spring visit to college students at UEA Norwich
 

Well, the college grads did well in their year in Berlin at Humboldt University, and the next college is University of East Anglia in Norwich. When we we visit them during spring break, we are considering a side trip as well to one of these possible countries ~ Scotland, Amsterdam, or Ireland. The kids are learning alot about the UK, but we are real amateurs. Crossing the Atlantic to Germany last spring was quite an adventure.
Any comments are quite welcome. A few of the regulars on this forum have already helped regarding websites to look for housing, the advisability of renting a car, etc.
I certainly appreciate reading all the wisdom and experience shared here.

Oh yes, so the question would be...what guidance might there be for choosing a side trip? Pros/Cons, special locations to head for?

East Anglia is a beautiful part of England and far less touristy than places like Cornwall or the Cotswolds.
I'd forget about going to Scotland or Ireland, but would explore the Norfolk coast and visit places in Suffolk like Lavenham, Southwold and Bury St. Edmunds

BN2KONA:

I agree with MissPrism lots to do locally. www.visiteastofengland.com is a good place to start your planning.

Is this your first visit to the U.K?
How long will you have?

Sandy

If you decide to visit Amsterdam, there are direct flights from Norwich Airport.

Even without an Amsterdam trip, flying into Norwich via Amsterdam can make a lot of sense. Both Heathrow and Gatwick are the wrong side of London for Norwich, Schipol is efficient at doing transfers, and there's no long treks through vast terminals and car parks at Norwich. (All this does depend on your starting point, of course!)

Once you're there, I second MissPrism's advice wholeheartedly.

Thank you MissPrism, SandyBrit, Heimdall, and owain...We appreciate your input and perspectives. We had been buidling up frequent flyer miles with United, so our travel points were a bit restricted. We are departing from California, taking Easter week to be in Norwich, when our critter sitter has more time to look after our dog, 2 cats, 3 tortoises and our fish aquarium. You can see it's not easy for us to get away...but we look forward to visiting our daughter and her husband in this part of the UK (yes, our first time there.) As they get settled, and find a place to live for the year, we will continue to look at the suggested areas of Norfolk and Suffolk, and the website...
They will have done lots of research, and will have gotten to some places themselves by time we get there for our visit. They did a tremendous job planning our daily activities in Berlin. I understand from all your comments how different this visit will be, and we will hope to enjoy all that we can do in our brief time there. This forum has such great input from the posters ~ the sharing of valuable time and experiences are priceless. Thank you.