Trip Report – London, Devon and Somerset
Oct 27th, 2008, 10:05 AM
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Trip Report – London, Devon and Somerset
My husband and I have just returned from three weeks in England. Some of you may recall we were there two years ago for four months and we were excited about going back. Overall, it was a great trip although the daily doom and gloom economic news was a bit disheartening. It got so I dreaded turning on the news.
<b>Background</b>: Rick and I are in our fifties. I'm a retired teacher and public relations manager, my husband � who is supposed to be retired � works, on a fly-in fly-out basis, in northern Canada as a materials manager. We love to travel, especially to England, enjoy wine, movies, books, history and pubs.
I love museums, Rick tolerates them, we both love the countryside. I enjoy cities, Rick grits his teeth and trusts I'll find a parking space; he does the driving, I think best with a map in my hand. I'm the planner, he's the explorer; I suffer from a variety of annoying medical problems, he's the Energizer bunny.
<b>Itinerary</b>:
Day 1- Travelling
Day 2-6 � <b>London</b>
Day 6-13 � <b>Devon</b>
Day 13-20 � <b>Somerset</b>
Day 20-21 � <b>London</b>
We flew out of Calgary on Air Canada. Checked one bag, carried two others on the plane. It's shocking, considering modern-day travel, but flying was the least complicated part of our trip.
<b>Budget: $7,750 (Cdn.)</b> � works out to <b>$369 per day</b>. Broken down as follows:
<b>Accommodation</b>:
- Apartment London - $840 (for 4 days)
- Cottage in Devon - $746 (week)
- Cottage in Somerset - $600 (week)
- Hotel in London - $280
<b>Airfare</b> - $2500
<b>Car</b> rental - $400 for two weeks (could be more re: damage)
<b>Duty free</b> - $120
<b>Food and booze</b> - $920
<b>Gas</b> - $115 (for two weeks)
<b>Gifts</b> - $100
<b>Great British Heritage Pass</b> - $253 (15 days)
Great Houses <b>guidebooks</b> - $50
<b>Misc.</b> (newspapers, maps, postcards, postage, lottery tickets, internet, church donations, etc.) - $100
<b>Parking</b> - $50
<b>Pre-trip</b> expenses (taxi to and from airport, house-sitting) - $90
<b>Theatre</b> tickets - $160
<b>Train</b> tickets - $210 (London to Taunton return)
<b>Transportation</b> (ferries, boat trips, tube passes) - $215
We don't normally keep such a detailed list of expenses, but I'm giving a presentation on England at the local library in the next month and wanted to have accurate information on costs. The exchange rate was about 2:1.
<b>Next: The 'R' Word, Boozers and Suits, Dragging My Leg Across London</b>
<b>Background</b>: Rick and I are in our fifties. I'm a retired teacher and public relations manager, my husband � who is supposed to be retired � works, on a fly-in fly-out basis, in northern Canada as a materials manager. We love to travel, especially to England, enjoy wine, movies, books, history and pubs.
I love museums, Rick tolerates them, we both love the countryside. I enjoy cities, Rick grits his teeth and trusts I'll find a parking space; he does the driving, I think best with a map in my hand. I'm the planner, he's the explorer; I suffer from a variety of annoying medical problems, he's the Energizer bunny.
<b>Itinerary</b>:
Day 1- Travelling
Day 2-6 � <b>London</b>
Day 6-13 � <b>Devon</b>
Day 13-20 � <b>Somerset</b>
Day 20-21 � <b>London</b>
We flew out of Calgary on Air Canada. Checked one bag, carried two others on the plane. It's shocking, considering modern-day travel, but flying was the least complicated part of our trip.
<b>Budget: $7,750 (Cdn.)</b> � works out to <b>$369 per day</b>. Broken down as follows:
<b>Accommodation</b>:
- Apartment London - $840 (for 4 days)
- Cottage in Devon - $746 (week)
- Cottage in Somerset - $600 (week)
- Hotel in London - $280
<b>Airfare</b> - $2500
<b>Car</b> rental - $400 for two weeks (could be more re: damage)
<b>Duty free</b> - $120
<b>Food and booze</b> - $920
<b>Gas</b> - $115 (for two weeks)
<b>Gifts</b> - $100
<b>Great British Heritage Pass</b> - $253 (15 days)
Great Houses <b>guidebooks</b> - $50
<b>Misc.</b> (newspapers, maps, postcards, postage, lottery tickets, internet, church donations, etc.) - $100
<b>Parking</b> - $50
<b>Pre-trip</b> expenses (taxi to and from airport, house-sitting) - $90
<b>Theatre</b> tickets - $160
<b>Train</b> tickets - $210 (London to Taunton return)
<b>Transportation</b> (ferries, boat trips, tube passes) - $215
We don't normally keep such a detailed list of expenses, but I'm giving a presentation on England at the local library in the next month and wanted to have accurate information on costs. The exchange rate was about 2:1.
