UK Travel Planning

Family Adventure in the UK: Highlights and Tips with Hannah Blaloch

• Tracy Collins • Episode 113

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In episode 113 of the UK Travel Planning Podcast, Tracy Collins is joined by Hannah Blalock for an exciting trip report. Hannah, who recently travelled to the UK with her family, shares her experiences and insights from their 15-day adventure. 

From the bustling streets of London to the serene landscapes of North Wales, and from the historic sites of Edinburgh to the charming city of York, Hannah recounts their journey with enthusiasm and detail. Discover their itinerary, highlights, and travel tips, including visits to iconic landmarks like Stonehenge, Hadrian's Wall, and Hampton Court Palace. 

Whether you're planning a family trip or seeking inspiration for your next UK adventure, this episode is packed with valuable information and personal anecdotes.

⭐️ Guest - Hannah Blaloch
📝  Show Notes - Episode 113

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Speaker 1:

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 113 of the UK Travel Planning Podcast. So this week is a trip report with the lovely Hannah Blaylock, who myself and Doug did a trip advisory kind of itinerary consult with you, I think just before you went on your trip, hannah, to help you kind of fine tune it and give you some pointers and some tips and some ideas of things to do, and we said at the time you would be perfect to come on the podcast. So I am so happy today to welcome you on to this episode to talk about your trip. So would you like to introduce yourself and tell us whereabouts you're from?

Speaker 3:

Yes, thank you so much. So, like you said, my name is Hannah, I live in the northeast Georgia mountains, so about an hour um or so north of Atlanta, um, in the, in the southern part of the US, and I'm I'm excited to be here and talk about it. We I'm a teacher and we went on the trip with my um, my husband and my two children, my daughter's 13 and my son was 11 so perfect.

Speaker 2:

I was gonna ask you that who you went with, but I already knew that.

Speaker 1:

No, it's all right. It's all right.

Speaker 2:

I can already knew that, but if you're listening at this episode, you you wouldn't have known that. So thanks, hannah for kind of filling in that. That the blanks about who you went with. So, husband, your two children, so it was a great family trip to the UK. So that's fantastic, um, and you know I used to be a teacher as well, so that always it's always so much fun to talk to another teacher and knows what it's like. So how long did you go to the UK for and how long, um, and when did you go?

Speaker 3:

We, uh, we were there for 15 days and we went right at the very start of June. Our flight was out on June 1st and then we came home on June 15th and we kind of chose that time because you know we read a lot on your website that you recommended, you know, trying to go earlier, kind of in May, and not hit the off season or the peak season. Excuse me, but you know, being a teacher, I had to wait till our school was out, but then we kind of locked ourselves into that beginning of June to get over there before their schools were out.

Speaker 2:

So you're trying to thread that needle that's a really good idea before the schools, because I know people have been saying it's been quite quiet in London at the moment and they'll have to queue up or they'll just manage and get tickets for the things. I'm like that's a little bit more unusual than normal, to be perfectly honest. And once the schools break up in the UK, which is the third week of July, you've had it because July and August are incredibly busy and a lot of the European schools are off as well at the minute, so it just can get really, really busy. So June generally is a good time to go. It's a time that I enjoy traveling around the UK, that's for sure. So do you want?

Speaker 3:

to give us a kind of brief overview of your itinerary and where you went. Sure, so we flew into London, and we really like, when we do trips here in the States, we like a road trip. We like to kind of do two or three days in a spot and then go to a new place few States over two or three days and kind of work our way around. So we sort of did the same thing over there. We started in London, stayed there for about four days and then we went to Bath and then stayed there for a few days and then went up to North Wales Don't know the name, I could spell the name of the city for you, but I'm just going to say North Wales and then we went up to Edinburgh for a few days and then started working our way back south again and stopped in York before circling back to London.

Speaker 2:

So that was a cool, really nice little circular trip that you did there, and you also went through Northumberland, which we'll talk about in a little bit, because we enjoyed kind of planning that, because we knew you wanted to go from North Wales to Edinburgh in the day and you wanted to stop off for lunch, and so we were sitting for quite a while trying to work out the route that you were going to go on and where you could stop and have Sunday lunch. So I'm desperately dying to ask you about how that went. But, uh, let's, let's talk about it then. So when you came to creating that itinerary, um, obviously you did the itinerary consult with myself and dog and we kind of we helped you a lot with it. But before you even came to us, what, what? We listen to the podcast, looking at the websites, using all our resources.

