Shilpi

Hi!

I finally made it to my first UK trip....it was one of the best vacations I ever had!And I could not have done half the planning without help from you all.Posting my report for the same.

May 5-Day 1 Catching up with friends

We took the 11:50 flight from Mumbai to London. Landed in Heathrow at 7:00p.m after a long 9-hour flight as the flight got delayed while take off. British Airways was OK…. OK services and OK food. But nothing really mattered much because my Hubby (Shadab) and I were super excited about finally going for this trip (we had been planning it for almost 4 months now). Our friend Pawan picked us up at the airport (stepping out of Heathrow into the cool breeze of a May evening was a feeling I will remember for a long time…it was almost 8:00p.m. and still there was sunlight (I belong to India where the sun invariably sets around 6-7p.m. through out the year…we loved the fact that we had sunsets in such late evenings here and that there was bright sunrise again early morning!)

Did no sight seeing on that day…. just drove to Middlesex where my friend stays: was meeting his wife for the first time…spent time catching up. Had lovely food at home and slept early.

It was slightly drizzling but the temperature was OK.

Shilpi

May 6-Day 2 Windsor Castle day

We realized what jetlagged really means…. we both woke up at 4:30 in the morning because in India it was around 9:00a.m. which was extremely late for us even by Saturday morning standards!

We went to Windsor Castle today. Saw the beautiful Thames river on the way and learnt that a lot of swans there are owned by the queen. We couldn’t see the tags, but apparently told that all of them have a number!

We spent some time shopping around the area, had lunch (finally had the famous fish and chips. …which for the two of us cost around 20£…loved the scampi and decided to have as much of it as possible while there) .

After the food we went to Windsor Castle. The ticket to the Castle cost us 13.5 £.This is one of the world’s oldest residential castle. The queen was there, as the flag was on, and also there was some tea party going on. As visitors we could see that only from the far. We captured some pictures of the same.

At the entrance of the castle, we were handed over the audio tour instrument. It was new for us as have never seen that in India (it is much cheaper here to get a human-guide) .This is like a small, flat baseball bat, which has a dial pad sort of a gadget as well as a small speaker at the top. You can press buttons, depending upon the room or section you are in, and once you press the green button, audio commentary starts.


The castle itself gives you a breathtaking view. Obviously so well maintained, it offers you beautiful sight of London city from that height. There was along queue for Queen Mary’s Doll House (there were placards at a fixed distance in the queue, which indicated the time you will take to enter the Doll House from that point in the queue) , and so we decided to go to the State Apartments and the Drawing Gallery. This is a big section and we would have gone through atleast 28 rooms and big halls. You see queen’s bedroom, kings drawing room, where he would take guests, the Waterloo room. One of the best part were the paintings, from big names as Benini, Van Dyke etc. Also there were some rooms, where the ceilings had been painted beautifully.

Neither Shadab nor me are much into history / art etc. but we were thoroughly impressed by what we saw. Magnificent is the word to describe the whole experience.

There was hardly any sun that day…but not too cold.

Shilpi

May 7-Day 3 Central London Day-The sultan’s and the elephant


Fortunately it was a Sunday and we had our friends with us to show central London and Maggi insisted that we see THE SULTAN’S ELEPHANT.We had no clue how the day would be but it turned out to be one of the best parts of the trip.

The Sultan's Elephant is an amazing French street theatre which came to London that weekend. We spent about three hours chasing a giant girl (the biggest puppet I have ever seen …..you need to see it to believe it) and an elephant that spouts water around the streets of Westminster. There were literally hundreds of thousands of people out to watch the girl and elephant play, and no one went home without a smile on their face!The story is of a sultan who is tormented by his dreams of a time-travelling girl. He asks an engineer to contruct a time-travelling elephant in a quest to find her...
We got to see maximum crowd on any one day in London city that day.

We had some time before the elephant came to Picadilly and we went to Covent Garden area, and walked through Trafalgar Square, Leicester Garden Square, Piccadily circus. Little did we know then, that we would like this area so much, that we will end up turning here almost everyday that we were in London.

