Here's a wee blog I wrote a couple of years ago and thought I'd share it with all you Fodorites!
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Smog, crowds of people down Oxford Street, getting pushed from pillar to post on the Tube, red Double Deckers chugging past...some of the things you hate to love about London. Without them it just wouldn't be the same city...good thing or bad thing? Personally that would be a bad thing
But there is so much to do a short distance out of the city - all within a 2 hour drive. Hop in a rental car (outside the congestion zone!), down the motorway and away you go.
My plan of action: get a train or tube into Richmond, spend a few hours walking in Richmond park and maybe trying to get a visitors ticket to Twickenham. This all went to plan apart from the Twickenham part - it was closed! So I decided to find out if there were any rental car outlets in the area. I'd booked with holiday autos previously so I went to an internet cafe and hooked them up. After a quick email they called me up and booked me a car from Kingston, a short train journey away. Paid over the phone, picked up the car and off I went (luckily my US credit card provider covered me for the insurance!).
In my head I planned a kinda rectangular two/three day route taking me down to the coast, along to the New Forest and back up to London via Stonehenge.
With time against me I decided not to visit Brighton, with it's beautiful pier and pebble beach. Instead I went to a small beach town called South Sea, just outside Portsmouth. There's not much to see or do here, apart from the amusment arcades and a nice park, but it's so relaxing watching the hovercraft come and go on it's voyage to France - which you can see the coastline of on a clear day, which I managed to get! Then I drove along to Portsmouth with its Gunwhalf shopping area and awesome marina. The 15th century ship, The Mary Rose, is still docked there - you can actually get tickets to go on board as well.
My next step was to drive along to Southampton, but I heard that Bournemouth was much more scenic - with a sandy beach as well! The pebbles were getting to me in that cold weather! Staying the night in Bournemouth was great, there are a lot of bed and breakfast' to chose from and I stayed in a quaint cottage near Boscombe. Then from Bournemouth it was a short journey to the New Forest - which as an area is bigger than I imagined!
Stonehenge and Salisbury were next. Amazing to think some ancients Druids put those stones together
Quick Tips:
Rental car to get out of the big smoke. London is an awesome city but there is so much more to see in England.
holiday autos comes highly recommended - just try not to pick up in central london or an airport as there are extra charges. Booking in advance also helps!
Do not pre-book a B&B along the south coast. There is such a variety and websites can be misleading.
Best Way To Get Around:
www.holidayautos.com and chose US as your country of residence. Not one bad experience yet! Alamo and Hertz are also very good (and holiday autos also use these as suppliers).
In central London the buses are very frequent, very cheap and somewhat picturesque as you travel arounf the City.
The tube is always an experience!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Smog, crowds of people down Oxford Street, getting pushed from pillar to post on the Tube, red Double Deckers chugging past...some of the things you hate to love about London. Without them it just wouldn't be the same city...good thing or bad thing? Personally that would be a bad thing
But there is so much to do a short distance out of the city - all within a 2 hour drive. Hop in a rental car (outside the congestion zone!), down the motorway and away you go.
My plan of action: get a train or tube into Richmond, spend a few hours walking in Richmond park and maybe trying to get a visitors ticket to Twickenham. This all went to plan apart from the Twickenham part - it was closed! So I decided to find out if there were any rental car outlets in the area. I'd booked with holiday autos previously so I went to an internet cafe and hooked them up. After a quick email they called me up and booked me a car from Kingston, a short train journey away. Paid over the phone, picked up the car and off I went (luckily my US credit card provider covered me for the insurance!).
In my head I planned a kinda rectangular two/three day route taking me down to the coast, along to the New Forest and back up to London via Stonehenge.
With time against me I decided not to visit Brighton, with it's beautiful pier and pebble beach. Instead I went to a small beach town called South Sea, just outside Portsmouth. There's not much to see or do here, apart from the amusment arcades and a nice park, but it's so relaxing watching the hovercraft come and go on it's voyage to France - which you can see the coastline of on a clear day, which I managed to get! Then I drove along to Portsmouth with its Gunwhalf shopping area and awesome marina. The 15th century ship, The Mary Rose, is still docked there - you can actually get tickets to go on board as well.
My next step was to drive along to Southampton, but I heard that Bournemouth was much more scenic - with a sandy beach as well! The pebbles were getting to me in that cold weather! Staying the night in Bournemouth was great, there are a lot of bed and breakfast' to chose from and I stayed in a quaint cottage near Boscombe. Then from Bournemouth it was a short journey to the New Forest - which as an area is bigger than I imagined!