Speaker 3:

So I really my way normally of making because, like I said, I've planned several of these sort of weeks long trips um with my family, but always in the United States. So normally what I do is kind of get a broad stroke of what I want to do and then I think I don't remember the name of the gentleman, but there was another teacher that you had on the podcast once that talked about these giant maps and putting all the pins and then finding his route. And I do that, but digitally. I don't print out all the things. I can't, I can't go that far, um, but I started Googling and pretty quickly stumbled upon y'all's website, which thank all the heavens for that because it was such a blessing Um.

Speaker 3:

So I kind of went through your little 10 step um UK travel planner. And my step one was easy because, like I said, I'm a teacher and I said I'm going at the very beginning. And then once I started the research, we had lots of different ideas. My husband really wanted to see castles. We knew we wanted to go to York because we're big fans of the TV show Vikings and we wanted to hit that Vikings aspect, both my husband and my son. Their middle name is Wales and so my son insisted that we go to Wales, because he believes that he owns it.

Speaker 3:

And then we have family from Scotland, so we kind of wanted to hit you know a lot of it. And so I pretty quickly said, okay, this is going to be a circle and we're going to go around. But I really did kind of stick to your steps, maybe a little bit out of order Because, like the budget, I sort of said I'm going to plan our dream vacation and then we'll see where we're at, and then you know, trim as needed and cut things down.

Speaker 3:

So that's sort of what we did. But yeah, tons of podcasts, especially once I sort of settled on the city, like I know that we're going to Bath, I know that we're going to Edinburgh, I know we're going to York. Then I went to the podcast and searched and filtered out episodes that were specifically about that and would just listen to them on repeat. The kids were losing their minds because I was like I'll forget details when I'm riding in the car.

Speaker 3:

So I probably listened to that York episode. That number three I listened to probably four times because I wanted to make sure I got it all.

Speaker 2:

I have said that to Sinead, actually, who did that episode with me. It's just such a popular episode and I would really love other experts who live in cities to come on and give me do the similar sort of thing, because you know I mean, doug, and I know the UK really really well, but we don't live in York, we don't live in Bath. So it's just fantastic to have people with that kind of insider, real insider knowledge on the ground of what's going on. So that episode's really good.

Speaker 2:

And I just had a recent episode not long ago with some family of mine who live in Portsmouth it's my second cousins and they came and talked about Portsmouth and again, that's been a really popular episode and I think there's just a key to having people on who, as I say, know the area really really well. So we're going to hopefully do a bit more spotlights on I really would like to do a spotlight on Bath and Cambridge and Oxford and lots of other cities. So they are also. Just stay tuned if you're listening to the podcast right now because they are on their way. Just stay tuned if you're listening to the podcast right now because they are on their way.

Speaker 2:

They're on their way, so we'll do that. So that was great to know that you did that. So I guess you got loads of you know, inspiration and ideas from listening to those.

Speaker 3:

Yes, yeah, the podcast and then of course the website as well, you know, because, like Bath, there wasn't really an episode about Bath, there was the Cotswolds teacup tours, but I couldn't use her. She was all booked up so I had to, um, so I had to go to the website for that, which wasn't, you know, a problem, but I would read the different articles and kind of just make lists and then, like I said, trim down and fit what we could fit. So it was great perfect, right.

Speaker 2:

So let's, let's, let's get to the nitty-gritty of the of the places, because it'd be great to talk about every single thing that you did, but we'll be here for like three weeks while we're talking about it all. So, kelly, let's talk about first of all you drove. So who drove? Was that you or was that your husband?

Speaker 3:

My husband I was the navigator. He drove because I know a lot of people say that they want to get an automatic, to make sure that that's one less thing. But he was comfortable with the, with the stick shift, and we didn't really drive in any of the big cities. So we, we landed in London, we used the tube and underground, you know all that stuff in London. Um, and then on the day we left London is when we picked up our rental car and we took advantage of having that. So instead of just going straight to Bath, we kind of went down and we visited Winchester, because you know that shows up in our period pieces Last Kingdom, Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

Why would you not want to go to Winchester? Yes, of course it's beautiful.