<b>Next: The 'R' Word, Boozers and Suits, Dragging My Leg Across London</b>
Oct 27th, 2008, 10:30 AM
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Hi rickmav - Looking forward to the rest. I'm leaving in 2 days for London... curious to see where you visit this time around.
I still remember your description of that awful hotel in London you stayed at last time. Hopefully the London apartment is better.
Your food budget is really low... $920 for 2 people for 3 weeks comes out to $44/day. Did you eat-in a lot?
I still remember your description of that awful hotel in London you stayed at last time. Hopefully the London apartment is better.
Your food budget is really low... $920 for 2 people for 3 weeks comes out to $44/day. Did you eat-in a lot?
Oct 27th, 2008, 10:41 AM
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Hi yk. Hope you have a great trip. Yup, we did eat in a lot. That and the cottages were our way of saving money. Spending almost $8000 in these times was kind of a scary proposition, so we cut corners where we could. But we still had some great meals out! Accommodation was much better this time in London, with some caveats.
Oct 27th, 2008, 12:09 PM
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rickmav, you said,
" I suffer from a variety of annoying medical problems"
May I use the above line? I get so tired of explaining my conditions; your's is the perfect phrase. I'm not dying from any of this, but I certainly "suffer from a variety of annoying medical problems."
And I'm looking forward to the rest of your report.
" I suffer from a variety of annoying medical problems"
May I use the above line? I get so tired of explaining my conditions; your's is the perfect phrase. I'm not dying from any of this, but I certainly "suffer from a variety of annoying medical problems."
And I'm looking forward to the rest of your report.
Oct 27th, 2008, 01:03 PM
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Love your writing style and am looking forward to more. I think you did an admirable job budgeting in staying for three whole weeks at a cost of about $5000 (not including airfare.) Hope the "could be more" automobile expense doesn't happen.
Oct 27th, 2008, 05:33 PM
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<b>The 'R' Word, Boozers and Suits, Dragging My Leg Across London</b>
I have decided that I am too old, cranky and arthritic to ever again take the tube into London, with luggage, from Heathrow. I know, it's cheaper than any of the other alternatives but there are some things that are no longer an adventure. Having done it more than a dozen times, I think I deserve something more seemly. And it doesn't help that I'm jet-lagged, I've lost all feeling in my right leg because of sciatica, and have booked an apartment that is not on the Piccadilly line. There is nothing less elegant than trying to manoeuvre luggage up an escalator.
By the time we emerge at Tower Hill tube station I am vibrating with irritation and my husband is keeping his distance. Of course, we take the long way round three city blocks before we find our apartment, stand and stare through the security door at the unhelpful porter until I remember that the apartment's owner has given me some kind of security code to punch in, and when I finally collapse on the apartment's bed I realize that the jack-hammering in my head is not a migraine but a construction site just outside our window. Welcome to London.
On our last trip, I booked the horrid Jesmond Dene B&B near King's Cross. On this trip I want something more spacious, with a proper room to watch English television (which my husband and I enjoy), and kitchen facilities to help our budget. The problem is we only plan to be in London for four nights so our apartment options are few (most book by the week).
Our choice is 1 Pepys Lane (www.vrbo.com/186892), a minute's walk (if you do it the right way round) from the Tower Hill tube station. The good news - the apartment is nicely proportioned, has a balcony, a large bathroom and is reasonable (£100 a night).
What the website photos don't show, however, are the negatives. The decor is worn and tired, the recommended pub doesn't serve meals after 5 p.m., there is no way a family could stay here (as it says on the website) and if you can see the river from the apartment (also stated on the website) you have to be one of the X-Men. And the construction next door starts at 7:00 a.m. (Thankfully, it finishes at 5 p.m.).
