June 3, 2025 • 38 mins
In episode 152 of the UK Travel Planning Podcast, guest Kristen Gonzalez shares her eight-day family adventure through England with her husband and parents in their late 70s, highlighting their experiences in London and the Cotswolds during April.
She details their thoughtful planning process, excellent transportation arrangements with XFA Cars, and memorable tours including Go Cotswolds excursions (enter code UKTAVPLAN for a 5% discount for our UKTP community) and a Seven Sisters coastal day trip from London.
• Choosing the Cotswolds and London combination to showcase diverse aspects of England
• Using private transfers instead of driving or navigating train connections
• Taking two different Go Cotswolds tours to maximise exploration of picturesque villages
• Staying in Covent Garden as the perfect London base with excellent dining and entertainment options
• Finding the ideal balance between scheduled tours and free time for spontaneous exploration
• Enjoying unique experiences like a historic Royal Pub tour, afternoon tea on a bus, and Tower Bridge's glass floor walkways
• Discovering Mr. Fogg's Society of Exploration for cocktails and small plates in London
• Visiting the Seven Sisters cliffs and Brighton on a well-organised day trip from London
Kristen also offers invaluable tips for travel planning, particularly on booking ahead. Tune in for practical advice, inspiring stories, and plenty of laughs to help you plan your own perfect UK getaway!
⭐️ Guest - Kristen Gonzalez
📝 Show Notes - Episode 152
🎧 Listen to next
- Episode #136 – Unveiling the Cotswolds: Top Experiences and Insider Tips with Expert Lisa Benjamin
- Episode #115 – Essential Tips for Planning Your Perfect Cotswolds Adventure with Lisa Benjamin of GoCotswolds
- Episode #97 – Easy day trips from London by train (Part 2)
Need help planning your trip? Book your personalised itinerary consultation with Tracy and Doug Collins – UK travel planning experts – for tailored advice based on your travel style, interests, and timeframe. Book your consultation here.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In this week's episode 152 of the UK Travel
Planning Podcast, I chat withKristen Gonzalez about her April
trip to England with herhusband and parents.
We talk about their time inLondon and the Cotswolds,
including two Go Cotswolds tours, a London day trip and some
fantastic experiences in thecapital.
And, of course, don't missKristen's top tip for visitors
(00:21):
at the end of the episode.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK Travel Planning website,
Tracey Collins.
In this podcast, 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.
(00:46):
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands,
and from the picturesquecountryside to seaside towns.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Kristen, it's fantastic to welcome you onto
the podcast this week to do atrip report.
They're always my favoritethings to find out.
I'm just so nosy.
I want to find out all aboutyour trip, how it went, what
were the great things were thatyou did.
And I know, I know I can hear,I can hear so many voices from
our listeners yeah, trip Report.
(01:25):
We love Trip Report.
So this is episode 152.
I can't believe it.
We are incredible.
We are heading towards our halfa million downloads, so that's
also exciting.
Amazing.
So I'm going to say a big thankyou to all our listeners.
We really appreciate you kindof tuning in every week to
(01:47):
listen to me chat to people allabout their trips, like Kristen.
So, kristen, would you like tointroduce yourself, tell us a
little bit about you, where youlive, how long you went to the
UK for and who you went with.
So a few questions to startwith.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Yeah, I'm Kristen Gonzalez and I live in
Alexandria, virginia, which isright outside of Washington DC,
and we we just got back lastmonth from our trip and we were
there for eight days, notincluding travel, and I went
(02:24):
with my husband and my parentswho are in their late 70s.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
So yeah, and was that a first time visit for any of
you, or has it?
Was it a repeat trip?
Speaker 3 (02:30):
my parents.
My parents have never been um.
They're huge travelers.
They travel all over the place,um, but they had never been.
My husband and I were in the UKthree years ago.
We went to Liverpool, um, andwe spent a few days there.
We're big liverpool supporters,so we spent a few days there.
Yeah, I know, try not.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Try not to judge I certainly won't judge and I can
tell you, I can hear doug willbe like oh yes, fantastic, the
best, because you know he's alsoa liverpool supporter so he
loved that.
So I mean, the first thing thatcame to my head was like did he
are?
Are you Beatles fans or are youfootball fans?
But obviously you're football.
Yeah, fantastic, so obviouslyso this trip.
(03:11):
You just went to London.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
No, so actually we spent, we went, we flew
overnight Easter Sunday, so welanded Easter Monday at 6.30 in
the morning and local time andwe went right to the Cotswolds.
So we went for the Cotswoldsthree days there and then the
four days in London.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Ah, perfect.
I have to ask why did you?
Why that split?
Why did you choose theCotswolds?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
So it's funny, I got literally no help from my
traveling companions what theywanted to do.
I asked my dad and he said Iwant to go to a pub.
That's what I got, and I saidokay.
And then he said I don't thinkI need to see London.
(04:00):
And I said, well, you're wrong.
So, just so you know that'sincorrect.
And then I asked my mom what doyou want to see?
And she said, well, you'rewrong, so, just so you know
that's incorrect.
So, and then I asked my momwhat do you want to see?
And she said I just want to bethere.
Oh, that's OK, ok.
And then I asked my husband,and of course we tried to look
at some football, but we justtoo much, and my parents aren't
(04:25):
big supporters.
So we were like we're, we'regoing to to skip that for this
trip and it's you know, it's abig chunk of time out of your
day for not being supporters.
So I was like we won't do thatto my parents.
So, um, but I asked him and hewanted to go.
There's a a famous cigar storein London.
Dive it off of London.
And that was that's it.
That's what I got.
(04:46):
So I said, well, I'm on my ownand I've wanted to go to the
Cotswolds for a very long time.
And I actually saw on theFacebook page I kept seeing
people that had booked the GoCotswolds tours, and so the more
photos I saw of the Cotswoldsand of those tours, I said okay,
I need to figure out how to putthat in this trip.
I wanted to also see the coast.
(05:08):
So I was trying.
I stared blankly at a map ofthe UK for like three months and
I was like I don't even knowwhere to start.
Also, cause I was all I had nohelp.
So I said I really want to go tothe Cotswolds, I really want my
parents to see London, and thatjust seemed like the most
logical kind of combination.
When I realized how close theCotswolds actually are to London
(05:31):
, I was like, okay, this is kindof a no brainer.
And then we were only going tospend two days in the Cotswolds.
And then I started looking intothe tours and they had the
secret Cotswolds too and I waslike, okay, so we're going to
add a day.
So I did that first.
I kind of planned the Cotswoldsfirst and then added the London
(05:52):
, and so we really only stayedin two places.
We only stayed in one hotel inthe Cotswolds and one hotel in
London, but I was able to kindof maximize our week there.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
So yeah, lisa will be so excited, I'm sure she'll.
She'll know that you, you, uh,you booked um, because you heard
about them through the Facebook.
Did you listen?
Have you listened to thepodcast with Lisa as well?
I haven't yet, no, so Lisa hasdone a couple of a few podcasts
as well.
She's, she's a great guest.
(06:25):
I think she's been on threetimes now.
Uh, so so, and we've had a lotof people going.
Oh, I'd love listening to Lisa.
So Lisa, obviously, with herhusband, owns Go Cotswold, so,
um, they're fantastic.
So that's really exciting tohear that.
So so, let's, let's ask firstof all, how you got around.
So how did you get to theCotswolds and then back to
London and then, you know, backto the airport yeah, so we?
Speaker 3 (06:44):
that was one of the other things that was kind of a
sticking point.
When my husband and I were inLiverpool a few years ago, there
was a train strike and so Ithink I was a little, um, I was
really nervous about using thetrains because of that, and I
know they're so polite in inBritain that they announce it
ahead of time, um, but but itwas still like just really
stressful for me.
(07:05):
And then also, even though myparents are well-traveled, I was
reading some of the posts onthe train Facebook group,
specifically about having, youknow, seven, eight minutes
between trains and my dad justdoesn't walk that quickly and I
was like you know what?
I don't want to change trains.
So I was looking at differentoptions.
We definitely didn't want todrive, being on the opposite of
(07:27):
everything.
We were opposite side of thecar, opposite side of the road,
and I've heard driving in theCotswolds can be harrowing.
So, um, we didn't want to dothat.
And, um, so I, actually Ibooked with Riz.
Um, yeah, I, I, I booked withRiz.
Oh, good, yeah, you booked withXFA.
I'm telling you, your groupmade our entire trip.
