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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
Navigating Tiny Roads and Big Adventures: UK Trip Report with Merry and Chris Paxton
Mary and Chris from Minnesota share insights from their fifth trip to the UK, spanning 28 days across South Wales, Cornwall, the Jurassic Coast, and East Anglia. Their adventures in a tiny Fiat 500 took them to castle ruins, stunning gardens, Roman remains, and hidden treasures while connecting with locals and experiencing the authentic Britain beyond tourist hotspots.
• Travelling for their fifth visit to the UK, Mary and Chris spent 28 days exploring areas they hadn't fully experienced before
• South Wales offered castle ruins like Coity Castle nestled in residential neighbourhoods
• Cornwall highlights included Tintagel Castle, VE Day commemorations in Plymouth, and ancient stone circles on Bodmin Moor
• The Jurassic Coast provided beautiful walks with Abbotsbury Tropical Gardens being a surprising find
• East Anglia adventures featured Cambridge punting, Norwich Cathedral, and Roman ruins at Caister-on-Sea
• London was best approached by train from their base in Virginia Water, with Black Cab tours and rock music walking tours
• Favourite food experiences included regional variations of fish and chips, Cornish pasties, and scotch eggs
• Driving on the left side in a compact Fiat 500 proved easier than expected and perfect for navigating narrow country roads
• Having a flexible itinerary with "possibilities" rather than strict schedules allowed for spontaneous discoveries
• Connections with locals in pubs and villages added depth and authentic experiences to their journey
⭐️ Guest - Merry and Chris Paxton
📝 Show Notes - Episode 162
🎧 Listen to next
🎧 Listen to next
- Episode 82 – Trip Report with Tanya Munro [Insider Tips, Memorable Moments, and Unexpected Discoveries]
- Episode 138 – Exploring London’s Iconic Sights with Discover Real London’s Black Cab Tours
- Episode 44 – Coasting Around Cornwall: Tales and Tips from our 7-Day Road Trip Adventure
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A tiny Fiat 500, four weeks on the road and a quest for castle ruins and scotch eggs. Mary and Chris's fifth UK trip had it all From VE Day in Plymouth to Roman ruins in random neighbourhoods. This one's full of charm, laughs and great travel tips.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast. Your host is the founder of the UK Travel Planning website, tracey Collins. In this this podcast, tracy 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 1:Hi and welcome back to the UK Travel Planner Podcast. I am Tracey Collins and this is episode 162. So today I'm joined by the delightful Mary and Chris from Minnesota who've just returned from their fifth trip to the UK, and this one was a beauty. Over four weeks they road tripped their way around South Wales, cornwall, the Jurassic Coast and East Anglia, all in a tiny Fiat 500, before wrapping up their adventure with a few days in London by train, of course, no driving in the capital. Along the way they discovered everything from crumbling castle ruins and Neolithic stone circles to VE Day commemorations in Plymouth and Roman ruins tucked into quiet corners of British towns. They share how they planned the route, how they balanced must-sees with spontaneous exploring, and why driving in the UK isn't as scary as many people think, especially when it leads to scenic routes, cosy pub chats and the occasional scotch egg.
Speaker 1:But before we get started, a big shout out and thank you to Venetta Thomas, one of our amazing monthly supporters, who helps keep the podcast going. If you'd like to support the show too, you can do so from just three US dollars a month, and the link is in the show notes. And if you've got a question, comment or just want to say hi. You can leave us a voice message anytime via speakpipe and you'll also find that link in the show notes too. But let's dive in and chat to Mary and Chris and hear all about their brilliant UK travel story. I'm so glad to have Mary and Chris on the podcast this week, which is brilliant, and it's always amazing to do the Trip Report. They are my so my favorite podcast on Trip Report, so it's absolutely fantastic to welcome you guys on this week. So would you like to introduce yourselves and say whereabouts in the United States you are from?
Speaker 4:I'm Mary and I'm Chris, her husband, and we're from Minnesota in United States.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we just chatted about that because my geography wasn't very good, so you've explained where it is, so now I know exactly where Minnesota is located, so that's really useful for me when I do a visit eventually get over that way. Now, how long were you guys in the UK for? And I guess you traveled together and, as you were just chatting before we started the podcast, actually this wasn't your first visit to the the uk, you had been previously. That's right.
Speaker 4:This was actually our fifth time, and this last time we were there for exactly 28 days, not counting the day that we arrived or the day we left wow, so that's.
Speaker 1:That's a decent length of time basically four weeks, isn't it? And the fifth time as well. So you are repeat offenders. You are repeat visitors to the UK. So, bearing in mind you've been there five times, how did you go about deciding on a four-week itinerary, where you wanted to go and what you wanted to do?
Speaker 3:Well, let me do it Sure. Well, I think each time we've just had places that each of us wanted to see and that we both together wanted to see, and you know, we try to group them geographically to some degree right. And so, for example, our last time, this most recent one, and so, for example, our last time, this most recent one, we'd only been to Cornwall for like two days I think before on our first vacation. So we really wanted to see more of Cornwall and we had explored Wales, but it was mostly central Wales and then north Wales, but we hadn't really done a lot on south Wales. So we thought, well, we'll do Cornwall then across the Bristol Channel there in South Wales.
Speaker 3:And then we also hadn't been to East Anglia, we didn't know what happens there. And so we thought, well, you know, we'll just kind of start off in South Wales, go to Cornwall, then work our way east across kind of the south, you know. And so we did that. After Cornwall we stayed in Dorset on the Jurassic Coast, and then made our way up into East Anglia and we stayed at a place near Bury, st Edmunds, the nearest good-sized town there, and that was kind of our home base for exploring that whole bulge of eastern England there, and then we ended up in virginia water um just south of well I'm sure you're familiar with virginia water um not too far from windsor, and uh, that was quite lovely as well.
Speaker 1:we could take the train right into london and didn't have to worry about all that, so that was nice that's really good and I was gonna say that's really smart as well, because the fact that you kind of you, you, you chose your areas as well so you weren't bombing all over the UK I think that's something we do recommend so often, because you can actually spend a lot of your trip just kind of going from one place to the next. So I think grouping it by areas and choosing places that you hadn't explored before is such a smart move and obviously, because you've been there quite a few times before as well, you knew exactly what you wanted to do and see.