The location means we have to take the tube everywhere, but I knew that when I booked. What I didn't know was what a depressing place the area was going to be. We arrive the day the British banks collapse – and we are staying in the heart of British bank-land. My heart actually goes out to many of the people we pass on the street. In the days of dinosaurs, I worked in both the mining and oil sectors when the 'R' word hit – a Recession - and I recognize the look in their eyes.
I always think Londoners walk fast but they are manic this week. You hear the clip, clip of their heels, or their mumbled words on a cell phone, or smell their boozy breath (really) and have to get out of the way fast. In the area pubs, whether for lunch or dinner, I never see any of the 'suits' eat a meal. And in the amount of time it takes us to eat, each suit on average, consumes three pints. I don't know how many drinks they have before, or after. I've never seen that before.
In Canada, most corporations can fire an employee if they come back to work with booze on their breath. I know it's different in England, but I can't imagine any of these people actually doing any work after the amount of alcohol they consume. Maybe they're used to it, but as I say, I've never noticed it before.
After we settle in to our apartment, we decide to walk a bit, have some dinner, then go to bed early. That's our usual strategy to get over jetlag and it works for us.
(One note from the plane trip: I'm never able to sleep, I have an overwhelming feeling I have to be awake in case the pilot has a heart attack and I have to take over the controls – and, no, I don't know how to fly a plane. Over the summer I've started watching the 'Lost' television series, I didn't follow it when it first came out, and at some point when most of the people on the plane are sleeping, I look around at the ones left awake and realize that if the plane goes off course somewhere over Iceland, we are the ones who will form the nucleus of a new society. As I meet their eyes, I think to myself, we're in a lot of trouble.)
We loosely follow a walk I took off the internet - http://www.londontoolkit.com/0.00wal...wer_london.htm
We only do part of it (on the north side of the Thames) – it's exhausting lugging my sciatica-numbed leg along with us - although over the next few days, we manage to see most of the things mentioned. Some, of course, we've seen on previous trips.
The <b>Tower of London</b> is just a few minutes walk, it's such a magnificent building. Whether true or not, I always think of the story of Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth I) sitting stubbornly in the boat, refusing to go inside when she was brought to the Tower by her sister, Mary. An image that defines her in my imagination.
No line-ups to get into the Tower (this is a Monday afternoon), but since we've been before we head towards the riverfront, then turn and climb Fish Street Hill. Eventually we pass <b>The Monument</b>, erected as a memorial to the Great Fire of London. It's somewhat hard to get the whole effect, because three-quarters of it is shrouded in scaffolding, but the October sun reflecting off the gold flames on top makes it shimmer. Apparently, the height of the Monument is 205 feet because that's the same distance to the baker's premises in Pudding Lane where the fire started.
We pass by the Lloyds of London building and the Swiss RE building (known as the <b>'Gherkin'</b> – I won't say what my husband calls it). It's actually kind of strange to see the Gherkin from ground level since it fills up the window of our living room at the apartment. Both are interesting buildings. I'm not sure I like them, but we certainly see them a lot during the week as they feature in every news story about the economic crisis.
We stop at the <b>Leadenhall Market</b> to buy some wine and a hunk of cheese (from Cheese at Leadenhall) and look for a driving atlas for later in the week. I want to take a picture inside for our granddaughter who loves all things Harry Potter, but there's more scaffolding. The market appears as Diagon Alley in the Potter movies.
We start chatting with a nice man behind the counter in Oddbins and he asks where we are from. When we say Canada, he tells us his mother lives in Calgary and he visits her every year. He asks why we would come to England in October. I say because there are fewer crowds, it's cheaper, and the countryside should look beautiful with the autumn colours. He says how we could come here when we have all that beautiful scenery in Alberta. I'm not sure what to say.
To change the subject I ask him if the current economic situation has affected his business. As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I remember that the English aren't as eager to talk about financial things in the same way we North Americans are. He replies, coolly, that no, people still need wine. Chastened, I tell my husband to pick up another bottle.
On the way home, we stop for a pint at <b>Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese</b> (more marathon drinking going on), then pick up a tuna baguette and caesar salad from <b>E.A.T.</b> – a chain of sandwich shops - to take to the apartment. (I swore I would never eat caesar salad in England, because it seems to me one of those things that the English have introduced just to please North American tourists and was tainted for that reason – I know, I have far too much time on my hands to think about these kinds of things).