(07:49):
Oh, I did Our entire trip.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
I love to hear it, because that's kind of what
we're trying.
We're trying to kind of provideeverything that you could
possibly want and because wehonestly, we seek out the best,
the best people for you to workwith, the best tour companies,
the best operators, and that.
So we we kind of have fullfaith in everybody that we work
with.
And, to be honest, I've got tothe point where I kind of feel
sorry for people who do not havethe Riz experience, because he
(08:16):
is so popular he's amazing.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
So we we didn't I was , I was sad because I didn't
actually get to meet him.
We had another one of hisdrivers who was incredible, but
the communication was likenothing I've ever experienced,
honestly.
I mean, from the moment welanded, I had a welcome to you
know, I welcome to UK text, andhe was so incredibly thoughtful
(08:44):
with all of his communicationthat we actually decided to book
him to get back to London.
So, um, yeah, I booked him toget because it was also, I mean,
we've been up all night.
Um, I think one of the mistakespeople might make is, you know,
flying all night and thenjumping in a car in a country
you've never been in, or we justdidn't want to do that.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
So, um, I wanted to be smart about it and we
recommend that people don't dothat honestly, because you know,
even even to be honest, I meanI I'm used to driving on the
left, but if I'm on a longflight, you know I don't want to
drive like I mean I have riskpicks us up, risk picks my
parents up pigs later on the air, like we, we, we use that.
You know the this, the peoplewe work with we, we work with
(09:26):
ourselves, and and uh, and weuse them.
So doesn't that just reduce thestress?
You knew you're going to be metenormously.
Yep, exactly so that'sfantastic.
So tell me about the gocotswolds.
So that's fantastic, that'sbrilliant.
Riz is going to love this.
So tell me about your cotswoldsand your go cotswolds tours.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Okay.
So we stayed in Wharton andMarsh, based on one of the posts
that I had seen.
I decided to stay there becauseit had the train station and I
booked our accommodations first.
I didn't know how we weretraveling yet, but I knew that
they had the train station and Isaw that the Go Cotswolds tours
picked up there and I was like,well, this seems like an easy
(10:04):
choice then.
So we stayed in Wharton andMarsh and then we had that full
day there.
The first day we got there youknow cause you're trudging
through and fighting jet lag.
So we walked around, um, and itwas lovely.
I I instantly fell in love and Ikind of started to think maybe
we should have spent more timein the Cotswolds, but I don't
(10:26):
think there's enough time forthe Cotswolds ever.
So, um, and then the nextmorning we did the go Cotswolds
or Cotswolds in a day.
The next morning, um, andthat's, you know, it's a full
day, it's like an eight hour day, uh.
And then we had dinner inMorton and Marsh and then the
next day we did the SecretCotswolds, which is another full
(10:48):
day.
But it's just, it is theperfect way to get a really good
sense of that area and the twotours are very different from
each other, which I was reallypleasantly surprised.
There's a little bit more bustime and driving through the
countryside in the secretCotswolds tour.
(11:08):
Um, but it was, it was perfect.
It was absolutely the highlightto me, the highlight of the
trip, because I've wanted to seethe Cotswolds for so long.
You have a really good amountof time and in in all the little
places, and it was, it wasperfect.
I'm literally ready to move.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
I've taken my mom on both of those tours as well, and
my mom's in her eighties, andshe, she, she loved them.
She just and I mean she, shedoesn't live that far out of the
Cotswolds, but she just likeshe could sit and and and she, I
mean we both learned quite alot as well, because the guides
are excellent that we had.
So that was all kind of reallygood fun.
You know, I like it becauseyou've got local guides that
(11:51):
know the place and know the area.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
They can answer all your questions, you know, and I
think that is just a great wayto explore, because the
Cotswolds are not an easy regionto get around unless you've got
a car, or taking a tour withlike go Cotswolds is a perfect
way to do it it is, and I lovedthe size of it because it's a
very intimate group and it's notyou're not on a bus with 40
(12:13):
people, you're 16 people, Ithink total and um that all both
guides that we had were fromthere they've, you know, one of
them grew up there and the otherone had lived there for 30 plus
years, so they genuinely lovetalking about the Cotswolds,
like they just really lovetalking to people about it.
And you know, teaching peoplehistory and you know I just I,
(12:37):
absolutely I was so glad that wedid those tours.
It was.
I would never have seen thatmuch on my own.
There's no way I would havebeen able to see all of that if
I tried to do it on my own.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
I know it's incredibly well organized and
you get to see a lot of the bestbits.
Um, yeah, and what about yourparents?
Did they enjoy the Cotswolds?
Was it kind of they loved it?
Speaker 3 (13:01):
um, I don't think.
I think that was the.
I think my dad loved it.
He, that was his favorite partof the trip, I think also
because of the.
You know, the rolling hills andthe sheep and the, it's all
that quintessential England, youknow.
And in the, what you picture,um, and what you see in the
movies, and so he, he loved it.
(13:22):
He loved the small town feel ofit and he liked the, the pubs.
Yeah, that's what he wanted todo and that's what we did.
So, yeah, he, he really likedit a lot, and I think my mom
just the thatched roofs and youknow what's not to love about it
, but it is it's.
It's kind of what you picture,I think, when you picture
(13:43):
outside of London, it's kind ofwhat you picture, I think when
you picture outside of London,it's kind of what you picture
when you picture England.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
So yeah, I definitely , I definitely agree on that so
what was the weather?
Like, because I haven't.
I left the UK in February, so Ihaven't.
I haven't been back for a fewmonths.
So how?
What was it like when you werethere?
Was it all right?
So?
Speaker 3 (14:00):
we had the most incredible weather the entire
time and I was blown away.
Here I am, I'm carrying anumbrella and I have a rain
jacket.
We had rain our very first dayand I don't even.
It was like really drizzle, noteven rain.
The we literally did not see adrop of rain for the next seven
days.
It was absolutely perfectthat's brilliant.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
And the thing is with the UK weather as well.
I said everybody is like expectthe unexpected because you
never honestly you never knowwhat you're going to get
absolutely so we were prepared.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
But yeah, I actually got sunburned on part of our
trip.
I was like I was not expectingthat, not at all so let's talk
about London.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
So you had four days in London.
So what did you do when youwere in London?
What were your kind ofhighlights?
Speaker 3 (14:49):
So we did a ton of tours.
It's basically how we kind oftackled it.
My dad sprung on me rightbefore we left that he would
like to do tea.
He doesn't drink tea, so Iwasn't expecting that, so rather
(15:16):
than try to figure that out andmy husband doesn't do tea
either, so I found this bus tourthat does tea on a bus.
It goes around London, so it'snot your most authentic way to
do tea, but it was pretty cool,so we did that the day that we
arrived.
I've had fun.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Yeah, I think we we had a great time.
Yeah, I've got I've got a wholearticle, um, about the
different um afternoon teas andthe different afternoon tea
buses, because there are there'squite a few different themed
ones as well, yeah, and they'reall kind of a great way to kind
of see a bit of london andthat's kind of what I figured,
so I added it.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
I didn't plan a whole lot for the day we arrived in
London because I didn't know howlong it would take us to get in
with traffic and things likethat, so so I planned it for
that afternoon so that we couldjust kind of go around London
and um, it was really fun.
So that's what we did the firstday, um, and then the next day,
so day.
(16:15):
So we ended up being thereduring the London Marathon,
which does change things alittle bit.
We were supposed to do theChanging of the Guard tour the
Friday before the marathon, butit got canceled because of the
road closures.
So we did the Changing of thehorse garden, which was really,
(16:40):
was really cool I was so gladthat we saw that and, um, a
walking tour of Westminster city.
So we had an amazing, amazingguide, um, again, I booked
through um, I booked throughyour, through your link, through
by um, via tour by eater Idon't know how you say it
Through your link, throughViator Viator, I don't know how
you say it, but yeah, so we hadan amazing tour guide.
She was incredible.
She was a local young lady fromLondon and she was hysterical
(17:01):
and she was awesome.
She walked us through St JamesPark and over to the palace and
it was very, very cool.
And then from there we didanother tour.
We walked around that part ofLondon for a little bit and then
we did a historic Royal Pubtour, which was I just wanted to
(17:22):
do something that was a littlebit unique.
So we did that and it wasawesome.
We went to four different pubsand we had a guy who's actually
an aspiring actor, so it wasvery full of life and, um, it
was, it was fun.