Speaker 3:

We swung by. After we left Winchester we went up and swung by Stonehenge, which was also amazing. We did that. That was my birthday. So I said I went to the ancient places to make me feel young on my birthday.

Speaker 1:

Good idea.

Speaker 2:

I'm going to have to look for some very, very, very ancient places.

Speaker 3:

Well, listen.

Speaker 2:

Stonehenge, you can't get much more ancient true, I think if I go up to um, up to Scarabray, up in the Orkneys, I think that that's even older. So that's where I need to go to. Yeah, so places like Stonehenge definitely. Winchester Cathedral is pretty old as well. Actually it was, yeah, 10 something.

Speaker 3:

I should know the date uh yeah, oh wait, it was built, wasn't it built in 1066? Yeah, I think so I was. Yeah, oh wait, it was built, wasn't it built in 1066? Yeah, I think so. I was going to say I think it's 10.

Speaker 2:

I was kind of thinking well, I don't have to come up with the exact date because I know it was 1066 after the invasion.

Speaker 1:

But it was like was it 1067?

Speaker 2:

Probably took a few years to build. Yeah, so around about that.

Speaker 3:

It around that time. Listen, I'm a math teacher. I don't know how to know the exact dates. I just can give you a general idea, but anyway. So once we left Stonehenge we went up to Bath and we just kind of parked the car and walked for our time in Bath and then went up to Wales.

Speaker 2:

From there I was going to say were there any highlights in Bath that you really kind of stood out for you? Obviously a bit of a you know jane austen fan if you went to winchester as well.

Speaker 3:

So yes, I bath was one of my. My daughter and I really loved bath. My, my husband was kind of like we could have skipped bath and spent more time in castles and whales, but I loved bath. My son is really big into um and things, so he really liked going into the Roman baths and seeing the Gorgons on the walls and things like that. We also.

Speaker 3:

One of the highlights in Bath there were two. One was we went to a deli for lunch one day. That was the Abbey Deli and it's where some of the filming happens for a really good Netflix show that we like, and so it's where the Modiste is filmed. So if you know, you know on that one. And then, but the kids both of them when I asked them what their favorite thing was, they said their Sham Castle thing was. They said their Sham Castle, which is this place in Bath that we did a little hike up to and it is just like the front of a castle that was built in, I want to say like 1772. I don't remember exactly, but I remember saying that's older than our country. It's literally just a play thing that some person built because they wanted a nice view from the backyard. But we stayed up there. I mean, we hiked up there and then just stayed for hours and you had a beautiful view of Bath from there. We made flower crowns with the wildflowers and the kids ran and played.

Speaker 2:

It was fantastic so that was definitely a highlight in Bath and then from so you stayed in Bath for a few days and then you drove up through Wales to North Wales.

Speaker 3:

We went yes, we went north up to North Wales. We stopped at Raglan Castle, which was my husband. That was his favorite castle because it was just so cool. It's kind of the one we went to that was the most in ruins and it was neat to see you know where the sieges happened and all of that Kind of left more of it to your imagination than some of the ones that are more intact. And then we kind of we really just spent that day driving through Wales and seeing Wales, went over to the beach I don't, I can't pronounce the name of the beach, but we went to the beach and the children got to swim. Um, in the Irish sea. It was very cold.

Speaker 3:

I did not swim, but I can imagine, I can imagine that was June, so no, no yeah, june, here I mean it's it's 100 degrees outside right now, not in Wales, not in Wales, but they still they're you know. They can say that they've done that and they were very excited about it. And then we stayed. Most of the time we were in Airbnbs, but in Wales we stayed in a guest house. It's the only time we've ever done anything like that, and the only reason I was brave enough to do it is because you insist that it's the only time we've ever done anything like that, and the only reason I was brave enough to do it is because you insist that it's the way to go. And it was amazing. It was, it was beautiful, it was an old country house and so we felt like we were sleeping in a castle and it was called the farm country house.