Speaker 4:Yeah, the first time we went we did a real overview.
Speaker 3:We drove a lot, we drove a lot.
Speaker 4:I mean we did all of Wales. We went all the way up to John O'Groats and then all the way down to lands and and yeah, we went all over the place. And so then we thought liverpool, and we were, we were all over yes, um the scottish borders, and so we decided that was just too much too fast, and then we wanted more time it was great, but it was a lot of driving.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was only three weeks and then the next more time.
Speaker 4:It was great, but it was a lot of driving too. Yeah, that was only three weeks. And then the next time was really that was five weeks, and we threw Ireland in there, and we'll never do that again. We're just much better just to concentrate.
Speaker 3:Never do five weeks. Ireland was great. No, no, no, no, sorry, sorry.
Speaker 4:Definitely would love to go to Ireland again, but not all part of the same Five weeks.
Speaker 3:We figure four weeks is probably the limit, you know. Just yeah, for us anyways.
Speaker 4:So, after those overviews, that was when we decided okay, now we're going to pick specific areas, spend more time in those areas and do a lot of exploring, which is a really good idea.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, and I know before we start recording, you mentioned on the last trip before this one, so I guess the trip before that and the ones previously you didn't have access to things like my podcast and website, so this is me asking for a bit of praise here. Have you found the resources that we provide really did help?
Speaker 4:Very much, very much. And there's well, first of all, you're very enthusiastic and supportive and give a lot of great information, and then I also found that other people that have done similar type things you know are very helpful and you know we had basic ideas. So actually I think it was the last three trips I was aware of your, your information, and we got quite a bit from it. But, like, even when we were there, I, we both really wanted to see Tintagio Castle, but I was just so nervous because of what I had heard other people talk about when it came to a lot of the climbing. So I that's why I threw out that the post regarding that and just got so much great encouragement and support and it was just, it was really really helpful.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's good. I remember putting some photos on the Facebook group as well to show you what it's like, because if you don't like heights and I guess that if I remember right, that was there was that what you were a bit worried about crossing over that bridge yes, it was more a matter of the like the what I think of as kind of a slippery, slippery type area where I feel like you can, I can go up really high.
Speaker 4:But if I feel like I'm gonna fall in like kind of like um climbing type areas, that's what makes me really anxious.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I know, I understand that and and this is the thing this is part of the reason we've got the facebook group as well, because you can go in and ask those questions and people who've been there, um, like I put photos on people could reassure you and say this is what it's like, and so you went and had a great time, and that's exactly what we kind of aim to do, which is so that's. That's lovely to hear that you did that. You asked that question and you got your answers, you know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the forums are just great, you know, for people to share information and answer questions and yeah, it's always just great. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it really helps. So let's talk about okay, let's talk about the highlights of your trip, because obviously, 28 days that's a lot of ground that you then in terms of places that you saw and where you went. So should we talk about each area and what were the highlights in each area, because that would be fun.
Speaker 4:So in South Wales. Talk us a little bit about South Wales and what you really enjoyed there. Well, we stayed in a kind of a suburb I guess you would call it, of Cardiff I'm trying to think of the name Whitechurch, I think it was called or Whitchurch, whitchurch, maybe it was Whitchurch, but anyway, it was really great because you could take the train places that. The place that we stayed at was like less than five minute walk to the train station and we don't have access to trains like that here in the US and we just loved that and so we had taken the train into Cardiff and we just love being able to just walk around places like that. They're just so walkable and so much to see. And we also found on our very first trip um, I know I'm backtracking a little bit, but um, the air, the, the B&B that we stayed at, the woman had suggested a ruin at Ruin Castle near Norum, first time we'd ever been to a ruin castle.
Speaker 4:The castle is Norum Norum. Sorry, the castle is called Norum, yeah, and we just loved it. I mean much more so than something like Windsor Castle. You know, it was just that's been maintained, right. We just find them absolutely magical, and so after our first trip, we would look for where are their ruins, and we would either ask people or look at those that are just out there off the beaten track just decaying.
Speaker 3:Right, you know it's slowly over the city and they're just, they're just amazing, yeah and there are so many of them in wales as well.
Speaker 1:They're just loads of them, and whales are off.
Speaker 3:Yes, there are so many of them in Wales as well. There are just loads of them in Wales at all. Yes, there are.
Speaker 4:So that was a highlight, I'd say in Cardiff was some of those that we went to. What was that one?
Speaker 3:castle that we went to in Wales, that we climbed around in, isn't that Neighbourhood? Oh, I'm blanking on the name.
Speaker 4:I have to look up the name. It was one of one. We went to three of them that were ruins. Um, I think I put it on my poster. I'd have to look it up, but anyway, um, those are just so fun to explore, um, and it just amazes us, some of them, where they built a neighborhood around it. I'm thinking, oh my gosh, these people that live right here, they can want to go castle.
Speaker 4:You know kind of, some people go back yeah, or like over over in East Anglia there were these old Rowan, this old Roman oh yeah, ruins, and right the middle of a neighborhood. You know it just yeah, we just that.
Speaker 1:So fascinating it is amazing and you don't get sick of that, because my grandmother actually opposite her house where she lived in Wall's End, which is end of the Hadrian's Wall, um there were ruins there and I, I just actually looked it up recently because I was wondering what those ruins were.
Speaker 1:They're actually an old church. But you know, I just I assumed there was something to do with Hadrian's Wall but there weren't an old church. But you just get used to that when you live in the UK that there's just kind of, you know, maybe a roman villa here or a bit of roman, yeah, yeah we don't have that in america, yeah, so we really love that.
Speaker 4:It's quite fun.
Speaker 1:Oh no, I was gonna. I'm just gonna ask, actually, because one thing I didn't ask was what time of year that you went, because it's it was only a few months ago that you were there, wasn't it?
Speaker 4:so it was the warmer month may, yeah, yep, so, um, uh, august, or to me april 27th, um, and then we left um may 28th, may 27th, so warmer, warmer and a nice long days as well, so it's a nice time of year to visit.