It was young man, he washysterical, he told us a lot of
really cool stories about, youknow, the royals and, um, some
(17:45):
of the like, the early, you know, head military people and it
was really cool.
So that was.
That was pretty fun.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
I always recommend doing a pub tour.
That's one of my favoritethings.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
It's just so much fun .
Yeah, yeah, and honestly I meanyou could.
You could do it on your own,but it's not as much fun and you
don't learn anything.
So you know um, so, yeah, I wasreally glad that we did that, it
was really fun.
So that was Friday, and then Ididn't.
Yeah, I was really glad that wedid that, it was really fun.
So that was Friday, and then Ididn't book anything for the
rest of the day because it wasalready a ton of walking.
(18:20):
We walked like seven, eightmiles a day and my parents are
almost 80.
So you know they were troopers,but yeah.
So then the next day, onSaturday, so I don't know if you
remember, but I said I wantedto see the coast, so the what I
decided to do was I booked atour to seven sisters, so, cause
(18:44):
it's an easy day trip fromLondon, so, and it included the
train ticket, train ticket theyeven had a guide that met us at
the train station and he rodethe train with us all the way to
Brighton to make sure that we,like I don't know, didn't get
lost or I don't know.
It was great, it was amazing,but it's, you know, like just
(19:05):
over an hour from London toBrighton.
So he traveled with us and thenwe met our tour guide in
Brighton and we went to Devil'sDyke National Trust and Beachy
Head and we saw a farm, aworking farm in Sussex that's
(19:26):
been in the same family forhundreds of years and that was a
pretty cool thing to see.
So it was a really cool thingto to see.
So it was a really cool way tosee.
We saw the cliffs and it was areally cool way to kind of see
the coast and go down onto the,you know, onto the beachy head,
and it was awesome.
I'm so glad that we did it.
It was a long day, it's like anine hour tour, um, and then
(19:46):
they give you the option to stayin Brighton.
If you don't want to, you know,go back right away.
They give you train ticketsback and they kind of tell you
how to get there.
But so we stayed in Brighton.
If you don't want to, you know,go back right away.
They give you train ticketsback and they kind of tell you
how to get there.
But so we stayed in Brightonfor another couple of hours just
to check it out, which is atotally different part than what
we had been seeing.
So that was yeah, so that wascool.
(20:06):
It was neat to see that we justkind of we went into a pub and
sat and people watched and umwalked around some of the shops
and stuff.
So that was really cool andthat, like I said, that was like
a full day that was.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
It was like I think we were, we were gone for, I
don't know, maybe 11 hours thatday total it does sound like a
really good tour and I willactually put a link to it in the
show notes as well.
So, if you listen, I want to dothat too and I wouldn't mind
trying.
I mean, I go on loads of tours,but, um, it sounded really good
and I like the fact thatincluded the train tickets took
me down there, which is reallygood.
(20:40):
So I think it sounds like areally good day.
Um, we often get asked over thecliff white cliffs of doma or
such a popular destination andbut the seven sisters, it's so,
it's so lovely down there,brighton's gorgeous city, yeah,
city, brighton and home, yeah, areally lovely place to go.
So I'm glad that you, that youactually got a contrast, because
(21:00):
you're in the cox walls forthat kind of quintessential
countryside, and then you wentdown and saw some of the
beautiful south coast as well.
So, really, really yeah, do it.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
I really I wanted to maximize our week because I
learned very quickly that youneed a lifetime to see it all,
so I just wanted to try tomaximize our trip as much as
possible and, uh, I don't knowif my parents are going to be
able to go back, so I justwanted to kind of tackle as much
as possible and just see allthe different parts and um, it
(21:32):
just seemed like the best, allthe different parts and um, it
just seemed like the best way todo it.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
So yeah, no, I think that's really good.
Um, so was that the Saturday?
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Yep, that was Saturday and then marathon day.
I didn't plan much of anythingbecause I didn't.
I really just didn't know whatto expect and it it was
definitely, um expect, and itwas definitely we were staying
in Covent Garden.
So we just kind of stayed overthere because it's away from
everything.
So we did the Covent Gardenmarket in the morning, which was
(22:04):
amazing.
I loved it.
That's the other place.
I was like, okay, well, I coulddefinitely live in this part of
London.
I loved it so much.
So my mom and I kind of walkedaround the shops and we did that
in the morning.
And then the only thing I hadbooked that day was I did the
Tower Bridge tour.
So I booked the last one of theday so that the marathon would
(22:29):
be mostly over with and clearedout.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
It runs over Tower Bridge, so that's a good yeah
exactly.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
So we did that and that was really, really cool,
because you get to walk over theterrifying glass floors and see
the engine room, and on Londonbuses that's what you get to go
all across.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
There's a London bus below you, so it's really cool.
I do like it.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
It's a really good thing to do yeah, and so, um,
that's what we did, and then Ium made reservations for, uh the
name just went out of my head,but it's like a famous fish and
chip spot that's under rightunder the tower bridge, right
underneath it, and it's like ina cave I feel like I should know
that, but I've got a.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
I've got a point as well.
Well, I know, I can't thinkabout it.
I know what it is and we'll putit in the show notes, because
I'm I'm drawing, yeah, yeah, umI should have written it down,
but I did was it good?
yeah, it was good becausethere's lots of amazing places
to eat in london, which kind ofum.
It kind of brings me back tothe fact that you mentioned that
(23:33):
you you stayed in.
You stayed in covent garden.
Now that just we get asked allthe time about where to stay in
london and we kind of go well,westminster area is really good,
covent garden area is reallygood around tower, tower, bridge
, depending on what you're doingis really good.
But I but Covent Garden, for me, is just such a special area to
stay in.
The history of Covent Garden isextremely interesting.
(23:55):
I'm actually going to do apodcast, hopefully this month,
about Covent Garden and what todo and see, because it used to
be a very seedy part of London.
Really, yeah, covent Garden wasnot a place you wanted to go to
.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Oh that's so interesting, I can't even
picture that now can you,because it's such an amazing
area.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
But yes, it was, it was a great area.
There's a lot of um.
Yeah, a lot of things went onin Covent Garden so, but I'm
going to talk hundreds of yearsago.
We're not talking now, becauseit now is right, very popular um
, tourist destination um, andthere's so much to do and see
around common garden and so manyamazing places to eat.
So you stayed in common garden.
Whereabouts did you stay, whichwe we?
Speaker 3 (24:35):
stayed at the resident yep, um, the resident
common garden, which was reallyreally lovely and it's in.
It's in such a good spotbecause you're in walking
distance to a couple of tubestations if you want to get
around that way, but there'salso the black cabs were so
accessible right there.
Also because it's such a busylittle spot and you're in
(24:55):
walking distance to a millioncafes and restaurants and so you
can just kind of you can bedone for the day and drop off
all your stuff and then justwalk a few minutes and be.
I mean, you could have yourchoice of little pub or, you
know, high-end restaurant.
If you want cocktail bar,whatever you want, it's right
(25:16):
there.
Um, which was perfect, it was.
It ended up being like theperfect little spot for us.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Yeah, we really are spot for choice.
When you're there, that's myfavorite place to go is the um
the, the cheese bar.
It's like a sushi bar forcheese.
Oh, that's fun.
Oh, honestly, it's my absolutefavorite, absolute favorite I
really love that pair the cheeseup with just the most amazing
uh, or just the most amazingparents.
(25:44):
I don't know how to do it, so Iusually get myself a class
support and then have thecheeses as I come around and
that is, yeah, that isabsolutely worth doing, if
you're.
But but it's a great area andalso there's a lot of really
quirky, cool shops as well.
The market, yeah, the market.
There's a few markets there, um, so it's really it's a lovely,
lovely area.
(26:04):
So, yeah, I'm I'm lookingforward to actually doing a
podcast all about the area yeah,I'll have to check that out.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
That'll be interesting because I really
really fell in love with thatpart of london I I really liked
it.
It was it's busy but quiet atthe same time.
I don't know how they, I don'tknow how that combination works,
but, um, but it does it, it's.
We never heard a sound outsideand we're in, you're right in
the middle of everything and Ireally liked it there a lot.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
There's lots of theatres I was going to say it
is a fantastic area.
Everything is there, absolutely, and there's a wide range of
accommodation in that area aswell.
I mean, I've stayed in Holborn,which is kind of you know, it's
the same area, and I've stayedin the Z Hotel in Holborn, which
is really reasonable when I'vestayed there on my own.