Speaker 2:

And it was wonderful, yeah, fantastic. Well, the thing is about B&Bs and guest houses that you get to meet local people because they're run by generally local people and so you know, when you get a cooked breakfast and it's just, they can give you loads of tips about the local area we were talking earlier about, kind of you know the insider knowledge you get that when you stay in somewhere like that, and it's just always such a cool experience rather than, um, you know, airbnbs are fine or hotels are fine. Obviously I stay and stay in both as well, but I just think it's something special about staying in a guest house or b&b when you're in the uk, for sure yeah it, it absolutely was amazing and it was.

Speaker 3:

It was kind of one of those. We were just in the middle of nowhere in wales. My husband, one night we came in after we had spent the day at Conwy Castle and Carnarfon and all these castles, and the kids and I were ready to crash. My husband was like there's a pub three minutes walk away, and so he was like now. So he walked down there and it was literally just a tiny village pub. Everybody that was there was just, you know, within walking distance and he made himself friends. He's got Facebook friends in Wales now. Oh, that's so lovely. So that was an experience that he got to have. I was snoring at that point.

Speaker 2:

I was oh, that's just so good, but how is that? And that's, you know, that's, those are the memories that you make. Like, say, your husband's now got Facebook friends from people they met in that that local Welsh pub.

Speaker 1:

I mean right. That is exactly it's priceless.

Speaker 2:

things like that are, absolutely honestly, totally priceless. Now, you know, I'm going to ask you about the next day, because, or the day because this was the day that Doug and I had a bit of kind of oh right, how are we going to organize this? How are we going to get you from North Wales up to Edinburgh? Because you had a booking for a meal in Edinburgh, I think about 6 pm or something, and we wanted to go via Northumberland, which is fantastic. My birth county is where I was born, it's where I come from, so I'm always encouraging as many people as possible. So if you're listening to this podcast, northumberland, seriously Northumberland I'll say that again. Northumberland, it's really somewhere you need to be thinking about going. So talk to me about that day.

Speaker 3:

Tell me what happened on that day, hannah, because I want to know exactly what it worked out as yeah, so that day was our last day with the rental car. We left Wales and the goal was to get to Edinburgh and then give the car back there. So we woke up, we decided not to try. There were a couple castles we wanted to kind of hit on the way, but it just didn't fit, and that kind of happened every day. There was at least one thing that I was like this is if I can, and the answer was always no, but it's okay, there's always next time.

Speaker 3:

So we we left the farmhouse and headed north and the goal was to get to Hadrian's wall, because we really, really wanted to see that kind of for the same reasons that we want to see Stonehenge and everything. You know, it's one of those just ancient things, and my husband's not, but the kids and I are very avid hikers and we were like we really want to do this walk and we would have done a lot more of it if we could, but so we also. That was a Sunday and we were trying to find a way to do a Sunday roast, but we knew it was a travel day and so you and your sister recommended a place called Twice Brewed and it was delicious, it was very good and it was right on the wall. You could kind of look out the window and just see the countryside. It was very good and it was right on the wall, like you could kind of look out the window and just see the countryside. It was beautiful.

Speaker 3:

And then we left there and went and parked at the steel rig car park, which my husband was like I mean, this is really pretty, we can see it from here, can we just? Is this it? I was like no sir, no, it is not. So we walked. We didn't walk all. I was hoping that we would walk all the way to um, the fort, the what?

Speaker 2:

was it called? Yeah, sycamore Gap.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, well, we did we did make it to Sycamore Gap. We did go there.

Speaker 2:

Well done. That's cause I haven't, cause I have to say I'm kind of in the same camp as your husband, as in, it's like I kind, and that's because I haven't, because I have to say I'm kind of in the same camp as your husband, as in, it's like, can I just see it from here? So my sister and Doug, last time we went in the steel rig I have photos of them kind of walking up that escarpment and me kind of waving Hello, I'm not coming up there.

Speaker 3:

I told them because one of the things that we did to prepare the kids for the trip is we made them watch just sort of of british television. We watched merlin, the bbc show, merlin, we watched um, and then, of course, we watched the robin hood, the kevin costner robin hood, and so it's like y'all, we are gonna walk on this wall. The tree's not there anymore, which is devastating, but we are gonna walk on that spot like there are no, you have no choice on that one.

Speaker 2:

So but they enjoyed it. I bet they loved it and they did.