Stonehenge and Salisbury were next. Amazing to think some ancients Druids put those stones together
Quick Tips:
Rental car to get out of the big smoke. London is an awesome city but there is so much more to see in England.
holiday autos comes highly recommended - just try not to pick up in central london or an airport as there are extra charges. Booking in advance also helps!
Do not pre-book a B&B along the south coast. There is such a variety and websites can be misleading.
Best Way To Get Around:
www.holidayautos.com and chose US as your country of residence. Not one bad experience yet! Alamo and Hertz are also very good (and holiday autos also use these as suppliers).
In central London the buses are very frequent, very cheap and somewhat picturesque as you travel arounf the City.
The tube is always an experience!
Apr 13th, 2011, 02:59 AM
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It's s shame to spoil such an enthusiastic and positive report, but that wasn't France you could sea from Southsea beach. It was the Isle of Wight, part of England. It is served by hovercraft, car ferry and passenger catamaran. There are also ferries from Portsmouth to France, but they are much bigger ships, and the journey takes several hours.
At Portsmouth, you can visit Nelson's flagship HMS Victory and also HMS Warrior, the largest warship in the world when it was built in the 1860s. The Mary Rose is early 16th century, and although there is quite a bit remaining, it is not something you can board. It is currently closed until 2012.
The London congestion charge is £10, but there is no charge on weekends, public holidays, between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day inclusive, or between 18:00 and 07:00. You therefore have to decide if it is worth travelling out of the city to pick up a rental car. Many people find it challenging to drive in the centre of London, and it helps to know where you are going, and to understand things like bus lanes and pedestrianised streets.
At Portsmouth, you can visit Nelson's flagship HMS Victory and also HMS Warrior, the largest warship in the world when it was built in the 1860s. The Mary Rose is early 16th century, and although there is quite a bit remaining, it is not something you can board. It is currently closed until 2012.
The London congestion charge is £10, but there is no charge on weekends, public holidays, between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day inclusive, or between 18:00 and 07:00. You therefore have to decide if it is worth travelling out of the city to pick up a rental car. Many people find it challenging to drive in the centre of London, and it helps to know where you are going, and to understand things like bus lanes and pedestrianised streets.
Apr 21st, 2011, 03:28 AM
#7
I liked the enthusiastic style, but it is a little distorting. Southsea/Portsmouth is effectively one unit. It is difficult to know where one begins and the other ends (The main railway station is called Portsmouth and Southsea). Your report makes them appear separate and the need to drive between them.
As far as "not much to do" - again tricky, as it depends how you classify Southsea. Certainly Southsea castle and the other Tudor age walls and fortifications along the coast, as well as the D Day / Royal Marine museums are great if you are a military history buff.
As far as "not much to do" - again tricky, as it depends how you classify Southsea. Certainly Southsea castle and the other Tudor age walls and fortifications along the coast, as well as the D Day / Royal Marine museums are great if you are a military history buff.
Apr 21st, 2011, 06:28 AM
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Hi willit, thanks for your reply.
I found Southsea (apologies for mispell before) easier to get to the main area of Portsmouth by car rather than public transport.
And a schoolboy error for mixing the Isle of Wight with France - quite embarrassed about that one!
I found Southsea (apologies for mispell before) easier to get to the main area of Portsmouth by car rather than public transport.
And a schoolboy error for mixing the Isle of Wight with France - quite embarrassed about that one!
Apr 21st, 2011, 07:34 AM
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"And a schoolboy error for mixing the Isle of Wight with France - quite embarrassed about that one!"
Did have to chuckle at that BUT it's not as bad as an American tourist who engaged me in conversation on Southsea pier to express his disgust that the British government would have allowed oil rigs to be moored in the Solent between Southsea and the Isle of Wight, spoiling the view! What he was actually referring to was the Solent sea forts built by Lord Palmerston in the mid 1800's to counter threats of invasion by the French:
http://www.freshegg.com/blog/wp-cont...t_sea_fort.jpg
Did have to chuckle at that BUT it's not as bad as an American tourist who engaged me in conversation on Southsea pier to express his disgust that the British government would have allowed oil rigs to be moored in the Solent between Southsea and the Isle of Wight, spoiling the view! What he was actually referring to was the Solent sea forts built by Lord Palmerston in the mid 1800's to counter threats of invasion by the French:
http://www.freshegg.com/blog/wp-cont...t_sea_fort.jpg
Apr 21st, 2011, 10:41 AM
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<i>I think the last time anyone encountered smog in London, it really was called Londinium. </i>
Maybe not on the scale of the 1930's, but....http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...aster-break.do
Maybe not on the scale of the 1930's, but....http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...aster-break.do
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