England Trip

[Smitty]

Planning one of these. How many days to devote to London? Places/cities to visit? Things to do?

[War Machine Dawg]

I'd spend 2-3 days in London at least. Make sure to go to London Tower. That place can easily take up most of a day. Windsor Castle is another good place. Catch a show in London, too. I'd recommend Phantom of the Opera, as the theatre where it's performed was built for it specifically. I'd also recommend seeing if Buckingham Palace will be open to the public while you're there. It's only open at certain times, but you should definitely go if it's open.

Cambridge is worth visiting, too. Go punting on the river there. It's worth it. Might want to take a day and go down to Bath. It's pretty fun. Stonehenge is good, but you aren't allowed to get too close to the monument anymore.

I spent 6 weeks over there on a study abroad back in '07, just for reference. There's a ton to do. I barely scratched the surface of what I'd have liked to do there just within the UK, much less within the rest of Europe. Don't know if you planned on going up to Scotland or not, but it's even better, imo. I spent 4 days up there and it was incredible. If you would like to go up that way, I can list several things to do there, too.

Make sure to spend some time in the local pubs. They are so much better than US bars.

Whatever you do, make sure to get your BritRail pass ahead of time. It saves a ton of money being able to take the trains everywhere.

Hope this helped some. I'm jealous, I'd kill to go back across the pond.

[godlluB]

I spent four days in London a few years ago, and I could have easily spent twice that. Don't miss the British Museum. You can easily spend an entire day just there.

You should look into the Ceremony of The Keys at the Tower of London. It's believed to be the longest unbroken ceremony in history (it's happened ever night for around 600 years). It takes place at night, I don't think it costs anything, but you have to request tickets months in advance and they are very limited. It was extremely cool.

We also walked across the Centennial Bridge and visited the rebuilt Globe Theatre. While it's a modern reproduction of Shakespeare's theater, all of the construction is period correct, and the tour was really interesting.

In my opinion, the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace is a waste of time, there are a bajillion people there and unless you're willing to get there very early and wait for a couple of hours, you're not really going to see much. here is a smaller version at Windsor Palace that you can actually get close enough to see, and you should really see Windsor anyway.

[AROB44]

I highly recommend northern Scotland....been there 3 times and want to go back. If you are into Neolithic sites, many more than you see in England....much better than Stonehedge

[BeardoMSU]

Planning one of these. How many days to devote to London? Places/cities to visit? Things to do?

There is a lot to do in London. Definitely check out the Borough Market one day for lunch. If you want to see some really good countryside and beaches, I recommend going down to Southampton and taking the ferry to Isle of Wight.

[Prediction? Pain.]

Spent a couple of weeks in London a few years back. All the main tourist attractions are great (British Museum, St. Paul's, Kew Gardens, the Tate Modern, etc.) and you should try to hit a number of them up if you can. What I enjoyed most about London, though, was just wandering around old neighborhoods. If you've got the time, I'd recommend hitting up the local pubs off the beaten path, meandering through the parks, and taking random trips on the tube around the city (I second WMD on getting your ducks in a row re: rail travel; we didn't travel by train outside the city, so we just needed Oyster Cards, which were super easy).

I can't speak to what the rest of the UK has to offer. If I go back, I'd like to see the countryside in Wales, Northern England, and Scotland, though -- whisky + farmhouse cider + mountains = yes, please.

[BeardoMSU]

the local pubs

Yes! Go to as many pubs as you can. Drink as much ale as you can. Stay away from lagers, shandys, wines, etc. Drink english ales, particularly cask-ales, which are served cellar-temp (i.e., however cold their basement is, usually a bit cooler than room temp).
When I was there, I drank a few Guinness, but then I drank exclusively cask-ales.

Also, food-wise, make sure you eat the 7 course english breakfast. Definitely try some pies and mash or bangers and mash at one of those pubs. A good place for classic english "blue-collar" food is a place called F. Cooke (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g186338-d737384-Reviews-F_Cooke-London_England.html).

Also, London as some of the best Indian food on the planet, which makes sense considering Britain's cultural transmission with India. Fun fact: the national dish of England is chicken tikka masala.

[BeardoMSU]

Also, make sure you get an oyster card for the London Underground. It will make your life much easier travelling all over the city.

[Johnson85]

Planning one of these. How many days to devote to London? Places/cities to visit? Things to do?

Been a while and I can't even remember everything I did there, but I'll second the trip to Bath. I thought it was cool.

How long is the trip going to be? If you're going for 4 days, you might as well spend your entire time in London so you don't waste time traveling. If you're going for 14, I'd try to spend a couple of days in Wales and a couple of days in Scotland too.

I'd agree that Stonehenge was overrated and not worth it. I'd also agree that changing of the guards is overrated; if you're nearby anyway, knock yourself out, but it's one of those things that just seemed to be something you do just to say you did it. I'm perfectly fine doing those things, but not at the expense of half of a day of a relatively short trip to a place I might not go back to. But in general, I thought most of the touristy stuff was worth it. Tower was good. Seeing Big Ben was good. I even liked the Eye although most people seem to think it's overrated, or at least overpriced (which it is that).

I'll also second the indian food. I'd even look for chinese restaurants, as they seemed to be higher quality than the ones in Mississippi. British food really is as bad as they say.

[BeardoMSU]

British food really is as bad as they say.

I disagree, man. That entirely depends on what you get. I think the more humble British comfort foods, like steak and ale pies, fish 'n chips, sausages, toad in the hole, etc. are extremely good, and IMO, very similar to our Southern foods (at least comfort level).

[War Machine Dawg]

I disagree, man. That entirely depends on what you get. I think the more humble British comfort foods, like steak and ale pies, fish 'n chips, sausages, toad in the hole, etc. are extremely good, and IMO, very similar to our Southern foods (at least comfort level).

Gotta agree. I didn't have any of the traditional British foods I didn't enjoy. But Smitty should definitely check out the Indian food over there, too.

[starkvegasdawg]

See Big Ben while you are there.

http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_large/hash/50/20/50206bf92800a231a7f19b09b7c08edf.jpg?itok=LHpwwEXj