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UK Travel Planning
The UK Travel Planning Podcast is full of practical tips and advice to help you plan your dream trip to the UK whether you are visiting England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
Travel expert Tracy Collins shares years of knowledge and experience of travelling to, and around, the UK to help you plan your UK itinerary.
Listen to special guest interviews full of travel inspiration and practical tips for popular and off the beaten path destinations. Learn more about the best ways to travel around the UK (including by train), about British culture and history and much more!
Tune in and let us help you plan your perfect UK itinerary with all the places and experiences you have been dreaming of. UK Travel Planning - helping YOU plan YOUR perfect UK vacation.
UK Travel Planning
Creating Unforgettable Family Adventures: Trip Report to the UK (& beyond) with Leanne McHarg
In episode 110 of the UK Travel Planning Podcast, Tracy chats with Leanne McHarg, from New South Wales, Australia, to share an in-depth trip report of her family’s recent adventure to the UK.
Leanne provides a detailed account of their three-week journey, which included stops in Zurich, Paris, London, Edinburgh, and Dublin.
She discusses their travel logistics, including the decision to use trains for most of their European travel, and the advantages of booking tickets early to secure the best prices.
The family’s itinerary was thoughtfully planned, taking into account school holidays and Easter, which influenced their travel dates and destinations.
The episode dives into the highlights of their trip, from visiting iconic attractions like Madame Tussauds in London, the Imperial War Museum, and a tour of Lord's Cricket Ground, to exploring Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
Leanne shares how they balanced the interests of all family members, ensuring each had a memorable experience, whether it was visiting the NBA store in London or taking a day tour to Glencoe and Loch Ness.
Leanne also offers practical tips for fellow travellers, such as the importance of using apps like Citymapper for navigation, the benefits of packing cubes, and the peace of mind provided by Apple AirTags. She emphasises the value of flexibility in travel plans and preparing each night for the following day's activities.
This episode is packed with useful insights and personal anecdotes, making it a must-listen for anyone planning a family trip to the UK or Europe.
Whether you're planning your own family adventure or just love hearing about travel experiences, this episode offers a wealth of knowledge and tips.
⭐️ Guests - Leeanne McHarg
📝 Show Notes - Episode 110
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Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast. Your host is the founder of the UK Travel Planning website, Tracey Collins. In this podcast, Tracey shares destination guides, travel tips and itinerary ideas, as well as interviews with a variety of guests who share their knowledge and experience of UK travel to help you plan your perfect UK vacation. Join us as we explore the UK from cosmopolitan cities to quaint villages, from historic castles to beautiful islands, and from the picturesque countryside to seaside towns.
Speaker 2:Hi everybody and welcome to episode 110 of the UK Travel Planning Podcast. This week I have the lovely Leanne, who was in episode 100, was one of my guests talking about what she loved about the podcast and I had to invite Leanne back to talk all about her trip to the UK. So this is Leanne's trip report and I'm also going to say Leanne is a fellow Aussie, so it's lovely to have another Aussie on the show. So, leanne, would you like to introduce yourself and tell us where you come from?
Speaker 3:Yep, I'm Leanne McCarg and I'm from Glen Innes in northern New South Wales and basically we're seven hours from Sydney and probably four hours and a bit from Brisbane, so we spend more of our time probably in Queensland than we do the other way, because it's closer and warmer yes, more sunshine Not that I don't mind the cold. That's why I probably love the UK.
Speaker 2:That's probably why I moved to Australia, Leanne.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't like the heat, so I'm happy. When I lived in Brisbane, it was like, oh my goodness, I just, yeah, don't like the heat at all.
Speaker 2:But I like that cold and it does get hot. It does get very hot, yes, yeah. So what do you do? And I mean, I know that you're a mum and you've got some kids and your husband and your family, so let's find out a little bit about them.
Speaker 3:So I'm a bookkeeper self-employed, but I also work three days a week as an insurance broker. So I've come into the office to do the podcast because it's a bit quieter and my husband's self-employed. And basically we've got three children Oscar, charlotte and Thomas and at the time we went away which was April 2023, they were 19, 16 and 13. So our trip had to try and keep their attention.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it was you yourself and your three kids that went on the trip.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we thought Oscar's heading off to uni, this will be our last chance to go on a family holiday. We were all going and, yeah, make the most of it. And as we're self-employed, we don't go away that often, so when we do, we make a good go of it and it's a big trip.
Speaker 2:And was it the first time that the kids had been over to Europe?
Speaker 3:Yes, oh yeah, and my husband? He hadn't been outside Australia either. So I went, I did Europe when I was in my early 20s, so one of those top deck travel trips. So that's nearly 40 years ago now. So that was sort of the basis of how I started with knowing where are we going to go.
