Let's begin this with a picture that I left out from our day in York. I was sitting in the hotel looking at Google maps to see which would be the best route to the York train station in the morning when I noticed on the screen, "Commemorating Auden's Birthplace." I said to Kellie, "Hey, this thing commemorating the birthplace of W. H. Auden (the famous 20th century English poet) appears to be right outside. Let's go look." So, we put our shoes back on and walked out of the hotel, down a ramp, and into a garden next to City Hall. Lo! and behold! We found this "marker" in the middle of a few tables in a picnic area about 100 feet from our hotel. Cool!
I am a bit hesitant to start with my list because I am not sure what I want to say. Please bear with me as I sort out how to get to the meat of my (very personal) suggestions.
Unless you plan to stay in one place the whole time, pack a backpack instead of carry-on or other luggage. I cannot tell you how many miserable tourists Kellie and I saw dragging and banging their clumsy carry-ons down the street, into the Tube, or on and off of buses. A backpack can be placed under the seat on the plane and worn on your back. On buses or the Tube, you can hold it in your lap. Academy Sports has many types of bags that will hold twice as much as a 15X20" carry-on. Trust me on this one.
In the UK at the end of May, you can wear shorts. Expecting cool and rainy days for the most part, Kellie and I packed only long pants. We were never too hot, but every day was in the upper 60's and low 70's. I asked a few people if this was unusual weather, and they all said, "No, pretty typical for May." Mornings, especially in Scotland, can be cool, but once the sun is up, it's like April here. I wear shorts year round at home. But do take a jacket, and, if wind bothers your ears like it does mine, have some ear coverings. The wind seemed to blow non-stop nearly everywhere we went in the UK.
Hampton Inn's are not touristy, but they are the place to stay. The Hampton Inn/Hilton brands in the UK are exactly like the Hampton Inn/Hilton brands found in the US. The rooms are almost identical to the ones here. The continental breakfast is different because they scramble their eggs weirdly, and they have beans with their breakfast. Oh! And their yoghurt was always unflavored. Otherwise, the Hampton Inns where we stayed were the best nights we had.
Buy tickets for places online before getting to the place. The Tower of London, Edinburgh Castle, Jorvik Viking Experience, and several other things all required a ticket for entry. Ticket lines are often long, and tickets, at least for Edinburgh Castle, sold out. Get your tickets ahead of time.
Stay outside of London. Kellie and I paid a little over 100 pounds per night for our Hampton Inn in Park Royal. No hotel in town was less that 299 pounds. Plus, riding on the Tube, we were any place that we wanted to be in London in thirty minutes or so.
Use the Tube! Buy an Oyster card. You can purchase an Oyster card in Heathrow airport. Kellie and I put 30 pounds each on our Oyster cards and ended up using only 16 pounds each in three days. Most every place in London is within a ten minute walk of a Tube station, any Tube line connects at some point to another line. Speaking of the Tube...
Riding the Tube, you need to know three things: The line on which you need to be, the station that ends the route on which you need to be, and the station where you need to get off. Kellie and I rode on the Piccadilly Line almost every day. Our hotel was very close to the Park Royal station. However, our line ended in Uxbridge. The same Piccadilly line also had a fork that ended in North Ealy. We could not get to Park Royal on the North Ealy line, so we had to get on the Piccadilly line that ended in Uxbridge. It was confusing at first, but then, not so much. The Piccadilly line has stations in Covent Gardens, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, King's Cross, basically everywhere you need to go.
Train travel is extremely easy. Don't let the idea of taking a train be scary. You ride in comfort, often with refreshments offered, you can look out big windows, and you are cruising along at about 100 mph. You fly by the cars on the highways as if they are sitting still, but make sure that you know the names of the stations, especially if you have any connecting routes. Some stations with similar names are miles apart.
London and Edinburgh are extremely touristy. Most tourists are not very nice. Expect to run into a lot of jerks.
Most of the tourist attractions are looking at stuff. For the most part, the UK is a giant museum. If there is much to do besides looking at stuff, I don't know what it is. You might think about that before taking children. I have never seen so many bored children so many days in a row in my life. To a child, a castle might be cool if it has a dragon, but looking at 500 years of Scottish Army regalia--not so cool. Think about that.
Heck, that is ten things. That is all I can think of for right now. How about this? If you have any questions, send them to me, and I will answer them as best as I can. Oh! One final word of advice. You know those Youtube videos that proclaim "Top Ten Things to Do in London" or "How to not Seem Like a Tourist in the UK." They are all full of shit. Excuse my language. Kellie and I watched a dozen of those, and none of them provided any realistic advice. Go figure!
And this is not UK-related, but here is a picture of my Echinacea flowers that day after we got back.
The End for now.
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