Thoughts on the first five weeks through UK

As we are about to embark on what we are calling the second part of our journey, we thought we would reflect on a few things - and these might help us and others in planning future trips.

Positive Things ( in no order and this is not an exhaustive list)

Technology - Tom Tom - ( if driving) absolutely a must and well worth the expense of downloading local maps, iPad well worth it, and free wifi easy to obtain although purchased a local sim ( 1gb) to back up, purchased a local phone - iPad sim and phone all up cost was £30

Hop on Hop off Buses - used these in London, Bath and York. We also intend to use in Paris. We found them great for getting to know areas and easy to get around for the first couple of days.

Train Travel - great way to get around the country, love the London Underground  and the Oyster Card.

Cottages - a good way to stay as you can relax, and they were all of a good standard, however have learnt to ask a few more questions and not just trust what is on the web site, particularly in relation to distance to pubs and other major locations etc.

Hire car - convenient, economical, a good way to travel around, and TomTom made it relatively easy.One thing we learnt was that everywhere in UK uses a postcode for the GPS - so always ask for the post code ( even unnamed roads) and you will be delivered to the door. Motorways can be daunting, everyone speeds - travel less than 80mph you really need to watch your lane!

Park and Ride - used this in Bath extensively and found it to be economical and easy to use .

Multi currency cash card - after a couple of minor glitches, the card has worked very well and has been a very convenient, secure way to manage and carry cash.

Hotels - London and York accommodation very good, easy to access, clean and good locations etc. we tended to avoid eating in these hotels for meals due to the cost, tending to eat in pubs where we found the best value for money. Drinks in London tend to be very exy, and overall London is much more expensive than regional areas.

Luggage - if we look at any photos we see that we are usually dressed in the same clothes - in fact for the past five weeks we have really worn the same "uniform" so.....yes next time we need to pack less. I must say though we have met people with bags much bigger than ours and they are only on holiday for a week.

Negatives

Hotel - our accommodation in Nottingham was dreadful - it was run down, in disrepair, dirty and mouldy, threadbare carpet, torn furniture, very very small rooms (10 feet square) I think you get the picture.

Payment Required - we found paid parking everywhere , even in the middle of nowhere, and it could be expensive when using on a daily basis. We also found generally that admission prices were very expensive - usually about £10 - £15 each on average, there were very few places who did not charge. May have had something to do with the time of year we were here.

View Opportunities - the UK is such a beautiful country and often we would have liked to stop and admire the view, but it is just not possible as laybys are not available, such a pity.

Crowds - we chose to come at this time, and knew the crowds would be big - and on the whole we coped pretty well but  - we would certainly think very seriously before coming in the height of the summer holidays again. We learned to be ruthless if you are polite you get trampled.

Overall comment 

We have had a great time - catching up with our friends, having the opportunity to admire some of the most historical sites / architecture and travelling in the rolling country side. We have had the best weather for the past five weeks - only 2 days of rain - not bad ay!

We would be very happy to return for another adventure.