(26:52):
So you've got kind of a widerange of you know, because I
know everybody goes.
Oh, it's so expensive to stay inLondon.
It is, but it's expensive.
You can find, you know,reasonable places.
So were there any kind of?
You mentioned the fish andchips?
Obviously you places.
Um, so were there any kind of?
You mentioned the fish andchips?
Obviously you went on the, the,the bus afternoon tea bus tour
and you went to any of the someof the pubs.
(27:13):
Are there any kind of mealsthat you had or anything stand
out that you kind of go?
Speaker 3 (27:17):
I'd love to eat that again so I, um, I'm not usually
super adventurous with food, butwhen we were in the cotswolds I
tried a game pie and it wasvenison pheasant and what was
the other word?
Partridge wasn't, yes, yep, andI was so terrified.
(27:41):
I was like this is notsomething that we would eat here
at all, but it was so good, Iloved it.
It was so good, and then I kindof became slightly obsessed
with sausage rolls also.
They're so good.
I don't understand what it'sthey're so good.
(28:04):
We also went to there's a placecalled Mr Fogg's Society of
Exploration, so there's like 12of them, I think, in London.
But we went there's one that'sliterally right across from the
resident, and so we went downthere and they have it's
basically just uh, likeappetizers and small plates, but
(28:25):
everything was so good and thecocktails are really, really,
really fun.
We had such a good time inthere.
I'm so glad that we got to dothat.
Um, and you can, you don't evenknow it's there.
It's because it's downstairsand so it's like in the basement
, so you just live little doorand you wouldn't ever even know
to go down.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
I know I like the.
I know you shared a photo inthe um in the Facebook group, so
we'll have to put that in theshow notes as well, because I
know a few people said oh, whereis that, where is that?
Speaker 3 (28:51):
yeah, yeah, they have a train car right in the, in
the middle of it, where you can,and that's where we ended up
sitting, which was lovely, butyeah, obviously, like doug
doesn't drink, but I will stillsee the fact that he said
there's a train car there.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
I'll get him down there for the train car and then
I can just sit and have a fewcocktails.
So it works for me and it worksfor him.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Yeah, and if you're and if you love cheese, they
have like the best cheese downthere.
I don't know what that is.
Oh, it's called the vault.
My husband just stepped in.
It was called the vault, londontower bridge.
That's the fish and chipsrestaurant that's under the
bridge okay, I don't know aboutthat one.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
There's so many places to eat.
If I ate in all the places inlondon, I wouldn't be able to
get through the door.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
That's why there's no , I know that.
Yeah, no kidding, I know,between the, between the beers
and and the food, yeah, um.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
So what about did you ?
Did you buy any souvenirs whenyou were over there?
Was there anything that, oh, I?
Speaker 3 (29:46):
love the way you said I took an empty carry-on with
me because I know myself.
So I did.
I bought a beautiful cashmeresweater in the Cotswolds and I
also went into an antique storein Morton and Marsh and I got a
porcelain jar an antiqueporcelain jar that toothpaste
(30:09):
used to be.
Oh okay, it has like the mostbeautiful design on the top.
It's gorgeous.
I'll send you a picture of it.
Oh, man, so you can see it.
And then, actually one of themore fun things that I did, my
daughter asked for.
I said is there anything youwant me to bring back?
She's in her second year ofcollege and she said fun
(30:30):
earrings.
She was like, maybe like phonebooth, oh, yeah.
And I thought, oh, this will besuper easy to find.
They don't exist.
I didn't find them anywhere.
I must have gone in 20 shops inLondon and I never saw them.
So I actually bought a keychainand I made her earrings when I
got home.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
You know what I've done something similar with, I
think London bosses on, I thinkI bought I don't know something
like that, and then I just putthem on, on, on.
I got them actually somewhere.
I need to find those because,um, yeah, it's true, actually I
was thinking you should be ableto find, yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
I couldn't find them anywhere.
It's like I said, guys, this isan untapped market.
Somebody needs to be makingphone booth earrings because
well they're not anywhere.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
You know, I used to.
I used to make jewelry.
That's something I used to do.
Maybe I should be making phonebooth earrings you should, you
would make a.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
You'd make a fortune because they don't exist.
So yeah, for anybody that wantsthem.
They're hard to find, so I mademy own, that's a great idea.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
What about your, your parents did they?
Did they buy any souvenirs whenthey're over?
There was anything?
Speaker 3 (31:36):
yeah, I'm gonna take those back yeah, it was um,
mostly, um, mostly my mom,obviously, but um, she was
looking for Christmas ornamentsmostly.
That's something that we've mywhole family does that so I
brought some back.
Also, she was a lot morereserved than I was with the
(31:56):
shopping we also we went intothe store in Covent Garden,
moulton Brown.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
So we both did that, and then she bought some things
at the at the common gardenmarket.
We went into the tea shopthat's there, which was gorgeous
, so we brought back quite a bitof tea and some artwork, she
actually, and she bought at-shirt, which she never does,
so yeah, oh, that's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
So you had enough.
You had enough luggage space tobring it all back, so that's
good barely barely.
And then so was it the mondaythat you flew back.
Yeah, yeah, and riz took you tothe airport, or xfa cars,
whatever it is, yeah that'sbrilliant yeah, yeah, so a
brilliant trip.
By the sounds of it, thatsounds like you just had a
(32:43):
fantastic time, which is a lot.
I love to hear that that is sogood.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
I was not ready to come home at all.
I love it there, so much.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
You have to plan another trip, yeah, but um, I
always end the podcast with thesame question, so I'm going to
ask you the usual question thatI ask is what would, what would
be your one tip that you wouldshare with anybody planning a
trip to the UK for the firsttime?
Speaker 3 (33:15):
I think it's probably a common one, but it bears
repeating because I've beenthinking about this a lot.
I booked everything ahead oftime, all of it all the pub
reservations, everything, all ofit.
I had it all done and I had itall organized and it just made
everything so much easier.
There was one night that wedidn't.
I didn't make reservations andI regretted it, because
(33:37):
reservations work verydifferently in London.
Sometimes you have to requestthem and they don't.
They have to like get back toyou, and sometimes it could be
an hour.
So if you're trying to find aplace to go, you know.
So the reservations are alittle bit different than I'm
used to here.
So that would be my.
My one takeaway is I'm so gladthat I booked.
(33:58):
I booked all the pubs, all thedinners, everything was ahead of
time and it just made it reallyeasy and I just made a
spreadsheet so that I knew whereI had to be at what time I
think that it's such a it's sucha good piece of advice.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Honestly, it really is Kristen, because I mean, I
know, when Doug and I travel andwe haven't done that bit of
research or book somewhere, theamount of times that we waste
walking around trying to findsomeone to eat yes, yeah, and
you're tired, you know, at theend of the day and you're
looking for a place to just stopand have dinner or whatever it
is.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
It's just, it's just nice to know exactly where you
have to be and what time youhave to be there, and you can
always change it if you need to.
But you know that way if youdon't have the bandwidth to to
try to figure it out, and it'sjust so much easier and I felt I
was really glad that I did thatbecause it just made it.
It just made it so much easierand I didn't fill up every
(34:52):
single minute of every singleday.
We knocked out a lot, we saw somuch and I still we had time to
just meander through shops andwalk around, and if we want to
stop and get a pint, we did, andso it was really nice.
And I think that people try todo too much, which is easy to do
.
And we did a lot, don't get mewrong.
(35:14):
We crammed a lot in there, butI think it was nice, like the
first day in the Cotswolds.
We didn't, we had no plans, wejust walked around and if we
were hungry, we ate, and if wewanted to get a pint, we did,
and if we wanted to go in theshop, we did, and so it was nice
(35:35):
to not have like a constantkind of feeling like I had to
fill every single minute.
Um, and I think the bookingthings ahead of time help you to
factor in that time also yeah,that's what you knew.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
You could have that bit of kind of downtime
relaxation because you had stuffplanned so that you knew what
you're going to be doing.
So exactly you know it makes itmakes absolute perfect sense.
Well, it's been fantastic totalk to you, chris, thank you.
Catch up about your honestly,about your trip.
It's just, I love it.
It's always great to hear and Imean I'm grinning from ear to
(36:01):
ear You're grinning from ear toear.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
Yeah, I can talk about this trip for days.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
It's so much fun.