Speaker 3:

Oh, yes, yeah, yeah, my daughter, the 13 year old, I think. Normally when we hike in north georgia, um, there's a lot of trees and and forests and stuff, so there's a hard rule you have to stay. Where I can see, you can walk ahead, but if the trees are really thick or if it's too curvy like, you have to slow down. Well, that rule, she took that rule to heart, except I could see her forever. So she, she was just like I am gonna have a solitary hike, I am walking the moors and it wasn't moors, but you know, in her head she was on just a romantic walk through the countryside.

Speaker 3:

um, so it was. It was wonderful, wonderful. We made it to Sycamore Gap, and then that's where we turned around. I had wanted to go all the way to the fort, but I was told no.

Speaker 2:

So Well, you had squeezed a lot in that day actually. So, honestly, it was one of those days where we were like, oh, they're going to do it, how's it going to go? So then you. Then you got in your car and made it to Edinburgh. No problems, all good, oh yeah, it was fine.

Speaker 3:

Edinburgh we were a little bit worried about the traffic and things, but because we were returning our car to the airport, it was kind of on the outskirts and we just went there, returned the car and then got a cab over to our Airbnb and it was easy. We had the reservation for dinner but because we were able to do the roast for lunch, we just canceled that reservation and our cab driver recommended we really love Indian food and so he recommended a place to eat and it was amazing. It was delicious. Yeah, it was very good. Good, I don't think I can pronounce it.

Speaker 2:

Oh, yeah, no, I can't pronounce it okay, all right, we'll put it in the show notes.

Speaker 2:

We'll make sure we'll put them in the show notes for sure, so that'll be good I could try, but it would probably be offensive, don't worry, um, at least you say edinburgh, because we get a lot of people saying edinburgh and I do still want at this point to say it's Edinburgh. In fact, I probably don't say it right. So I can probably hear people in Scotland going that's not right either, tracy. But since I'm from the north of England, not on the border of Scotland, I'm going to stick with Edinburgh, because that's what I always call it. But it's definitely not Edinburgh, which I hear quite a lot. But as good as you said, edinburgh, that's absolutely fine.

Speaker 3:

So, what did you?

Speaker 2:

enjoy in joy in Edinburgh.

Speaker 3:

Edinburgh. The Edinburgh Castle was amazing. Mostly, I mean, the inside was amazing, but just the like, sheer sort of dominance of it from the outside was really cool. Edinburgh was also the city where my family finally said enough is enough, I need a nap. Because I was kind of task mastery through the whole thing. Like we, I have so many things I want to see and y'all are not going to hold me back, we've got to go, go, go, um. So after we did the castle, they went back to the Airbnb and took a nap and I was like sweet and so I went and went down, um um, princess street. I walked the royal miles some more. I just, I just wondered, got myself some butterbeer at the elephant cafe so I could get my harry potter in.

Speaker 2:

It was, it was a lovely day, if I do say so myself, um sometimes it's nice to have that, to have that little bit of a break, especially when you're traveling with your family, for and it's quite intense when you're on holiday as well, isn't it? Because it's a on the go all the time and you it's nice to have that bit of time. And Edinburgh is a lovely city to wander around on your own as well. It's such an atmospheric city. It's one of my favourites, I think it's pretty amazing.

Speaker 3:

A great city to shop in when no one is there to tell you no.

Speaker 2:

Yes, that's absolutely true. It's a good shop.

Speaker 1:

Well, every time we go to the UK.

Speaker 2:

I have to go to Edinburgh and we're planning because we're over back in September. I'm probably going to be back for nearly three months, but Doug's over for probably three or four weeks and we're already planning it and it's all right. So we have to include Edinburgh, so it's already. It's like a morse.

Speaker 1:

It's like we have to Edinburgh. Um, yeah, so um.

Speaker 2:

So then, how long did you spend in Edinburgh? A couple of days.

Speaker 3:

We, we were only there a couple of days and really that one day was the only day we truly had Edinburgh, cause we, like, after their naps, I woke them up and we did the maker's um mash that you recommend was delicious. That's where we had our haggis, um, and it was very, very good. I had the vegetarian haggis, which was amazing, um, and then the next day we did a bus tour and we went up to Glencoe and into the Highlands a bit, and then, um, loch Ness and the castle, um, uh, I just lost the name of that castle, but the it starts with a U and it's yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Castle O'Keeffe, that's it.