Speaker 1:I do. May and september are my two favorite months actually yes, it was the warmest.
Speaker 4:We were told by people all the time that it was extraordinary weather, that it's never and of all the times we've gone, it was the warmest and it only rained a total of about an hour the whole time we were there. It was very strange.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was getting concerned because I thought you need the rain. This is England, right?
Speaker 4:concerned because I thought you need the rain. This is England right, but for traveling it was quite nice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that is good, it does rain a lot in Wales.
Speaker 3:I have to say I just looked it up we were talking about Coyde Castle.
Speaker 4:It's just one of many.
Speaker 3:It's just there in South Wales in a neighborhood. I just love that. Maybe there's a fence, maybe there's not, and in a neighborhood and uh, yeah, I mean it. Just, I just love that. You know it's, maybe there's a fence, maybe there's not, there's a wall, so a lot of them you just walk in, it's like a park, basically you know and uh, yeah, it's, it's wonderful.
Speaker 1:Uh, so, after Wales, where did you head down to Cornwall? So how did you get there? Did you drive or train?
Speaker 3:yeah, we always rent a car, but every time we've been here, we just, in fact, it's always a Fiat 500.
Speaker 4:And he's six foot four and loves driving a little Fiat 500. He always says that's part of the adventure.
Speaker 3:Because it's just enough room for the two of us and our luggage. Right, and with the narrow roads right, you know, wherever you are, cornwall or England or Ireland, it's fine, you know, it's completely adequate. And so, yeah, good gas mileage, fun to drive, enough room, and that's what we've done for five vacations now. Fiat 500.
Speaker 1:Well, that's cool and you're confident driving. I guess after five times over there, you're pretty used with the roads.
Speaker 3:It was never a problem because, even though you're on the other side, everything's reversed, everything just flows the same. You know what I mean? It wasn't I. I wondered would it be difficult or unnerving? You know, driving on the other side in a backwards car to us, and uh no, I mean we adapted really quickly, it's not a problem and as far as the tiny roads, he actually says he thinks that's part of the adventure too.
Speaker 1:It is fun it is. You never know what you're gonna get around the corner. Do you any tractor or sheep, or you don't know what's coming? Honestly, especially with those hedges in cornwall where you're driving through, and yet it's like a tunnel and you're like, okay, I'll just go slowly, because then there's a tractor or there's a whole. I had once a whole herd of sheep and you're like, right, okay, but that's, that is part of the adventure, absolutely. So you drove down to Cornwall, so tell me about Cornwall, what did you do in C?
Speaker 3:Oh boy, okay, what was the place we stayed at? We, we stayed in Airbnb we always stayed at Airbnbs. It was a woman named Sue who had this farmhouse.
Speaker 4:What were we near Gosh? What am I thinking about? The name of the?
Speaker 3:We did. Tintagel Castle, we went to. What was that fishing village? We went to.
Speaker 4:Oh, we went to a few of them. I could look them up. But one thing that was really really special when we were in Cornwall is we went to Plymouth on VE Day.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we were in Plymouth so that was really special.
Speaker 4:The observation that was really good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it just happened to be well. I mean, it was that week. We saw some things in some literature. We thought, hey, this is coming up, ve Day is coming up. And oh, hey, this is coming up. Ve Day is coming up and oh, look, they're having observances in Plymouth. So we thought, well, we wanted to go to Plymouth anyway. So, yeah, we went there.
Speaker 4:We're there for that it was great. Calington, that's the name of the little village that we stayed in, calington, and it was little but it was great. I mean, the woman was wonderful that owned the place and it had a hot tub and and it was just, oh, and she told us about some, um, what do you, what do you call those? Like some stone circles? And um, what was the other cheese ring? What was?
Speaker 3:the other one that, yeah, we did. Okay, we were.
Speaker 4:I'm finding where we were here, um, give me a minute, but it was just really unique and, once again, just out there, like you wouldn't see a sign to it if you didn't know where you were going. That's something that's so different than here in the US. Here they would turn it into an you know a national park, and then there'd be big signs and there'd be a lot of people there. Here you can be the only person there and it's you know, out in the middle of nowhere and it's just, I don't know.
Speaker 1:It seems more adventurous no, no, it's lovely down's lovely down there, also staying at a B&B. I think what's really useful is that you, because the local people will tell you places to go and eat, go and see, go and do that.
Speaker 1:Like you know, I won't know because I'm not. I don't live in that particular village or that particular area, so that's always the useful thing to do as well, and usually you get a good breakfast as well, so that's always nice when you say a B&B as well. So you went to tintagel, so what else did it? Did you do quite a few miles in Cornwall, because I do try to find one. We've done quite a bit driving around to see everything we did so.
Speaker 4:We drove down the Lands End and Lizard Point yeah, it was the lizard, the lizard, and we went to Mevagissey Mevagissey, yes, that was one of the places that we went to one of the fishing villages, and I think I already mentioned Plymouth and we stayed Calington is on the edge of Bodmin Moor and there on the Bodmin Moor's, these the hurler stone circles some of that the Neolithic, you know Stone Age type things, right, you know like yeah, so we saw that there was also that Trepithy Coif yeah, yeah this is an interesting stone structure.
Speaker 3:You know Stone Age once again, just in a lot between some houses. It's amazing In a neighborhood, the hurler stone circles and also the what was that formation? It was actually natural. It looked kind of like the pancakes, the rocks.
Speaker 1:The cheese ring, yeah the cheese ring.
Speaker 3:That's just some things on the bottom and more. We went to the Lizard, st Ives and Land's End and then Plymouth Jarring myself here I could easily spend a lot of time there.
Speaker 4:There's so much to see.
Speaker 1:Cornwall is beautiful and it's an area which actually deserves quite a bit of time. I know quite a lot of people say they just want to go down for a day or two, but honestly, cornwall you could, and it's a very popular destination with brits as well. We love going down there. In fact, my ancestors come from part, my ancestry comes from down there. But we stayed on bodman more last time and saw the wild ponies.
Speaker 4:Did you see the wild ponies when you were there because they're just amazing to see as well oh, I really wanted to, but we we did not get a chance to see them, but that would have been nice and where we stayed was just, just, absolutely.