Speaker 2:So that was a big trip. So now we're also going to kind of cross over and eventually a little bit into my global travel planner podcast, which anybody if you're listening we also have, as well as the UK travel planning podcast, which is very well established. We've got 100 and odd episodes. Now we also have a global travel planning podcast, which I started last October because I have lived all over the world I think seven countries I lose track, actually and I do travel a lot. So we were traveling five different countries from October or maybe seven countries. I haven't lost track of how many countries I went to for five or six months from kind of September last year until March when I arrived back in Australia with some time in the UK. So I know you spent some time in some European countries, in fact one country that I actually also lived in. So would you like to tell us about your itinerary and how long you were in the UK for and kind of the overall itinerary, because it's a really interesting one.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we started. We left Australia on the 1st of April, so April Fool's Day, so I did sort of feel like, oh, is this a mistake leaving on that day. But that's the day we went and we arrived back in Australia on the. I think it was about the 23rd of April. So we've gone a bit over three weeks and we flew with Emirates and went via Dubai and from Dubai we caught a connecting flight to Zurich in Switzerland. So my brother-in-law actually lives in Switzerland, he will in Zurich and he teaches there. So we thought we'll take the advantage and so that was great.
Speaker 2:Why not? Absolutely why not? And my parents lived outside of Zurich for quite a number of years, so I've travelled over there quite a few times. I don't know how many times I've been to Switzerland, so that was really cool when you mentioned about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, it was beautiful. Actually, we all enjoyed that time, so, and we just stayed with Robert and just did the trams and the trains and he navigated, which was quite good. Yeah, help. Yes, you didn't have to drive. No, didn't have to deal with a language barrier Not that he speaks much Swiss or Swiss German. He gets his way around because he teaches at an English-speaking school, so, yeah, and then after Switzerland, where did you go to After Switzerland?
Speaker 3:we caught the train to Paris and we had four days in Paris, and then we caught the train, the Eurostar, to London. We had nearly six days in London, and then we caught the train to Edinburgh, had nearly five days in Edinburgh and then we flew to Dublin and had five days in Dublin, then flew home via Dubai, again back to Brisbane.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you did a lot actually in three and a bit weeks.
Speaker 2:We did so when you're trying to decide and I know flying from Australia it's such a long way that we have to go, so it's expensive, it's a long way, you know, not everybody can go. I'm very lucky that when I can go I try to go for like three months or longer, but I know I'm extremely lucky to be able to do that. But when you go in for three weeks and obviously you wanted to go and see other places outside of the UK, how did you actually come about deciding on your itinerary and where you wanted to visit?
Speaker 3:Well, I think originally I thought we would fly into Dublin and then going on the dates and when school holidays were was probably what started. Right, we need to go Switzerland first because Robert would be on school holidays, so that meant we could spend more time with him and he had the time to take us around, and it was also leading leading up to Easter, so that was sort of all in there as well, which, yeah, led us to right well, where are we going to be when it is Easter? Is that going to affect what we can see and what we can do? How busy is it going to be? So, yeah, I think that's probably ultimately how we came to where we flew first and who we flew with. Also, because getting that connecting flight to Zurich and still be with the same airline and all that sort of stuff was a bit, yeah, that added to it.
Speaker 2:I think it's working all those logistics out, isn't it? It's when you're trying to think so I want to go here, and especially if you've got something like, you know, easter, where you know there's going to be everybody's going to be off in Europe, so you've got all of the everybody traveling in Europe itself and obviously, starting April, things start to get busier. So how did you create your itinerary? So I know that you are a big fan of the podcast, so I know you use that.
Speaker 3:So I probably started with Google searches. I just sort of did a few things and then, you know, you see all those different itinerary ideas and travel companies and things like that come up. And then I started saving. I had a folder on Instagram and I was saving like I'd been looking up lots of different things and you'd see those pictures and things like that. So I'd say, oh, save that or we can go and look at that. So I just kept adding to that folder and I thought, oh well, I'll have a look in Pinterest. So I started doing the same thing in Pinterest. And then, once I'd started doing that stuff in Pinterest, I think a few pages came up and I thought, oh, I'll go and have a look at those. And they started talking about podcasts and I hadn't really considered podcasts as an option at that stage. So I was searching up for podcasts on Paris, thinking, well, that's probably going to be the hardest because we don't speak the language.
Speaker 3:And I was really nervous about it, even though I'd been there before. But I'm responsible for four other people who would all be looking at me like mum, mum, what do we do, mum? So I thought I need to be prepared. The pressure was on, wasn't it? Yeah, it was, and the anxiety on the inside was pretty extreme, but I couldn't let them know that. Oh, no, no, it's fine.
Speaker 3:So then, from there, I thought, well, are there any podcasts on the UK? And that's how I came across your podcast and I went, oh, this is awesome. So I just binged, listened to podcast after podcast, and I'd look down your list and say, oh, we're going to go there, I'll have a listen to that one. So, and then from there, that's how I discovered the Facebook group, and that was a wealth of information.
Speaker 3:And from there, yeah, then I went onto your website and looked at your itinerary ideas, and from that I basically just then went right, well, we could do this if we're travelling like this, and it was just sort of process of elimination what will work for us, what can help us? That place looks really interesting and it just all sort of gelled together, and I set out my spreadsheet and the dates I'd be in each place, and then just basically the times, and then added to that each day and I guess as well, you had the additional complication of, you see, you had your three kids with you and actually I mean your eldest is is an adult so actually incorporating what they were interested in as well.
Speaker 2:So did you have conversations with them? I know, I think you probably played the podcast, I don't know. I was talking to somebody the other day and the kids were like we've heard Tracy talk about this one before.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was me Not this again Mum.
Speaker 2:Which is really funny. I'm like I apologise to all the children out there who are sitting in the car at the moment with their parents playing a podcast, listening to me.