So I will ask you to send mesome photos so we can share them
in the show notes, and I willshare links to the different
tours that you took as well,because you very kindly booked
through our affiliate links,which supports all the work that
we do.
So I just say from the bottomof mine and Doug's heart, thank
you so much for doing that.
Absolutely, it really helps,honestly.
(36:34):
So, yeah, so it'll be on theshow notes.
Uktravelplanningcom.
Forward slash, episode 152.
Can you believe it?
Um, but that leaves me and I'mgoing to say Kristen, to say
until next week, happy UK travelplanning for both of us.
Yeah, so thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (36:47):
Kristen, absolutely it was so nice to talk to you
Both of us, yeah.
So thanks so much, kristen.
Absolutely, it was so nice totalk to you.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Thank you for tuning in to this week'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 favoritepodcast app?
We love to hear from you andyou never know.
You may receive a shout out ina future episode, but, as always
(37:13):
, that just leaves me to sayuntil next week.
Happy UK travel planning.
In this week's episode 152 of the UK Travel
Planning Podcast, I chat withKristen Gonzalez about her April
trip to England with herhusband and parents.
We talk about their time inLondon and the Cotswolds,
including two Go Cotswolds tours, a London day trip and some
fantastic experiences in thecapital.
And, of course, don't missKristen's top tip for visitors
(00:21):
at the end of the episode.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
Your host is the founder of theUK Travel Planning website,
Tracey Collins.
In this podcast, 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.
(00:46):
Join us as we explore the UKfrom cosmopolitan cities to
quaint villages, from historiccastles to beautiful islands,
and from the picturesquecountryside to seaside towns.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Kristen, it's fantastic to welcome you onto
the podcast this week to do atrip report.
They're always my favoritethings to find out.
I'm just so nosy.
I want to find out all aboutyour trip, how it went, what
were the great things were thatyou did.
And I know, I know I can hear,I can hear so many voices from
our listeners yeah, trip Report.
(01:25):
We love Trip Report.
So this is episode 152.
I can't believe it.
We are incredible.
We are heading towards our halfa million downloads, so that's
also exciting.
Amazing.
So I'm going to say a big thankyou to all our listeners.
We really appreciate you kindof tuning in every week to
(01:47):
listen to me chat to people allabout their trips, like Kristen.
So, kristen, would you like tointroduce yourself, tell us a
little bit about you, where youlive, how long you went to the
UK for and who you went with.
So a few questions to startwith.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Yeah, I'm Kristen Gonzalez and I live in
Alexandria, virginia, which isright outside of Washington DC,
and we we just got back lastmonth from our trip and we were
there for eight days, notincluding travel, and I went
(02:24):
with my husband and my parentswho are in their late 70s.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
So yeah, and was that a first time visit for any of
you, or has it?
Was it a repeat trip?
Speaker 3 (02:30):
my parents.
My parents have never been um.
They're huge travelers.
They travel all over the place,um, but they had never been.
My husband and I were in the UKthree years ago.
We went to Liverpool, um, andwe spent a few days there.
We're big liverpool supporters,so we spent a few days there.
Yeah, I know, try not.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Try not to judge I certainly won't judge and I can
tell you, I can hear doug willbe like oh yes, fantastic, the
best, because you know he's alsoa liverpool supporter so he
loved that.
So I mean, the first thing thatcame to my head was like did he
are?
Are you Beatles fans or are youfootball fans?
But obviously you're football.
Yeah, fantastic, so obviouslyso this trip.
(03:11):
You just went to London.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
No, so actually we spent, we went, we flew
overnight Easter Sunday, so welanded Easter Monday at 6.30 in
the morning and local time andwe went right to the Cotswolds.
So we went for the Cotswoldsthree days there and then the
four days in London.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Ah, perfect.
I have to ask why did you?
Why that split?
Why did you choose theCotswolds?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
So it's funny, I got literally no help from my
traveling companions what theywanted to do.
I asked my dad and he said Iwant to go to a pub.
That's what I got, and I saidokay.
And then he said I don't thinkI need to see London.
(04:00):
And I said, well, you're wrong.
So, just so you know that'sincorrect.
And then I asked my mom what doyou want to see?
And she said, well, you'rewrong, so, just so you know
that's incorrect.
So, and then I asked my momwhat do you want to see?
And she said I just want to bethere.
Oh, that's OK, ok.
And then I asked my husband,and of course we tried to look
at some football, but we justtoo much, and my parents aren't
(04:25):
big supporters.
So we were like we're, we'regoing to to skip that for this
trip and it's you know, it's abig chunk of time out of your
day for not being supporters.
So I was like we won't do thatto my parents.
So, um, but I asked him and hewanted to go.
There's a a famous cigar storein London.
Dive it off of London.
And that was that's it.
That's what I got.
(04:46):
So I said, well, I'm on my ownand I've wanted to go to the
Cotswolds for a very long time.
And I actually saw on theFacebook page I kept seeing
people that had booked the GoCotswolds tours, and so the more
photos I saw of the Cotswoldsand of those tours, I said okay,
I need to figure out how to putthat in this trip.
I wanted to also see the coast.
(05:08):
So I was trying.
I stared blankly at a map ofthe UK for like three months and
I was like I don't even knowwhere to start.
Also, cause I was all I had nohelp.
So I said I really want to go tothe Cotswolds, I really want my
parents to see London, and thatjust seemed like the most
logical kind of combination.
When I realized how close theCotswolds actually are to London
(05:31):
, I was like, okay, this is kindof a no brainer.
And then we were only going tospend two days in the Cotswolds.
And then I started looking intothe tours and they had the
secret Cotswolds too and I waslike, okay, so we're going to
add a day.
So I did that first.
I kind of planned the Cotswoldsfirst and then added the London
(05:52):
, and so we really only stayedin two places.
We only stayed in one hotel inthe Cotswolds and one hotel in
London, but I was able to kindof maximize our week there.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
So yeah, lisa will be so excited, I'm sure she'll.
She'll know that you, you, uh,you booked um, because you heard
about them through the Facebook.
Did you listen?
Have you listened to thepodcast with Lisa as well?
I haven't yet, no, so Lisa hasdone a couple of a few podcasts
as well.
She's, she's a great guest.
(06:25):
I think she's been on threetimes now.
Uh, so so, and we've had a lotof people going.
Oh, I'd love listening to Lisa.
So Lisa, obviously, with herhusband, owns Go Cotswold, so,
um, they're fantastic.
So that's really exciting tohear that.
So so, let's, let's ask firstof all, how you got around.
So how did you get to theCotswolds and then back to
London and then, you know, backto the airport yeah, so we?
Speaker 3 (06:44):
that was one of the other things that was kind of a
sticking point.
When my husband and I were inLiverpool a few years ago, there
was a train strike and so Ithink I was a little, um, I was
really nervous about using thetrains because of that, and I
know they're so polite in inBritain that they announce it
ahead of time, um, but but itwas still like just really
stressful for me.
(07:05):
And then also, even though myparents are well-traveled, I was
reading some of the posts onthe train Facebook group,
specifically about having, youknow, seven, eight minutes
between trains and my dad justdoesn't walk that quickly and I
was like you know what?
I don't want to change trains.
So I was looking at differentoptions.
We definitely didn't want todrive, being on the opposite of
(07:27):
everything.
We were opposite side of thecar, opposite side of the road,
and I've heard driving in theCotswolds can be harrowing.
So, um, we didn't want to dothat.
And, um, so I, actually Ibooked with Riz.
Um, yeah, I, I, I booked withRiz.
Oh, good, yeah, you booked withXFA.
I'm telling you, your groupmade our entire trip.
(07:49):
Oh, I did Our entire trip.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
I love to hear it, because that's kind of what
we're trying.
We're trying to kind of provideeverything that you could
possibly want and because wehonestly, we seek out the best,
the best people for you to workwith, the best tour companies,
the best operators, and that.
So we we kind of have fullfaith in everybody that we work
with.
And, to be honest, I've got tothe point where I kind of feel
sorry for people who do not havethe Riz experience, because he
(08:16):
is so popular he's amazing.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
So we we didn't I was , I was sad because I didn't
actually get to meet him.
We had another one of hisdrivers who was incredible, but
the communication was likenothing I've ever experienced,
honestly.
I mean, from the moment welanded, I had a welcome to you
know, I welcome to UK text, andhe was so incredibly thoughtful
(08:44):
with all of his communicationthat we actually decided to book
him to get back to London.
So, um, yeah, I booked him toget because it was also, I mean,
we've been up all night.
