September 23, 2025 • 41 mins
This week on the UK Travel Planning Podcast, host Tracy Collins is joined by Amy Carpenter from Texas, who shares her unforgettable two-week adventure exploring England with her husband, Mark.
Amy takes us through the highlights of their carefully planned itinerary, from the bustling streets of London to the charm of the Cotswolds, iconic castles, and literary landmarks. Highlights included Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason, and quiet moments at St Dunstan in the East.
In the Cotswolds, they based themselves in Bourton-on-the-Water, explored honey-coloured villages, and visited Sudeley Castle at dusk. A lifelong Jane Austen fan, Amy fulfilled a dream by visiting Bath, Winchester, and Chawton. Staying overnight at Hever Castle was a standout, giving them the rare chance to explore the grounds after closing time.
Along the way, Amy discovered a love of steak and ale pie, picked up 21 tea towels as keepsakes, and gathered plenty of tips for fellow travellers — from using trusted transfer services to the importance of planning ahead.
Whether you are a history buff, a Jane Austen devotee, or simply dreaming of your own UK escape, Amy’s trip report is filled with practical advice and plenty of inspiration for your next journey across the pond.
📝 Show Notes - Episode 168
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- Episode #127 - Trip Report with Melissa Jones
- Episode #123 - Trip Report with Cathy Stephens
- Episode #114 - Trip Report with Krista Beck
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Two weeks in England a lifelong dream come true and
plenty of inspiration for yourown UK adventure.
This week's episode is a tripreport with Amy from Texas,
sharing how she turned her firstvisit into a journey she'll
never forget.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK Travel Planning website,
tracey Collins.
Each week, tracey sharesdestination guides, travel tips
and itinerary ideas, as well asinterviews with a variety of
guests who share their knowledgeand experience of UK travel to
help you plan your perfect UKvacation.
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
(00:36):
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands and
from the picturesquecountryside to seaside towns.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
from the picturesque countryside to seaside towns.
Hi and welcome to this week'sepisode of the UK Travel Planner
Podcast with me, tracey Collinsand my guest, amy Carpenter.
Amy recently spent two weeksexploring England with her
husband, mark, taking inhistoric sites, charming towns
and some truly special placesalong the way.
(01:03):
She's here to share how sheplanned it, what helped
everything run smoothly and hertop tips for anyone dreaming of
their own UK trip.
Now, before we dive in, a hugethank you to podcast sponsor
Deborah Harsin.
We really appreciate yoursupport.
If you'd like to sponsor theshow or simply buy us a cuppa as
a thank you for the free UKtravel tips we share every week,
(01:23):
you'll find the links in theshow notes, and I'd love to hear
from you too, whether you'vegot a UK travel tip, a question
or even your own trip report toshare.
Just head to our Speakpipe linkand leave me a voice message,
and the link is in the shownotes as well.
Now let's get on to this week'sepisode.
I started by asking Amy tointroduce herself where she's
from, who she traveled with andhow long she spent in the UK.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
My name is Amy Carpenter and I traveled with my
husband, mark Carpenter, who weleft on the 26th of May, got
back on June 7th, so we werethere for a good full two weeks.
Started in London, went arounda big oval, but anyway, we're
from texas and the great stateof texas in the united states of
(02:10):
america perfect.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
So what inspired this trip, and was there anything in
particular you were hoping tosee, or do you?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
gosh, I have been a lover of england my whole life,
so this has just been a dreamtrip.
That's really did I get to seeeverything I wanted to see?
No, because I want to seeeverything and but everything
that we planned you know thosewere history buffs I wanted to
see castles and great homes andthe Cotswolds and literature
(02:43):
things, and so we got to seeeverything that we had on my
wishlist for that trip.
You know we have to make moretrips, period.
We're going to make more trips.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
I'm very happy to hear that and, very honestly,
you know I lived in the UK mostof my life and there's still so
many places that I'm going to.
I haven't been there.
I need to go and visit.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Well, you know, I'm not even nearly as excited about
seeing things in the UnitedStates as I was about seeing
things in England.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So we used to do a lot of travel around the UK when
we lived there.
We used to go every weekend andtravel around.
But it's really funny, since wemoved to Australia and we kind
of based ourselves betweenAustralia and the UK, we do
spend far more time kind oftalking about what we're going
to do in the UK than we do aboutanything else.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
it's a bit ironic sometimes you don't appreciate
what's in a doorstep untilyou're a little bit further away
from it and we're a long wayaway from it now, so yeah, and
you know in the United States isso big it's hard to pinpoint
where you want to go there.
I mean, I've traveled a lotaround the United States, United
States.
But if I had a choice ofspending two weeks traveling in
the United States or the UK, Iwould have said you can see in a
(03:50):
heartbeat.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
It's a bit like Australia it's huge, there's a
lot to see and do and it takesyou two weeks just to drive
across the state.
So can you give us a quickoverview of your itinerary,
where you went and how youdivided up your time?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Sure.
Well, we flew into London,obviously, and we spent the
first four days there.
So we did that first day.
We didn't really do much, justkind of got to the hotel relaxed
, walked around a little bit.
We were staying in Westminsterarea, not very far from
Parliament and Westminster Abbey.
It was probably about a six,seven-minute walk.
So that was nice and I didn'teven realize the hotel was that
close until we started walking.
I thought that looks familiar,sure enough.
(04:34):
And then the next day we did ourfirst big tour going to the
Tower of London and we went allthe way out.
We stopped also close to there,at St Dunstan's in the east,
the bombed-out chapel I thinkthat was really pretty and then
did a long trip across to theDickens Museum.
I can't tell you what part ofLondon that was in, I don't
(04:55):
remember, but it took two ridesand a long walk.
But I love Charles Dickens sothat was fun to go see where he
lived at one time.
Then let's see, the next daywas kensington palette, no,
westminster abbey, westminsterabbey and the king's gallery and
the royal muse.
And that was a long day, but itwas.
I kind of pushed two things tooclose together.
(05:18):
I should not have.
I should have given us a littlemore time um in the morning at
westminster abbey than I did,and so we were kind of rushing
to get to our next tour, but wemade it.
And then Kensington Palace onthe next day with a trip to the
Victorian Albert Museum.
Could have spent all day there,but our time there was kind of
short.
And then we had a lovely tea atFortnum and Mason's that
(05:42):
afternoon Beautiful store, gosh,it's a gorgeous store.
So that was the first few days.
And then we took a.
We used a car.
We did this to travel to.
I decided to just use hisservice to get to Oxford for our
rental car instead of trying toget all that luggage on the
tube at rush hour.
So we went to Oxford.
(06:04):
We didn't really spend any timein oxford.
We all we did was pick up ourcar and headed out to blenheim
palace.
Uh, loved it.
It was such a relaxingafternoon.
We spent hours there.
I was a little disappointedthat there was some scaffolding
on it.
It was kind of underconstruction, but I did.
I did two special.
We did an upstairs tour and adownstairs tours.
They were extra those.
Those were so, so fun.
(06:26):
And then we headed on intoBurton-on-the-Water to have,
where we stayed for three nightsand kind of just hit the
Cotswolds for a few days, wentto Soodley Castle and took your
advice by waiting at night andwhen all the crowds were gone.
And then we drove out to Byberyand walked around there and we
went to Winchcombe, right nearSizzley Castle and Broadway, and
(06:50):
we walked to Lower Slaughterone morning and just took it
some nice relaxing days therebefore we headed on to Laycock
Village and to Bath.
We didn't actually stay in Bath, we stayed in Bradford-on-Avon
and took the train into Bath fora nice big tour there.
After that was Stonehenge.
(07:10):
The next day was Stonehenge andHighclere Castle all in one day
.
So that was a great, greatexperience.
And then from there we went toWinchester for a couple of days
and to Chawton so I could seeall my Jane Austen things, and
to Chawton so I could see all myJane Austen things.
From there we went to HeverCastle and spent the night there
, and Chartwell, winstonChurchill's home, and Leeds
(07:32):
Castle the next day, and thenheaded back to London, took our
car back to Gatwick Airport,used Riz again to pick us up
there and drive us into our nexthotel in London, and our last
tour was a day tour, a doubletour of Hampton Court Palace and
Windsor Castle.
(07:52):
I booked a tour there so wecould take the bus with them and
not have to do any traveling onour own.
So then back to the hotel andhome airport the next day.
So it was a very full two weeks.
Uh, exhausted at night, but thedays were great.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Oh, I love your itinerary.
I really do.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
I think it's a, it's a well you really, you really
kind of said it with your.
It's a good job.
I love it, isn't it?
Yeah, you said you could dothis, this and this and this,
and so I did it's really cooland we might actually be.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
If we go I keep saying this and when this
episode comes out, we mayactually be in the UK doing a
similar route.
We're going to add a little bitmore in.
I think we're going to go downthe Jurassic Coast and along
that way as well, but, um,basically hitting all the spots
that you hit as well, um,because we wanted, we also want
to drive that again.
It's a few years since we'vedone it, so we're like you know
what we need, to go and do it,and I'm talking to Amy.
(08:47):
She did everything that we saidand it went really well and she
loved it, and I know we do a lotof driving itineraries for that
part of the road.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
I don't think we could not have done all that
without the driving.
We had to do the driving.
There's no way we had to do thedriving there's no way um.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
So I did well, we I didn't drive, mark did all the
driving.