Speaker 3:It was outside of calington but it's absolutely beautiful and the the airbnb was so nice that there were a couple days where we stayed there half the day or I think one day we just stayed all day because it was just so beautiful, you know, and it was so pleasant just to stay there. And then we did a lot of things that were just local, because our host and it's always the case that the host will always leave you information on what's local you know to see, you know and so, yeah, we did this big hike on Bob and Me Moore, we met some folks there, you know, and ended up having, uh, lunch with them a mother and her daughter and um talked about the horses and ponies and all that.
Speaker 4:But we did a lot of walking, a lot of different walks, just so so nice, you know it's going the trails um.
Speaker 3:So yeah, Cornwall is very beautiful.
Speaker 1:Definitely, and also because you're there in May, you can sit outside at the pubs as well, which is always really nice in the pub gardens.
Speaker 4:Yes, and Dorset, we did that a few times. There was a place right on the beach that was just oh, it's just absolutely beautiful, we just absolutely loved it. And, um, we stayed near bexington I don't know if you're you're familiar with it. Yeah, yeah, and there's um, what was that called? There was a gardens right by there. That was really lovely. Um, it wasn't bexington, but it was right near west bexington. I mean like really close.
Speaker 1:You were there just for the nice gardens as well that time. Yeah, it's always a good time to go in there. There's so many to choose from as well, because there's some stunning ones.
Speaker 4:Oh, and it's so beautiful. Just driving around, like you were talking about the hedgerows, but especially that time of year, everything was in bloom, like just all these wildflowers are just just absolutely stunning. We just were just kept saying, oh, kind of pointing out, oh, look at those and look at those, and it just wasn't even the ones that were in a garden, but just as you're driving around. That's one thing nice about, because we did go in september one year and I feel like you kind of missed that aspect of it. Not everything necessarily in bloom and, um, yeah, the weather's not cold, it's still fairly pleasant, but I think in the spring I think it's much more beautiful.
Speaker 1:My personal opinion from what we've seen, I prefer that yeah, it's a good time to go and see all the gardens, for sure, that's what I love. That's my favorite time to go to the Cotswolds and, uh, because there's some beautiful gardens there that I love to go to. It doesn't matter how many times I go. I'm quite happy to go every year to go back and back and back and see them because they're so lovely. And so the Jurassic Coast. What did you see and do in the Jurassic Coast? I'm glad you went there, by the way, because that's another gorgeous part of the UK to visit.
Speaker 4:Oh, definitely, we went to, was it Weymouth? Yep, we went to Weymouth and walked all around Abbotsbury. Oh, abbotsbury was the name of the gardens was the tropical gardens, which was really seemed surprising for Britain. But of course there's a long story as to how they they started that, that garden, but that was right by where we were staying. That was beautiful, but we took one day and drove to Weymouth and then we found out about a walk. It was like a seven-mile walk and then we ended up in the city of Weymouth and it was oh, yes, yeah, that was a lovely, lovely walk.
Speaker 3:And also in West Bexington there's the Harvey Trail or Harvey Path. Harvey was an English author, I think that was from Dorset, and wrote some famous novels that I've not read, but anyways, he's a famous guy and these trails are named after him and I just explored these long paths that just went off. You didn't come with me that day, no, no, but just gorgeous there from. That just went off. You didn't come with me that day.
Speaker 4:No, no.
Speaker 3:But just gorgeous there from West Bexington.
Speaker 4:And we also visited Dorchester. That's not that far from there, yep.
Speaker 3:The city of Dorchester.
Speaker 4:That was a nice place to go. And then when we left Bexington, on the way to the next place, we went to Winchester Cathedral, and that was, of course, that was more remarkable than I expected, which sounds strange. Obviously it was remarkable, but it was one of those surprises. Like I enjoyed it way more even than I expected to, which may sound kind of strange, but that was almost a whole day that we spent there.
Speaker 1:The thing is it's a bit like castles. We have so many cathedrals as well, so you kind of it's a bit sport for choice. But I have to say, if, if I was, if I was pushed to choose, uh I would say winchester's probably my favorite. I should probably say that because I do love westminster abbey, but winchester cathedral it's huge. It's huge to start off, um, but the history, the history around it, is fascinating. It's also where you'll find Jane Austen was buried. It's a fascinating cathedral to visit, and Winchester itself is an amazing city as well.
Speaker 1:Yes that was really nice.
Speaker 4:We love it when you find a city like that that you can just walk. There's just so much to see. You can just keep on walking and it's not like you have to move the car to go somewhere else. There's just so many things to see. Very nice.
Speaker 1:So then you headed over to Bury St Edmunds, so I'm guessing you obviously drove that way. Did you stop off along the way, or did you kind of go all the way from Jurassic Coast to Bury or Well, winchester was one of the stops.
Speaker 4:Winchester was the stop that we did. We didn't spend the night anywhere, but we went from West Lexington, stopped at Winchester for a good part of the day and then went from there to Bury St Edmunds.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's good planning. So then, what did you get up to in East Anglia then?
Speaker 4:So we took the train from where we were staying and went into Cambridge, and that was another one. That was a surprise. I mean, I knew that we were going to like Cambridge, but we did the punting boat and we did a ho-ho bus that day to get a big overview.
Speaker 3:Where everything was basically yeah.
Speaker 4:And then once again did a lot of walking.
Speaker 3:We just walked all day. After that, we walked all day.
Speaker 4:All over the town and it once again there was a lot of walking. We just walked all day. We walked all day All over the town and it was pretty exclusive, loved it, loved Cambridge. Would definitely go there again, very, very nice.
Speaker 1:It's another one of my favorites. You've gone to a lot of my favorites during the trip, but Cambridge, I just think, is there's something magical about Cambridge Again, that is it's just again a hugely historic city. We follow them, but it is just I don't know. It's got a lovely atmosphere, cambridge, I always think, and you can go punting on the River Cam, which is you just can't beat the summer, when it's warm, it's just the best way to see the backs of the university and just, oh, I don't know, it's just fabulous.