Speaker 3:Sorry about that. They definitely. They were like oh, mum, you've already listened to this, Not this episode, it's her voice again, mum.
Speaker 3:Yep, that's definitely what it was like. So well, actually, when we go away on trips, I usually go around to each of them and say you need to have a look, what's some place that you would like to go or like to see? And that's how we did Tasmania Pick a spot and then I incorporated that into our itinerary, if it can be done. So I did that with them. Oscar's not overly fussed on places and things Once he gets there, he's right, but he's never that. He's not that kid that's keen on getting out of his comfort zone. He's happy to stay home, to be honest. So getting him excited about where we went. So I was really surprised when we were in London and we ended up going to Madame Tassard's. He was over the moon, he loved that the most.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's lovely. Yeah, loved it. You know, horses for courses, that's what I say. You know I listen to other people say when you visit London, you know you shouldn't do this place or that place or that place because it's too touristy. And I kind of go, you know what you go, where you want to go, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3:And everyone's.
Speaker 2:Yeah, everybody's different.
Speaker 3:Everybody's different, different, definitely, yeah. So he really loved that. And even when we were on the Eurostar, we got stopped because there was a bomb squad up ahead at another train station. That was one of his highlights. He couldn't wait to tell his mates bomb squad, we're up ahead, like that was just, like you know, weird yeah.
Speaker 3:Thomas really loved. He's our 13-year-old, so he's a big basketball fan, so we went to the NBA store in London. That was a highlight. But I actually said to him the other day what would be your highlight of where we visited in our whole trip Imperial War Museum. He loved it. Yeah, and he just went off by himself Half the time. We'd meet up and go. Well, where's Thomas? I've got no idea. He was on one of the levels.
Speaker 2:Isn't that the amazing thing about London, that there is just so much to do and see that there's something for everybody. Whatever your interest is you're going to? Find a museum or an attraction or some historical site or something that is going to appeal to you really, and that is the beauty of it. And your daughter, something that is going to appeal to you really, and that is the beauty of it, and your daughter.
Speaker 3:So her highlight we went to Lourdes, the cricket ground, yeah, and she loves her cricket and we did a tour at Lourdes and that was, yeah, loved it. And so I asked her again the other day tell me again what was your highlight of our whole trip.
Speaker 2:Lourdes, my husband would say exactly the same, and my brother, I reckon oh my husband Massive cricket fans.
Speaker 2:That's really cool. And again, the ability to go and visit places that you've heard about or you've watched cricket at or you've watched a football match at or you've watched tennis at, if you can get to Wimbledon. Isn't it amazing that, if you can get to Wimbledon, isn't it amazing? It's kind of like you watch these things on TV and I'm the same when I go to other destinations and I think I've always wanted to go here and I can't believe that I'm actually seeing this or experiencing it.
Speaker 3:I actually I really enjoyed Lourdes myself. The history and the guide was really brilliant as well. And, yeah, and we were all standing in a circle at the start and had to introduce ourselves, and so we were first up and Oscar was at the start of the line and he said, where are you from? And said, oh, glen Innes, new South Wales. And you could see these other families start chatting amongst themselves and I thought, oh, glen Innes, does that create such a big issue? And then at the end of it, they came up to us and said, oh, do you know such and such? I was his best man and Oscar actually went to school with their eldest son, and then Thomas was in the year with another one, and then my Charlotte was in the and we're just like, oh my God, such a small world? Oh, it is, isn't?
Speaker 2:it. That's incredible. That's absolutely incredible.
Speaker 3:I love that that's so cool yeah, so that was really funny.
Speaker 2:So that was really cool. So you got your itinerary, you knew what you were doing. You got everybody on board. How did you decide you were going to get around?
Speaker 3:Because that's a big one. I think it was cost Flights. It was just more expensive for the five of us to fly to each location and we thought, oh, with the train at least we can see a bit of the countryside. And when I started looking at prices for tickets, like I was surprised because we booked early enough. If you book early enough, you'll get a decent price, and I think it was, and I wrote that down. So it only cost us to go from Zurich to Paris was $466 Australian, which I think is about 240 pounds.
Speaker 2:And that's for five of you.
Speaker 3:Five of us yeah. Fantastic. And even to go from London to Paris was $553 for five of us, and the same with London to Edinburgh was $75 each. That's brilliant.
Speaker 2:That's brilliant. We couldn't get a flight for that. You can't, and also you know you fly. You don't see anything. You sit on a train.
Speaker 3:You sit on a train and you've got to be there so much ahead of time, exactly, and you're hanging around. Yeah no, and the trains were great. My husband especially loved the trains. And Trains were great. My husband especially loved the trains. And when I was picking seat placement, I never really sort of thought about it and just put the kids where they were. And he didn't have a window seat, so each time he'd go up to them and he'd say, get out, I'd go no.
Speaker 3:And he'd go. You're only on your phone, you're not paying any attention. I want to look out the window, get out.