We had food at one of the restaurants at Covent Garden. I wanted to have jacket potatoes and we did get them here, but the pasta was cold and not great. Four of us would have spent around 22 £ on this.

In the evening we went to a Spanish place where one of our friends was playing guitar.It was my first time at a Spanish place….and it was extremely aesthetically done up place….enjoyed every bit of it.Met rest of Pawan’s friends.


May 8-Day 4 Buckingham,Parliament,Big Ben,Westminster and finally CG

We left home in the morning at 11.30am. This was the first day, where we decided to go on our own. We bought bus ticket, which was 1.50 £ per person. We reached Greenford station, from there we bought a Travel Card for 6.80 £ (great value for money…unlimited travel on train/tube/bus for the day).

But before I describe the day, I should mention the lovely breakfast that we used to have at home. We used to have croissants and crumpets with butter and cheese. And croissants once heated in oven for sometime, become real crunchy. That used to be the best start of the day with a good cup of tea.Pawan and Magi really took very good care.

We decided to start with Buckingum Palace and so started towards Central London. We first hit upon St.James Palace, which we confused for BP, however on asking few people, headed in the right direction. On the way we had some entertainment, where some Englishmen at James Palace were trying to catch a bird with hand nets and all, but that smart thing, after making them do some running and chasing, flew away.

We took lots of pictures of BP and the awesome flowers around and then started walking again towards the Big Ben / Westminster and the London parliament. Each captivated us with its history and magnificence .We realized how just loitering around that whole area is like touching history in all it’s glory.

We then took the tube towards our favourite part of London-Covent Garden. As I said earlier , somehow this place has its own charm and both of us quite mesmerized and so we would almost everyday turn up here. We had our lunch, and then walked towards the market to find the adapter for our Laptop power cord, so that we could connect it and write our report. Now this is again another bit which both of us enjoyed the most. We went from shop to shop, but would not find the right adaptor, and finally one of the big shops (Dickson’s) told us that we should be able to get this in the Tottenham electrical appliances market. In a new place it is not easy to hunt this way for a small item, but both us decided to hunt out this place and give it a try. So again started travel through the tube and we finally landed at Tottenham market, and after visiting 4 to 5 shops, lady luck smiled at us and we were able to find the adaptor. That was a victory for us as my hubby was dying to connect his laptop.

Since our pass was valid on train as well as buses, we decided to do some bus hopping just for fun. And general sightseeing. We ended in Harrods where we bought NOTHING but had a great time window-shopping. I observed there were many like us in the store that were just there to see Harrods-not many of us really reached the payment counter! Large sprawling mall, with very good and expensive stuff around. We were finally out of there by 8.30pm (it was broad daylight then) and then headed for home. This time again, we first took a bus to Covent Garden and then after loitering around there for half and hour we headed for home.By this day, we both were in love with London!

janisj

great report Shilpi! looking forward to the rest . . . . .

Shilpi

May 9-Day 5 Madame Tussaud

We were out of home by 10.30am. and reached Madame Tussauds Wax museum. The ticket was really expensive (25 £ per person) …we actually debated whether we wanted to enter once we reached the ticket counter!

We have nothing even close to this in India and we had both heard loads about it,hence we did not want to miss it. But the moment we enter inside, we realize it is much more hyped than what it actually is. Though some of the models were amazing like that of Lady Diana, the Queen,Einstein etc, some like Mahatama Gandhi, Amitabh Bachchan were really badly done.The worst thing is it gets so cramped with so many people inside, that you can’t even get yourself pictured along with the celebrities. Not to take away credit for the work put up there, but if they did so much, they should have ensured that that at least the wax statues did not shine when one would get himself or herself clicked, standing next to them. As I said the fact that the place gets cramped with so many people at a time as well as the statues give a glare when flash falls on them, these put together, take away the charm of getting yourself photographed with the World’s who’s who. The Chambers are completely overhyped and more amusing than scary. Cable car show, taking you through London over the years is good, but all in all nothing very impressive.

The best part is Madame Tussaud’s unassuming statue, which must be missed by 80% of the visitors.