Um, I think one of the mistakespeople might make is, you know,
flying all night and thenjumping in a car in a country
you've never been in, or we justdidn't want to do that.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
So, um, I wanted to be smart about it and we
recommend that people don't dothat honestly, because you know,
even even to be honest, I meanI I'm used to driving on the
left, but if I'm on a longflight, you know I don't want to
drive like I mean I have riskpicks us up, risk picks my
parents up pigs later on the air, like we, we, we use that.
You know the this, the peoplewe work with we, we work with
(09:26):
ourselves, and and uh, and weuse them.
So doesn't that just reduce thestress?
You knew you're going to be metenormously.
Yep, exactly so that'sfantastic.
So tell me about the gocotswolds.
So that's fantastic, that'sbrilliant.
Riz is going to love this.
So tell me about your cotswoldsand your go cotswolds tours.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Okay.
So we stayed in Wharton andMarsh, based on one of the posts
that I had seen.
I decided to stay there becauseit had the train station and I
booked our accommodations first.
I didn't know how we weretraveling yet, but I knew that
they had the train station and Isaw that the Go Cotswolds tours
picked up there and I was like,well, this seems like an easy
(10:04):
choice then.
So we stayed in Wharton andMarsh and then we had that full
day there.
The first day we got there youknow cause you're trudging
through and fighting jet lag.
So we walked around, um, and itwas lovely.
I I instantly fell in love and Ikind of started to think maybe
we should have spent more timein the Cotswolds, but I don't
(10:26):
think there's enough time forthe Cotswolds ever.
So, um, and then the nextmorning we did the go Cotswolds
or Cotswolds in a day.
The next morning, um, andthat's, you know, it's a full
day, it's like an eight hour day, uh.
And then we had dinner inMorton and Marsh and then the
next day we did the SecretCotswolds, which is another full
(10:48):
day.
But it's just, it is theperfect way to get a really good
sense of that area and the twotours are very different from
each other, which I was reallypleasantly surprised.
There's a little bit more bustime and driving through the
countryside in the secretCotswolds tour.
(11:08):
Um, but it was, it was perfect.
It was absolutely the highlightto me, the highlight of the
trip, because I've wanted to seethe Cotswolds for so long.
You have a really good amountof time and in in all the little
places, and it was, it wasperfect.
I'm literally ready to move.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
I've taken my mom on both of those tours as well, and
my mom's in her eighties, andshe, she, she loved them.
She just and I mean she, shedoesn't live that far out of the
Cotswolds, but she just likeshe could sit and and and she, I
mean we both learned quite alot as well, because the guides
are excellent that we had.
So that was all kind of reallygood fun.
You know, I like it becauseyou've got local guides that
(11:51):
know the place and know the area.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
They can answer all your questions, you know, and I
think that is just a great wayto explore, because the
Cotswolds are not an easy regionto get around unless you've got
a car, or taking a tour withlike go Cotswolds is a perfect
way to do it it is, and I lovedthe size of it because it's a
very intimate group and it's notyou're not on a bus with 40
(12:13):
people, you're 16 people, Ithink total and um that all both
guides that we had were fromthere they've, you know, one of
them grew up there and the otherone had lived there for 30 plus
years, so they genuinely lovetalking about the Cotswolds,
like they just really lovetalking to people about it.
And you know, teaching peoplehistory and you know I just I,
(12:37):
absolutely I was so glad that wedid those tours.
It was.
I would never have seen thatmuch on my own.
There's no way I would havebeen able to see all of that if
I tried to do it on my own.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
I know it's incredibly well organized and
you get to see a lot of the bestbits.
Um, yeah, and what about yourparents?
Did they enjoy the Cotswolds?
Was it kind of they loved it?
Speaker 3 (13:01):
um, I don't think.
I think that was the.
I think my dad loved it.
He, that was his favorite partof the trip, I think also
because of the.
You know, the rolling hills andthe sheep and the, it's all
that quintessential England, youknow.
And in the, what you picture,um, and what you see in the
movies, and so he, he loved it.
(13:22):
He loved the small town feel ofit and he liked the, the pubs.
Yeah, that's what he wanted todo and that's what we did.
So, yeah, he, he really likedit a lot, and I think my mom
just the thatched roofs and youknow what's not to love about it
, but it is it's.
It's kind of what you picture,I think, when you picture
(13:43):
outside of London, it's kind ofwhat you picture, I think when
you picture outside of London,it's kind of what you picture
when you picture England.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
So yeah, I definitely , I definitely agree on that so
what was the weather?
Like, because I haven't.
I left the UK in February, so Ihaven't.
I haven't been back for a fewmonths.
So how?
What was it like when you werethere?
Was it all right?
So?
Speaker 3 (14:00):
we had the most incredible weather the entire
time and I was blown away.
Here I am, I'm carrying anumbrella and I have a rain
jacket.
We had rain our very first dayand I don't even.
It was like really drizzle, noteven rain.
The we literally did not see adrop of rain for the next seven
days.
It was absolutely perfectthat's brilliant.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
And the thing is with the UK weather as well.
I said everybody is like expectthe unexpected because you
never honestly you never knowwhat you're going to get
absolutely so we were prepared.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
But yeah, I actually got sunburned on part of our
trip.
I was like I was not expectingthat, not at all so let's talk
about London.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
So you had four days in London.
So what did you do when youwere in London?
What were your kind ofhighlights?
Speaker 3 (14:49):
So we did a ton of tours.
It's basically how we kind oftackled it.
My dad sprung on me rightbefore we left that he would
like to do tea.
He doesn't drink tea, so Iwasn't expecting that, so rather
(15:16):
than try to figure that out andmy husband doesn't do tea
either, so I found this bus tourthat does tea on a bus.
It goes around London, so it'snot your most authentic way to
do tea, but it was pretty cool,so we did that the day that we
arrived.
I've had fun.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Yeah, I think we we had a great time.
Yeah, I've got I've got a wholearticle, um, about the
different um afternoon teas andthe different afternoon tea
buses, because there are there'squite a few different themed
ones as well, yeah, and they'reall kind of a great way to kind
of see a bit of london andthat's kind of what I figured,
so I added it.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
I didn't plan a whole lot for the day we arrived in
London because I didn't know howlong it would take us to get in
with traffic and things likethat, so so I planned it for
that afternoon so that we couldjust kind of go around London
and um, it was really fun.
So that's what we did the firstday, um, and then the next day,
so day.
(16:15):
So we ended up being thereduring the London Marathon,
which does change things alittle bit.
We were supposed to do theChanging of the Guard tour the
Friday before the marathon, butit got canceled because of the
road closures.
So we did the Changing of thehorse garden, which was really,
(16:40):
was really cool I was so gladthat we saw that and, um, a
walking tour of Westminster city.
So we had an amazing, amazingguide, um, again, I booked
through um, I booked throughyour, through your link, through
by um, via tour by eater Idon't know how you say it
Through your link, throughViator Viator, I don't know how
you say it, but yeah, so we hadan amazing tour guide.
She was incredible.
She was a local young lady fromLondon and she was hysterical
(17:01):
and she was awesome.
She walked us through St JamesPark and over to the palace and
it was very, very cool.
And then from there we didanother tour.
We walked around that part ofLondon for a little bit and then
we did a historic Royal Pubtour, which was I just wanted to
(17:22):
do something that was a littlebit unique.
So we did that and it wasawesome.
We went to four different pubsand we had a guy who's actually
an aspiring actor, so it wasvery full of life and, um, it
was, it was fun.
It was young man, he washysterical, he told us a lot of
really cool stories about, youknow, the royals and, um, some
(17:45):
of the like, the early, you know, head military people and it
was really cool.
So that was.
That was pretty fun.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
I always recommend doing a pub tour.
That's one of my favoritethings.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
It's just so much fun .
Yeah, yeah, and honestly I meanyou could.
You could do it on your own,but it's not as much fun and you
don't learn anything.
So you know um, so, yeah, I wasreally glad that we did that, it
was really fun.
So that was Friday, and then Ididn't.
Yeah, I was really glad that wedid that, it was really fun.
So that was Friday, and then Ididn't book anything for the
rest of the day because it wasalready a ton of walking.
(18:20):
We walked like seven, eightmiles a day and my parents are
almost 80.
So you know they were troopers,but yeah.