Yeah, doug was, doug does allthe driving and he always says
that you go on about drama.
I do the driving and I'm like Iknow, but I navigate I navigate
.
We have important jobs.
I mean that's right.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Navigate, that's right I I, we, we mastered the
circle or the turnaroundroundabout, whatever it is that
you thought, yeah, he did, hedid the pripyamo and he said
that was super helpful, becauseit he really you know it's
really good.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
It's really good and we do recommend anybody that's
driving.
We we say it.
I mean it's just, it's notexpensive.
I keep saying it's not anexpensive.
No, no, it's amazing and you'dbe crazy not to.
If you're going to drive in theuk, even if you drive on the
left, like we do in australia ornew zealand, still do the
course, because you do not knowthe rules of the road and the
(09:55):
change.
There's things that change.
So I think it's really good todo now.
What were your?
And this is a really hardquestion, but I'm going to ask
you, what were your highlightsor favorite experiences from the
trip?
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Well, top three was the Soodley Castle.
Loved, loved, loved, loved theSoodley Castle.
The history, the tour guide wasgreat, the weather was
beautiful and just all of thehistory that is in that place.
That was probably my favoritetour and I would go back there
(10:28):
in a heartbeat, even repeat thatone.
And I came home talking, youknow, telling my children about
it grown children they weren'tnearly as excited as I was, but
and looking at things and but Ijust loved, loved.
Stately Castle.
High Clear Castle tour waswonderful.
I did not know it, but Iactually booked a special tour
(10:50):
date.
Didn't realize they were.
It was a special day.
They were only letting twotours in the house that day, so
we were in the afternoon tours60 people.
But they divided you up intotwo small, much smaller groups.
It was a very thorough tour.
Off the house manager I think Idon't remember his name.
He did it.
They looked great.
We were into lots of, lots ofrooms, lots of detail.
(11:12):
But it also included signedbooks by lady carnarvon and, um,
a nice full pea.
So we got to have that as well.
So that, and it was a gorgeous,gorgeous day.
So I did not realize it wasgoing to include the tea and
include the books.
I thought it was just a ticketfor a tour, so that was.
That was special, uh.
(11:33):
And then our, our stay at heverCastle was really absolutely
worth the splurge of spendingthe night there.
We were in the outer buildingsthat were built, I think, in
1922.
I believe that's what they saidbut it felt like you were in a
building that was, you know,tudor age, but it wasn't.
And they let you walk aroundthe grounds after all.
(11:56):
The crowds had gone, and so wewalked around the lake and it
still I didn't realize that itstayed light in England so long.
I mean, it was 10 o'clockbefore it was nighttime and so
we walked for a while.
There was some rain that day,but we did lots of walks and my
husband's just telling me hefound a pillbox, a World War II
(12:16):
pill box, on site and he had togo home, go back to the hotel or
back to our room and look it up.
Why would there be a pill boxat Heber Council?
But he found it.
Um, so that was.
Those were my, I think,probably my three favorite tours
.
Uh, but I also loved our timein the Cotswolds.
So it's just really hard tohard to pick a favorite.
I was going to say world.
(12:39):
So it's just really hard, tohard to pick a phase.
You don't have things that oldin the states and if they, if
you do they're, they'reprimitive.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
You know maybe some native american sites or some
really simple um buildings inflorida for when the spanish
owned that, but you, just, youjust don't have, you just don't
have that kind of history I meanthere's thousands and thousands
of years worth of like right,right from, if you go up to
orkney to scarabray, um, you'veobviously got stonehenge, and
then you've got all you know,you know all the castles, and
(13:05):
yeah, I mean, it is crazy,there's so much, there's so much
history and so much choice ofwhat period of right you want to
be interested in, delve into,follow you know, whether you're
interested in the literary sideof stuff.
You know, I've just I've justwritten, actually, a jane austen
itinerary, which is something Ialso want to yeah, I've read it
well.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
I read what you put on our, what you put on the
website.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
I saw that yeah, and I was like, oh, I really want to
do that, I really want to dothat, but doug's like, no, I
don't think.
So I'm like I have to find somefellow travelers who wanted to
do the jane austen itinerarywith me, yeah, yeah, because
that would be really cool.
But there is, there's just.
There's just so much to do, somany places to go, so many areas
to discover um, that it can be,it can be mind-blowing.
(13:51):
So I know we talked about kindof the, the favorite, you see,
enjoy the castles.
And actually I went to um high.
I've been to Highclere a fewtimes and I did a tour last
October with Melissa Jones, whowas on the podcast in December
because she went over to Londonsolo and she was like do you
want to come and do some stuffwith me?
Um, and we went to to um, toHighclere, and it was.
(14:11):
It was the same because Dougand I had visited before and it
was just a.
We just kind of wanderedthrough the house but we weren't
kind of told anything.
But we did the one in Octoberand it was great because it was
with the manager.
He explained everything.
It was really thorough, thorough, and then we had a lovely
afternoon tea in the book, so,but I think it depends what
month you book, what type of toyyou can have.
(14:32):
They change it, um, but yeah, Ihighly recommend that.
That.
I also thought that was thatwas absolutely brilliant, um.
So so talk to me a little bitabout the jane austen stuff,
because we've kind of mentionedit.
So I know you went to bath, youwent to winchester, you went to
chawton, so tell me thehighlights of that.
What did you love about that?
Speaker 3 (14:52):
um, well, our first jane austen stuff was in Bath,
the Jane Austen Center.
I had tea there in the Mr DarcyTea Room, so that was fun I'm
such a Jane Austen fan, not evenjust the books but the movies
as well and just walking around,we did a walks tour in Bath so
we got to see some sites thatwere in some of the movies and
(15:16):
some of the places that our tourguide even brought out, some of
the places that were describedin the books and but not
necessarily in the movies.
But it was a setting that JaneAusten described in some of her
stories, like in Persuasion.
And so that was our first JaneAusten, but the best, uh, even
some of the movie sites inLaycock Village.
You know some of it.
Some of those movies werefilmed there.
(15:37):
So that was great.
But in Winchester spent a wholeday at Chawton, loved the Jane
Austen house.
But we also went to Chawtonhouse, her brother's house, and
that was a really neat littletour.
There weren't a lot of peoplethere it's probably not, as I
don't know, maybe it'soverlooked or people just don't
(15:57):
go but it was a very neat tourof her brother's house, just
right down the street and whereshe spent a lot of time.
They had costumes from some ofthe movies there, they had some
original manuscripts and someother things to see.
So that part was great.
And then things to see, so thatpart was great.
(16:18):
And then the you know, we wentto her uh, winchester cathedral
and uh saw where she was buriedand no, I didn't realize that
she was buried so early in themorning and kind of secretive
and or not secret, just kind ofyou know, no big fanfare, um, so
that was all the the janeausten things that we did and I
loved every minute of it, boughtlots of stuff, so spent too
much, spent too much money inthe gift shop at the jane austen
(16:40):
and house, but that's okaydon't.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Don't talk about gift shops.
Oh my goodness, on the museumand the gift shops in some of
these places like the best.
Just, oh my goodness, everytime it's him, I always buy
something vna.
Oh my goodness, museum shopslike it's him, I always buy
something V&A.
Oh my goodness, museum shopsLike Doug knows.
Now he's like how long wouldyou require in the gift shop.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Because he knows Mark didn't, and Mark never stopped
me.
So I ended up.
I didn't intend to, this wasn'tplanned, but I started buying
tea towels at every gift shop,one that had an image or
something to do with wherever wesaw.
So I came home with 21 teatowels.
I don't know what I'm going todo with them, but I have 20 tea
(17:28):
towels and they're not going tobe used as tea towels.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
I don't want to mess them up.
No, it's true, I've got quite alot as well in my drawing and I
actually started putting someup on the wall because I've got
a lovely cotter and I put on theone that kept falling down.
I was like, so I'm gonna haveto frame it if I'm going to put
it up but yeah, I've got a fewframes.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
I haven't put them in there yet and I figured out how
I could put them on a rod tokind of hang them and change
them out, because you know, Idon't need 21 tea towels on my
wall.
I'm also going to make, I think, some pillows.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Well, I was just about to say that.
So I used to make quilts andI'd love to go back to quilting
actually, because it wassomething I really enjoyed, but
you could make a fantastic quiltout of them.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
You know, I didn't think about that, but I've never
quilted, so maybe out of myskill set.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
No, honestly, it's easy, especially if you've got
the same shape Pelicace.
Yeah, Now, was there anythingother than tea towels that you
bought, that you kind of I'vegot a bit of a thing at the
minute with?
I mean, I always buy fridgemagnets just because they're
easy to carry.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
I did buy one fridge magnet it's Jane Austen but
bought a tote bag, bought a lotof soap for friends back at home
Cause I was worried aboutbuying too much, that I didn't
want things to break in the inthe luggage.
But I did buy several bars ofsoap for some friends that I
work with my daughter, my son'sgirlfriend.
So we went to in Lake Hawk.
(18:52):
There was a a little craft showgoing on in one of the
buildings with just local peoplewith the things that they had
made.
So I bought a couple of pairsof earrings from a little lady
that made earrings from theflowers in her garden.
So and that was that was uh,that was kind of special.
So that's that's.
And books not too many booksbecause those can get heavy did
(19:13):
buy all like the souvenir guides.
Oh, lots of postcards.
I love postcards.