Speaker 4:To see things that you wouldn't normally see, which was really nice. To see things that you wouldn't normally see, which was really nice. Now, one thing that we considered doing before we we left home and we're still considering that for a couple days while we were there is taking a long train trip up to York and going there just for the day and actually Doug was was helpful, um, because I was. I posted about that because I felt really uneasy about it. But but then going online, it just seemed like it was not a good idea. It just seemed like it would just take all day, from morning to night. It seemed like we'd be exhausted and the cost of it just did not seem to make sense.
Speaker 3:It was just really too distant from where we were really it wasn't practical.
Speaker 4:I was just trying to get my gin.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it was based on where you were, because where you were it's more difficult to get to York by train. But if you were actually in London, it's a very it's actually an easy enough day trip to do. You can do that, but from where you were, yes, it was too difficult, and that's the thing. That's what Doug's really helpful being able to sign up to say is it doable or not or how could because he's a train expert, he knows all about that. So, yeah, so it was good to ask him Did you do any tours when you were there? I meant to ask you yes, yes, what did you do?
Speaker 4:So we did a tour of Winchester, but this time the only official other tour besides the Ho-Ho Bus was the black cab that you recommended in London, so we did the four-hour that was so fabulous.
Speaker 3:No, we also did a rock and roll walking tour.
Speaker 4:Oh, that's right, that's right, that's right. Yes, yes, we did that too.
Speaker 3:That was at least two hours or so.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was really good too.
Speaker 3:It kind of centered around Soho and different landmarks where you know very famous people did different things you know david bowie and you know and the who and and the rolling stones and and different bands and pointing out different landmarks. It was very, very it was fascinating nice just yeah, just to see these places. You know that I read about or see them, album covers or whatnot.
Speaker 4:So, yeah, yeah. So that day we got to see a play, we saw Mousetrap, which you know, you've probably seen before. It's been there for so long, but that was quite good. It's the longest running play in Britain. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, do you know where I saw the Mousetrap? Because it wasn't in London. I actually saw it when I lived in Toronto, so I've seen it for a long time ago. Yeah, so I must apologize, because I kind of jumped forward there and we've skipped what you were doing. So you went to Cambridge, let's go back rewind. Rewind myself. So you went to Cambridge. So what else did you do when you were based in very St Edmunds?
Speaker 4:we took a day in Norwich, which we liked a lot.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I know no idea what to expect there and we love Norwich.
Speaker 4:It was another one of those walkable cities. You just walk all around.
Speaker 3:It was a very very big Cathedral, um, which surprised me, it seems, is it? I think it's bigger than Winchester's and it seemed bigger. It's also a better condition, you, than Winchester's and it seemed bigger, it's also in better condition. You know, winchester has got its structural problems right that have been kind of ameliorated over the years and you know, and shorn up and all that, but yeah, it's got a very, very large cathedral there and another just beautiful city with some, you know, ancient landmarks and things. Yeah. So yeah, norwich was another one, and then what was the-?
Speaker 4:Where was the place where the Roman ruins were?
Speaker 3:It was outside of Yarmouth but it wasn't in, it was that's right, it was in-.
Speaker 4:We wanted to see some little beach communities by East Anglia so we went to Yarmouth and walked all around there. That was much more touristy than I thought it would be. That kind of it wasn't as quaint as, say, cornwall.
Speaker 1:I definitely wouldn't recommend it. No, that's a. There are a few places that are kind of the English seaside towns, that are like more british people would go to, and I would say like blackpool's an example, great yarmouth's an example, those sort of, um, yeah, those sort of seaside places which, yeah, I I haven't been actually, I'm just thinking skegness is another one that comes off the top of my head um, that that british people tend to go to, but I have, I must admit, I haven't been to any of those for quite a while. I should actually include them into my itinerary at some point.
Speaker 4:Um, but, yes, very touristy, because you're going to get a lot of british people there as well yeah, yeah, that that wasn't my favorite, um, but I mean the you know, the actual seaside was nice, but it was just a little more how do I want to say, commercialized, I guess, yeah, best way to put it.
Speaker 3:This, it's kind of Coney Island, ish, yeah, yeah, the place with the Roman rules. That was outside of great-year-old. So it was. I'm trying to find a reference here yeah, we stumbled on that it was great.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and we met this guy there. That's one of the things we love is just talking to locals. You know, this guy was walking his dog, he lived in the neighborhood where the Roman ruins were and we ended up talking to him for quite a while and he studies US politics and so of course he had to ask some particulars. Case Durancy oh, that's right With politics. And so of course he had to ask some particulars.
Speaker 3:Cayster on Sea oh that's right, that was it with the Roman ruins where we met this gentleman. Yeah, we were just in this neighborhood with this Roman ruin and we wanted to see it. And we're looking at it and this guy shows up with his dog and, yeah, we ended up talking for an hour. It was great.
Speaker 1:It was lovely. I love that. Sorry, say that again. Sorry, could you say that again, Chris? Sorry the name of the place, Sorry, Chris.
Speaker 3:Kaster on Sea.
Speaker 4:C-A-E-S-T-E-E-R. Okay, it's outside of Yarmouth, with our last name being Paxton. One of the previous times we had come, we stayed not too far from Great Paxton. Previous times we had come, we stayed not too far from Great Paxton, and so we decided we would spend a little more time and we went there and just had a wonderful little Paxton. Sorry.
Speaker 1:Little Paxton is actually Big Paxton, great Paxton.
Speaker 4:It's kind of funny, but anyway, just walking all around and then we spent a lot of time in the pub and we knew nothing about which happened to be on TV. So there was this older gentleman who is so into it and he just thought it was great to teach us all about it, and so it was just kind of fun to talk to people that.
Speaker 3:Have you know, I think they get fascinated by the people to the right bar staff right, so friendly. We start talking about cricket.
Speaker 1:They're explaining it it's a good job. Look's not here, chris, honestly, because he would be in this conversation right now. Honestly, we just traveled around sri lanka and every time we got in a car or get into a tuk-tuk, the conversation inevitably was just cricket, cricket, cricket, honestly. Oh so I'm so happy to hear that you spent some time in a pub and learned a little bit about cricket. Oh yeah, I guess it'll be the same if I came to the states learn a little bit, maybe, about baseball.