Speaker 2:Don't blame him. Don't blame him 100%. I have to say that we travelled a lot around Europe by train. I think we did two summers where we just decided we'd hop on trains and go everywhere. And even when I was a teacher, during the half-term holidays in February, we would just hop on trains and we'd go around Europe. I the half-term holidays in February, we would just hop on trains and we'd go around Europe. I mean, sometimes we'd fly and then make our way back by train. But we did two summers where we took my daughter around. I think she must have been 11. And then the following summer she was 12. And we spent six weeks traveling around Europe on train and actually the next year she went. I'm not doing that again, mum. I think she loved it, but she'd had enough by the third time. We were like, okay, but it's just, I just love it. I mean, it makes you travel lighter, because you've got to consider that, because you're going to be getting on and off trains, but what a great way as well to meet people.
Speaker 1:And also you can get up and walk around without worrying.
Speaker 2:You don't have to you know, I don't know, it's just the way to travel.
Speaker 3:I think our train trip from London to Edinburgh was interesting because there was a stag do of men on there and, oh my goodness, they were so drunk Like they hadn't even got there yet and they were getting off at York, thankfully, so they didn't go all the way to Edinburgh. Good job, they would probably not be able to get off the train. They were so loud. It was definitely entertaining. You could see everyone rolling their eyes, trying not to laugh and act like, oh you know. And a few of them went up to first class because we just did normal seats and it got a bit quiet then. So it was like, oh, that's all right, but then they'd come back and they're cheering and yeah, it was quite entertaining.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay, and the travel in Europe itself. I've actually gone from where we lived in Burton-on-Trent to Zurich in a day by train, so I've done that whole trip by train and I just find it so efficient and fast and just comfortable.
Speaker 3:Amazing Public transport in Zurich was unbelievable. It was just amazing. We also did a day trip to Constance in Germany because my daughter said I want to go to another country so I can tick that off as well. So Robert's like oh well, I go here sometimes when they do the annual fireworks. He used to take his dog to Constance because it's not far. So actually that was brilliant. We all loved it and it was just by train and it was so smooth and bang bang. You're there and we just spent the day there wandering around and looking at different things and then got the train back.
Speaker 2:It's perfect absolutely perfect, so did you when it came to the train tickets in the UK, you bought those in advance.
Speaker 3:Yes, so I used Rail Europe app for Zurich to Paris. Yeah, then I um I think I used that for the Eurostar as well. And then the train line app. Yeah, but I had been, I'd been looking on the rail Europe app and they just weren't being released, and so I thought, um, I'm gonna miss out or something's wrong, or so I started looking on train line then and went, oh, I can get them now. Oh, I'll get them. So, yeah, and that's, I think, how I got them so cheap, perfect perfect, so and.
Speaker 3:I used um Scott Rail once we're in Edinburgh, because we went to St Andrews as well. So I used Scott.
Speaker 2:Rail for those so yeah, that was easy yep.
Speaker 2:I think that must have been. I'm trying to think if I did that. I think that was last year that I did that. So it's you. I was actually in the UK in April last year and I think I did St Andrews in June. We did a little video of it, but I got very sick. I don't know if I've got a stomach bug. So on the way back from St Andrews, edinburgh, I'm trying to do this video for YouTube, which is on YouTube if you want to know how to get from Edinburgh to St Andrews. But I think I went progressively greener as the trip was progressing.
Speaker 2:And there's nothing worse but that's an easy day trip as well from Edinburgh isn't it?
Speaker 3:And it was your podcast and Facebook page that helped with that, because I was really concerned about right. I know it's only this far, but once we get to Le Carrs, is it?
Speaker 3:Le Carrs yeah, la Caz. I was like, well, how do we get into St Andrews? So then I actually asked the question in your Facebook group and everyone's like, oh no, there's a bus, there's buses there all the time. And so I was like, okay, this will be right. So yeah, there was a big, a lot of people got off when we got off and got on the bus and we're coming into St Andrews and we're like, well, where do we get off? And my husband said this next stop we'll get off. And so we got off, walked around the corner and there's the bridge, swilkin Bridge at St Andrews. So he was like that's his only thing. For the whole trip. We have to have a photo on the Swilkin Bridge.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely you do. We also have that photo and you can for the show notes. It'd be really cool to have that picture. We can add that one in as well. That would be really good. So obviously that was probably one of the highlights for your husband. So what about you? What were your favourite experiences and places that you visited?
Speaker 3:Well, as I've already said, Oscar was Madame Tussauds Matthews was St Andrew's golf course. Already said Oscar was Madame Tussauds Matthews was St Andrew's Golf Course. But I loved Palace of Holyrood, Loved it, because I'm a bit of a royalist.
Speaker 3:So I loved that Edinburgh Castle. We all really enjoyed Harry Potter World. We did that and that was actually just visiting. Harry Potter World was great, but the whole excursion to get there was just as exciting. So we just caught the bus to Euston Station, then the train to Watford and got on. And we did come out and the free bus wasn't there. So I did start to panic and internally like, oh my God, I hope we haven't missed it. How do I find out where this bus is? And then they came around the corner and went oh, thank God, yeah, I hope we haven't missed it. How do I?
Speaker 2:find out where this bus is. And then they came around the corner and went oh, thank God. Yeah, it comes every few minutes, you're fine, you're fine. Just turn left, as you come out the train station and you'll see everybody waiting for the free bus, so that was fun as well getting there.
Speaker 3:But we all enjoyed that. I think Edinburgh was definitely. We just loved Edinburgh. Probably would have liked longer there.