Yes, yeah, there was a lot ofthose?
Speaker 1 (19:19):
yeah, yeah, tea and cookies.
Yes, not cookies.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Biscuits, fortnum and mason's no, yeah and yes and
coronation biscuits from uhkensington palace and and
highclere castle sold uhshortbread, so bought all that
too.
Nice big fan of shortbread now,wasn't before, but I I just
don't think I've had any reallygood shortbread oh, no, love
(19:46):
shortbread, yeah, it's good,yeah, we ate it.
There's none of it left.
We've eaten it all right, we'regonna.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
we're gonna pivot slightly away from about around
food, even though I could talkwe're gonna go back to food from
around food, even though Icould talk we're going to go
back to food in a bit.
But I know you mentioned abouthow you got around, so obviously
you hired a car.
You picked up the car in Oxford, you dropped it off at Gatwick.
I know Mark did the Trippiamacourse and found it useful.
How did you generally overallfind the driving experience?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Or how did Mark?
Speaker 1 (20:15):
I should be asking him, shouldn't I?
How did Mark find the drivingexperience?
Or?
Speaker 3 (20:19):
how did mark?
I should be asking him,shouldn't I?
How did mark find the drivingexperience?
I don't think he found it veryrelaxing, I know he didn't.
He got used to it and he did afabulous job.
But the first couple of dayswere a little intense.
Um, mainly on the just thelittle back roads in the
cotswolds that are not bigenough really for two cars and,
and you know, not used todriving on that side of the road
(20:41):
and getting too close to theside.
And but he did a fabulous job.
You know the motorways and theroundabouts really didn't give
him much issue.
It just I can't believe thespeed limit is this fast and I
said, well, you don't have to gothat fast.
And we didn't.
But that was a little unnerving.
I thought I don't know if thepeople in the you know,
Americans could do this thatwell.
(21:02):
They're too impatient, Temperedroad rage, so.
But he, it was hard, he would.
I don't think he would havedone as well if he had not
watched the trip.
He almost stuff that was very,very helpful.
He even felt, he even tell,he'll tell you that.
(21:23):
So it was tense the firstcouple of days.
For the driving.
Parking is amazing, Like theypark anywhere and they drive
anywhere and they park in thestreet and there's.
You know those.
You don't do that here either.
So, plus, our roads are so bigand our cars are too big.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
So it's just, it's very different what sort of car
did you rent out of interest?
Did you go for a smaller car?
Speaker 3 (21:49):
it was uh it was an mg something a medium suv type
little little.
You know it's not.
I thought when we got there, hehe gave us a different car than
the one that we had registeredfor, because he looked at our
luggage and I think he thoughtthat wasn't going to fit.
So it was a hybrid, littlehybrid, mg, I mean it wasn't
(22:10):
super big but, um, it was verycomfortable, but it was still,
you know, maybe a little bitbigger than comfortable as far
as driving.
You know, a little smaller one,but I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
I'm not sure if our bags would have fit anything
smaller that's always a bit ofan issue Now getting around to
London, I know you used Riz Xfor cars a lot.
I mean, we work, we work.
We love Riz, yeah yeah, andhe's like a celebrity.
Now I think people aredisappointed.
Don't get Riz, cause Riz hasgot a great team.
(22:42):
It's not just Riz, he has.
Yeah, yeah.
Actually we didn't have it.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
I talked to Riz on the phone.
He actually called me a coupleof days before we left, because
I'm not used to the 24 hourclock, and when I booked our
pickup from the airport, Ibooked it at 3am instead of 3pm
and he thought that called me inthe States and said I don't
think this is what you want.
And he was exactly right.
So we walked through all therest of my bookings to make sure
(23:06):
I had the timing right, and socommunication was great.
Yeah, we used them four times,back and forth to the airport
and back and forth to our rentalcar, so we're three different
drivers.
But we didn't get Riz.
We had Mohammed and gosh.
I can't remember the rest ofthe names, but they were both.
They were all three of themwere great.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
They're great.
He's got a.
Really he's got a.
He's got a great team.
He's actually um picking up mydaughter from Heathrow and
approximately three hours timeCause she's she's.
She flew from Perth um 17 and ahalf hour flight, so yeah,
Communication with him wasreally really easy.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Oh, that was.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
He's amazing.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
He's got a brilliant team and then getting around
london itself tube bus we neverdid the bus in london, uh,
except that one bus tour, butnot the public bus um, walking
in the tube.
And once we figured out how toread the city mapper app, that
was all we needed and it gotfirst.
Our first trip to the tube, wewent down the the wrong side of
(24:10):
the station to the eastboundinstead of westbound I don't
remember which, if it was circleor district line or something
but somebody was very kind thereand I said, oh, you need to go
on that way, and and after thatwe knew, we knew what we were
doing.
So that was a great resourceand it really didn't have any
issues with the tube, except forwe went to.
When we went to the victorianalbert, we went back to the
(24:31):
station that we came from and itwas.
They had closed the closed theentrance, so we had to find
another way.
But we noticed some othercouple looking on their phone
and trying to get around us, andI bet they're doing the same
thing.
So I asked her and she theywere actually from London and
she said follow us, we'll findit.
So we ended up just taggingalong and we never used the bus,
(24:53):
we just used the tube andwalked brilliant, a lot of
walking yeah, yeah, the weatherwas great, so we didn't.
We didn't have any issues withall that yeah, they've had a
great.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
They've had a great summer, apparently, um, so I'm
hoping it lasts until September,if we do get over there um, it
was lovely last september, sohopefully it will be now.
We talked briefly before aboutthe fact that he stayed in the
westminster area, so were thereany um?
We could talk about london.
So obviously, where he stayed,did he stay in the same place
both times or did he change?
Speaker 3 (25:23):
no, we changed.
We were at the WestminsterLondon Curio Collection right
next to I guess it's PEMS House,which is what MI5 or MI6, one
of those right next door to that.
So that was kind of interestingNice hotel.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
It's top secret.
You're not allowed to say.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
It was.
You know, we had a river viewfrom our window and that was a
nice, a nice place.
And then, coming back on thethe end of the trip, we were a
little bit closer to I wanted tobe close to the bus station
where we were picking up ourtour.
So we were at a west west,western buckingham palace small
(26:04):
but is.
It was built into a couple oftwo or three that looked like
had been townhomes or row homes,so the layout was kind of
quirky.
The room was small.
Yeah, mark says it was tiny.
It was actually kind of.
They called it our Harry Potterroom.
It was like the cupboard underthe stairs, because our door was
actually kind of at the bottomof the staircase, behind the
(26:26):
staircase, and it was justlittle, little quirky room.
But it was clean and safe andthey were kind and and it was
two minutes from the bus, soperfect, it was exactly what we
needed.
We were just there for twonights exactly perfect.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
So what about your other accommodation options?
Oh gosh they.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
you know most, I won't tell you most of them we
got from your website, or atleast through bookingcom.
We stayed at the LansdowneGuest House in
Burton-on-the-Water.
That was wonderful.
Did you get people there towork?
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Did you get people next door for a drink?
Speaker 3 (26:59):
No, we didn't go to the Mousetrap.
I don't even remember the namesof the places that we ate there
.
A couple of pubs in an italianplace, and had ice cream one
night for dinner and, um, theirbreakfast was wonderful.
They have a lovely breakfastand the staff is is super, super
kind.
Um, and then in burton andbradford on avon, we stayed at
(27:24):
temple's yard, which it was anold mill, a textile mill I think
, but it was just also just um,a two or three minute walk from
the train station.
Uh, so that was why I chosethat place.
But it was a little boutiqueinn with a real food was
excellent, and one night theywere having a lot of acoustic
(27:45):
music, so that was fun, that weopened our windows and we could
just hear it from downstairs.
That was really nice.
Then we stayed at S Mays inWinchester, which she's just an
Airbnb with one room, but it's abeautiful room, really good
location, just a couple ofblocks from the downtown area in
(28:06):
Winchester.
She was super accommodating.
You know she texted me.
Let me know when you're goingto get here.
I'm going to help you withparking, because parking in
Winchester was not easy.
She was actually out in thestreet in front of her home a
Georgian building, and then shesaved.
She saw an empty spot and shewent and stood in it and saved
it so we could park there.
(28:26):
So she was a wonderful hostessand so we were there for two
nights and then one night atheaver castle and that's.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Those were all the places that we stayed I'm gonna
add they were all great I'mgonna add heaver to it because I
haven't stayed at heaver castle.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
It's kind of on my wish you told me that we could
stay there, so I and I it was.
It was really really.
They have a lovely breakfasttoo.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
That comes with it, yeah yeah, I've been on a can
stay and I've been like you know.
So, if you're listening, he thecastle invite doug and I to
stay.
We'd love to um.
So well, let's talk about food.
So talk about your favoritething of some of you mentioned
shortbread, which is great.
I'm glad you enjoyed.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Oh yeah short shortbread's probably my
favorite thing.
Yeah, we did the fish and chipsum.
I think the best meal that Ihad was a steak and ale pie that
we had at um the henry theeighth inn right outside of
fever castle that we walked toum.
That steak and ale pie wasmarvelous.
(29:30):
I also really enjoyed I had acouple of coronation chicken
sandwiches.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
That was really yummy um, do you know the story of
coronation chicken, thesandwiches?
No, so the way, in fact.
Now, this is as far as I know.