So then the next day, onSaturday, so I don't know if you
remember, but I said I wantedto see the coast, so the what I
decided to do was I booked atour to seven sisters, so, cause
(18:44):
it's an easy day trip fromLondon, so, and it included the
train ticket, train ticket theyeven had a guide that met us at
the train station and he rodethe train with us all the way to
Brighton to make sure that we,like I don't know, didn't get
lost or I don't know.
It was great, it was amazing,but it's, you know, like just
(19:05):
over an hour from London toBrighton.
So he traveled with us and thenwe met our tour guide in
Brighton and we went to Devil'sDyke National Trust and Beachy
Head and we saw a farm, aworking farm in Sussex that's
(19:26):
been in the same family forhundreds of years and that was a
pretty cool thing to see.
So it was a really cool thingto to see.
So it was a really cool way tosee.
We saw the cliffs and it was areally cool way to kind of see
the coast and go down onto the,you know, onto the beachy head,
and it was awesome.
I'm so glad that we did it.
It was a long day, it's like anine hour tour, um, and then
(19:46):
they give you the option to stayin Brighton.
If you don't want to, you know,go back right away.
They give you train ticketsback and they kind of tell you
how to get there.
But so we stayed in Brighton.
If you don't want to, you know,go back right away.
They give you train ticketsback and they kind of tell you
how to get there.
But so we stayed in Brightonfor another couple of hours just
to check it out, which is atotally different part than what
we had been seeing.
So that was yeah, so that wascool.
(20:06):
It was neat to see that we justkind of we went into a pub and
sat and people watched and umwalked around some of the shops
and stuff.
So that was really cool andthat, like I said, that was like
a full day that was.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
It was like I think we were, we were gone for, I
don't know, maybe 11 hours thatday total it does sound like a
really good tour and I willactually put a link to it in the
show notes as well.
So, if you listen, I want to dothat too and I wouldn't mind
trying.
I mean, I go on loads of tours,but, um, it sounded really good
and I like the fact thatincluded the train tickets took
me down there, which is reallygood.
(20:40):
So I think it sounds like areally good day.
Um, we often get asked over thecliff white cliffs of doma or
such a popular destination andbut the seven sisters, it's so,
it's so lovely down there,brighton's gorgeous city, yeah,
city, brighton and home, yeah, areally lovely place to go.
So I'm glad that you, that youactually got a contrast, because
(21:00):
you're in the cox walls forthat kind of quintessential
countryside, and then you wentdown and saw some of the
beautiful south coast as well.
So, really, really yeah, do it.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
I really I wanted to maximize our week because I
learned very quickly that youneed a lifetime to see it all,
so I just wanted to try tomaximize our trip as much as
possible and, uh, I don't knowif my parents are going to be
able to go back, so I justwanted to kind of tackle as much
as possible and just see allthe different parts and um, it
(21:32):
just seemed like the best, allthe different parts and um, it
just seemed like the best way todo it.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
So yeah, no, I think that's really good.
Um, so was that the Saturday?
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Yep, that was Saturday and then marathon day.
I didn't plan much of anythingbecause I didn't.
I really just didn't know whatto expect and it it was
definitely, um expect, and itwas definitely we were staying
in Covent Garden.
So we just kind of stayed overthere because it's away from
everything.
So we did the Covent Gardenmarket in the morning, which was
(22:04):
amazing.
I loved it.
That's the other place.
I was like, okay, well, I coulddefinitely live in this part of
London.
I loved it so much.
So my mom and I kind of walkedaround the shops and we did that
in the morning.
And then the only thing I hadbooked that day was I did the
Tower Bridge tour.
So I booked the last one of theday so that the marathon would
(22:29):
be mostly over with and clearedout.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
It runs over Tower Bridge, so that's a good yeah
exactly.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
So we did that and that was really, really cool,
because you get to walk over theterrifying glass floors and see
the engine room, and on Londonbuses that's what you get to go
all across.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
There's a London bus below you, so it's really cool.
I do like it.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
It's a really good thing to do yeah, and so, um,
that's what we did, and then Ium made reservations for, uh the
name just went out of my head,but it's like a famous fish and
chip spot that's under rightunder the tower bridge, right
underneath it, and it's like ina cave I feel like I should know
that, but I've got a.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
I've got a point as well.
Well, I know, I can't thinkabout it.
I know what it is and we'll putit in the show notes, because
I'm I'm drawing, yeah, yeah, umI should have written it down,
but I did was it good?
yeah, it was good becausethere's lots of amazing places
to eat in london, which kind ofum.
It kind of brings me back tothe fact that you mentioned that
(23:33):
you you stayed in.
You stayed in covent garden.
Now that just we get asked allthe time about where to stay in
london and we kind of go well,westminster area is really good,
covent garden area is reallygood around tower, tower, bridge
, depending on what you're doingis really good.
But I but Covent Garden, for me, is just such a special area to
stay in.
The history of Covent Garden isextremely interesting.
(23:55):
I'm actually going to do apodcast, hopefully this month,
about Covent Garden and what todo and see, because it used to
be a very seedy part of London.
Really, yeah, covent Garden wasnot a place you wanted to go to
.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Oh that's so interesting, I can't even
picture that now can you,because it's such an amazing
area.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
But yes, it was, it was a great area.
There's a lot of um.
Yeah, a lot of things went onin Covent Garden so, but I'm
going to talk hundreds of yearsago.
We're not talking now, becauseit now is right, very popular um
, tourist destination um, andthere's so much to do and see
around common garden and so manyamazing places to eat.
So you stayed in common garden.
Whereabouts did you stay, whichwe we?
Speaker 3 (24:35):
stayed at the resident yep, um, the resident
common garden, which was reallyreally lovely and it's in.
It's in such a good spotbecause you're in walking
distance to a couple of tubestations if you want to get
around that way, but there'salso the black cabs were so
accessible right there.
Also because it's such a busylittle spot and you're in
(24:55):
walking distance to a millioncafes and restaurants and so you
can just kind of you can bedone for the day and drop off
all your stuff and then justwalk a few minutes and be.
I mean, you could have yourchoice of little pub or, you
know, high-end restaurant.
If you want cocktail bar,whatever you want, it's right
(25:16):
there.
Um, which was perfect, it was.
It ended up being like theperfect little spot for us.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
Yeah, we really are spot for choice.
When you're there, that's myfavorite place to go is the um
the, the cheese bar.
It's like a sushi bar forcheese.
Oh, that's fun.
Oh, honestly, it's my absolutefavorite, absolute favorite I
really love that pair the cheeseup with just the most amazing
uh, or just the most amazingparents.
(25:44):
I don't know how to do it, so Iusually get myself a class
support and then have thecheeses as I come around and
that is, yeah, that isabsolutely worth doing, if
you're.
But but it's a great area andalso there's a lot of really
quirky, cool shops as well.
The market, yeah, the market.
There's a few markets there, um, so it's really it's a lovely,
lovely area.
(26:04):
So, yeah, I'm I'm lookingforward to actually doing a
podcast all about the area yeah,I'll have to check that out.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
That'll be interesting because I really
really fell in love with thatpart of london I I really liked
it.
It was it's busy but quiet atthe same time.
I don't know how they, I don'tknow how that combination works,
but, um, but it does it, it's.
We never heard a sound outsideand we're in, you're right in
the middle of everything and Ireally liked it there a lot.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
There's lots of theatres I was going to say it
is a fantastic area.
Everything is there, absolutely, and there's a wide range of
accommodation in that area aswell.
I mean, I've stayed in Holborn,which is kind of you know, it's
the same area, and I've stayedin the Z Hotel in Holborn, which
is really reasonable when I'vestayed there on my own.
(26:52):
So you've got kind of a widerange of you know, because I
know everybody goes.
Oh, it's so expensive to stay inLondon.
It is, but it's expensive.
You can find, you know,reasonable places.
So were there any kind of?
You mentioned the fish andchips?
Obviously you places.
Um, so were there any kind of?
You mentioned the fish andchips?
Obviously you went on the, the,the bus afternoon tea bus tour
and you went to any of the someof the pubs.
(27:13):
Are there any kind of mealsthat you had or anything stand
out that you kind of go?
Speaker 3 (27:17):
I'd love to eat that again so I, um, I'm not usually
super adventurous with food, butwhen we were in the cotswolds I
tried a game pie and it wasvenison pheasant and what was
the other word?
Partridge wasn't, yes, yep, andI was so terrified.
(27:41):
I was like this is notsomething that we would eat here
at all, but it was so good, Iloved it.
