Hi, I want to thank Ben Haines and also many others who took time w/ my questions before our recent trip to England & Scotland. Ben was helpful about Regents Park Open Air Theater, where we saw a wonderful production of Much Ado about Nothing. We opted for the prepared picnic, though, and wished we'd taken Ben's advice and brought our own! But we didn't have enough time. We were also in London during the heat wave when it hit 91 degrees F, so we didn't have the right clothes, but no one could have helped us with that! We loved the Tower of London tour, climbed all the way to top of St. Paul's for the wonderful view, enjoyed the British Museum. If I had it to do over, I'd choose a different "London Walks" tour than the one I picked. It was too much of an overview - advertised as a Sun. at 10 a.m. walk from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace. I got in touch w/ them directly and they said we'd be there for Changing of the Guard, but that was not true. I also did not understand that the tour does not allow time to enter ANY of these places, but only to view from outside. <BR>We also went to Salisbury, Stonehenge (perfect to get there in late afternoon!), and Bath. Then to Lake District (Windermere), then Glasgow, then Highlands and Edinburgh! We rented via EuroCar out of Heathrow as we left London (did not attempt to drive in the city), and found that even though our rental agreement specified air conditioning, it does not exist in large van rentals (we had a 12 person van!). This only mattered in the early, heat wave days! <BR>I can recommend great (but generally expensive!) restaurants in Glasgow, Bath, Edinburgh, Windemere, etc.! We never had a bad meal, defying the sterotype we'd heard about British food. <BR>One other area I researched extensively, but made a mistake, was to buy the tube passes through BritRail. I was thrilled when they seemed to arrive quickly, but they were only "vouchers", not the passes themselves, and could only be exchanged at a limited number of tube stations, i.e. had to stop at Victoria Station unnecessarily the first day in order to start using them. It would have been cheaper, especially since we were a family traveling all together, and on a weekend, to have bought daily passes, one for Sat. and one for Sunday! But it was convenient once we got them in hand. <BR>Any help I can offer, I'll try! Thanks to everyone who helped us! <BR>Donna

Donna: <BR>We were there too during the heat wave...our travel buddies were flying back to Martha's Vineyard on the way home and so had all their beach clothes with them--we on the other hand, had sweaters, pants and long sleeves shirts. <BR> <BR>Just curious where you ate in Bath. We ate at Rajpoot, Moon & Sixpence, Cat & Fiddle Pub, some cute cafe at the end of the bridge street.....I'd love to hear where you ate, since I have a friend who will probably be going there too. <BR> <BR>We had great food throughout Britain and were pleasantly surprised! I'd go back in a second.... <BR> <BR>Michele

What clothing to pack for London next week? Does the weather dictate slacks and sweaters and is theater and dinner dress more formal? I dont want to lug extra clothing along if it is not needed. Average temp. seems to to be high 70's in late July. And do the evening tend to be much cooler? <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>

I just returned from London. Their summer is quite cool at this time. I did not have enough long sleeved shirts/tops and long pants. I brought a sundress and a sweater and linen shorts. Check a weather website - maybe it has warmed up, but all the Londoners were talking about how cool their summer has been. About 70 degrees F during some days. <BR> <BR>But, frankly, the cool weather (with occasional rain) was nice for 'touring', better than hot and perspiring in my opinion.

You do not have to dress up for the theatre, though of course many people do. We were comfortable going to the theatre dressed in whatever we had been wearing all day. We originally thought we would go back to our hotel to relax for an hour and change our clothes before going to a play (which we did three nights out of our five in London). We always decided that taking a 10-15 minute tube ride and then a 5 minute walk (We were near the Marble Arch) in order to rest for a brief time, then to repeat the walk and the tube ride, wasn't worth it. Oh yes--we had to eat. We were so busy seeing things we kept forgetting that. So we would find a restaurant, or sometimes a Pret a Manger and a bench, and rest for an hour there instead of at the hotel. Maybe someday my husband and I will take a vacation where we don't try to pack so much into one day--maybe when we're older. We're in our early 60s now. <BR> <BR>Regarding clothing and weather: We were in London the last week of May. High temperature most days was in the 60s and it was sunny (except when it rained) and felt warm to me. The three in our group took ONE jacket each, plus a variety of long and short sleeve tops (long pants only). Most days I wore a short sleeve top and carried a long sleeve shirt--and I was comfortable except for ONE night coming home from the theatre when I was a little chilly. I can't believe all these people talking about jackets and sweaters for the summer. Take ONE. You might need it. We also went to York, the lake district and Paris--I was fine there too.

Dear Jeff Lippman: For what it's worth, I just heard from my sister who resides in Lon- don that it has been quite cool there--enough for her to wish she could turn on her heat (VERY unusual!). Just remember the cardinal rule for travel wardrobes: LAYER. That way you can add or subtract as the circumstances dictate <BR>Hope you have a lovely visit. Joan

Fodors <BR> <BR>The London day travel passes run from 9.30 am to midnight Monday to Friday, and all day at weekends and poublic holidays. The one-week passes have no time limit, but you need a passport photo to buy one. <BR> <BR>Please write if I can help further. Welcome to London <BR> <BR>Ben Haines <BR>