So if anybody's listening andgoing tracy you're not right,
then then do correct me.
Leave my message on speak pipeand say you're wrong, but as far
as I know.
So if anybody's listening andgoing, tracy you're not right,
then do correct me.
Leave me a message on Speakpipeand say you're wrong.
But as far as I'm aware, for1977, it was the Queen's Silver
Jubilee.
(29:55):
So at the time I was 10.
I'm giving my mum my age andthere were street parties
throughout the whole of the UK.
There were street parties.
The whole roads were shut down,we got dressed up, it was
wonderful, it was really part ofthe atmosphere and the weather
was really good, and one of thecompetitions was to come up with
(30:16):
a sandwich and CoronationChicken was born.
So there you go, and it'sreally tasty.
I also love Coronation Chicken.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
I've looked the recipe up.
I haven't tried it yet, but I'mgoing to see if I can make some
Coronation Chicken myself.
So several times we just ate atfor convenience, we ate on
location.
You know, we ate at SootleyCastle and we ate at Kensington
Palace and we ate at the littlebooth right outside of
Winchester I mean not Winchester, westminster Abbey and big meal
(30:45):
at Fortnum and Mason's for tea.
That was dinner, that wastotally.
We couldn't even finish it all.
So we ate there and the lunchat Highclere, and then a few
pubs in Brighton, a few pubs inBurton-on-the-Water, and I wish
I could remember their names,but I don't.
I don't remember what theirnames are.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
There's so many places to eat there In Fortnum
and mason.
I always go to this like thelike the parlor, as you come up,
I think it's on the secondfloor, second or third floor, I
should know um, because I gothere every time and they have
um scotch eggs with thispiccadilly, um, and I I'll go
every time.
So scotch eggs were invented atfortnum and mason.
The guy was telling me thatlast time I ate there.
(31:25):
But they are.
They are absolutely delicious,these scotch eggs and piccadilly
.
They're really good.
I actually haven't.
I must do an afternoon tea.
At Fortnum Mason we try to doan afternoon, at least two or
three afternoon teas every timewe go back.
Obviously for market research,it's essential that we try as
many afternoon teas as possible.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
I did two teas and ended up with three because I
didn't know about the one athighclere.
So that was.
Yeah, that was that's a.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
That's a happy accident.
Happy accident.
What about snacks and thingslike lunchtime?
Did you try any of the mealdeals?
I?
Speaker 3 (32:00):
get no, I guess we can try any meal deals.
I'm not sure exactly what youmean by meal deal.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Okay, so meal deals are if you go into somewhere
like Marks and Spencer's OnlyFood, simply Food.
Oh, they sell sandwiches,crisps and a drink for a set
price, so they're my favoriteway to kind of save a bit of
money for lunchtime.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
We did go pick up some snacks.
Is it Tesco?
Yes, tesco Express?
Yes, yeah, okay Went into acouple of those and and grabbed
snack food to take back to, um,our room and burton on the water
had a.
Well, it's a grocery store, butthe uh, co-op, a co-op.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
So we went, we went into a co-op store and bought a
few things there too yeah,you've got basically like they
have met big stores, like megastores, and then they have the
small kind of high street ones.
So Marks Spencer, simply Food,and then there's the Sainsbury's
Tesco Express Co-op.
They're all really good to goin to just get if you just want
a sandwich and a drink and apiece of fruit or chocolate or
(32:58):
whatever.
They do really good deals and Iam ridiculously excited about
the fact that I can go and buysandwiches from Marks Spencer
soon.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Honestly, it's like we did go to Marks and Spencer,
but I bought a sweater or ajumper cardigan because I left
mine at home and it was full.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Oh, I do that too.
I also go and buy clothes.
But they just had this summerMarks and Spencer's have done a
strawberries and cream sandwich.
I think it's obviously inspiredby the Japanese fruit
sandwiches which we loved whenwe were in Japan, and I've heard
it's delicious.
So I'm hoping.
I don't know if it was alimited edition.
(33:38):
So maybe now, with Wimbledonwell over with, they might not
be doing it.
But I saw that and I was likeI'm going to try one of those.
I think this sold out prettyquickly.
But yeah, I mean, oh, yes, Iknow what I was going to ask you
.
Please, I'm praying that youdid go in here.
Did you go into the cafe at theV&A?
Speaker 3 (34:00):
No, we didn't.
I'll have to go next time.
No, we didn't, sorry.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Next time, next time it's beautiful yeah, absolutely
our.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Our time at the vna was not nearly as long as I
would have liked to have been.
Uh, it was rainy, uh, we hadhad that long.
Yeah, where were we thatmorning?
Kensington palace, I guess, andanyway.
It was just my feet werehurting and we I wanted to get.
I got my clothes all wetbecause it was that was the
rainiest day, so we had.
We went back to the hotel torest for just a little while and
(34:35):
then headed back out toPortland and Masons.
So yeah, it was just a.
We only got to see a couple offloors in Victoria, and not even
all of that.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
So it's all right, you can add it into your
itinerary next time.
Yeah, absolutely for sure now.
Well, were there any challengesalong the way or things you'd
do differently next time?
Speaker 3 (34:55):
no, I really don't think I would have done anything
differently.
I mean, I read the travelplanning website.
I don't know how many times Ilooked up every small detail I
could find and read about.
That kind of information wasjust very, very helpful Booked
everything that I could bookahead of time.
That made it easy.
(35:16):
Everything went really smoothlybecause I knew what to expect.
We just didn't have anyproblems on the trip, which is,
you know, can't always say thatand that might not happen next
time but we really didn't haveany trouble.
Everything went just as Iplanned it.
I'm a planner and I like thatitinerary and you know, mark
didn't always know exactly whatwe were doing every day.
(35:37):
He just kind of followed mealong and I said we have to
leave now.
And I even printed my itineraryand slap and said you know,
these QR codes and the cellphone may not work, or maybe
there's no reception, or acouple of times I had to use the
paper, the paper ticket,because, uh, it didn't work.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
so I was glad that I did that no, no, I think that I
think that's a smart thing to do.
And, um, you, you, I mean Ilove the fact that you, you used
our websites.
Uk, oh, absolutely.
You listen to the podcast,you're a podcast fan, which is
always great.
And, um, and you did a consultwith us as well, so we did you
guys and chat through and helpyou with the itinerary and I
even and I bought some of thedownload, guides too, and
(36:16):
toolkits.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
Yeah, I did that as well.
So perfect, perfect.
It was overwhelming to startplanning and I don't think I
didn't know where to start.
So the consultation was wasperfect, and we did not vary
from what you and Doug plannedvery much, other than I couldn't
get tickets to the Globe at agood time.
I couldn't get it fit in, wecouldn't do.
We had to choose betweenWestminster Abbey and, like the
(36:39):
changing of the guard atBuckingham Palace.
You know, we just couldn't fitit all in, so, but the route
that you mapped out was ideal.
It worked perfectly.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
So perfectly perfect, just what I love to hear.
So, amy, the the usual questionat the end of every podcast.
What would be the one tip forsomeone planning a similar trip
to the UK for the first time?
Speaker 3 (37:03):
so the best tip I could give anyone is to to read
everything.
There's not really a questionthat you couldn't answer on that
website Everything I needed toknow.
The only thing that threw methat I didn't really expect was
so many things that were on the24-hour clock.
You know like a 1700.
I was constantly subtracting 12to keep track of what time it
(37:26):
actually was or where we neededto be somewhere.
But you know the little thingson how to use the tube and all
the apps that you suggested thatwe downloaded.
I made a little folder on myphone and put all the england
apps on there and so we can dothe tfl go and the city mapper
and the bookingcom and city guygo, get your guide.
And that was the best piece ofadvice that I could use is to
(37:48):
use your consultation servicebecause it kept it from being
overwhelming.
I didn't know where to start andI think I could plan a trip
around that area again by myself.
But you know, going in thenorthern part, I'm not sure even
because just the timing,getting the timing right, how
long is it going to take to getthere?
And can you really do this bywalking or is that, you know,
(38:09):
stupid and and all of those thatand other thing is to use.
Um, I would use and put out thethe extra money to use xfa
transfers in a heartbeat.
That saves so much stress fromhow how are we going to get all
our luggage on the tube atcertain times of the day and or
is it going to rain, or how faris the tube station from where
(38:31):
we're staying?
It was, it was totally worthevery cent.
I don't think it wasovercharged at all.
It was totally worth the moneyto do those transfers and I
would do that again easy easily,brilliant, brilliant.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
Well, I always say that.
You know, I think when you whenarrive, when you get on the
plane, it's the start of yourvacation.
And when you arrive at yourdestination, for me being, I
just want to arrive, and I saythis all the time, so I'm sure
people listening to the podcastgo.
I know we're not just going tosay but I just want to arrive
and be met, I want to be whiskedto my hotel.
I don't want to have any stress, I don't want.
(39:10):
I've been on a long flight, I'mtired, you're, you're more
you're, you're just less awareof everything.
And I just think, even you'reexcited because you're in a new
place.
But you know, at that point youarrive at an airport, it's not
that great much fun, is it,arriving an airport.
You have to, but you've got to.
The sooner you get out thereand get to your destination, the
better.
So, yeah, I totally agree.
I totally agree.
But it's been amazing talkingto you, amy, and catching up all
about your trip.
So thanks so much for coming onand sharing your trip.
Thank you for asking me.