Speaker 2:That's why we're heading back. I have to say, about Edinburgh and I was actually talking, we've got a new partner actually coming on board who does private tours from Edinburgh and I was talking to him last night and I was just saying that since I was a child because I'm from Northumberland, which is right on the border I've been travelling to Edinburgh my entire life and it doesn't matter how many times I go to Edinburgh, I never get sick of it, never.
Speaker 3:No, I don't know what it is. It's the vibe.
Speaker 2:I think so, I genuinely think so. It's just a fabulous city to visit. I mean. I do say, though, to everybody that that, um, edinburgh is just one place in scotland. There's loads of other places to go to scotland, so it's a great. Yes, have your first foot into scotland, go and see edinburgh, but then go back because, honestly again, the whole of scotland is somewhere I just can't get enough of. Um, yeah, you know we're planning four to five weeks in scotland a year, in sept, and I'm already excited about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, I'm in the process of planning ours for 2026, so it's just my husband and I going this time. But yeah, we want to do that North Coast 500. So. But we did a day tour from Edinburgh on our last day and did Glencoe and Loch Ness, which was great. It was a long day it was quarter to eight in the morning, I think. We had to catch the bus and we didn't get home until nearly 9.30 that night. It was long.
Speaker 2:But I'm so glad that you did that. I really am, because I think it's a bit like going to. If you just go to London, you don't really. You don't get a feel for the whole of the UK. If you just go to London you don't get a feel for the whole of the UK. You've got to kind of see a little bit extra. It's the same. You've got Edinburgh, it's not Scotland, london's not England.
Speaker 2:So you get those tastes and it's like getting out and being able to see a little bit more. It's so exciting. I think it's a great first introduction. But then after that, and I always think, when people go and they go like oh, I've been and I can't wait to see more, and I'm like I just know how much more there is that they're gonna love and enjoy you know so oh, I can't wait to talk about your next trip, yeah no, it'll be, and I think the kids enjoyed like going to St Andrews and we spent the day there and we all said, well, we could have spent more time there, definitely.
Speaker 3:So that's a place we want to go back to. We loved Glencoe yeah, just the mountains, the scenery was just. It was freezing cold. At one stage, thomas didn't actually want to get off the bus and I said we are here, you're getting off the bus. This is part of the experience, so off he gets, put your scarf on. Yeah exactly, yeah, when we went to look at Ben Nevis so he was like I don't want to get off, get off.
Speaker 2:I love that, I love that. So you just kind of briefly mentioned there about the tour that you did in Scotland. So did you do any of the tours that you'd recommend?
Speaker 3:We just booked that through Get your Guide, so I used your affiliate link, so I hope that actually worked.
Speaker 2:I love to hear that.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, leanne, anybody listening.
Speaker 2:please do use our affiliate links if you're booking anything on Get your Guide and Viator, because it helps us to do the podcast and do the website and run everything.
Speaker 3:So thank you, leanne, and they were really great to deal with. Like I had a couple of questions and just put it in the chat and they came straight back and confirmed different things that I wanted to know. So they were actually it was really good and I didn't think it was overly badly priced. I think it was like $275 for the five of us and we just had to have cash for the boat cruise on Loch Ness to Urquhart Castle. So I just made sure we had the cash for that and yeah, but it was brilliant. We really enjoyed that. We actually did. I used your link again so I hope it worked, but we did get your guide in. We did Wicklow Mountains and Kilkenny in the Republic of Ireland.
Speaker 2:The links work anyway. It doesn't matter Even if you go through a link to a specific tour or whatever, but if you book other things for other destinations, it will still work. Okay, great, so that's really cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we did that one as well, which was great. The kids weren't overly impressed with the tour guide. He talked a lot, yes, a lot. We all had headaches by the time we got off right the bus, but uh, what we saw, yeah, yeah, what we saw and did was great, and Kilkenny was beautiful. We definitely want to go back there and explore a bit more. It was really lovely lovely.
Speaker 2:Well, I'll be going to Ireland next year because there's a travel blogger conference actually in September 20, which fits in perfectly with our plans, because we're actually going to do the circular route London through Wales, republic of Ireland, up to Northern Ireland and then across to into Scotland, then have a month in Scotland and then back down.
Speaker 3:So that's our plan next year? That would be. Yeah, that's more or less what we want to do when we go again. Oh well, then you can follow along with us on the podcast and YouTube and everywhere else.
Speaker 1:Perfect. Oh well, then you can follow along with us on the podcast and YouTube and everywhere else Perfect.
Speaker 3:So I've just got to fit a few golf courses in for the golfer. Oh, yes, yes, yeah.
Speaker 2:So then you I know you did some hop-on hop-off bus tours as well. Did you find those worth it? Was it good?
Speaker 3:Oh, the one in Dublin, the Do Dublin, the green bus, was brilliant and the kids didn't want to get off. And it's the drivers that make it. They were brilliant. They sing, they tell jokes, they get everyone on the bus involved. He might be on the lower level but he says I can see what you're doing up there. You're not singing like.