Once through with Museum, we had aquick burger lunch outside the museum (actually it was very good, given that not very expensive, 2.5quids, and completely serving the purpose of a light meal) and we headed to see the Waterloo Bridge and London Bridge, and as usual while returning, made our way through Covent Garden and Piccadilly Square.

Since we were towards home in good time, we also dropped by at the nearby Tesco and picked up a few things. We reached home early and had a good fun time with Pawan and Magi- we did barbeque for dinner as it was a sunny day-we loved it.The lamb chops we made were the best ever! My hubby is so in love with them that we mention it everytime we mention the trip.

May 10-Day 6 Hampton Court Day and of course CG!

We had initially planned to go to Cardiff today….but decided to be lazy in the morning and thus spent time around London .Pawan dropped us at Hampton Court (it is close to his workplace) .This was a place I had not read about before my trip and we were pleasantly surprised ! we were not in a hurry and leasurly spent the whole morning walking around the place.

Basically Henry the VIII stayed in this palace, but this was constructed by his chief minister for himself. After construction it turned out so well, that the chief minister, who was also very close to Henry the VIIIth (later on power got to his head and lost favours with the king), decided to gift it to the king. We went through an audio guided tour of the property and immediately our memory of what ever we had read in the history books was coming to the fore front. There were some lovely wall and ceiling paintings, some tapestries, with golden threads used in them, in short complete display of splendour. While the combined ticket for the Royal Garden, the Court and the Maze was 11 £ per person, it was definitely worth it.

Royal Gardens stretches were beautifully and immaculately maintained. We sat there for sometime and took some snaps. We forgot carrying any tit-bits with us and actually felt hungry to see some school groups open their lunch boxes. From there we headed towards the maze, which was interesting but we found it quite easy to crack and were through it in perhaps less than 10 minutes.

Our original plan was to go from there to Kew Gardens but we decided to chuck it and go to Central London again! Before I mention other things, I should state, that while deciding how to go to Kew Gardens, we had another lovely experience of the hospitable English people. This lady at the bus stand, was so eager to help us with the direction, that she was almost short of coming with us and ensuring that we get dropped at Kew Gardens. Another lady, on the other side of the bus stand, again with all the politeness and patience explained us the way by the rail, as well as by bus.

We finally reached Hampton Court station and bought the Travelcards for our onward journeys. And once again, we ended up landing at Covent Garden, where we had very good lunch (we ordered Chicken curry with rice and it was very good, and some Pasta). Actually both of us enjoyed sitting in the open on one of these streets, in London and while having our lunch, watching tourists, as well as entertainers. This was perhaps one of the reasons why both of us would immediately agree to come to Covent Garden everyday atleast once.

Today we sat there for a real long time, and I was very interested in watching one magician, who was doing some tricks and then getting money in appreciation of that (while not exactly begging, but this is there way of making money by doing some small tricks, you see very few people sitting on pavements sides with some placards and silently expecting you give them money, but again I repeat this is very rare).

On the way back we again went to Tesco and bought some stuff for our trip to Edinburgh the next day. Basically we wanted to run this trip as economically as possible, and we decided to pick up some cheese, biscuits, dalmoths, ready to eat noodles etc, so that wherever possible we can save somewhere on eating-out, which along with sight seeing is fairly expensive.


Leaving for Scotland.....

noe847

I am enjoying your trip report, Shilpi. It makes me re-live our time in London, but with better weather and more daylight (we went in March)! The Sultan's Elephant sounds like great fun. I am interested in your descriptions of Hampton Court and Windsor Castle, as we have not yet been to either.

Looking forward to reading about Scotland!

JudyC

Thank you for sharing the report, enjoyed it very much.

Shilpi

May 11-Day 7 Reaching Edinburgh


We took bmi from Heathrow to Edinburgh on 11 after noon. Had booked on the net in advance and got 54 £ including taxes for both. We were greated at the airport by 2 model cows…pink and purple and that was the beginning of many many more that we saw in that lovely city. Extremely cute.