(39:30):
No, it's been a pleasure tochat to you.
Thanks once again to Amy forjoining me and sharing her UK
trip report this week.
You can find all the linksmentioned in this episode in the
show notes and, if you enjoyedthe podcast, please leave us a
review on your favorite podcastapp.
It really helps others to findthe show.
Until next week, though, fromme, as always, happy UK travel
(39:52):
planning.
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode of the UK travel
planning podcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uktravelplanningcom.
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
or a review on your favouritepodcast app?
We love to hear from you andyou never know.
You may receive a shout out ina future episode, but, as always
(40:15):
, that just leaves me to sayuntil next week, happy UK travel
planning.
Two weeks in England a lifelong dream come true and
plenty of inspiration for yourown UK adventure.
This week's episode is a tripreport with Amy from Texas,
sharing how she turned her firstvisit into a journey she'll
never forget.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK Travel Planning website,
tracey Collins.
Each week, tracey sharesdestination guides, travel tips
and itinerary ideas, as well asinterviews with a variety of
guests who share their knowledgeand experience of UK travel to
help you plan your perfect UKvacation.
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
(00:36):
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands and
from the picturesquecountryside to seaside towns.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
from the picturesque countryside to seaside towns.
Hi and welcome to this week'sepisode of the UK Travel Planner
Podcast with me, tracey Collinsand my guest, amy Carpenter.
Amy recently spent two weeksexploring England with her
husband, mark, taking inhistoric sites, charming towns
and some truly special placesalong the way.
(01:03):
She's here to share how sheplanned it, what helped
everything run smoothly and hertop tips for anyone dreaming of
their own UK trip.
Now, before we dive in, a hugethank you to podcast sponsor
Deborah Harsin.
We really appreciate yoursupport.
If you'd like to sponsor theshow or simply buy us a cuppa as
a thank you for the free UKtravel tips we share every week,
(01:23):
you'll find the links in theshow notes, and I'd love to hear
from you too, whether you'vegot a UK travel tip, a question
or even your own trip report toshare.
Just head to our Speakpipe linkand leave me a voice message,
and the link is in the shownotes as well.
Now let's get on to this week'sepisode.
I started by asking Amy tointroduce herself where she's
from, who she traveled with andhow long she spent in the UK.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
My name is Amy Carpenter and I traveled with my
husband, mark Carpenter, who weleft on the 26th of May, got
back on June 7th, so we werethere for a good full two weeks.
Started in London, went arounda big oval, but anyway, we're
from texas and the great stateof texas in the united states of
(02:10):
america perfect.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
So what inspired this trip, and was there anything in
particular you were hoping tosee, or do you?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
gosh, I have been a lover of england my whole life,
so this has just been a dreamtrip.
That's really did I get to seeeverything I wanted to see?
No, because I want to seeeverything and but everything
that we planned you know thosewere history buffs I wanted to
see castles and great homes andthe Cotswolds and literature
(02:43):
things, and so we got to seeeverything that we had on my
wishlist for that trip.
You know we have to make moretrips, period.
We're going to make more trips.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
I'm very happy to hear that and, very honestly,
you know I lived in the UK mostof my life and there's still so
many places that I'm going to.
I haven't been there.
I need to go and visit.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Well, you know, I'm not even nearly as excited about
seeing things in the UnitedStates as I was about seeing
things in England.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So we used to do a lot of travel around the UK when
we lived there.
We used to go every weekend andtravel around.
But it's really funny, since wemoved to Australia and we kind
of based ourselves betweenAustralia and the UK, we do
spend far more time kind oftalking about what we're going
to do in the UK than we do aboutanything else.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
it's a bit ironic sometimes you don't appreciate
what's in a doorstep untilyou're a little bit further away
from it and we're a long wayaway from it now, so yeah, and
you know in the United States isso big it's hard to pinpoint
where you want to go there.
I mean, I've traveled a lotaround the United States, United
States.
But if I had a choice ofspending two weeks traveling in
the United States or the UK, Iwould have said you can see in a
(03:50):
heartbeat.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
It's a bit like Australia it's huge, there's a
lot to see and do and it takesyou two weeks just to drive
across the state.
So can you give us a quickoverview of your itinerary,
where you went and how youdivided up your time?
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Sure.
Well, we flew into London,obviously, and we spent the
first four days there.
So we did that first day.
We didn't really do much, justkind of got to the hotel relaxed
, walked around a little bit.
We were staying in Westminsterarea, not very far from
Parliament and Westminster Abbey.
It was probably about a six,seven-minute walk.
So that was nice and I didn'teven realize the hotel was that
close until we started walking.
I thought that looks familiar,sure enough.
(04:34):
And then the next day we did ourfirst big tour going to the
Tower of London and we went allthe way out.
We stopped also close to there,at St Dunstan's in the east,
the bombed-out chapel I thinkthat was really pretty and then
did a long trip across to theDickens Museum.
I can't tell you what part ofLondon that was in, I don't
(04:55):
remember, but it took two ridesand a long walk.
But I love Charles Dickens sothat was fun to go see where he
lived at one time.
Then let's see, the next daywas kensington palette, no,
westminster abbey, westminsterabbey and the king's gallery and
the royal muse.
And that was a long day, but itwas.
I kind of pushed two things tooclose together.
(05:18):
I should not have.
I should have given us a littlemore time um in the morning at
westminster abbey than I did,and so we were kind of rushing
to get to our next tour, but wemade it.
And then Kensington Palace onthe next day with a trip to the
Victorian Albert Museum.
Could have spent all day there,but our time there was kind of
short.
And then we had a lovely tea atFortnum and Mason's that
(05:42):
afternoon Beautiful store, gosh,it's a gorgeous store.
So that was the first few days.
And then we took a.
We used a car.
We did this to travel to.
I decided to just use hisservice to get to Oxford for our
rental car instead of trying toget all that luggage on the
tube at rush hour.
So we went to Oxford.
(06:04):
We didn't really spend any timein oxford.
We all we did was pick up ourcar and headed out to blenheim
palace.
Uh, loved it.
It was such a relaxingafternoon.
We spent hours there.
I was a little disappointedthat there was some scaffolding
on it.
It was kind of underconstruction, but I did.
I did two special.
We did an upstairs tour and adownstairs tours.
They were extra those.
Those were so, so fun.
(06:26):
And then we headed on intoBurton-on-the-Water to have,
where we stayed for three nightsand kind of just hit the
Cotswolds for a few days, wentto Soodley Castle and took your
advice by waiting at night andwhen all the crowds were gone.
And then we drove out to Byberyand walked around there and we
went to Winchcombe, right nearSizzley Castle and Broadway, and
(06:50):
we walked to Lower Slaughterone morning and just took it
some nice relaxing days therebefore we headed on to Laycock
Village and to Bath.
We didn't actually stay in Bath, we stayed in Bradford-on-Avon
and took the train into Bath fora nice big tour there.
After that was Stonehenge.
(07:10):
The next day was Stonehenge andHighclere Castle all in one day
.
So that was a great, greatexperience.
And then from there we went toWinchester for a couple of days
and to Chawton so I could seeall my Jane Austen things, and
to Chawton so I could see all myJane Austen things.
From there we went to HeverCastle and spent the night there
, and Chartwell, winstonChurchill's home, and Leeds
(07:32):
Castle the next day, and thenheaded back to London, took our
car back to Gatwick Airport,used Riz again to pick us up
there and drive us into our nexthotel in London, and our last
tour was a day tour, a doubletour of Hampton Court Palace and
Windsor Castle.
(07:52):
I booked a tour there so wecould take the bus with them and
not have to do any traveling onour own.
So then back to the hotel andhome airport the next day.
So it was a very full two weeks.
Uh, exhausted at night, but thedays were great.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Oh, I love your itinerary.
I really do.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
I think it's a, it's a well you really, you really
kind of said it with your.
It's a good job.
I love it, isn't it?
Yeah, you said you could dothis, this and this and this,
and so I did it's really cooland we might actually be.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
If we go I keep saying this and when this
episode comes out, we mayactually be in the UK doing a
similar route.
We're going to add a little bitmore in.
I think we're going to go downthe Jurassic Coast and along
that way as well, but, um,basically hitting all the spots
that you hit as well, um,because we wanted, we also want
to drive that again.
It's a few years since we'vedone it, so we're like you know
what we need, to go and do it,and I'm talking to Amy.
(08:47):
She did everything that we saidand it went really well and she
loved it, and I know we do a lotof driving itineraries for that
part of the road.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
I don't think we could not have done all that
without the driving.
We had to do the driving.
There's no way we had to do thedriving there's no way um.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
So I did well, we I didn't drive, mark did all the
driving.
Yeah, doug was, doug does allthe driving and he always says
that you go on about drama.
I do the driving and I'm like Iknow, but I navigate I navigate
.
We have important jobs.
I mean that's right.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Navigate, that's right I I, we, we mastered the
circle or the turnaroundroundabout, whatever it is that
you thought, yeah, he did, hedid the pripyamo and he said
that was super helpful, becauseit he really you know it's
really good.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
It's really good and we do recommend anybody that's
driving.
We we say it.
I mean it's just, it's notexpensive.
I keep saying it's not anexpensive.
No, no, it's amazing and you'dbe crazy not to.
If you're going to drive in theuk, even if you drive on the
left, like we do in australia ornew zealand, still do the
course, because you do not knowthe rules of the road and the
(09:55):
change.
