kasg

I am thinking about going to the London/UK area. Do I book with a tour company? Go a la carte? Where else should I go while I am there? What are the high points of UK/Wales/Europe??? Any advice would be great! Thank you!

janisj

No ne can possibly answer such a broad question. You need to provide a lot more info than that.

When?

How many days?

What are you interested in?

Why are you considering a tour company?

What research have you done so far . . . and which places are on your "must" list?

>>What are the high points of UK/Wales/Europe???<<

There are thousands (Wales is a country IN the UK and I assume by 'Europe' you mean all those countries across the Channel)

We can help you refine a trip and make suggestions . . . But you need to do a bit of ground work first.

Do you have any guide books? That should be your first step . . .

kasg

Sorry for now being more specific as it is pretty open ended. Maybe 10-14 days in August 2014. I know there is so much to see and do. I really want to see London. Ireland/Scotland/Netherlands would be a plus. Just started my research but would rather narrow my trip down to countries before I start really looking. I am looking at tour companies but not sure if I'd rather see it all on my own and take my time instead of being on a schedule. As of now, I am traveling alone. Thanks!

Hooameye

London is a city, Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands are countries, don't you want to see England as well? London is not representative of England.

kasg

Yes I do.

Tulips

Hi Kasg, do some initial research first, come up with an itinerary and then ask again. We do not know your interests, budget, where you are coming from. Do you want to go hiking, museums, shopping, will you be traveling by car, train, plane?

Normally the advice here is not to book with a tour company. Start with the destination guides here on Fodors, and come up with 3 places that you really want to visit.

bilboburgler

14 days is not a great deal of time to visit the UK in, London is a large city with a lot to see and Britain (the main island) is pretty big with lots of small roads on it so getting to the best place can take some time. Europe is a very big place and has many high points often pretty far apart. Each of the good places needs 4 to 5 days to appreciate so you do need to do some back ground reading. I would recommend the Rough Guide to Europe which gives a good overview for each place.

I understand there are tour companies who visit these areas, I suspect unless you are physically unable to manage self guide you should avoid.

Michael

Go to a bookstore to look at some guidebooks; Fodor's might be a good option. Read various trip reports on this forum; click on my name to find mine. You need to have some idea of what you want to do before we can provide any useful information.

sparkchaser

<i>I am thinking about going to the London/UK area. </i>

Excellent. London is awesome.


<i>Do I book with a tour company? </i>

Only if you like wasting your money or are afraid to venture a little out of your comfort zone.


<i>Go a la carte? </i>

That's how I roll.


<i>Where else should I go while I am there? </i>

It depends. Not including arrival or departure dates, how many days do you have?


<i>What are the high points of UK/Wales/Europe??? </i>

UK: Ben Nevis - 1,344 meters (4,409 ft)
Wales: Snowdon in Gwynedd - 1,085 meters (3,560 ft)
Europe: Mount Elbrus in Karachay–Cherkessia, Russia - 5,642 meters (18,510 ft)


<i>Any advice would be great! Thank you!</i>

Provide more info. Namely country of origin, dates of trip, budget, likes/dislikes, allergies, etc.

annhig

come on folks, some of you are being a tad unfair. [is that ME writing that? well I never].

The OP would not be the first person to be confused by the somewhat confusing amalgamation of countries that comprise the UK, nor indeed to see London and the UK as interchangeable.

kasg - I do agree with the others that you need to do a bit more research about what in London and/or the UK you want to see. You could easily spend 2 weeks just in London, and you could spend many weeks exploring the UK. for a first trip, a week in London and a week in the countryside somewhere might make a nice trip.

as for europe, well that's a whole other country - in fact about 30 other countries. probably best left to another trip.

kasg

Thank you everyone for your help!! The trip really is up in the air and open but I def want to see London and other highs of England. IF I have extra time, I'd love to see Ireland/Scotland but the reality is I'd only have about 7-10 days coming from Charlotte, NC. I pretty much figured I could spend the whole time in the UK but since I was over there, I was hoping to see some more but maybe that's not a reality. I'll prob be traveling alone that is why I asked about a tour company. I'd prefer to be alone so I can see what I want,when I want but people are afraid of me being alone (I'm 42!) I was thinking a couple nights in a few different places but I think that'll be too rushed and I won't enjoy it, right? Thank you again for the help/advice!!!

ira

Hi K,

I suggest that you start by looking up the UK under "Destinations".

The UK is expensive.

Mimar

Well, 2 nights is definitely not enough for London, especially when you add in the time it takes to recover from jet lag. 7 days is not many. I'd just stay in London for the week. If you want to see more places, you need more time.

You can travel independently by train and bus and pick up day tours, walking tours or bus excursions, from your base cities. London Walks (www.walks.com) has a wide variety of tours, most of which you don't need to book ahead of time, including some excursions out of London.

Other cities in the UK that make good bases are Oxford, Bath, York, Edinburgh. There's an overnight train from London to Edinburgh that would save you time. Or, for a taste of the continent, you could fly into London, see the city, then take the Eurostar train to Paris for a day or three and fly home from there.

I love the lush green English countryside. Try to see something of that even if you are based in cities.

And look into open jaws flights, into one city, out of another. Like into London out of Edinburgh. Saves you the time and money backtracking. Click on the multi-city option at airline web sites; should cost about the same as round-trip to one destination.

Lots of women travel by themselves; don't let others' fears hold you back.

annhig

there is a thread at the moment where the OP went on a Mad Max tour of Stonehenge, Salisbury, Bath - s/he seems to have liked it a lot.

you might spend your week or whatever in London solo [there are London Walks and other such organisations where you can join up with other people if you fancy some company] and then do a tour for the rest of the time.

http://www.madmaxtours.co.uk/

eastenderusvi

kasg: I think you might be a candidate for a tour. They usually hit the highlights, they arrange for your accomodations, you leave the driving to them, etc. Once you see the lay of the land you can figure out what you want to see in depth on your next trip. ;-)

kasg

Thanks again....!! What countryside spots would you say are "not to be missed?"

sparkchaser

If you're going on a tour, you're kinda stuck with their itinerary so a helpful Fodorites "not to be missed" might be the tour companies "ummm, no, we have this list we use".

kasg

Any thoughts on a good hotel to call home that is centrally located to everything??

sparkchaser

What is "everything" with regards to?

Again, if you're going on a tour then the tour operator will pick the hotel for you.

annhig

Any thoughts on a good hotel to call home that is centrally located to everything??>>

if by everything you mean everything in central London, I'm afraid that doesn't exist. the centre of London is quite big and almost inevitably, no one hotel can be centrally located to everything you are likely to see. look for a hotel what is close to a convenient tube station or bus route.