Speaker 3:We just didn't want to get off, um, so, but we had to because we had uh tickets to kill a man home jail. So we got off at stop 18, went and did that and then we um had some lunch and then we walked to the guinness storehouse and did that tour and then caught the do dublin bus again outside of that and finished off what we hadn't seen. So it, it was a different driver, but he was just as good. Yeah, they were brilliant. But we did the hop-on hop-off in London, which was good. It was freezing cold and that was just the little headphones, so it wasn't quite as good as the one in Dublin, but it gave the information and, yeah, we enjoyed that, just to get our bearings, more than anything. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think that's what it's always really useful for. I think if you've never been to London or any city, really just jumping on a hop-on, hop-off bus for the first few hours just to orientate yourself, I just think it's really helpful and, you know, you'll actually start to see where all those places you've got in your head are in relation to each other and then actually in Londoner sometimes realises oh, that's a lot closer to that particular point that I realised.
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely, and we used only the buses in London altogether. We never went on the tube once because we actually thought, well, we can see more if we're on the bus. And where we stayed, the bus dropped off right out the front of our accommodation every afternoon, so by then we're all tired. Yeah, that's what you want to do. Ten steps and we're in the door.
Speaker 2:That's perfect. So that kind of leads in really well nicely to accommodation actually. So where did you stay and what were your standout accommodation choices?
Speaker 3:So we did Airbnbs and stays In Zurich, we did our with my brother-in-law, we did an Airbnb in Paris, Airbnb in London, stays in Edinburgh and Dublin.
Speaker 2:And stays for any of our American listeners. Is a VRBO or VRBO? I don't know how you pronounce it, but it's the same thing. It's just the Australian version, yeah.
Speaker 3:So, and they were brilliant, and I think it was more so we could do some washing and I thought that we would cook more. So, and they were brilliant, and I think it was more so we could do some washing and I thought that we would cook more. But I was so exhausted at the end of every day because we were gone sort of anywhere from eight o'clock in the morning and we were usually back to our accommodation by about half past four at the latest most days, and by then the kids had the downtime, they'd had enough and we're all tired and yeah. So I didn't actually cook as much, because we had a lot more eating out and takeaway probably than I thought we would, and the stays and Airbnbs that you stayed in were good.
Speaker 3:Yes, all brilliant. The one in Paris was, cooking facilities were a little bit. It didn't actually have an oven, it just had a stovetop. So then I thought, oh well, is it a microwave, convection oven type? No, it was just a microwave, so it was a bit harder. The place in London was brilliant. It was hidden away. You wouldn't actually have known it was there, but it was like. But it was like three doors away from a pub and that became our local.
Speaker 3:We loved it, and at the end of every day we'd walk in there and it was an Australian managing it, and so they'd all go. Hey, how was your day? What did you do today? What did you see? It was like going into the cheese bar. Oh, that's fantastic, yeah, so we all loved that, and the meals were brilliant, so good.
Speaker 2:Well, that's what I'm going to ask you about now, so you're naturally kind of leading us into the next question that I'm going to ask you, which is basically about foods. What were your favourite foods, any particular restaurants that you really enjoyed, that you'd recommend?
Speaker 3:Well, the Tankard in Kennington was our favourite by far. We loved that. We actually did a place in Edinburgh called the Filling Station which I think is like an American type restaurant, but we actually really enjoyed that and we did that as our main meal at lunchtime and then sort of had something light for dinner. The River Court Hotel in Kelkenny was gorgeous on the river. It was beautiful, I don't think like the Merchant's Arch in Dublin which is directly opposite the River Liffey. It was beautiful. We did that for my daughter turned 17 while we were in Dublin, so that was her birthday breakfast. The Patriots Inn in Dublin near Killermanheim Jail was yum. It was really nice, just for a stop off.
Speaker 2:That's good. How did you find the prices Leanne?
Speaker 3:I've said to people that when we kept converting it to Australian dollars, it was like, oh my goodness, this is costing us a fortune, so we had to stop doing that. Yes, so in London we were like, okay, we're getting a chicken schnitzel and it's 25 pounds, that's like $25 in Australian, like that's normal for their menu. So that's how we started looking at it, rather than converting it to this is costing us 50 plus dollars just for that meal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and having a heart attack because Australian dollar is not great.
Speaker 3:So it's not really when you're travelling, so yeah it can be compresy. We went to like a food court in Zurich and had that, and when we converted that we went oh, we're going to stop.
Speaker 2:Switzerland's even worse. I know Switzerland is scary. I used to go to my parents. I remember going with my mum this is years ago and we went to the supermarket and she bought a chicken. She bought the smallest chicken on the planet. Went to the supermarket and she bought a chicken. She bought the smallest chicken on the planet. Honestly, whether it could feed three of us was a miracle. By the time it was about 15 pounds. I nearly fell over. And we're talking probably, oh, probably 10, 15, probably 15 years ago. So goodness knows I've been out.
Speaker 2:So I kind of go oh yeah, switzerland's very, very expensive. So but. I noticed like the uk has become more expensive, so you've got to kind of look at. You know it's funny because my daughter and her partner were over a year and a half ago and we were just talking about it yesterday about how they love the meal deals. She really misses the meal deals.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think we're not in Australia because they're just such a good kind of option, definitely, yeah, go and get your sandwich and your drink and your pack of crisps or your piece of fruit, if you're, you know, healthy-wise, and that's perfect. But yeah, I mean, food adds up, doesn't it?