There's things that change.
So I think it's really good todo now.
What were your?
And this is a really hardquestion, but I'm going to ask
you, what were your highlightsor favorite experiences from the
trip?
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Well, top three was the Soodley Castle.
Loved, loved, loved, loved theSoodley Castle.
The history, the tour guide wasgreat, the weather was
beautiful and just all of thehistory that is in that place.
That was probably my favoritetour and I would go back there
(10:28):
in a heartbeat, even repeat thatone.
And I came home talking, youknow, telling my children about
it grown children they weren'tnearly as excited as I was, but
and looking at things and but Ijust loved, loved.
Stately Castle.
High Clear Castle tour waswonderful.
I did not know it, but Iactually booked a special tour
(10:50):
date.
Didn't realize they were.
It was a special day.
They were only letting twotours in the house that day, so
we were in the afternoon tours60 people.
But they divided you up intotwo small, much smaller groups.
It was a very thorough tour.
Off the house manager I think Idon't remember his name.
He did it.
They looked great.
We were into lots of, lots ofrooms, lots of detail.
(11:12):
But it also included signedbooks by lady carnarvon and, um,
a nice full pea.
So we got to have that as well.
So that, and it was a gorgeous,gorgeous day.
So I did not realize it wasgoing to include the tea and
include the books.
I thought it was just a ticketfor a tour, so that was.
That was special, uh.
(11:33):
And then our, our stay at heverCastle was really absolutely
worth the splurge of spendingthe night there.
We were in the outer buildingsthat were built, I think, in
1922.
I believe that's what they saidbut it felt like you were in a
building that was, you know,tudor age, but it wasn't.
And they let you walk aroundthe grounds after all.
(11:56):
The crowds had gone, and so wewalked around the lake and it
still I didn't realize that itstayed light in England so long.
I mean, it was 10 o'clockbefore it was nighttime and so
we walked for a while.
There was some rain that day,but we did lots of walks and my
husband's just telling me hefound a pillbox, a World War II
(12:16):
pill box, on site and he had togo home, go back to the hotel or
back to our room and look it up.
Why would there be a pill boxat Heber Council?
But he found it.
Um, so that was.
Those were my, I think,probably my three favorite tours
.
Uh, but I also loved our timein the Cotswolds.
So it's just really hard tohard to pick a favorite.
I was going to say world.
(12:39):
So it's just really hard, tohard to pick a phase.
You don't have things that oldin the states and if they, if
you do they're, they'reprimitive.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
You know maybe some native american sites or some
really simple um buildings inflorida for when the spanish
owned that, but you, just, youjust don't have, you just don't
have that kind of history I meanthere's thousands and thousands
of years worth of like right,right from, if you go up to
orkney to scarabray, um, you'veobviously got stonehenge, and
then you've got all you know,you know all the castles, and
(13:05):
yeah, I mean, it is crazy,there's so much, there's so much
history and so much choice ofwhat period of right you want to
be interested in, delve into,follow you know, whether you're
interested in the literary sideof stuff.
You know, I've just I've justwritten, actually, a jane austen
itinerary, which is something Ialso want to yeah, I've read it
well.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
I read what you put on our, what you put on the
website.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
I saw that yeah, and I was like, oh, I really want to
do that, I really want to dothat, but doug's like, no, I
don't think.
So I'm like I have to find somefellow travelers who wanted to
do the jane austen itinerarywith me, yeah, yeah, because
that would be really cool.
But there is, there's just.
There's just so much to do, somany places to go, so many areas
to discover um, that it can be,it can be mind-blowing.
(13:51):
So I know we talked about kindof the, the favorite, you see,
enjoy the castles.
And actually I went to um high.
I've been to Highclere a fewtimes and I did a tour last
October with Melissa Jones, whowas on the podcast in December
because she went over to Londonsolo and she was like do you
want to come and do some stuffwith me?
Um, and we went to to um, toHighclere, and it was.
(14:11):
It was the same because Dougand I had visited before and it
was just a.
We just kind of wanderedthrough the house but we weren't
kind of told anything.
But we did the one in Octoberand it was great because it was
with the manager.
He explained everything.
It was really thorough, thorough, and then we had a lovely
afternoon tea in the book, so,but I think it depends what
month you book, what type of toyyou can have.
(14:32):
They change it, um, but yeah, Ihighly recommend that.
That.
I also thought that was thatwas absolutely brilliant, um.
So so talk to me a little bitabout the jane austen stuff,
because we've kind of mentionedit.
So I know you went to bath, youwent to winchester, you went to
chawton, so tell me thehighlights of that.
What did you love about that?
Speaker 3 (14:52):
um, well, our first jane austen stuff was in Bath,
the Jane Austen Center.
I had tea there in the Mr DarcyTea Room, so that was fun I'm
such a Jane Austen fan, not evenjust the books but the movies
as well and just walking around,we did a walks tour in Bath so
we got to see some sites thatwere in some of the movies and
(15:16):
some of the places that our tourguide even brought out, some of
the places that were describedin the books and but not
necessarily in the movies.
But it was a setting that JaneAusten described in some of her
stories, like in Persuasion.
And so that was our first JaneAusten, but the best, uh, even
some of the movie sites inLaycock Village.
You know some of it.
Some of those movies werefilmed there.
(15:37):
So that was great.
But in Winchester spent a wholeday at Chawton, loved the Jane
Austen house.
But we also went to Chawtonhouse, her brother's house, and
that was a really neat littletour.
There weren't a lot of peoplethere it's probably not, as I
don't know, maybe it'soverlooked or people just don't
(15:57):
go but it was a very neat tourof her brother's house, just
right down the street and whereshe spent a lot of time.
They had costumes from some ofthe movies there, they had some
original manuscripts and someother things to see.
So that part was great.
And then things to see, so thatpart was great.
(16:18):
And then the you know, we wentto her uh, winchester cathedral
and uh saw where she was buriedand no, I didn't realize that
she was buried so early in themorning and kind of secretive
and or not secret, just kind ofyou know, no big fanfare, um, so
that was all the the janeausten things that we did and I
loved every minute of it, boughtlots of stuff, so spent too
much, spent too much money inthe gift shop at the jane austen
(16:40):
and house, but that's okaydon't.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Don't talk about gift shops.
Oh my goodness, on the museumand the gift shops in some of
these places like the best.
Just, oh my goodness, everytime it's him, I always buy
something vna.
Oh my goodness, museum shopslike it's him, I always buy
something V&A.
Oh my goodness, museum shopsLike Doug knows.
Now he's like how long wouldyou require in the gift shop.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Because he knows Mark didn't, and Mark never stopped
me.
So I ended up.
I didn't intend to, this wasn'tplanned, but I started buying
tea towels at every gift shop,one that had an image or
something to do with wherever wesaw.
So I came home with 21 teatowels.
I don't know what I'm going todo with them, but I have 20 tea
(17:28):
towels and they're not going tobe used as tea towels.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
I don't want to mess them up.
No, it's true, I've got quite alot as well in my drawing and I
actually started putting someup on the wall because I've got
a lovely cotter and I put on theone that kept falling down.
I was like, so I'm gonna haveto frame it if I'm going to put
it up but yeah, I've got a fewframes.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
I haven't put them in there yet and I figured out how
I could put them on a rod tokind of hang them and change
them out, because you know, Idon't need 21 tea towels on my
wall.
I'm also going to make, I think, some pillows.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Well, I was just about to say that.
So I used to make quilts andI'd love to go back to quilting
actually, because it wassomething I really enjoyed, but
you could make a fantastic quiltout of them.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
You know, I didn't think about that, but I've never
quilted, so maybe out of myskill set.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
No, honestly, it's easy, especially if you've got
the same shape Pelicace.
Yeah, Now, was there anythingother than tea towels that you
bought, that you kind of I'vegot a bit of a thing at the
minute with?
I mean, I always buy fridgemagnets just because they're
easy to carry.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
I did buy one fridge magnet it's Jane Austen but
bought a tote bag, bought a lotof soap for friends back at home
Cause I was worried aboutbuying too much, that I didn't
want things to break in the inthe luggage.
But I did buy several bars ofsoap for some friends that I
work with my daughter, my son'sgirlfriend.
So we went to in Lake Hawk.
(18:52):
There was a a little craft showgoing on in one of the
buildings with just local peoplewith the things that they had
made.
So I bought a couple of pairsof earrings from a little lady
that made earrings from theflowers in her garden.
So and that was that was uh,that was kind of special.
So that's that's.
And books not too many booksbecause those can get heavy did
(19:13):
buy all like the souvenir guides.
Oh, lots of postcards.
I love postcards.
Yes, yeah, there was a lot ofthose?
Speaker 1 (19:19):
yeah, yeah, tea and cookies.
Yes, not cookies.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Biscuits, fortnum and mason's no, yeah and yes and
coronation biscuits from uhkensington palace and and
highclere castle sold uhshortbread, so bought all that
too.
Nice big fan of shortbread now,wasn't before, but I I just
don't think I've had any reallygood shortbread oh, no, love
(19:46):
shortbread, yeah, it's good,yeah, we ate it.
There's none of it left.
We've eaten it all right, we'regonna.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
we're gonna pivot slightly away from about around
food, even though I could talkwe're gonna go back to food from
around food, even though Icould talk we're going to go
back to food in a bit.