It was so good, and then I kindof became slightly obsessed
with sausage rolls also.
They're so good.
I don't understand what it'sthey're so good.
(28:04):
We also went to there's a placecalled Mr Fogg's Society of
Exploration, so there's like 12of them, I think, in London.
But we went there's one that'sliterally right across from the
resident, and so we went downthere and they have it's
basically just uh, likeappetizers and small plates, but
(28:25):
everything was so good and thecocktails are really, really,
really fun.
We had such a good time inthere.
I'm so glad that we got to dothat.
Um, and you can, you don't evenknow it's there.
It's because it's downstairsand so it's like in the basement
, so you just live little doorand you wouldn't ever even know
to go down.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
I know I like the.
I know you shared a photo inthe um in the Facebook group, so
we'll have to put that in theshow notes as well, because I
know a few people said oh, whereis that, where is that?
Speaker 3 (28:51):
yeah, yeah, they have a train car right in the, in
the middle of it, where you can,and that's where we ended up
sitting, which was lovely, butyeah, obviously, like doug
doesn't drink, but I will stillsee the fact that he said
there's a train car there.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
I'll get him down there for the train car and then
I can just sit and have a fewcocktails.
So it works for me and it worksfor him.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Yeah, and if you're and if you love cheese, they
have like the best cheese downthere.
I don't know what that is.
Oh, it's called the vault.
My husband just stepped in.
It was called the vault, londontower bridge.
That's the fish and chipsrestaurant that's under the
bridge okay, I don't know aboutthat one.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
There's so many places to eat.
If I ate in all the places inlondon, I wouldn't be able to
get through the door.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
That's why there's no , I know that.
Yeah, no kidding, I know,between the, between the beers
and and the food, yeah, um.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
So what about did you ?
Did you buy any souvenirs whenyou were over there?
Was there anything that, oh, I?
Speaker 3 (29:46):
love the way you said I took an empty carry-on with
me because I know myself.
So I did.
I bought a beautiful cashmeresweater in the Cotswolds and I
also went into an antique storein Morton and Marsh and I got a
porcelain jar an antiqueporcelain jar that toothpaste
(30:09):
used to be.
Oh okay, it has like the mostbeautiful design on the top.
It's gorgeous.
I'll send you a picture of it.
Oh, man, so you can see it.
And then, actually one of themore fun things that I did, my
daughter asked for.
I said is there anything youwant me to bring back?
She's in her second year ofcollege and she said fun
(30:30):
earrings.
She was like, maybe like phonebooth, oh, yeah.
And I thought, oh, this will besuper easy to find.
They don't exist.
I didn't find them anywhere.
I must have gone in 20 shops inLondon and I never saw them.
So I actually bought a keychainand I made her earrings when I
got home.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
You know what I've done something similar with, I
think London bosses on, I thinkI bought I don't know something
like that, and then I just putthem on, on, on.
I got them actually somewhere.
I need to find those because,um, yeah, it's true, actually I
was thinking you should be ableto find, yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
I couldn't find them anywhere.
It's like I said, guys, this isan untapped market.
Somebody needs to be makingphone booth earrings because
well they're not anywhere.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
You know, I used to.
I used to make jewelry.
That's something I used to do.
Maybe I should be making phonebooth earrings you should, you
would make a.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
You'd make a fortune because they don't exist.
So yeah, for anybody that wantsthem.
They're hard to find, so I mademy own, that's a great idea.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
What about your, your parents did they?
Did they buy any souvenirs whenthey're over?
There was anything?
Speaker 3 (31:36):
yeah, I'm gonna take those back yeah, it was um,
mostly, um, mostly my mom,obviously, but um, she was
looking for Christmas ornamentsmostly.
That's something that we've mywhole family does that so I
brought some back.
Also, she was a lot morereserved than I was with the
(31:56):
shopping we also we went intothe store in Covent Garden,
moulton Brown.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
So we both did that, and then she bought some things
at the at the common gardenmarket.
We went into the tea shopthat's there, which was gorgeous
, so we brought back quite a bitof tea and some artwork, she
actually, and she bought at-shirt, which she never does,
so yeah, oh, that's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
So you had enough.
You had enough luggage space tobring it all back, so that's
good barely barely.
And then so was it the mondaythat you flew back.
Yeah, yeah, and riz took you tothe airport, or xfa cars,
whatever it is, yeah that'sbrilliant yeah, yeah, so a
brilliant trip.
By the sounds of it, thatsounds like you just had a
(32:43):
fantastic time, which is a lot.
I love to hear that that is sogood.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
I was not ready to come home at all.
I love it there, so much.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
You have to plan another trip, yeah, but um, I
always end the podcast with thesame question, so I'm going to
ask you the usual question thatI ask is what would, what would
be your one tip that you wouldshare with anybody planning a
trip to the UK for the firsttime?
Speaker 3 (33:15):
I think it's probably a common one, but it bears
repeating because I've beenthinking about this a lot.
I booked everything ahead oftime, all of it all the pub
reservations, everything, all ofit.
I had it all done and I had itall organized and it just made
everything so much easier.
There was one night that wedidn't.
I didn't make reservations andI regretted it, because
(33:37):
reservations work verydifferently in London.
Sometimes you have to requestthem and they don't.
They have to like get back toyou, and sometimes it could be
an hour.
So if you're trying to find aplace to go, you know.
So the reservations are alittle bit different than I'm
used to here.
So that would be my.
My one takeaway is I'm so gladthat I booked.
(33:58):
I booked all the pubs, all thedinners, everything was ahead of
time and it just made it reallyeasy and I just made a
spreadsheet so that I knew whereI had to be at what time I
think that it's such a it's sucha good piece of advice.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Honestly, it really is Kristen, because I mean, I
know, when Doug and I travel andwe haven't done that bit of
research or book somewhere, theamount of times that we waste
walking around trying to findsomeone to eat yes, yeah, and
you're tired, you know, at theend of the day and you're
looking for a place to just stopand have dinner or whatever it
is.
Speaker 3 (34:32):
It's just, it's just nice to know exactly where you
have to be and what time youhave to be there, and you can
always change it if you need to.
But you know that way if youdon't have the bandwidth to to
try to figure it out, and it'sjust so much easier and I felt I
was really glad that I did thatbecause it just made it.
It just made it so much easierand I didn't fill up every
(34:52):
single minute of every singleday.
We knocked out a lot, we saw somuch and I still we had time to
just meander through shops andwalk around, and if we want to
stop and get a pint, we did, andso it was really nice.
And I think that people try todo too much, which is easy to do
.
And we did a lot, don't get mewrong.
(35:14):
We crammed a lot in there, butI think it was nice, like the
first day in the Cotswolds.
We didn't, we had no plans, wejust walked around and if we
were hungry, we ate, and if wewanted to get a pint, we did,
and if we wanted to go in theshop, we did, and so it was nice
(35:35):
to not have like a constantkind of feeling like I had to
fill every single minute.
Um, and I think the bookingthings ahead of time help you to
factor in that time also yeah,that's what you knew.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
You could have that bit of kind of downtime
relaxation because you had stuffplanned so that you knew what
you're going to be doing.
So exactly you know it makes itmakes absolute perfect sense.
Well, it's been fantastic totalk to you, chris, thank you.
Catch up about your honestly,about your trip.
It's just, I love it.
It's always great to hear and Imean I'm grinning from ear to
(36:01):
ear You're grinning from ear toear.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
Yeah, I can talk about this trip for days.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
It's so much fun.
So I will ask you to send mesome photos so we can share them
in the show notes, and I willshare links to the different
tours that you took as well,because you very kindly booked
through our affiliate links,which supports all the work that
we do.
So I just say from the bottomof mine and Doug's heart, thank
you so much for doing that.
Absolutely, it really helps,honestly.
(36:34):
So, yeah, so it'll be on theshow notes.
Uktravelplanningcom.
Forward slash, episode 152.
Can you believe it?
Um, but that leaves me and I'mgoing to say Kristen, to say
until next week, happy UK travelplanning for both of us.
Yeah, so thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (36:47):
Kristen, absolutely it was so nice to talk to you
Both of us, yeah.
So thanks so much, kristen.
Absolutely, it was so nice totalk to you.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Thank you for tuning in to this week'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 favoritepodcast app?
We love to hear from you andyou never know.
You may receive a shout out ina future episode, but, as always
(37:13):
, that just leaves me to sayuntil next week.
Happy UK travel planning.
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