Speaker 3:Yes, it does, and I tried to cook breakfast every morning if we're in that mood, so then we wouldn't really like it would be late before we'd have something to eat, so then we'd try and have that sort of main meal and then come home and have something light. So it felt like we're only sort of paying for one main meal each day, which helped. But, yeah, I think food was our most expensive cost while we were away.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I can imagine, I can imagine.
Speaker 3:And a lot of the time I did say to Matthew we probably wouldn't have had anything like had dinner because we were fine. But it's the kids.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's it. You've got three growing kids to cater for. So that's where I know, because I've got my friend Karen, who she's got three as well and she says, whenever they go anywhere five of them, it's like it's gulp, it's so expensive, especially now. Then the teenagers, teenage boys I think they're like what, what's this?
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, they just eat, eat, eat. Question they ask at the start of the day is what's for dinner? Mum, yeah, oh so it's. Yeah, that was our biggest cost, but we just in the end, we just went.
Speaker 2:Look, it is what it is, yeah yeah, it's one of those things, isn't it? You've got a trip of a lifetime. You're taking the kids somewhere so fantastic and special. You just have to kind of, I guess, took it up for those three weeks and go right, okay, you know, baked beans on toast for the rest of the year, kids.
Speaker 3:Yes, we really got into the saving and we're not doing that. Remember, we're going on this trip. So, yeah, it was worth it in the end, the sacrifice, I think.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's great, Definitely. So. You'll know, because you listen to the podcast all the time, what I end every podcast episode with, which is kind of asking what your number one tip would be. But I've noticed that because you've written quite a few tips down, because I did give you the questions beforehand and you've got quite a lot, so I'm not going to ask you to distill them into one, because I think share them all, which is fine, but just imagine that I'm asking you what your number one tip would be.
Speaker 3:Well, the apps. I think you've really got to look and have all the apps on your phone before you go. They were our godsend. Citymapper app in London was brilliant and that's all I used majority of the time. I'd type in where we were, where we wanted to go. All right, well, we can catch a train or the tube or the bus here or we can walk. So, and that's how we'd plan our day. I think you've got to be flexible.
Speaker 3:So we had planned in my itinerary that we would go to after the Lords tour. We were going to catch the train out to Windsor and see Windsor Castle. The kids were a bit over at castles and all that sort of stuff. So I went all right, well, what about we go to Madame Tassard's? So that's how we ended up at Madame Tassard's and that just made Oscar's trip. Then we went. I said, well, because I missed out in Windsor, we're going to Notting Hill. And then after Notting Hill, we got in the bus and went to Kensington Palace. So I got those in, perfect.
Speaker 3:I think my biggest thing was prepare each night for the next day. I looked over what I had planned on our itinerary and right, what tickets do we need? What do we need to be aware of? What time do we need to get out of the place? How are we getting there? Do we need to book a taxi? An? How are we getting there? Do we need to book a taxi and Uber? Are we getting on the bus? So I just did that each evening just to make sure I was prepared for the day, so there were no hold-ups.
Speaker 2:I think that's actually really important, However tired you are, I think is useful to think right what am I doing tomorrow? What time do I need to leave by what time do I need to get to a specific place by you know? Because obviously when you're planning a long trip, you're not going to retain all of that information in your head. So, having that plan and that night before going, this is what we're going to do and how we're going to get there.
Speaker 3:And I had a folder printed out with everything, so I could just go and grab that out. I also had it on my phone, but it was nice to sit and open it up and look at it.
Speaker 2:But you're like me, leanne, you're from the generation that we like paper things. Yeah, yeah, definitely I like to have my paper copy and go through as well. I just feel a little bit happier with that. Yeah, I will just mention just because you mentioned apps is that we have just put a brand new. We have got an article on the UK Travel Planner website about apps for the UK and London. We've actually just published a London-specific apps list on the London Travel Planner website, which is really useful because that mentions quite a lot, because we get asked about laundry all the time. So there's an app there about where you can get laundry done. So I thought I'd just quickly mention that.
Speaker 3:And public toilets was another thing, yes, yes absolutely Very few and far between.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so there's an app for that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely, and we did have that issue in Paris. As soon as we got there, thomas was like I need to go to the toilet, but we couldn't get into our accommodation till later. So then we're like, right, well, let's try and find a toilet. And do you know, I could not find one of those toilets that are on the corners everywhere in Paris. So we went to McDonald's and then we lined up to get in there and then, after we left there, there were those toilets on the corner. That's typical, yeah, so yeah, no, that was definite Doug's train tips. They were a godsend because we did most of our travel by train. So Doug is a wealth of knowledge. He is.
Speaker 2:He's just launched his own itinerary consult just about train travel. I mean, you can talk to him about other things, but if you want to do a train itinerary, to be honest, for Europe, he could do, because we've done it enough, but he's going to focus on the UK. But if anybody's sitting there thinking, well, I'm going to do something, yes, he can help you with that, so he's done that, so he's dead excited about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he should be, and he knows it and he explains it that you can understand and that's what I like. It's in simple terms. So you know, right, when I get off here, I know I can do this or I can look for that. So, yeah, it definitely helped. I think. Packing cubes, yeah.
Speaker 3:We had them for everything, and it was great packing up when we were leaving, because the kids weren't the most organised well, the boys especially. So at least they knew it could go back into that. Oh, that cube's for my socks and that cube's for my undies, so that helped with getting out of the place.