But I know you mentioned abouthow you got around, so obviously
you hired a car.
You picked up the car in Oxford, you dropped it off at Gatwick.
I know Mark did the Trippiamacourse and found it useful.
How did you generally overallfind the driving experience?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Or how did Mark?
Speaker 1 (20:15):
I should be asking him, shouldn't I?
How did Mark find the drivingexperience?
Or?
Speaker 3 (20:19):
how did mark?
I should be asking him,shouldn't I?
How did mark find the drivingexperience?
I don't think he found it veryrelaxing, I know he didn't.
He got used to it and he did afabulous job.
But the first couple of dayswere a little intense.
Um, mainly on the just thelittle back roads in the
cotswolds that are not bigenough really for two cars and,
and you know, not used todriving on that side of the road
(20:41):
and getting too close to theside.
And but he did a fabulous job.
You know the motorways and theroundabouts really didn't give
him much issue.
It just I can't believe thespeed limit is this fast and I
said, well, you don't have to gothat fast.
And we didn't.
But that was a little unnerving.
I thought I don't know if thepeople in the you know,
Americans could do this thatwell.
(21:02):
They're too impatient, Temperedroad rage, so.
But he, it was hard, he would.
I don't think he would havedone as well if he had not
watched the trip.
He almost stuff that was very,very helpful.
He even felt, he even tell,he'll tell you that.
(21:23):
So it was tense the firstcouple of days.
For the driving.
Parking is amazing, Like theypark anywhere and they drive
anywhere and they park in thestreet and there's.
You know those.
You don't do that here either.
So, plus, our roads are so bigand our cars are too big.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
So it's just, it's very different what sort of car
did you rent out of interest?
Did you go for a smaller car?
Speaker 3 (21:49):
it was uh it was an mg something a medium suv type
little little.
You know it's not.
I thought when we got there, hehe gave us a different car than
the one that we had registeredfor, because he looked at our
luggage and I think he thoughtthat wasn't going to fit.
So it was a hybrid, littlehybrid, mg, I mean it wasn't
(22:10):
super big but, um, it was verycomfortable, but it was still,
you know, maybe a little bitbigger than comfortable as far
as driving.
You know, a little smaller one,but I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
I'm not sure if our bags would have fit anything
smaller that's always a bit ofan issue Now getting around to
London, I know you used Riz Xfor cars a lot.
I mean, we work, we work.
We love Riz, yeah yeah, andhe's like a celebrity.
Now I think people aredisappointed.
Don't get Riz, cause Riz hasgot a great team.
(22:42):
It's not just Riz, he has.
Yeah, yeah.
Actually we didn't have it.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
I talked to Riz on the phone.
He actually called me a coupleof days before we left, because
I'm not used to the 24 hourclock, and when I booked our
pickup from the airport, Ibooked it at 3am instead of 3pm
and he thought that called me inthe States and said I don't
think this is what you want.
And he was exactly right.
So we walked through all therest of my bookings to make sure
(23:06):
I had the timing right, and socommunication was great.
Yeah, we used them four times,back and forth to the airport
and back and forth to our rentalcar, so we're three different
drivers.
But we didn't get Riz.
We had Mohammed and gosh.
I can't remember the rest ofthe names, but they were both.
They were all three of themwere great.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
They're great.
He's got a.
Really he's got a.
He's got a great team.
He's actually um picking up mydaughter from Heathrow and
approximately three hours timeCause she's she's.
She flew from Perth um 17 and ahalf hour flight, so yeah,
Communication with him wasreally really easy.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Oh, that was.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
He's amazing.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
He's got a brilliant team and then getting around
london itself tube bus we neverdid the bus in london, uh,
except that one bus tour, butnot the public bus um, walking
in the tube.
And once we figured out how toread the city mapper app, that
was all we needed and it gotfirst.
Our first trip to the tube, wewent down the the wrong side of
(24:10):
the station to the eastboundinstead of westbound I don't
remember which, if it was circleor district line or something
but somebody was very kind thereand I said, oh, you need to go
on that way, and and after thatwe knew, we knew what we were
doing.
So that was a great resourceand it really didn't have any
issues with the tube, except forwe went to.
When we went to the victorianalbert, we went back to the
(24:31):
station that we came from and itwas.
They had closed the closed theentrance, so we had to find
another way.
But we noticed some othercouple looking on their phone
and trying to get around us, andI bet they're doing the same
thing.
So I asked her and she theywere actually from London and
she said follow us, we'll findit.
So we ended up just taggingalong and we never used the bus,
(24:53):
we just used the tube andwalked brilliant, a lot of
walking yeah, yeah, the weatherwas great, so we didn't.
We didn't have any issues withall that yeah, they've had a
great.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
They've had a great summer, apparently, um, so I'm
hoping it lasts until September,if we do get over there um, it
was lovely last september, sohopefully it will be now.
We talked briefly before aboutthe fact that he stayed in the
westminster area, so were thereany um?
We could talk about london.
So obviously, where he stayed,did he stay in the same place
both times or did he change?
Speaker 3 (25:23):
no, we changed.
We were at the WestminsterLondon Curio Collection right
next to I guess it's PEMS House,which is what MI5 or MI6, one
of those right next door to that.
So that was kind of interestingNice hotel.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
It's top secret.
You're not allowed to say.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
It was.
You know, we had a river viewfrom our window and that was a
nice, a nice place.
And then, coming back on thethe end of the trip, we were a
little bit closer to I wanted tobe close to the bus station
where we were picking up ourtour.
So we were at a west west,western buckingham palace small
(26:04):
but is.
It was built into a couple oftwo or three that looked like
had been townhomes or row homes,so the layout was kind of
quirky.
The room was small.
Yeah, mark says it was tiny.
It was actually kind of.
They called it our Harry Potterroom.
It was like the cupboard underthe stairs, because our door was
actually kind of at the bottomof the staircase, behind the
(26:26):
staircase, and it was justlittle, little quirky room.
But it was clean and safe andthey were kind and and it was
two minutes from the bus, soperfect, it was exactly what we
needed.
We were just there for twonights exactly perfect.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
So what about your other accommodation options?
Oh gosh they.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
you know most, I won't tell you most of them we
got from your website, or atleast through bookingcom.
We stayed at the LansdowneGuest House in
Burton-on-the-Water.
That was wonderful.
Did you get people there towork?
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Did you get people next door for a drink?
Speaker 3 (26:59):
No, we didn't go to the Mousetrap.
I don't even remember the namesof the places that we ate there
.
A couple of pubs in an italianplace, and had ice cream one
night for dinner and, um, theirbreakfast was wonderful.
They have a lovely breakfastand the staff is is super, super
kind.
Um, and then in burton andbradford on avon, we stayed at
(27:24):
temple's yard, which it was anold mill, a textile mill I think
, but it was just also just um,a two or three minute walk from
the train station.
Uh, so that was why I chosethat place.
But it was a little boutiqueinn with a real food was
excellent, and one night theywere having a lot of acoustic
(27:45):
music, so that was fun, that weopened our windows and we could
just hear it from downstairs.
That was really nice.
Then we stayed at S Mays inWinchester, which she's just an
Airbnb with one room, but it's abeautiful room, really good
location, just a couple ofblocks from the downtown area in
(28:06):
Winchester.
She was super accommodating.
You know she texted me.
Let me know when you're goingto get here.
I'm going to help you withparking, because parking in
Winchester was not easy.
She was actually out in thestreet in front of her home a
Georgian building, and then shesaved.
She saw an empty spot and shewent and stood in it and saved
it so we could park there.
(28:26):
So she was a wonderful hostessand so we were there for two
nights and then one night atheaver castle and that's.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Those were all the places that we stayed I'm gonna
add they were all great I'mgonna add heaver to it because I
haven't stayed at heaver castle.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
It's kind of on my wish you told me that we could
stay there, so I and I it was.
It was really really.
They have a lovely breakfasttoo.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
That comes with it, yeah yeah, I've been on a can
stay and I've been like you know.
So, if you're listening, he thecastle invite doug and I to
stay.
We'd love to um.
So well, let's talk about food.
So talk about your favoritething of some of you mentioned
shortbread, which is great.
I'm glad you enjoyed.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Oh yeah short shortbread's probably my
favorite thing.
Yeah, we did the fish and chipsum.
I think the best meal that Ihad was a steak and ale pie that
we had at um the henry theeighth inn right outside of
fever castle that we walked toum.
That steak and ale pie wasmarvelous.
(29:30):
I also really enjoyed I had acouple of coronation chicken
sandwiches.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
That was really yummy um, do you know the story of
coronation chicken, thesandwiches?
No, so the way, in fact.
Now, this is as far as I know.
So if anybody's listening andgoing tracy you're not right,
then then do correct me.
Leave my message on speak pipeand say you're wrong, but as far
as I know.
So if anybody's listening andgoing, tracy you're not right,
then do correct me.
Leave me a message on Speakpipeand say you're wrong.
But as far as I'm aware, for1977, it was the Queen's Silver
Jubilee.
(29:55):
So at the time I was 10.
I'm giving my mum my age andthere were street parties
throughout the whole of the UK.
There were street parties.
The whole roads were shut down,we got dressed up, it was
wonderful, it was really part ofthe atmosphere and the weather
was really good, and one of thecompetitions was to come up with
(30:16):
a sandwich and CoronationChicken was born.
So there you go, and it'sreally tasty.