The food is actually quite good, or we are just jet-lagged and dopey. Having drunk the wine (we are getting into the 'last days of Rome mood'), we toddle off to bed to await the jackhammers in the morning.
<b>Next: Sutton Loo Two, a One-Sided Conversation with Virginia Woolf and Doom and Gloom at the Crutched Friar</b>
I have decided that I am too old, cranky and arthritic to ever again take the tube into London, with luggage, from Heathrow. I know, it's cheaper than any of the other alternatives but there are some things that are no longer an adventure. Having done it more than a dozen times, I think I deserve something more seemly. And it doesn't help that I'm jet-lagged, I've lost all feeling in my right leg because of sciatica, and have booked an apartment that is not on the Piccadilly line. There is nothing less elegant than trying to manoeuvre luggage up an escalator.
By the time we emerge at Tower Hill tube station I am vibrating with irritation and my husband is keeping his distance. Of course, we take the long way round three city blocks before we find our apartment, stand and stare through the security door at the unhelpful porter until I remember that the apartment's owner has given me some kind of security code to punch in, and when I finally collapse on the apartment's bed I realize that the jack-hammering in my head is not a migraine but a construction site just outside our window. Welcome to London.
On our last trip, I booked the horrid Jesmond Dene B&B near King's Cross. On this trip I want something more spacious, with a proper room to watch English television (which my husband and I enjoy), and kitchen facilities to help our budget. The problem is we only plan to be in London for four nights so our apartment options are few (most book by the week).
Our choice is 1 Pepys Lane (www.vrbo.com/186892), a minute's walk (if you do it the right way round) from the Tower Hill tube station. The good news - the apartment is nicely proportioned, has a balcony, a large bathroom and is reasonable (£100 a night).
What the website photos don't show, however, are the negatives. The decor is worn and tired, the recommended pub doesn't serve meals after 5 p.m., there is no way a family could stay here (as it says on the website) and if you can see the river from the apartment (also stated on the website) you have to be one of the X-Men. And the construction next door starts at 7:00 a.m. (Thankfully, it finishes at 5 p.m.).
The location means we have to take the tube everywhere, but I knew that when I booked. What I didn't know was what a depressing place the area was going to be. We arrive the day the British banks collapse – and we are staying in the heart of British bank-land. My heart actually goes out to many of the people we pass on the street. In the days of dinosaurs, I worked in both the mining and oil sectors when the 'R' word hit – a Recession - and I recognize the look in their eyes.
I always think Londoners walk fast but they are manic this week. You hear the clip, clip of their heels, or their mumbled words on a cell phone, or smell their boozy breath (really) and have to get out of the way fast. In the area pubs, whether for lunch or dinner, I never see any of the 'suits' eat a meal. And in the amount of time it takes us to eat, each suit on average, consumes three pints. I don't know how many drinks they have before, or after. I've never seen that before.
In Canada, most corporations can fire an employee if they come back to work with booze on their breath. I know it's different in England, but I can't imagine any of these people actually doing any work after the amount of alcohol they consume. Maybe they're used to it, but as I say, I've never noticed it before.
After we settle in to our apartment, we decide to walk a bit, have some dinner, then go to bed early. That's our usual strategy to get over jetlag and it works for us.
(One note from the plane trip: I'm never able to sleep, I have an overwhelming feeling I have to be awake in case the pilot has a heart attack and I have to take over the controls – and, no, I don't know how to fly a plane. Over the summer I've started watching the 'Lost' television series, I didn't follow it when it first came out, and at some point when most of the people on the plane are sleeping, I look around at the ones left awake and realize that if the plane goes off course somewhere over Iceland, we are the ones who will form the nucleus of a new society. As I meet their eyes, I think to myself, we're in a lot of trouble.)
We loosely follow a walk I took off the internet - http://www.londontoolkit.com/0.00wal...wer_london.htm
We only do part of it (on the north side of the Thames) – it's exhausting lugging my sciatica-numbed leg along with us - although over the next few days, we manage to see most of the things mentioned. Some, of course, we've seen on previous trips.
The <b>Tower of London</b> is just a few minutes walk, it's such a magnificent building. Whether true or not, I always think of the story of Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth I) sitting stubbornly in the boat, refusing to go inside when she was brought to the Tower by her sister, Mary. An image that defines her in my imagination.