Speaker 3:

And that was a that was a must do for my daughter. She really wanted to see Loch Ness and and so we decided you know, I I know a decent amount of the of the English history, but I don't really know much about Scottish history or Welsh history. But because we were going up into the Highlands I kind of wanted some of that history knowledge that a tour guide would give us. So that's why we decided to do a tour bus, and that's the first time we've ever done a tour bus like that.

Speaker 2:

So I think, to be honest, I think it's if you can do longer in the Highlands. I mean, it's a beautiful part of the world to visit.

Speaker 2:

But you know if you can't, and fitting it in for a day means you do the coach trip and you go up and do it. I'd do it Personally. I'd do it. I know it's a long, long day, but at least you do it. Yeah, absolutely, because I always feel really sad when people go to Scotland and they don't actually go up there, because it's it's just such a wonderful area of the world and it's like, even if you just do a whistle stop tour, you get a taste of it, which I reckon me personally think that once you've done that, you'll go oh, I need to come back here and spend a lot longer exploring this part of the world next time, if, if we get to go again, um, I think we'll want to spend more time farther north, like up above Inverness, and because the part of the highlands we were in it was beautiful.

Speaker 3:

It started to make us feel a little bit homesick because of all the things we saw. It was especially like the Glencoe area that looked the most like home. And so that was the point which you know, we were on sort of the second half of the trip and that was the point where the kids were like this looks like home, mom, this looks like something we would do, Wow.

Speaker 2:

Oh, that's your inspiration visit Whereabouts again. Was it in the?

Speaker 3:

States you're from, we're in the Appalachian Mountains, which is like, yeah, yeah, right, it's beautiful Bill.

Speaker 2:

Bryson, didn't Bill Bryson walk them?

Speaker 3:

I'm sure I read about that. He did walk the Appalachian Trail. Yeah, A Walk in the Woods is one of my favorite. Yeah, nonfiction books to read.

Speaker 2:

Ah yeah, no, it's a great book Actually. See, you've shown up my lack of geographical knowledge of the States, and I was actually. I think we'll put that off for another day, but hopefully at some point I'll get to explore some of these, because it sounds beautiful and Glencoe, to me, is just so stunning. So if it's like where you live, I definitely need to come and visit.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely need to come and explore that area, Hannah. Yes, absolutely Highly recommend. We went on a trip out west and we saw the Rockies and I was like these are cool and everything, but I'll take mine, Thanks, they're. Personally, I feel that the Appalachian Mountains are where it's at.

Speaker 2:

Wow, oh, okay. Well, that's a great recommendation, so definitely adding that onto my bucket list for the States for sure. So they went down to York, which I know you were particularly excited about after Edinburgh, weren't you?

Speaker 3:

Yes, yes, we were. York was kind of one of the highlights for the kids because that was the one they really enjoyed walking the city walls. We went to. St Mary's Abbey was really pretty and we kind of hit it right at sunset and everything was. It was just it was something out of a fairy tale. It was beautiful In York. They really really loved the market, the shambles, the street, but also there was just a little market there right out and that was. My daughter really loved that a lot. That was kind of where she got a lot of her souvenirs and things. And then we went to the Jorvik Viking Center because that was part of the reason we were. We were there and we did the the castle museum also it was really good.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, both really good. Actually, um, I did the Jorvik last year, um, and thought it was amazing. It was really good. Actually, I did the Orvik last year and thought it was amazing. I was really blown away with it. And the Castle Museum is excellent as well. Really really good. It's really excellently done. So both really good to get a candidate. History of York.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, absolutely, the Castle Museum was. I've just never like having that whole Victorian little village there was so amazing and yeah. And the Jorvik Center, you know it was. It was cheesy but if you just kind of met it where it was at, we learned so much about sort of you know how they, how they did a lot of the archeology and everything, and so the kids it it was neat. It was.