Our first challenge was to find a cheap way of reaching our hotel, Radisson SAS. We picked up whatever literature that was available inside the airport at various helpdesks, asked as many people as we could ask, and the option told to us was a 18 to 20 £ taxi solution. Now this was quite expensive, and we were sure there had to be a cheaper option. As we come out of the airport, we saw Airlink (one of the bus company in Edinburgh) buses. This turned out to be quite cheap and for 6£ we were dropped close to our hotel (last bus stop was Wembley Bridge). It was a very pleasant, 5 minute walk from there to our hotel. We reached hotel by 4pm in the evening. Like most of you had recommended- it was definitely a good place to stay.

After taking rest for sometime, we went out for sightseeing to the nearby places. The best part is you can make your trip as cheap or expensive as you want it to be. First thing we did is pick up the stuff for breakfast from the nearby shops (we had got a pretty good rate from Radisson, this was 80£ per day against the rack rate of 140£ pd, however it did not include breakfast, and so the shopping for the in-room, cheap, on-our-own breakfast). Also the taste of barbeque lamb, was still in my mouth and so we wanted to have that once again. We looked for Indian food restaurants and found a lot of them on the Internet (I forgot to mention, we had free wi-fi internet connection available from the hotel) as well as in the hotel magazine. Finally we zeroed in on Khushi, on Potterrow road, which was close by to our hotel, at a walking distance. We ordered roasted lamb, Dal Makhani, and allo gobhi adraki and two pepsi. This complete thing cost us 23£ (now this is not cheap, considering this translates into 1600/-, but who said selling Indian food is loss making business in UK).

We enjoyed the taste of Indian food after a week away from home. The best part was again the fact that when we walked out of Khushi’s at 9.30pm, there was still enough daylight outside. By the time we finished our food and hit the open road again, it was really breezy outside No one could have guessed, it was 23 Cent hot in the afternoon. Like Magi always says, UK at time sees and shows all four seasons in a day.

We returned to our rooms by 10pm, did a bit of internet and crashed.

Shilpi

May 12-Day 8 Edinburgh city – nice old Lady – awesome bus ride

My hubby hates waking up late and we woke up at 9:00a.m.! There was broad day light outside. We tried to hurry up with our shit-shave and –shower and get out of the hotel ASAP. First thing we did, was hit for the bus and find out about the Day ticket. We paid 2.3£ per ticket and that meant we would travel unlimited on any of the Lothan’s buses for the full day. We took this bus from Weverly St stop and move towards the airport.

While sitting in the bus, we were looking at the map and trying to figure out the roads and the places, and that’s when this nice, old lady from our back seat asked us, incase we needed any help. She must have been wondering if we were lost and were trying to make out something from the maps. Who says warmth is only in India (or for that matter in our native countries only)! We decided to get down at the stop opposite the Zoo, and walk into one of the B&B . The first one only, turned to to be quite decent. For 25£ per person we would get a very good room with double bed. Only drawback was that there was only one bathroom to be shared between 4 rooms.
Saw some more, but they were costing more or less the same. We just wanted to see what B&Bs are like as neither of us had stayed in a B&B before.

Once done, we took the bus towards the hotel and went for lunch at a restaurant on High Street. We wanted to sit out in the sun and have a long meal, and this is exactly what we did. We had chicken curry (no way close to what I had in mind, but not bad) and chicken wrap. Our bill came to 20£. We left from there, walked to Radisson, got fresh and left. This time we sat in a bus in the opposite direction and decided to go along with it and do some sightseeing.

Now this turned out to be a long but enjoyable ride. It was raining , so we just sat in the bus and enjoyed the view. We were on the bus for almost 2 hours and saw a lot of Edinburgh and outskirts!

While returning on the way back we grabbed some stuff for breakfast next day as well as some desserts and cold drinks. It cost us 7£ at Tesco. For dinner that day, we decided to finish the cup noodles that we were carrying with us from London. This city is truly a city of revelers….I must have got up atleast twice at night and everytime I peeped out of the window, there was a big crowd of people on the streets, completely drunk and making merry. Iam talking about as late (or early) as 2am and 3am in the morning.