Speaker 4:Cool, yeah, it was quite fun. What was the name of that place that we went to with the gardens that day that we went to Paxton Beautiful gardens and it was attached to like a manor house. I'm trying to think of the name of that place Because some of the places that we go to are like out of the way, not like just Cambridge or Norwich. You know we found out about this place where there was these beautiful gardens Outside of Little Pa or Norwich. You know we found out about this place where there was this beautiful gardens, you know what I'm talking about Outside of Little Paxton.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, okay, I'll try to find it here.
Speaker 4:I'm blanking, but we were so fortunate to have so many beautiful days, and that was one of them just walking around this gardens and there was just, of course, a manor house.
Speaker 3:You know what I'm talking about. The one yes, yes.
Speaker 4:I do. Yeah, you might recognize it. If Chris finds the name, I've got some photos here that are from there. Yeah, just absolutely beautiful and very fascinating too. That was the one that had that clock, anglesey.
Speaker 3:Abbey? Yeah, that was it, although it's not an abbey and it's not an Anglesey. Yeah.
Speaker 4:I don't know why it's called that, but it's called that. Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:Why not? Yeah, there are so many beautiful gardens to see in the UK. I'm a member of the National Trust and I get their book every year and also I look through it and think there's no way I could see all these in a lifetime.
Speaker 1:There's just so many to go and see, oh see, but I love the fact you know you guys, you based yourselves on a few areas and gave yourself the time to go and explore it, make the best of the weather I mean, you were very lucky that you had really good weather the entire time but when you're based there and you're not pushing yourself to like move on to the next place quickly, quickly, quickly, you can have a little bit more flexibility to do that stuff and go in the pub and chill out and have a pint and learn about cricket.
Speaker 4:I love it, I love your trick, absolutely it's amazing.
Speaker 1:And I know just from chatting to you two already, it's like I can imagine what you'd be like in the pub. You know everybody would be gravitating towards you to buy you a pint, nevermind anything else. So have a pint with you guys and have a chat. So I and anything else. So have a pint with you guys and and have a chat. So I mean, obviously, heading into london is slightly different major, major, big city, capital. Millions of people live there. How was your experience of london? I guess you've been there many times before and I know we've just mentioned you did a couple of tours when you were there. I know I'm happy that you did the discovery of london back characters, because we work with them and they're they're fantastic, um, and I love the fact you did a rock and roll tour as well. That's fantastic. But tell me about London, about your experiences in London.
Speaker 4:Well, the first time, I'll just say that we stayed there, we stayed in London for five nights In 2019.
Speaker 3:2019.
Speaker 4:Our first vacation, yeah, but we really should have spent a lot more time there, because one of those days we took the channel to Paris, and that was a whirlwind day.
Speaker 4:It was great but it took up one of our days. But once again we did so much walking so we'd take the tube somewhere and then we would just end up walking instead and walking back and I don't know, somehow we just decided it was just more fun to walk and we'd be exhausted at the end of the day. But we did a lot of the major stuff the first time, like the British Museum and the British Library and just looking all around Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar.
Speaker 4:Square all these places you hear about, you know you just it.
Speaker 3:Sometimes we'd just be walking and it's like, oh look, this is Trafalgar Square, you know, and like we'd stumble on it, or Hyde.
Speaker 4:Park. Oh, I loved Hyde Park.
Speaker 3:Oh, my goodness, it was a wonderful, wonderful little restaurant.
Speaker 4:Look at the map oh, look, you know we've heard of this.
Speaker 3:We know what this is. Let's go there, you know. So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:But then we didn't go back again until a year ago and we stayed in Marlow and we took a train in because we really wanted to see the Churchill War Rooms, and so we spent a good well more than half of a day there and we had this idea that we were going to then just do a lot of walking around. But we were so exhausted from standing the whole time at the war room that we just kind of felt like we were worn out. We wanted to find a pub and then just go back. So we thought we were going to go back the next day and we ended up going to Avebury instead. We were just kind of feeling like, okay, we've just kind of had enough London for right now. We were feeling kind of overwhelmed. So that's why this time we thought, well, we'll stay not too far from London, take the train in, you know a few days and get to do more things like that.
Speaker 3:But one thing about London, though that of course you would know, but Americans may not know if they haven't been there, is you don't ever want to bring a car into London you know, so you know, because I think there's a daily catch, I don't know where you'd park Every time we've gone there. We stayed outside of London and took a train in.
Speaker 4:Except for the first time, the first time we did stay there for five nights.
Speaker 3:We turned our car in and just used transit, used the tubes and things.
Speaker 4:That's. The only reason I've been hesitant to stay in London again was the dragging your suitcase through the city. You know, like you take the train and then you gotta drag your suitcase to get to where the hotel is and there's not as many airbnbs and we did in London, we did, but it was not my, because it's not, there's not as many like elevators or even escalators going upstairs. You know, dragging all this stuff and and every year we try to like do less, carry less, carry less, and yet somehow it doesn't always work.
Speaker 1:But that's, that's two really good points. You said there, chris, absolutely 100, don't drive in london. Never, ever drive in london. A you don't need to, because the public transport in London is sectioned on, it's excellent. And B honestly, it's crazy.
Speaker 1:I have driven in London because I've worked and lived in London actually worked and lived in the centre of London and, believe me, this was like, oh, maybe I'm trying to think, 30 years ago you could not pay me enough to drive in London. Now, honestly, seriously, no, not a chance, never, ever going to happen. So that's a good one. And the other one yeah, if you, if you airbnbs there are less airbnbs in london and there are. Stick my neck out here, but we have had times where people have booked airbnbs and they've been cancelled at the last minute and that, oh, that really worries me about people doing that. So that's, those are always consideration, not saying that happens to everybody, because we have had lots of people that have been very happy and stayed in their B&Bs, but it's always a bit of a worry at the back of my mind about that.
Speaker 1:But you traveled in, so you obviously got the train in no problem. Yeah, exactly yeah. And then what did you kind of pick out to do this time, because obviously I know you did the two tours. Was there anything else specifically you wanted to go and see?
