My wonderful husband surprised me yesterday with a trip to England -- but, our departure date is only nine days away! So now I am doing some panic planning! Some questions: <BR>1) Do British Air flights land at Heathrow? <BR>2) We want to stay in the Shrewsbury area. Should we plan to take the train from London to Shrewsbury and rent a car there? If so, should we purchase a Britrail pass or just buy single tickets for travel back and forth from London? Can you give me web sites that give prices? <BR>3)Do you know web addresses for lodging, tourism, etc. that focus on Shropshire? <BR>4) My husband is ancestor-searching. Any tips for him? <BR>Thanks for helping calm my panic!

For BritRail info try www.raileurope.com. <BR>British Tourist Authority has a toll free NY and Chicago # they also have a web site. If you call you can get it from them. Great info on tourism and lodging in all areas. Did self-catering in Shropshire Sept. 99. <BR>Never flown BA, they do go to Gatwick though. Virgin Atlantic flies into both Heathrow and Gatwick.

British Airways fly into both Heathrow and Gatwick depends where you are flying from in the States. On balance more flights do go to Heathrow though. You can also get train info from thetrainline.com, be aware that there is still problems with the trains in the UK due to track maintenance and in some areas flooding, we have had a VERY wet winter! <BR>As for info on Shropshire try www.virtual-shropshire.co.uk lots of tourist and accomodation information. If you have the time do try and visit Ironbridge and Blist Hill museum well worth the journey. Another good site for accomodation info is www.theaa.co.uk. Enjoy this lovely part of England.

Sorry, meant to post with first reply. Good sites for husband to check out are www.ancestry.com and www.familysearch.com

Lucky you! Shropshire is beautiful. I would recommend getting a car -- Shropshire is lovely country for just tooling around. Depending on how long you're staying and what you prefer, you may want to try to get information from the Farm Holiday Bureau on the web (www.farm-holidays.co.uk) -- they have listings for Bed and Breakfast and rental cottages on farms throughout England. It's a chance to meet nice people, stay in some lovely and historic areas, and support rural folks with your tourist dollars as well.

Your plane tickets will tell you which airport you're flying into - if the code is LHR, it's Heathrow, if it's LGW, it's Gatwick.