May 13-Day 9 Edinburgh castle and Hollyrood day

We got up early, and left to see the Edinburgh Castle at 9.30am. There was a big queue, and our turn came after some 45 min (good weather made the wait less painful). We spent almost two hours inside the castle. Took some nice pictures of the city from that height and then saw the museum. This museum was all about the fighting spirit of the Scotts, how they became an integral part of the British Army, role played by them during the World wars. Lots of war related paraphernalia was at display. We got to see and hear the 1’ O Clock Gun firing, and some light snacks. Later on climbed to the top of the castle and did a tour of the Prisoner of War Galleries.

From there we stopped on the way at Camera Obscura and the Kilt Factory, and then walked down to meet Pawan and Magi (who drove from London to join us this morning )at the restaurant for lunch. We all had interesting burgers at Wannaburger and paid approx 35£. After lunch we decided to go to Holyrood Palace, and did the climb-up for the Arthur Seat point.

This was a lovely walk… we went up to a high point then came down and then again walked up tow another peak. None of us were actually prepared for the stiff climb and after a certain distance, our shoes and energy began to give up. But this was one great walk that we did. And when we were through with the walk, we four had a great time at the foothill. We rolled on the grass, took crazy pictures (we even clicked our hands feet etc.etc.!) Walked back tired from there to our hotels and had tea .

We decided to go to OCEAN TERMINAL in the evening for dinner and MI-III. We had our dinner at one of the restaurant in the complex. Loved the movie….got movie was over by 1am in the morning and we drove back to our hotel. On the way no one could have said it was past midnight, given the crowd of weekend revelers on the streets (I thought Mumbai had a great night life, Edinburgh was a surprise!)

The one thing that we could not do in Edinburgh is the many Ghost Walks they advertise all over the place…. my hubby really enjoys these kinda things and am always too scared. Thankfully we did not have the time!

Shilpi

May 14-Day 10 Driving through Lake District to Barnsley

We left Edinburgh at around 11:00 to drive to my maternal Aunt’s place in Barnsley. Pawan and Magi insisted on dropping us all the way to their place and that was really sweet of them…it saved us the inconvenience of hunting for transport!

We drove through lake district and stopped by at some places….saw Windmere etc….had a lovely lunch (Fell in love with salads in UK) at Windmere .Had heard a lot about Lake District and had planned to visit the same when in UK next….but whatevr little I saw of it, was not that cool.It was raining though out and I found it gloomy and depressing!maybe I was there at the wrong time.

We reached Barnsley around 5:30. Pawan had this cool software called TOMTOM which helps him navigate and directs to the address he has entered (which in this case was my Aunt’s) and it has a voice which keeps directing…..it was really cool.

Their house is really beautiful….very big (3 bedrooms/1 study…kinda a duplex) and has a very beautiful kitchen…and we had great home made dinner… went to sleep early as we were tired with all the driving from Edinburgh.

May 15-Day 11 York day—York Minster,York Museum

My Uncle drove us from Barnsley to YORK in the morning….the weather was OK to start with but started drizzling around noon….and was not much fun anymore. But YORK was beautiful.We started with the Clifford’s Tower (would advise everyone to see it from outside and not pay the £3 entry…there is absolutely nothing worth seeing from the top (not even a view because you can hardly see much).

We walked to the YORK CASTLE MUSEUM.Though we are both not much into museums, we loved this one. It had interesting displays of everyday items and recreations of a Victorian Street, shops, police station, school etc.It was definitely worth the £6 entry fee.

Walking to JORVIK, we liked the recreation of 10th century Viking city though we both thought it was too short a tour .And then we went to see the best part of my York tour-The York Minster.

The beautiful stained-glass windows (imagine 128 of them! ) are the best I have ever seen….we were fortunate to get Wendy as our guide who was not only updating us on all the history related to this Cathedral but also filled us with anecdotes. We had to pay £5 entry fee but were free to tke as many pictures as we wanted to….and we took loads!