Speaker 2:

It was cheesy but it was neat and we learned cheesy but it was neat and we learned a lot and we left with smiles on our faces and you know, yeah, and you know I agree, and because I used to be a history teacher, even though you know I can't give you the exact date that Winchester Cathedral was built, embarrassingly, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So, but you know the way I used to teach history was that was the way that it's done at the, the yule of extent. It's that immersive, you know. You get to see it and you get to because that's what you'll remember, that you remember what you saw, the sights and the smells, and going around on that little kind of train thing as you go around, and it's like. It's just that, I think, is such a great way as well for kids to learn, because otherwise they it's always, you know, death by book, book and death by PowerPoint, or death by worksheet, and I didn't teach like that I was very much into art and drama and doing it that way and I think you know, getting involved and seeing it like that, it's a really cool way to do it.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, we thought it was just thought it was a really good way to for kids to kind of experience it and to just see what it was like, how they've recreated it. But also seeing the it was like how they've recreated it, but also saying at the castle museum how they've got their victorian street. That again is fantastic. It's just so cool how they've done that and you can you wander through and it's like you can really feel like you're back in victorian england.

Speaker 3:

You want to kind of dress up a bit, don't you, and do the whole kind of I know well, and they had the little yeah, they had the little baskets with all the clothes and I was like those don't fit me. I want to dress up.

Speaker 2:

This is not fair, so cool, it's really good. So then, after York, you headed down to London we headed down to London.

Speaker 3:

Yep, and we had um that one day. It was. It was good. So one of my things that I really really wanted to see was Hampton Court Palace, and we had wanted to do it when we were in London the first time. But, thanks to y'all's consultation, I realized that it was going to be closed the days we were in London, which, for just a few minutes, was devastating, until we found a way to get it fit in there at the very last minute. So we got on the train in York and we rode down. We used a stasher there which, again, I would not have known existed without you guys, so thank you. We left our luggage in Kingston-upon-Thames, which was also cool because there's some good history with early crownings of kings there. So that was fun.

Speaker 3:

And then we walked from Kingston-upon-Thames to Hampton Court Palace and we got there at about 2.30, 3 o'clock and all the people were like, why are you just showing up? But it ended up being amazing because there was barely anybody there, and so we, like we were walking through these Baroque stairwells by ourselves, like we were in control of this castle it was. It was so cool, um, so we got to spend a lot of time talking to you know, the people that were there, um, in the various rooms, uh, because there was nobody else there they were just kind of telling us the history of some of the furniture. We talked to a lady in one of the William was William III, william IV, whichever king. Yeah, it was one of the William and Mary rooms. Yes, the is where a fire happened in the 80s and a chandelier that was there fell, and so she was showing us where they, like put the chandelier back together shard by shard and you could see all the little shards, and it was.

Speaker 3:

and then she was pointing out, you know, you can see where there's some charred marks in the ceilings here and we never would have even noticed any of that.

Speaker 2:

so it was very, very well. I have to say I was so because I know when we did the consult and you you really want to go to happen court and you were devastated. When we initially looked at your itinerary it was not going to fit in. So I was so excited that I managed to get it in it. That last day I know you were so you were like, yay, I can do it. Um, so between that of those, honestly that that sunday that you had that drive up to edinburgh was the one, and then the day knowing that I could got you fitted it in, that you could go to hampton court, it was so, so good. It was a very satisfying itinerary consult to do with you, hannah, at the end because I just was like yay, you've got everything that you want.

Speaker 2:

Tick all the boxes, we managed to get it all fitted in and it's all gonna be really good. So it's so cool to talk to you and hear how your trip went Honestly brilliant and so good that you managed to have that experience at Hampton Court. That's priceless, yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it was the perfect Hampton Court. I mean, the only thing that could have made it better is if I was wearing a ball gown or something. That would have been great, but otherwise it was magical. It was wonderful. We had time. We talked to someone when we first got there. They were like you're going to be cutting close to see all the things. But they kind of said if you want to do the hedge maze which the kids really wanted to do, the hedge maze go do that first and then hit the tutor rooms and then go straight to Baroque. And then they kind of told us the big ones to hit and it was great. Everybody through the whole trip was so very helpful and I was kind of nervous about you know, like I cannot hide my American accent if they're not. You know, I don't want to be judged, but everybody was so, so kind and helpful and you know, all you had to do was ask and they would tell you. They were happy to tell you all the crazy things they know.