Speaker 4:Well, the wonderful thing about that tour as you know, the Black Cab tour was that I felt like we got such a great view, such a great kind of behind the scenes, if you will, with him being able to stop so close to places that you wouldn't normally get to do, and so it was a really good feel for when we went back, the day that we did the rock and roll one, where we could just walk and go where we wanted to walk and see what we wanted to see a lot more.
Speaker 3:We kind of knew where we were a little bit better, and we were in a different part of London than we were the first time, right.
Speaker 4:First time we were by Houston, yeah, because we wanted to be near St. And then we were the first time, right, you know? Um, we were first time we were by houston, yeah, and because we wanted to be near saint pancras station to be able to walk to get to the yeah get there at like 5 30 in the morning, and so we wanted that was great too, that area yeah, I stayed there.
Speaker 1:I did. I did that trip to paris actually I've got a podcast episode about that but you've got to be there very early to get that very first train. So I set my alarm, but guess what? My alarm didn't go off. I had literally 5 minutes to get up. Thank goodness I was staying at a hotel next to St Pancras, but I literally had 5 minutes to get up and get ready and get to the train station. So that's never happened to me, will never happen again, because I could not believe it.
Speaker 1:It's a very expensive day trip as well. I was like, oh, I'm not missing this, so you have to stay very close. Definitely the Eurostar.
Speaker 3:That was our first trip there, that was one of the ones I definitely wanted to experience, because, I mean, we just remember when they completed the channel and they had it live on television from the French side and from the, you know, and from the English side, and they met, you know, with these drills right, and they break the rock.
Speaker 3:And there they are, you know, they create this high-speed train. I thought this is just great, you know, and so that was just a great day. I mean, we had a really good tour guide in Paris who was actually Belgian, but she lives in London, and this whole.
Speaker 3:English, completely London lover but, but knew Paris extremely well. We had a really great driver. The traffic in Paris is unbelievable this guy got this bus. I don't know how he did it through this traffic. He was great, and so we just had a fantastic day in Paris, just packed in and got back late. I just couldn't believe that it was at the very end of our first vacation, but-.
Speaker 4:It was the day before we left.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but it was a great, great day. Yeah, the Eurostar was great, you know so all that, but Highly recommend it. Other things in London we did the Churchill Wars, we did the Imperial War Museum, we did the British Museum. Just walked around, walked around where the London.
Speaker 4:Eye is and Buckingham Palace.
Speaker 3:We've never done that before because we don't really go in for that kind of thing. You just kind of feel like you need to at least see it.
Speaker 4:It's just one of those iconic things. One day when we were staying in Virginia water, we went into Windsor. We didn't go to the castle, but with the city of Windsor and walked all around Windsor. And what's the other one? Eaton. Eaton that's right. Yeah, yeah, and that was a lovely day too, just walking all around that whole area. We just loved it. It's like Windsor was a lovely day too, just walking all around that whole area, we just loved it.
Speaker 1:Windsor's a great day trip from London, whether you go to the castle or not, actually because you can take a little ride on the River Thames and you can have a walk around. Yeah, it's a nice city, the city of Windsor, and obviously it's where the king lives. We've got the beautiful castle there.
Speaker 3:I think it's the oldest inhabited castle in the world windsor castle, is it okay? Yeah, well, would you believe? One of the things that we really enjoy about about britain is just the, the oldness of it, and the oldness, just just. I admire the buildings, you know, like when we were like, like, for example, henley-upon-thames, oh, yes. And then Marlow With the half-timbered buildings, oh yes yes, yes, chester. We loved Chester. Chester was in that film like that Shrewsbury, oh we loved Shrewsbury, stratford-upon-evon oh my gosh, I love Stratford-upon-Yvonne.
Speaker 4:Everything about that place. All day just walking everywhere. It's wonderful.
Speaker 3:It could be any city, any town in England. It's just so different for us as Americans. Maybe it's different in the East Coast. There's more you see stone buildings, but it seems like almost everything in Britain, maybe outside of London, but even in London, is made of stone. Okay, and I mean that's no, big deal right. But you know, in Western US and Central US it's more rare, you know, and these are ancient buildings in many cases. You know hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years old, you know, like in Norwich you know, there was that exchange building.
Speaker 3:You know, that was like I don't know what it was, like 800 years old or something. It was half timbered timber and masonry.
Speaker 4:It was like that Chester too. There were some of those that were so old.
Speaker 3:Chester was beautiful, the walled city, we walked that. But so yeah, we just enjoyed just walking in the city and just enjoying the oldness of it and the uniqueness of it, you know, from an American perspective, you know.
Speaker 4:So yeah, I feel like every area that we've been to has its own special charm, Like it's so hard to say, well, would you pick a favorite? I mean each trip, I think each little area, or I shouldn't say little, but each spot that we stayed. There was so much to see, so much to explore that it's hard to say until we love the fact that we can take so much time, Like next time we want to go up by the Lake District and go more, like in the central area, and definitely want to get to York and we did one trip that we just did one.
Speaker 1:I'm making signs that you go, go up, go up, mary, go up. So you late district. Can we go a little bit right of that, a little bit up from Yorkshire, because there's a really fantastic County which has the most castles and then tire and entire England. It's the county with the most, it's the one I was born in. So you need, and also if you want to see Roman Rooms at Northumberland, come on, guys, you need to be northumberland.
Speaker 4:Yes, yes, yes, yes. So a few years back, we stayed in onyx, which is not that far from there, right yeah yeah, silly us. We said on wick, and that of course had to be corrected. But it's a? L? N? W-n-w-i-c-k. Alnwick, right, but no, it's Alnwick, but anyway. So are you familiar with that treehouse restaurant in Alnwick?
Speaker 1:I am not, no, but I will be next time I go. Very interesting place, oh my gosh.
Speaker 4:It is my favorite place I've ever eaten in my whole life, and so that one actually actually I on 2019. I found it in a book, just a travel book, and they had mentioned it, so it's um attached to or it's right by on the castle, and we didn't even make the castle that day because that day it was pouring rain so much. We were fortunate to make it to the restaurant. But the restaurant is huge. It's called thehouse and it's like a huge treehouse Built into a huge tree or multiple trees?
Speaker 3:I don't know. Yeah, it was just absolutely wonderful.