Speaker 2:I think that's fantastic. The thought of not having packing cubes now is like nope, nope, yeah.
Speaker 3:And they've now just bringing out those compression packing cubes. I'll be buying some of those. I did use those last year, which are good.
Speaker 2:The only thing with those is everything ends up totally creased, which put my mum off. She was a bit like every time you put anything on it's very, very creased. I'm like it'll fall out in 10 minutes. It's fine, but um yeah, they're fantastic. So if you want to take a smaller bag, you can fit as much as you would in a bigger suitcase just by compression it's great, like some sort of miracle. They honestly are.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, they're brilliant. So it was amazing how much more we could fit. And then to bring stuff home, it was made it even easier. So you know, definitely approve of the packing cubes and portable chargers. When you've got kids and phones, have you got your portable charger charge before we leave the house? So yeah, that was definitely a lifesaver. Um, I think I did write down a couple when I got here this morning. Compression socks on the plane yeah that definitely helped and apple air tags oh just those before we left and all had one and it just.
Speaker 2:You might not need it, but it just gives that peace of mind, I think I just we bought some last year because we obviously did that kind of five, six month trip and we, when we were in japan, we put an air tag in our suitcases. In japan you can get, you can get these companies who move your suitcases. I wish to do it in the uk. It's amazing. Like so they'll go and move your suitcase so you'd have to take it on the train or anything.
Speaker 2:They'll just move it and and so it's great so we we were because we were going out in the japanese app. So they, we, they stored our suitcase for like a week. But there it's a bit easier in the case you had to fill something in, but in japan, trying to fill it all in, we're a bit scared. Yes, but I could follow where my suitcase was, like how great is that?
Speaker 3:yeah, that would be handy. Yeah, that would be good but I will just.
Speaker 2:I'm just gonna tell you. I'm not gonna tell anybody else listening, but I also put an air tag on doug so that I knew where he was. He knew about it. It wasn't weird, he knew about it. But he had't weird, he knew about it. But he had the AirTag because, you know, I could just lose him. He'd be off somewhere and I'd be like where's Doug gone? So, airtag, where is he? Okay, I know where he is now. Yeah, no, it's definitely handy.
Speaker 3:No, definitely agree, they were good and yeah, just for that peace of mind, you've got enough to worry about while you're trying to navigate another country. Exactly, you don't need to be worrying about where your luggage is. And I only read an article this morning that someone had lost their luggage I think was it in Japan and they said that they found it at one of the airport employees' homes only because they had an air tag in and I went. They are handy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they are worth it. They're a bit pricey, I thought, because I went to buy them and I was like, ooh, they're a bit expensive. But actually we bought four and they've been very, very useful yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, my daughter bought a little key ring holder and she has them on her keys now for her car. So, yeah, she just has them hanging on there. Yes, that's a very good idea.
Speaker 2:But yeah, so did you. I know that we're kind of I've just asked you the tip, which is always the last thing that I ask, but you just mentioned something there that just made me think you talked about what you brought back. So I'm kind of now nosy about wanting to know what you brought back.
Speaker 3:So we mainly bought. Well, the kids did some shopping for clothes and things like that that they saw and loved. So they went to the Adidas store on the Champs-Élysées, so you know that's pretty cool. So they bought stuff like that. But I mainly bought the reusable fabric shopping bags. So I bought one of those for every place we went. So now when I go down to our local Coles, I have my bag, or my Scotland bag. I have that. I do that too and I pull it out and I go.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's such a reminder oh, it's my Japan one yes, so, and plus they roll up and they're quite small so they're easy, plus they also and we were able to carry stuff around in them, so they would kill two birds with one stone with those. I bought scarves this one's from Dublin that I'm wearing today, so that was handy. So I think I bought a scarf nearly everywhere we went as well, because we're in that climate that we use scarves a lot. And we actually bought pictures like prints. So we bought a really nice one of the Eiffel Tower in Paris and some other ones of Paris, and we bought a big picture of St Andrews, like an aerial view of St Andrews, and we've had them all framed so they're on our walls at home. So next time I've got plans, I want to try and find some in London as well. Oh, lovely, yeah.
Speaker 2:So every time we look at the wall we go oh, that's a reminder, that's lovely and it's such a lovely way to remember your trip, and also now you've got a podcast episode all about it as well. Yes, definitely. So I'm going to sign off because we're about 46 minutes. That's a good long chat we've had, leanne, today. Um, I just want to say thank you so much for coming on the podcast. It's been amazing to talk to you. I mean, you came on the 100th episode and you were fantastic, and you've agreed to come and do your trip report and it's been amazing to chat to you today. So thanks so much for coming on.
Speaker 2:Leanne. Hopefully someone gets some help out of it. Oh, I I'm sure 100% that they will. And if you're listening and you're thinking, well, that was an amazing, I loved that episode, pop on to Spotify and let us know, or go on to Apple and leave us a review and tell us just how much you loved that episode, because we like to hear those things. Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the UK Travel Planning Podcast. As always, show notes can be found at uktravelplanningcom. If you've enjoyed the show, why not leave us feedback via text or a review on your favourite podcast app? We love to hear from you and, you never know, you may receive a shout out in a future episode. But, as always, that just leaves me to say until next week. Happy UK travel planning.