Speaker 2:

So it was very cool. Oh, it's so, so good. You've done such a good job of talking through your trip. This has been really, really good. You've covered everything where you went, you've talked about where you stayed, where you ate, your highlights of it, your enthusiasm for it is just infectious, hannah. Honestly, it's brilliant. Um, so I'm just gonna say because I'm gonna end the podcast, because I think we're at 35 minutes We've had a really good chat today, so I want to ask the question that I always ask everybody at the end of the podcast. So what would be your tip for anyone visiting the UK for the first time?

Speaker 3:

So I knew that this was coming, because you always ask, and I narrowed it down to two things. So I'm sorry, I can't. It's all right. Two things so the I'm sorry, I can't. So the the first thing is however long you think you're going to take eating.

Speaker 3:

If you're an American, I don't know about other people, but if you're an American, however long you think it takes at a restaurant, triple that, because if you don't, eating will literally eat away your day and we lost like kind of that thing where we had to throw out my hopefuls. A lot of times it was because lunch took longer than expected or dinner took longer than expected and we just I mean, it was amazing, the meals were wonderful and we enjoyed our time in these various super cool restaurants because we didn't eat anywhere lame, like they were all amazing. The meals were wonderful and we enjoyed our time in these various super cool restaurants because we didn't eat anywhere lame, like they were all amazing, but it did kind of take away from daylight hours. So that's something Americans specifically should be aware of. And then the number two is I don't know if this is all of the UK, but finding a clothes dryer was a real issue for us. We packed very light, we did only carry-ons. I kind of said, well, we never went more than three days without an Airbnb that said they had a washer and dryer. So like, okay, we just need three days worth of clothes, we'll be fine.

Speaker 3:

The Airbnb we stayed at in Bath just didn't have a dryer. They had a washer and then they had like a clothesline, but it was a little bit rainy that day. I'm like, how do you deal with it? I don't know how they do it. Everybody's always so well dressed. How do they wash their clothes? I don't understand.

Speaker 2:

You know what. The washing's not the problem, it's getting them dry, it's getting them dry. Honestly. Yeah, I used to have on my radiators in the UK. I'd have clothes on the radiators. It would take days to get stuff dry. Look, I have to say, our hands up here. I'm not a big fan of dryers, so in the uk I had one in the garage that I occasionally used for towels, and that was it. Um in australia we actually did have one.

Speaker 2:

We've just in the six years, seven years we've been, I've used it once, so I've just got rid of it because I mean it's pretty hot where I live so I don't really need it. Um, but yeah, this, this is a.

Speaker 3:

I know, I know this is a an issue in the uk getting stuff dry, but even yeah, even when we found one like the, the place in York, the Airbnb which the Airbnb we stayed in in York was a Harry Potter themed and it was the most magical thing, like there was a wand that you used to turn on the lights. It was amazing, so very cool. But their dryer could have used a bit more magic, because they had a dryer but it took multiple. It just didn't want to dry. I don't know how y'all do it. I really radiators, I guess, but it was summer, the radiator wasn't going.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's the problem. In summer you kind of hope that you're going to be able to hang it on the line outside, but I know it's been pretty rainy in the UK recently and I have to say in the winter, if I'm when I, if I stay at my mom's in the, when I go back in the winter, she ends up with a kitchen full of clothes hanging off on tryers and then she'll talk about some things.

Speaker 3:

We had socks hanging from every knob we had. Yeah, it was. It was a bit insane.

Speaker 2:

That's pretty much yeah. So I guess, I guess, yeah, just be, just be prepared for that that you may have to take one or two extra outfits because it may take you, or try and take things that dry quickly because you're not guaranteed that you're going to get them dry, particularly as rapid as you would like.

Speaker 2:

I think that's a good point to make. Anyway, hannah, it's been amazing chatting to you today. So much fun, lovely to catch up with you and if you go back to the UK at any point, you know where we are. We're happy to help you out with your itinerary. So, yeah, so thanks so much for coming on. It's been, as I say, absolutely fantastic to chat with you.

Speaker 3:

Thank you so much. It's been great. I appreciate the invitation. I'll come back and talk to you whenever you want.

Speaker 2:

Oh, brilliant. Well okay, well, I might take you on that invitation, hannah. 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.