I'm Visiting England, Scotland and Ireland

Isaac

Isaac

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I'll be visiting the following places next month, around the middle of July.

If any friendly person on AWF wishes, and is near, we might say hello somewhere - just the fascination of putting a face to an AWF name would be interesting to me, at minimum. Maybe I'll buy you a sandwich, you can tell me how much you hate my political views and we can shake hands, but I would still be OK with that.

Free time (as opposed to our tour-group-time) dates/times are still details I am trying to ascertain, but anyway.

London
Cambridge
York
Durham
Alnwick
Edinburgh
Inverness
Loch Ness
Fort Augustus
Glasgow
Belfast
Dublin
Caernarfon
Liverpool
Stratford
Oxford

Private message me if interested.
Cheers everyone
 
I've been planning to visit London for a couple of days but can't get my usual hotel, plus the trains are having strikes at the moment. I'll be interested in your dates though. I live about 40 mins from London.
Col
 
It's very difficult to get an hotel at a reasonable price in London. What with the covid rules being relaxed and the Queens platinum jubilee there are hundreds of thousands of tourists, London is heaving with people and it'll get worse when the school holidays start in July. Rail strikes and tube strikes don't help.
Col
 
I'm arriving on extra day before my tour starts and they offered me if I wanted to buy a hotel night at the same hotel where the tour would be to cover it. They say it was 111 Euros per person. I thought that was odd, here in the states we charge per hotel room rather than per person. Usually up to two or three people without it mattering how many people. Sometimes after two people and on up they might have a very small charge because of the third or fourth person.

It's funny psychologically, I think I probably would have found it more acceptable if they had just admitted the hotel room was $222 Euros a night rather than saying it was 111 per person.

From the impression I've always gotten that hotel rooms in the UK and Europe are insanely priced, this must be a dump. My brother who is someone I think of as having quite a bit of money, visited Europe a few years ago and he said the best hotels he could find had blood stains on the wall! Here's to hoping this trip goes better than that.

But no, I'm really looking forward to especially seeing Ireland. And the palace in England
 
Try Booking.com, trivago etc to read the reviews. Also you can sometimes get a better rate by contacting the hotel directly

many UK hotels are for the room but there are still some that charge per guest. £200/night should be a reasonable hotel in London, sub £100 is where the ripper will hang out😱

I typically budget around £160 for a small hotel (no bar or restaurant) but that may be optimistic now
 
If you pre-book in London £120-£150 for a double room is about right.
If you leave it too late you can double that quite easily for a decent 3-4 star.

As CJ said Booking.com, Hotels.Com etc. Once you have a rate from them, check the hotels direct website - you may be surprised!
 
Yes haha Bob, I'm sure they probably made some mistakes in the choosing of them.

Prior to my post about hotels I had already allowed the tour operator to convince me to let them book it for the 222 Euros for the unnamed hotel that will be staying in that they won't tell me which one it is yet. So I guess that's water under the bridge. They say it includes breakfast, which I highly value. Even if it's simple.
I got to say, I loved the hotel breakfast in Paris. Pounds of meat and cheese.

One more thing I want to do is get my hands on a phone that will work there. While I'm still here if possible. My cellular carrier here in the states does not offer international coverage. I would be okay with the cheapest possible smartphone with a touch screen. Failing that, I would also be okay with a little data box that I keep with me for wi-fi. I don't really need cellular coverage as long as I have Wi-Fi since I tend to use cloud apps like Google voice anyway.
 
Is that Stratford London or Stratford upon Avon?
 
A cheap smartphone will cost you around £50 including an initial £10 calls.

think I’ve still got one lying around the place which I bought when my iPhone went bang. You are welcome to have it - I can post to your initial hotel to be there when you arrive

the other thing that should work is bring your phone over and just buy a SIM card - depends if your phone is unlocked - check with your provider. Different sim means different number but anything on you phone should still be available
 
Don't forget to learn the do's and dont's regarding a visit to the UK. For example, if you have English beer, you never have ice in it. You only have ice in lager, most people don't as it melts and makes it taste even more like gnats piss.
Col
 
ColinEssex said:
Don't forget to learn the do's and dont's regarding a visit to the UK. For example, if you have English beer, you never have ice in it. You only have ice in lager, most people don't as it melts and makes it taste even more like gnats piss.
Col
Click to expand...

Sounds like a strict rule based place.
Hopefully I pass all the tests ... Honestly I'm going there to enjoy myself and my family and see another part of the world. I'm not going to pretend not to be American as I'm sure it will be obvious anyway somehow.

But I will try to go to a bookstore and find a British rule book so as not to offend the sensibilities!
 
You will have a brilliant time, Britain is a place full of culture and wonderful things. I just want you to enjoy our country, I will say be prepared for hot/cold/wet weather you can never predict it.its not always loud colourful hawaiian shirts and shorts (not that the British wear such things)
Col
 
One of our passports wasn't able to be renewed on time so we will have to postpone our trip - Maybe in the winter, who knows!
Thanks all who commented.
 
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