janisj

I don't think the coach tours to Stonehenge etc will fit in you budget. One tour would coast about the same a 3 nights at a hostel.

But you can do it on your own by taking a train to Salisbury and the local bus to the stones.

michaelpianko

Don't pay much attention to my original posting. If I get on the airplane in Michigan, USA, on a Saturday in July or August, and get on the airplane to return home on the next Sunday or Monday that is 7 or 8 days. I'll have to set my watch 5 hours forward when I arrive? And if the plane left by 9am in Michigan I suppose it would be time to go to sleep when I arrive? I'm not going in the winter. I have no clue what I am doing picking a hostel except that I am picking based on reviews on trip advisor. I normally am a very cheap person but I don't have to be as dirt cheap as possible. In theory I could afford a tour to stonehenge, although perhaps it is just as good to take the train and bus by myself.

janisj

" I'll have to set my watch 5 hours forward when I arrive?"

6 hours.

"And if the plane left by 9am in Michigan I suppose it would be time to go to sleep when I arrive?"

AFAIK non-stops don't leave Michigan in the morning -- they leave in the evening and arrive in London in the morning. Or if you want to have transfer(s) they leave in the afternoon - and still arrive in the morning. So no, you wouldn't be going to sleep.

Nikki

If you live in the Eastern time zone, which I believe covers much of Michigan, it is a five hour time change to London. If you live in the upper peninsula of Michigan, and you are in the Central time zone, it is six hours.

janisj

Oh -- yes -- forgot Michigan has two (my extended family lives in the central zone)

But my flight info is still accurate (using Detroit as departure point) mostly leaving in the afternoon/evening and arriving in the AM.

newtome

I say troll.

marvelousmouse

Always possible, newtome, and there are certainly weird parts, but he started the thread 7 months ago so I think it's pretty darn unlikely...

Anyway, Michael- what are you having trouble with in regards to the hostels? Besides the advice folks have given you here, it's really just like looking at hotels. You want to pay attention to location, cleanliness, location, safety, location, price...and oh yeah, did I mention location? (Don't use tripadvisor reviews, I've found them pretty useless for hostels, use hostelworld or a similar website). If you've got the extra cash, stay in a private room. I get the feeling you'd be better off with one, and then you can still socialize in the common areas.

Btw- I really am not following you on that whole time change post...but you realize when you look at specific flights, the arrival time is in London's local time, right? And if you have a smart phone, it will automatically change over to that time when airplane mode is turned off.

michaelpianko

Thank for some of the earlier postings. Please calm down, I won't have more to write, or at least nothing to write about visiting England. Now it's just time for me to make my reservations or not. The problem is feeling guilty or silly for traveling alone or making my parents worry. Don't worry, nobody will come on this site who is as nuts as I am. Ok, so I wrote the wrong stuff and asked about that I already know, about how the time in England is 5 hours ahead of me now. I'm not into texting and I don't look at my cell phone often. I live in South East Michigan.

thursdaysd

No reason to feel silly for traveling alone. Celebrate it instead.

See: http://www.fodors.com/community/trav...collection.cfm

nytraveler

If interested in art and history do visit the National Portrait Gallery (around the corner from the National Gallery). Some of the portraits are brilliant and it helps you focus on the history of England - about which you need to know at least a little for all of this to make any sense.

bilboburgler

michael, don't worry we have had people waaay-weirder than you the number of people who have parents who worry who come on every years is pretty large and we even have people who hate travelling etc.

I've done the whole travel alone thing and for me I didn't like it, but I set up to do things that allowed me to meet people, I went on free public walks (easy to do in London) see time-out or hostel notice boards, I went to lectures, I wandered into croquet clubs and asked for a knock up game, went to local wine tasting clubs. I came to the conclusion that "just say yes" is a great way to travel.

michaelpianko

Please remain calm, I will try not to seem like a troll. I changed my mind on many of the details since my original posting. I made reservations for a hostle and bought airplain tickets, from a travel website. I arrive In London on a Saturday later this summer, at 11:05 am, and then I have that saturday (the first day, I don't know if I will be awake enough or too tired) - sunday, monday tue, wed, thurs, fri, sat, and I leave on Sunday, or 8 nights at the same hostle. I wonder if this is too much time in a single location or town. I don't want to wear out my wealcome, and so on. I am thinking of trying to see stone henge and a town called Bath - can people just buy train tickets and tickets to shows, at the last minute? I typically like art museums, otherwise I want to see monuments, ruins, and typical stuff, such as what I put above. I wonder whether I am trying to do too much in one region of a country instead of traveling over a greather distance or area?

janisj

Are you still on the very low budget of your original posts? If so, a trip to Bath probably won't work The R-T train fare alone will cost £40-£50 (approx $60-$75) The Roman Baths cost £15.50 ($25). You probably can't manage a day trip to Bath for less than about $150.

Stonehenge by tour bus will be VERY expensive. If you do it on your own by train then you could do the full day trip (train, bus to Stonehenge, entrance to the stones, and the cathedral) for about $100.

"can people just buy train tickets and tickets to shows, at the last minute? "

Some yes, some will be cheaper if bought well in advance.

michaelpianko

I don't actually have to be as cheap as I indicated above. So far I am saving money sort of by accident. I only spent $1,984 so far because I got a space in a hostle instead of a typical hotel and I am not considering the cost of food for strange reasons because I would rather buy stuff from whatever market or grocery store I find instead of going to restaurants like I expect most people would want to do on trips. I am not worried about the costs now. I won't skip any museum or show or place just to avoid spending money. Not that I have to get the most expensive tickets either. I am going to Bath and to stonehenge, whatever the cost will be. I just want to see whether its best to randomly just go on the internet and buy tickets in advance or wait until I get there... For several years I have been weird about food because I think restaurant food is not healthy but I am rather aware that this behavior might make me seem too strange or worse if I go on some fancy bus tour. But in theory I should take whatever chance I get to do some normal-seeming minimal interaction with other people.

justineparis

Er lots of peole eat picnics or buy groceries, no one thinks its odd or weird, why do you?

My daughter ( 20) and her friends just spent 8 weeks travelling europe and they did that often, as do many budget travellers, dont worry about it at all, its silly.

thursdaysd

It need not be that high, janisj.

London Walks' day trip to Bath is 61 GBP ($87 today, the pound has gone up) including transport, entrance fees and guide.

Buying ahead will get you return train tickets to Bath for 28 GBP ($40).

Eating sandwiches for lunch, or picnicking, is a perfectly normal activity.

michaelpianko

One or more quick things before I leave: Suppose I were going to see a play in London. Assume I want the cheapest tickets, but the cost is not ncessarily the main part of the question. The question is, is it best to try to buy my ticket when I arrive I London, or in advance on the internet, before I leave home? (I have bought tickets to movies a few minutes before the movie started, but I have never bought play tickets).

When I went to to Chicago Art museum, I had some food in a cloth bag and the museum officials refused to accept the bag at the coat check counter, and they alse refused to allow me to take the bag into the museum. I had to throw the food away outside of the museum entrance. But when I visit, the Detroit Institute of art, the coat check person always lets me give him or a bag, even if it has food, and they even let me get the bag and bring it to the seats at the museum cafe, although perhaps London is less suspicious than Detroit and perhaps I would find a park to eat in, in London (assuming I don't quit the diet and start eating rstaurant food).

thursdaysd

You can buy reduced price tickets the day of performance for some plays at the TKTS booth in Leicester Square - make sure it is the booth, not a shop pretending to be the booth.

Or you can use this site to decide what you want to see and call the theater to buy a ticket to pick up at the box office.

https://www.londontheatre.co.uk