“Faberge” not favorite/

You could fly into Heathrow and then take the train to York. It is an amazing medieval city. Get a blue badge guide to give you the tour of Roman York! Incredible. There is a pub with a Roman bath underneath that is pretty cool.

If you wanted to visit northern England you could go on to Durham, an amazing university city and then rent a car and hike a bit along Hadrians wall. You could also take the train to Harrogate, which was a hot springs type resort visited by European royalty in the 1800’s. There is an amazing museum with favorite eggs donated by Tsar Nicholas who liked to visit. There is also an original toilet with a sign that says “Thomas crapper” inside the baths that you can visit and take the waters. Kids like that stuff.

From Durham you can also take the train to Glasgow and other Scottish cities.

Anonymous wrote:London sucks.

I don't get why people are so enamoured with it. It's just another big city with overpriced everything. Yeah, it's nice if you like crowds, 7 pound lattes, and 130 pound dinners. Once you've been to one big city, you've seen them all. London is just NYC...in England.

IMO, the architecture in London is a lot more interesting, but yea, I hear ya. When we go back to the UK to visit family, we don't spend much time in London. Just a night or two before we have to fly back.

London sucks.

I don't get why people are so enamoured with it. It's just another big city with overpriced everything. Yeah, it's nice if you like crowds, 7 pound lattes, and 130 pound dinners. Once you've been to one big city, you've seen them all. London is just NYC...in England.

Driving is fine. I don't get why people are so afraid to drive abroad.

Checkout Bath, Oxford, and the Cotswolds. Cotswolds are beautiful and more laid back.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t really get why “something on the relaxing side” would mean skipping London?

“Running yourself ragged” vs “relaxing” is about style of travel not London vs Cotswolds or whatever.

But maybe you really want to be in countryside? You could do a walking tour which, again, some people would consider relaxing and some would consider way too active.

Relaxing meaning - not a big city with the sensory overload that large cities tend to have. So yes, countryside, relaxing environment.

That's not london. OP, you need to go there and try it. It's not NYC

Agree. The vibe in London is very different and more relaxed than NYC. Walks in Hampstead Heath or Richmond, along the thames. Day trips to oxford or Cambridge by train. Lunches in pub gardens. It can be very laid back.

The vibe in London is so relaxed compared to NYC - we live in NYC and are in London right now. I was reluctant to go to another big city for vacation, but it is so chill in London. Even the tube is relaxing. It doesn’t have that go go go feeling of NYC - like that crazy energy you feel coming out of Penn station at rush hour. But London is just so lovely and interesting and nice. It doesn’t smell, we haven’t been yelled at (that said don’t feel bad if you ever get yelled at in NYC - it just talking to us) very clean, very walkable, excellent public transportation so you can stay a bit outside of the center of town. I wouldn’t worry about sensory overload in London. My husband says it’s like the best of the suburbs and a city combined.

Go to Cornwall!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t really get why “something on the relaxing side” would mean skipping London?

“Running yourself ragged” vs “relaxing” is about style of travel not London vs Cotswolds or whatever.

But maybe you really want to be in countryside? You could do a walking tour which, again, some people would consider relaxing and some would consider way too active.

Relaxing meaning - not a big city with the sensory overload that large cities tend to have. So yes, countryside, relaxing environment.

That's not london. OP, you need to go there and try it. It's not NYC

Agree. The vibe in London is very different and more relaxed than NYC. Walks in Hampstead Heath or Richmond, along the thames. Day trips to oxford or Cambridge by train. Lunches in pub gardens. It can be very laid back.

If you are going in summer, you can reduce crowds somewhat by going before UK schools break up. They have a much shorter summer break (think it usually starts mid-July).

Maybe consider Ireland instead? Fly in and out of Dublin which is way less stimulating than London/Heathrow.

Costco travel. Pick a city and the site will offer to bundle it with another. It can be as relaxing or hectic as you want it to be.

https://wildcatcentre.org/the-wildcat-experience

If you find yourself in Newtonmore, Scotland, check this out. It's basically a scavenger hunt where you search for life size models of wildcats all around town. They are in shop windows, on roof tops--even in people's private gardens. We had so much fun spending a few hours walking and looking for wildcats.

Newtonmore is also where the Highland Folk Museum is-and is an easy train ride from Inverness.