We were running out of time and had to leave YORK for Sheffield to collect tickets for our travel to London the next day .We spent some time driving around and did little shopping in Barnsley…bought the garlic press and coasters from a local store.We reached home around 7:00p.m.

My Aunt made a quick and good dinner including ‘mangshor jhol” and “aaloor torkari “ for us after coming back from school…we all enjoyed the food and then watched some TV and chatted.

May 16-Day 12 Back to London

We got up around 7:30….it was bright and sunny outside….wish I could stay back and visit Dales….but I had a 11:27 train to London….so we left for Sheffield. This was our first journey in an intercity in Europe and it was really cool.

Reaching London at Waterloo, we decided to visit the British Museum before reaching home.Once inside, we realized we could do justice to the place in such a short time.Did a short tour and decided to come back later in our next trip.

Having been away for London for 6 days, we had to go to Covent Garden before calling it a day! Loitered around that area for sometime…but we were both very tired and also had our backpacks tiring us further…. so we decided to head home.Pawan and my hubby did their barbeque ritual….and enjoyed the dinner.


May 17-Day 13 Last Day in London

We had no specific plans for the day…and decided to go souvenir hunting. Went to central London but were disappointed as it was raining and our mobility was restricted.

We then decided to take the train to Kingston to check out a couple of malls .It was an interesting journey as we took the tube, train and bus!Did not really shop much except some interesting games for the kids in the family from the Learning Center.

Pawan picked us up from one of the malls and we reached home early.We just did not want to get wet anymore and thus didn’t do much.

Wish it was Sunny that day.

May 18-Day 14 Flight back home!

Had a 10:00a.m. flite home so we just woke up early, got ready, said byes and took our flight.

Must say that the service and food in BA was much better this time-saw some cool movies-cool ending to a perfect holiday.

Shilpi

I have uploaded some trip pics at yahoo...

www.photos.yahoo.com/withshilpi

noe847

Enjoyed the report and the pictures. It really looks like you guys had fun. Amazing how much the weather affects our experience of a place. Thanks for sharing your adventures.

Shilpi

Thanks noe847....glad you liked the report......I too wish we didn't get so much rain....but to be fair,we enjoyed the rain too!

SandyBrit

Shilpi - I started your interesting trip report this morning before work and just finished this evening.

I especially enjoyed the pictures of the beautiful flowers.

I liked your little tips on how you saved money at breakfast etc.

A website we have used often for B&B's is www.smoothhound.co.uk - you can see pictures of what is being offered. We always get ensuite which means you do have a private bathroom. You also get a lovely breakfast to start the day. B&B's can be very cheap (shared bathroom) to quite expensive ones. We nearly always choose B&B's to a hotel.

You were very lucky to have such good friends to visit and they made you very welcome.

Thank you for sharing your holiday and photos.

Sandy

Shilpi

Sandy-Glad you enjoyed the report and the pics...

Thanks for the link on B&B....looks useful....will definitely try the next time we are holidaying there....

Already dreaming about next holiday ....11 months to go!

sheila

Shilpi, I have just read your Edinburgh bits. I love the way you described everything and am so pleased you liked it.

Do come back

Suelynne

Thank you Shilpi for such a lovely report and photos - wonderful flowers! It brought back memories of my first trip to UK at 21. [Born there but left for Australia as a baby]. Now you've whetted my appetite for my third trip there - many years later!

Ruth

What a great report, Shilpi! Thank you!

Josser

Nice report.

Those late evenings are wonderful, but I don't envy British Muslims when Ramadan falls in June.
It's a very long fast.

If there are Muslims in Iceland, I wonder how they manage.

Shilpi

Sheila,thanks for invitng us back to Edinburgh....who knows....we might land up there again soon...it's like magicland for me...full of castles...

Suelynn, we fell in love with UK...am sure you will enjoy your third trip too!

Josser, my hubby is a Muslim...though is more of an atheist...but surprisingly, we too discussed the fasting bit as you mentioned...it must be tough for those people!

And I want to say again that I am thankfull to all the posters at Fodors who have patiently responded to my innumerable queries and whose threads have inspired me to travel to UK...