Aerin

Hello everyone,

Just returned from my first trip abroad ? three weeks in the UK and Paris ? and wanted to thank everyone who shared valuable tips and helped me to fine-tune my itinerary. The highlight of the trip was my brother?s wedding in Dalhousie castle outside of Edinburgh, but I also visited York, London, Cornwall, Bath and Paris.

I have posted my hotel reviews on trip advisor, but I also wanted to review the tours I went on, as well as make few general observations:

After reading tons of posts about what to wear and not wear in Europe (Paris in particular) I have to say that I saw just about everything in Paris ? jeans, white tennis shoes, all different styles of clothes. Maybe this will help first-time travelers who are getting freaked out about the ?dress code? ? there isn?t one! Although I still think that jogging suits with fanny packs are never a good idea...

A lot of the stores in Great Britain open at around 9:00 and close at 6:00. I wish I had known this as I had not really planned time to do laundry, or burn digital pictures to CD as I had just assumed I could do this in the morning or evenings.

Allow some leeway in your planning if you?re taking the trains in Great Britain. Most of the time they ran fine, but on the way to Edinburgh I was stranded in Grantham for 3 hours as they repaired a problem with the wires, and later was stranded in Bath for awhile due to another problem causing my train to be cancelled. (more fun to be stranded in Bath than in Grantham)

The last Beefeater?s tour at the Tower of London is at 2:30. I missed it!

If you are planning to visit a church at a certain time, call beforehand to make sure they will be open to visitors. I almost missed York Minster because of a special service, and only have pictures of the outside of Temple Church.

Remember to notify your credit card and bank that you will be gone and get their international number so you can reach them if they do freeze your account.

I will be avoiding the Chicago O?Hare Airport in the future. The immigration line took 45 mins. and if not for my flight being delayed, I would have spent the night in Chicago. Of all my family members who caught connecting flights through this airport, all of them had problems, mostly consisting of long waits, flight delays and cancelled flights.


Tour reviews:

The City of the Dead tour in Edinburgh: I really enjoyed this. It is not all that scary, but it is fun, especially if you take a few friends who are easily frightened. It is also the only way to get into the Covenentor?s Prison in Greyfriar?s Cemetary. I would also recommend visiting Greyfriars in the daylight as the monuments and carvings are amazing, though unfortunately they have been vandalized quite a bit.

Rabbies Highland Tours: I took the one day trip to Loch Ness. Rabbies advertises equal time on and off the bus but that really wasn?t true of this tour, although to be fair, it is a long way from Edinburgh to Loch Ness and back in one day. That said, I did enjoy the trip. The scenery out the window was beautiful and our driver was very friendly and entertaining. While I think the best way to see the Highlands would be rent a car for a few days, Rabbies is far superior to those huge bus tours with the loudspeakers and 40 other people. I think there were about 16 people on this tour. Great way to see the Highlands if you don?t have much time.

Astral Tour Stonehenge Special Access: This one was really fun. Its only a half-day and takes you to Avebury (for about an hour), West Kennet Long Barrow, and then to Stonehenge (also for about an hour) where you are allowed inside the circle. While it is possible to do this on your own by requesting permission from the English Heritage, the tour is much easier if you are staying in London and don?t want to rent a car.

Hop-on, Hop-off Bus Tours: I went on these in London, Paris and York. Not sure the York one was really worth the money as York is so small, but the Paris and London ones were lots of fun and an easy way to at least see all the famous landmarks and then to visit the ones you are really interested in.

Pont Neuf Boat Tour: great for a cruise of the Seine. Unlike the other boat tours I saw, this one has a live guide. Take one in the evening and you can see all the buildings lit up.

I think the hardest part about traveling was having to come home (and maybe paying off my credit card bills!) Thanks again!

yipper

Welcome home. I'm glad you had such a wonderful trip. Thank you for your report. Now that you have taken your first trip to Europe, I'm sure you will get the bug to go again and again.

Margie

Welcome home - sounds like you had a great trip! If you have time, could you briefly post your hotel information here?

Aerin

yes I definately have the travel bug now! I'm hoping to do a study abroad program in Ireland next summer.

Here are my hotel reviews. I tried to travel as cheaply as possible so I mostly stayed at B&Bs, except I stayed one night at Dalhousie castle (which is beautiful!)

Aonach Mor in Edinburgh:
This place was great. The hosts are friendly, the house is clean and well-kept, and the breakfast is delicious. While it may be slightly more convenient to stay on the Royal Mile, Edinburgh this neighborhood is only a short bus or cab ride away. If you like to walk, I would highly reccomend walking into town along the Salisbury Crags at least once for the beautiful views of Edinburgh.

Balmoral House in London:
This place was ok. The room was clean and comfortable. The hosts are nice and the location is very convenient - close to the underground station and sightseeing bus stops.
I am not sure if there are non-smoking rooms at this hotel but if you are bothered by the smell of smoke I would recommend asking. I forgot to ask so I can't really complain. My real problem with this place was the breakfast. They stop serving breakfast at 9:00 so the small breakfast room was often very crowded after 8:30 and my last day here I ended up standing in line for a place to sit. When I did get a place, I was given toast that had been offered to someone else ten minutes earlier and was cold. I will probably stay someplace else next time, but if I did stay here again I would get breakfast elsewhere.

Georgian House Hotel in London:
(I came thru London twice on my trip)
I stayed in one of their cheaper ?student rooms? on the fifth floor. It was small, but a good deal at 30 pounds a night. It had shared bathrooms and some of the bathrooms are nicer than others. One of them had no sink and did not seem very clean, but others were fine.
The reception was friendly and helpful and breakfast was very good. The location is ok, about a 5 min walk from Victoria station. There are several stores and restaurants within easy walking distance. Overall, a pretty good budget hotel and I would stay here again.

The Grey Mullet in St. Ives, Cornwall:
The outside of this B&B is so picturesque that it was the picture for St. Ives in my guide book of Cornwall. It is an old stone cottage with flowering windowboxes and an unbeatable location just a few yards from the wharf. It is also only a short walk to the beach and the Tate Gallery. I stayed in the single room which was small but very clean and comfortable and had its own bathroom and shower. Breakfast was delicious.

Hotel du St Andre des Arts in Paris:
This was one of the least expensive hotels I could find with one of the best locations, near Boulevard St-Michel in the Latin quarter. Its a little bit rundown, but has a cool, bohemian atmosphere. The room was pretty basic ? the sheets were clean, but the shower did not appear cleaned and there were small flies in the room. Not sure if I would stay here again. The price and location really were unbeatable.

Hope this helps!

suze

Thanks for the report and welcome home. First hand info like this is the best and I appreciate you taking the time to post.

RufusTFirefly

Our mailman has a grey mullet.

caroline_edinburgh

Aerin, glad you had a great time. I got married at Dalhousie Castle ! Tell us more about what you thought of it. I thought they'd spoiled it a bit when they added the so-called 'Orangery', which looked to us (when we returned for our 1st anniversary) more like a motorway service station cafe and totally out of keeping. So we haven't been back since. The rooms, the Dungeon reataurant and the grounds were good, though - did you have one of the themed rooms ? Did you see the bottle dungeon ? Do they still have the same lovely minister - Rev William Brown - and great character of a piper ?