No line-ups to get into the Tower (this is a Monday afternoon), but since we've been before we head towards the riverfront, then turn and climb Fish Street Hill. Eventually we pass <b>The Monument</b>, erected as a memorial to the Great Fire of London. It's somewhat hard to get the whole effect, because three-quarters of it is shrouded in scaffolding, but the October sun reflecting off the gold flames on top makes it shimmer. Apparently, the height of the Monument is 205 feet because that's the same distance to the baker's premises in Pudding Lane where the fire started.
We pass by the Lloyds of London building and the Swiss RE building (known as the <b>'Gherkin'</b> – I won't say what my husband calls it). It's actually kind of strange to see the Gherkin from ground level since it fills up the window of our living room at the apartment. Both are interesting buildings. I'm not sure I like them, but we certainly see them a lot during the week as they feature in every news story about the economic crisis.
We stop at the <b>Leadenhall Market</b> to buy some wine and a hunk of cheese (from Cheese at Leadenhall) and look for a driving atlas for later in the week. I want to take a picture inside for our granddaughter who loves all things Harry Potter, but there's more scaffolding. The market appears as Diagon Alley in the Potter movies.
We start chatting with a nice man behind the counter in Oddbins and he asks where we are from. When we say Canada, he tells us his mother lives in Calgary and he visits her every year. He asks why we would come to England in October. I say because there are fewer crowds, it's cheaper, and the countryside should look beautiful with the autumn colours. He says how we could come here when we have all that beautiful scenery in Alberta. I'm not sure what to say.
To change the subject I ask him if the current economic situation has affected his business. As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I remember that the English aren't as eager to talk about financial things in the same way we North Americans are. He replies, coolly, that no, people still need wine. Chastened, I tell my husband to pick up another bottle.
On the way home, we stop for a pint at <b>Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese</b> (more marathon drinking going on), then pick up a tuna baguette and caesar salad from <b>E.A.T.</b> – a chain of sandwich shops - to take to the apartment. (I swore I would never eat caesar salad in England, because it seems to me one of those things that the English have introduced just to please North American tourists and was tainted for that reason – I know, I have far too much time on my hands to think about these kinds of things).
The food is actually quite good, or we are just jet-lagged and dopey. Having drunk the wine (we are getting into the 'last days of Rome mood'), we toddle off to bed to await the jackhammers in the morning.
<b>Next: Sutton Loo Two, a One-Sided Conversation with Virginia Woolf and Doom and Gloom at the Crutched Friar</b>
Oct 27th, 2008, 05:54 PM
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Yay!
Heathrow to Tower Hill is really a trek. I understand why you didn't enjoy your tube ride. Too bad about this apartment, but I guess it's still better than Jesmond Hotel.
You're the second person this week to write about Leadenhall Market in a TR. I need to go visit it sometime... not sure if I have time this trip. Sounds like the scaffolding covered up lots of the Victorian architecture?
Heathrow to Tower Hill is really a trek. I understand why you didn't enjoy your tube ride. Too bad about this apartment, but I guess it's still better than Jesmond Hotel.
You're the second person this week to write about Leadenhall Market in a TR. I need to go visit it sometime... not sure if I have time this trip. Sounds like the scaffolding covered up lots of the Victorian architecture?
Oct 27th, 2008, 06:19 PM
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Yay! I really enjoy your writing style, rickmav, even though it seems your trip didn't get off to a fantastic start. PS: I herniated a disc a few years ago that gave me the same leg pain you had. Totally impressed that you carried on with the trip.
Oct 27th, 2008, 06:39 PM
#19
Great report (but you're an old pro 
)
Your observations will help me a lot. I've been in that neighborhood scores and scores of times - but have never actually stayed there. Next Spring I'm taking 8 ladies from my book club to the UK and the first week we'll be in flats in St Katherine's Dock.
I think this is the link to your walk http://www.londontoolkit.com/walks/p...wer_london.htm
)Your observations will help me a lot. I've been in that neighborhood scores and scores of times - but have never actually stayed there. Next Spring I'm taking 8 ladies from my book club to the UK and the first week we'll be in flats in St Katherine's Dock.
I think this is the link to your walk http://www.londontoolkit.com/walks/p...wer_london.htm
Oct 27th, 2008, 07:23 PM
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rickmav, Love your style! Your thoughts on the plane had me falling out of my chair. Having injured my knee and leg on a trip, I can certainly empathize with your leg issues and I, too, "suffer from a variety of annoying medical problems." Well-said. Looking forward to the rest of your report.
