England/Ireland/Scotland -- help me plan a vacation
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Anonymous
| Can anyone address how hard it is to adapt to driving there? We want to go over spring break and husband wants to get a car to drive outside of London. I've heard from many people not to do it. I don't know how else we'd be able to get to Oxford or to see Stonehenge. |
Anonymous
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You can get a bus to oxford very easily from London. one leaves every 20 minutes. there are also trains.
Stonehenge is a little trickier by public transport - you can get a train to Salisbury and then a bus. But there are lots of organized day trips by coach from London. Driving on the other side of the road isn't bad. The stick shift is a bit more difficult though for some people - most rentals are not automatic. If you are stressed about it, I wouldn't bother with a car. |
Anonymous
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My husband had no problem with left side driving. If you are a comfortable driver, you'll probably adapt pretty quickly. If you're not, then I wouldn't do it.
A lot of the driving (especially to Stonehenge) is on the motorway so the left side thing doesn't really apply anyway. |
Anonymous
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I would definitely recommend driving if you are planning on spending any significant time outside of the big cities. It gives you so much more flexibility than the train. If you are a reasonably confident driver, you will adapt to driving on the "wrong" side quite quickly. It's really not that hard. Just be especially vigilant for the first few minutes of every car journey, when you are more likely to make a mistake, and ask the other adult, non-driver, to pay attention to your position on the road. Have your oldest kids monitor this also, they will love the responsibility!
In the past, we have almost always had manual transmission rental cars, but on our last trip to the UK (2014) we had an automatic. It was a Volvo far more technologically advanced than the cars you see in the US. One word of warning on rental cars in the UK, however. This might just be bad luck on our part, but the last two times we have rented cars in England (at Heathrow), we have ended up with significant charges for what we viewed as very minor wear and tear around the wheel and tire area. The kinds of things that we have never had a problem with when renting cars in the US. We succeeded in getting one of the rental companies (both big, reputable companies) to remove the charges, but not the other. But be warned, they will inspect the cars very closely when you return them. My son (4 at the time) still talks about two of the playgrounds we visisted in London. The Princess Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Palace Gardens, and the playground near the base of the London Eye (he spotted it from above when on the London Eye) on the South Bank. We also loved Pembroke Castle in Wales. Definitely one of the best ruined castles you can visist in the UK. They have a marvelous (and free!) knight school most days for kids. It was fantastic. My 4 year old picky eater loved pub food, Wagamama, and the multitude of fresh sandwich places all over London (prefect for picnics in the parks). And English ice cream and lollies (popsicles). |
Anonymous
If you do drive on the motorway, stay on the left hand lane unless you are overtaking. Lane discipline is taken a lot more seriously in the UK than here, and if you drive slowly in the middle or outside lane you will annoy people. Likewise, never pass on the inside lane. |
Anonymous
Yes. Also, expect that people will let you in, and that they'll expect you to let them in when they indicate. Not like here where people seem to accelerate if they see your indicator!! |
Anonymous
there are lots of bus tours that will take you to Stonehenge, the Costwalds, Bath or any combination of these from London. You should look into the after hours tours of Stonehenge. You can do it by appointment only through their website or find a bus tour that offers the after hours tour. |
Anonymous
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We took our 5 yr old twins to London and England this past summer and had a fantastic time. While in London we pretty much walked a lot, all over the city, and took the Tube or double decker bus and our kids never complained - just went with the flow and turned out to be great travelers. I did do some research and mapped out the public playgrounds in the city before we went, so we could take short breaks as we walked from attraction to attraction to let the kids have fun change of pace. I highly recommend the Princess Diana Playground!
We did rent a car in London - automatic - which my DH drove - and went to Bath, Stonehenge, the Cotswalds and spent a day at Warwick Castle which was a lot of fun for the kids and DH and me. It's owned by the same folks who own Madam Toussauds and is a touristy place, but is actually a real castle with all sorts of castle and knight and princess related activities and shows for kids. We stayed in hotels because we didn't stay in one area as long as 7 nights, or we would have looked into renting a weekly apt. Be aware, that if you are looking for hotels, it's very challenging in England to find hotel rooms that fit 4 or more people unless you pay for 2 rooms. We ended in staying in several locations of the Premiere Inn chain because they had affordable family hotel rooms. I'd have to say that the highlights of our trip for my kids were the double decker buses, the Princess Diana playground, Warwick Castle, Windsor Legoland (I could have easily skipped this), and the museums that had kid audio guides - Windsor Castle and the Roman ruins in Bath. As for me - as much as I loved London - I could have spent a whole week in and around Bath. There is a neolithic site near Stonehenge and Bath in Avebury that is supposed to be as or more dramatic than Stonehenge that I am disapointed that we didn't have time to see. |
Anonymous
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For driving, I put a post-it note on the steering wheel showing me what to do in an intersection. For some reason that always messed me up. It helped to have a diagram to point out that a left turn is the tight turn, and a right turn is a wide turn. My primal brain brain needed the picture.
And I paid extra for the automatic transmission. |
Anonymous
| Stay away from the 6 lane roundabouts. Holy God those are scary. |
Anonymous
| Don't turn on a red light - not allowed ever. |
Anonymous
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Also keep in mind it is more dangerous to cross the street in GB than drive - hold kids hands at all times b/c they are always going to look the wrong way!! And likley so will you!
We loved Scotland. My kids loved the Inverness hunt for Nessy - for the adults it was a beautiful scenic water cruise. My kids loves the first 2 castle tours - then could not have cared less. Tower of London was a big hit. Plan for a few fun hours at a hotel pool if that can be arranged. Not always available overseas. Have fun. |
Anonymous
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Remind your husband:
The driver does not drive on the edge--the passenger is on the edge of the road. Remind him, gently of course, to stay left when you come to intersections. It helps! |
Anonymous
| Go. See what you want to see. Don't worry about amusing the kids. They will get over it. If they whine, punishment is appropriate---the world is not created for their sole amusement. |