I also love Coronation Chicken.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
I've looked the recipe up.
I haven't tried it yet, but I'mgoing to see if I can make some
Coronation Chicken myself.
So several times we just ate atfor convenience, we ate on
location.
You know, we ate at SootleyCastle and we ate at Kensington
Palace and we ate at the littlebooth right outside of
Winchester I mean not Winchester, westminster Abbey and big meal
(30:45):
at Fortnum and Mason's for tea.
That was dinner, that wastotally.
We couldn't even finish it all.
So we ate there and the lunchat Highclere, and then a few
pubs in Brighton, a few pubs inBurton-on-the-Water, and I wish
I could remember their names,but I don't.
I don't remember what theirnames are.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
There's so many places to eat there In Fortnum
and mason.
I always go to this like thelike the parlor, as you come up,
I think it's on the secondfloor, second or third floor, I
should know um, because I gothere every time and they have
um scotch eggs with thispiccadilly, um, and I I'll go
every time.
So scotch eggs were invented atfortnum and mason.
The guy was telling me thatlast time I ate there.
(31:25):
But they are.
They are absolutely delicious,these scotch eggs and piccadilly
.
They're really good.
I actually haven't.
I must do an afternoon tea.
At Fortnum Mason we try to doan afternoon, at least two or
three afternoon teas every timewe go back.
Obviously for market research,it's essential that we try as
many afternoon teas as possible.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
I did two teas and ended up with three because I
didn't know about the one athighclere.
So that was.
Yeah, that was that's a.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
That's a happy accident.
Happy accident.
What about snacks and thingslike lunchtime?
Did you try any of the mealdeals?
I?
Speaker 3 (32:00):
get no, I guess we can try any meal deals.
I'm not sure exactly what youmean by meal deal.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Okay, so meal deals are if you go into somewhere
like Marks and Spencer's OnlyFood, simply Food.
Oh, they sell sandwiches,crisps and a drink for a set
price, so they're my favoriteway to kind of save a bit of
money for lunchtime.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
We did go pick up some snacks.
Is it Tesco?
Yes, tesco Express?
Yes, yeah, okay Went into acouple of those and and grabbed
snack food to take back to, um,our room and burton on the water
had a.
Well, it's a grocery store, butthe uh, co-op, a co-op.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
So we went, we went into a co-op store and bought a
few things there too yeah,you've got basically like they
have met big stores, like megastores, and then they have the
small kind of high street ones.
So Marks Spencer, simply Food,and then there's the Sainsbury's
Tesco Express Co-op.
They're all really good to goin to just get if you just want
a sandwich and a drink and apiece of fruit or chocolate or
(32:58):
whatever.
They do really good deals and Iam ridiculously excited about
the fact that I can go and buysandwiches from Marks Spencer
soon.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Honestly, it's like we did go to Marks and Spencer,
but I bought a sweater or ajumper cardigan because I left
mine at home and it was full.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Oh, I do that too.
I also go and buy clothes.
But they just had this summerMarks and Spencer's have done a
strawberries and cream sandwich.
I think it's obviously inspiredby the Japanese fruit
sandwiches which we loved whenwe were in Japan, and I've heard
it's delicious.
So I'm hoping.
I don't know if it was alimited edition.
(33:38):
So maybe now, with Wimbledonwell over with, they might not
be doing it.
But I saw that and I was likeI'm going to try one of those.
I think this sold out prettyquickly.
But yeah, I mean, oh, yes, Iknow what I was going to ask you
.
Please, I'm praying that youdid go in here.
Did you go into the cafe at theV&A?
Speaker 3 (34:00):
No, we didn't.
I'll have to go next time.
No, we didn't, sorry.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Next time, next time it's beautiful yeah, absolutely
our.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Our time at the vna was not nearly as long as I
would have liked to have been.
Uh, it was rainy, uh, we hadhad that long.
Yeah, where were we thatmorning?
Kensington palace, I guess, andanyway.
It was just my feet werehurting and we I wanted to get.
I got my clothes all wetbecause it was that was the
rainiest day, so we had.
We went back to the hotel torest for just a little while and
(34:35):
then headed back out toPortland and Masons.
So yeah, it was just a.
We only got to see a couple offloors in Victoria, and not even
all of that.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
So it's all right, you can add it into your
itinerary next time.
Yeah, absolutely for sure now.
Well, were there any challengesalong the way or things you'd
do differently next time?
Speaker 3 (34:55):
no, I really don't think I would have done anything
differently.
I mean, I read the travelplanning website.
I don't know how many times Ilooked up every small detail I
could find and read about.
That kind of information wasjust very, very helpful Booked
everything that I could bookahead of time.
That made it easy.
(35:16):
Everything went really smoothlybecause I knew what to expect.
We just didn't have anyproblems on the trip, which is,
you know, can't always say thatand that might not happen next
time but we really didn't haveany trouble.
Everything went just as Iplanned it.
I'm a planner and I like thatitinerary and you know, mark
didn't always know exactly whatwe were doing every day.
(35:37):
He just kind of followed mealong and I said we have to
leave now.
And I even printed my itineraryand slap and said you know,
these QR codes and the cellphone may not work, or maybe
there's no reception, or acouple of times I had to use the
paper, the paper ticket,because, uh, it didn't work.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
so I was glad that I did that no, no, I think that I
think that's a smart thing to do.
And, um, you, you, I mean Ilove the fact that you, you used
our websites.
Uk, oh, absolutely.
You listen to the podcast,you're a podcast fan, which is
always great.
And, um, and you did a consultwith us as well, so we did you
guys and chat through and helpyou with the itinerary and I
even and I bought some of thedownload, guides too, and
(36:16):
toolkits.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
Yeah, I did that as well.
So perfect, perfect.
It was overwhelming to startplanning and I don't think I
didn't know where to start.
So the consultation was wasperfect, and we did not vary
from what you and Doug plannedvery much, other than I couldn't
get tickets to the Globe at agood time.
I couldn't get it fit in, wecouldn't do.
We had to choose betweenWestminster Abbey and, like the
(36:39):
changing of the guard atBuckingham Palace.
You know, we just couldn't fitit all in, so, but the route
that you mapped out was ideal.
It worked perfectly.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
So perfectly perfect, just what I love to hear.
So, amy, the the usual questionat the end of every podcast.
What would be the one tip forsomeone planning a similar trip
to the UK for the first time?
Speaker 3 (37:03):
so the best tip I could give anyone is to to read
everything.
There's not really a questionthat you couldn't answer on that
website Everything I needed toknow.
The only thing that threw methat I didn't really expect was
so many things that were on the24-hour clock.
You know like a 1700.
I was constantly subtracting 12to keep track of what time it
(37:26):
actually was or where we neededto be somewhere.
But you know the little thingson how to use the tube and all
the apps that you suggested thatwe downloaded.
I made a little folder on myphone and put all the england
apps on there and so we can dothe tfl go and the city mapper
and the bookingcom and city guygo, get your guide.
And that was the best piece ofadvice that I could use is to
(37:48):
use your consultation servicebecause it kept it from being
overwhelming.
I didn't know where to start andI think I could plan a trip
around that area again by myself.
But you know, going in thenorthern part, I'm not sure even
because just the timing,getting the timing right, how
long is it going to take to getthere?
And can you really do this bywalking or is that, you know,
(38:09):
stupid and and all of those thatand other thing is to use.
Um, I would use and put out thethe extra money to use xfa
transfers in a heartbeat.
That saves so much stress fromhow how are we going to get all
our luggage on the tube atcertain times of the day and or
is it going to rain, or how faris the tube station from where
(38:31):
we're staying?
It was, it was totally worthevery cent.
I don't think it wasovercharged at all.
It was totally worth the moneyto do those transfers and I
would do that again easy easily,brilliant, brilliant.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
Well, I always say that.
You know, I think when you whenarrive, when you get on the
plane, it's the start of yourvacation.
And when you arrive at yourdestination, for me being, I
just want to arrive, and I saythis all the time, so I'm sure
people listening to the podcastgo.
I know we're not just going tosay but I just want to arrive
and be met, I want to be whiskedto my hotel.
I don't want to have any stress, I don't want.
(39:10):
I've been on a long flight, I'mtired, you're, you're more
you're, you're just less awareof everything.
And I just think, even you'reexcited because you're in a new
place.
But you know, at that point youarrive at an airport, it's not
that great much fun, is it,arriving an airport.
You have to, but you've got to.
The sooner you get out thereand get to your destination, the
better.
So, yeah, I totally agree.
I totally agree.
But it's been amazing talkingto you, amy, and catching up all
about your trip.
So thanks so much for coming onand sharing your trip.
Thank you for asking me.
(39:30):
No, it's been a pleasure tochat to you.
Thanks once again to Amy forjoining me and sharing her UK
trip report this week.
You can find all the linksmentioned in this episode in the
show notes and, if you enjoyedthe podcast, please leave us a
review on your favorite podcastapp.
It really helps others to findthe show.
Until next week, though, fromme, as always, happy UK travel
(39:52):
planning.
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode of the UK travel
planning podcast.
As always, show notes can befound at uktravelplanningcom.
If you've enjoyed the show, whynot leave us feedback via text
or a review on your favouritepodcast app?
We love to hear from you andyou never know.
You may receive a shout out ina future episode, but, as always
(40:15):
, that just leaves me to sayuntil next week, happy UK travel
planning.
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