Speaker 4:I don't know.
Speaker 3:It's very unique, I think it's called the Treehouse. The branch is kind of moving through the rooms and the rooms are all paneled in wood right, and so you just see these branches and this tree kind of just weaving its way, and it's quite large, the whole restaurant, you know. So it's very unique.
Speaker 4:I want to go there again.
Speaker 1:Right, well, when I get back because my sister lives not too far from Annick and I was brought not too far I'm going to take her out for lunch there because you've definitely sold it to me. It sounds amazing. When I do, I'll get some photos on the group. But that's a great segue actually into food and what. What did you? Are there any specific foods or places you like to eat or cause? I mean, for me, I go home and I like my fish and chips and I like my gammon steak and chips and Doug likes to have his sticky toffee pudding. That's a favorite for his. But are there any cause? You've been there five times? Or the particular foods go, yeah, you can't wait to have pasties you have to have pasties.
Speaker 4:Oh my gosh, those are so, so good and um, you gotta have fish and chips and and we're amazed that, like some place we stayed in scotland, the fish and chips might taste different than in liverpool, which might taste different than cornwall. You think they're all fish and chips, but they're not all the same.
Speaker 3:Also, scotch eggs I love scotch eggs. There's a place have you ever been to on the way up to Scotland the house of Brouwer. Have you been there before? No, I haven't oh my goodness, it's on one of your motorways on the way out to Scotland. It's right outside of where Tracy is.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so it's in Brewery is actually the town. So the B&B that we stayed at on Scottish borders, which was also called Paxton, interestingly, but anyway, she's the one, georgina, lovely lady, that told us about the first ruin that we went to. And then we were headed up to Inverness and she said you must stop at House of Brouwer on the way. Now House of Brouwer is more like a little shopping mecca. I don't know, I didn't know, it's not, it's a clothing store.
Speaker 3:It's kind of posh. It's very posh a it's a clothing store there. It's kind of a rush, it's very posh. There's a restaurant and a deli there and they sell a lot of you know nice stuff and they have a. There's a garden shop and a clothing shop. It's all very expensive but the the food there is really reasonably priced and really really good really good.
Speaker 4:So they have a men's shop, a women's shop. That was when Chris first got one of those British pit lockery. That's it. Yeah, british caps. You know the British cap? Yeah, it's called a yes yes yes, black cap, that's right, you have to go to House of Brewer. It is just so, so nice and all the food is so good and wonderful.
Speaker 3:Shopping there, the first scotch egg I ever had was there, believe it or not. And we'll get scotch eggs and we'll get some hot pasties or some sort of hot pies and just take them with us and you know, like on the road. I mean, the food is really good there. It's really, you know, the prices are really good and it's a very nice place to stop.
Speaker 4:Very nice. It's not touristy, it's just very, very, very classy.
Speaker 3:It's off the motorway, so it's kind of a rest stop, but it's a very posh, nice restaurant that you don't have to spend a lot of money but it's very pleasant.
Speaker 4:And it had the best souvenirs of anywhere I've been in Britain. I mean like the kind of things you want to bring home to someone you know, like everything from the best scotch. You know what am I saying? The scotch bread, shortbread, shortbread, thank you, shortbread, really good shortbread. You know. The teas, the, oh, just everything. We've gotten things for our grandson there. I mean just really, really can't recommend House of Brewer. So whenever we're moving North there, I'll you know we have to find a way to get to House of Brewer.
Speaker 3:On the Eastern. Whatever that motorway is, I forget we always stop there.
Speaker 4:Oh, so two years ago when we went to just Scotland, we did a lot of Rabby's Tours and I would highly recommend Rabby's Tours because they're small. I mean, the most I think you have is about 10 people, maybe it's 12, but small, a little more like a minivan, not big at all, and they're fabulous. The guides are so good. We did about four different tours with them and then we also we stayed at jana groats, um, and then we did the tour to um, orkney island. So we did a lot of tours, that particular trip um, far more than we usually do, but we just really really wanted to get a lot of different areas of Scotland and get a lot of information. And then we drove the NC 500 and that's very worthwhile.
Speaker 1:It's lovely. Well, I mean this. Obviously, you've been back to the UK five times, so there's a reason you keep going back and it, I guess it really is. You just get wherever you go. You're going to get a different experience and I'm just so glad that you you've explored so much of the uk and um and I hope, I'm sure, you'll be back absolutely we will like I said, next time.
Speaker 4:We already know that we want to go next spring and we know what area we want to attack. Like you said, just the whole mid, mid, yeah, yeah period.
Speaker 1:Perfect Right, I'm going to end the podcast because we've been chatting for a long time. It's been lovely to chat with you guys, but I always end the podcast with the same question. I don't know if you want to answer this separately, but what would be? And especially since you guys have been five times as well, it's quite interesting to see what you're going to come up with for this. But we always ask what would be the one tip that you would give to somebody visiting the UK for the first time. But I would also say what would be a tip you'd give to somebody visiting the UK. Maybe if it's a second or third time have you, I guess, been there five times you might have kind of new ideas or different tips that you'd share.
Speaker 4:I think that, and you don't after me. But one thing I would really suggest to people, um, that I love to do is each area that we're staying, I like to have what I call possibilities, so not a strict itinerary, but certain things that you know we may do while we're there.
Speaker 1:A list of places? Yeah, a list of places.
Speaker 4:Some are a given. You know that. We know that we definitely wanted to see Cardiff or whatever. So it's good to have a few of those. But I think all the rest it's good to just have a bunch of possibilities. But then once you get there, don't feel so stuck with that, because you may just go exploring, you may just go driving and who knows what you'll find, or end up with suggestions from where you're staying and there's so many fun out of the way places and just exciting explorations, and so I think you have to kind of allow room for that. Don't feel like, okay, here's my itinerary, from seven in the morning until seven at night. You know, just have time to just relax and and see what happens. You know, and have time in pubs and talking to people and, you know, getting to know the locals, and I think that that has been some really fun. You know that we really enjoy it.
Speaker 3:But anyway you I would say also is don't be afraid to drive. You know, don't be afraid to rent a car and see it by road, because I found that Britain's roads are always kept in excellent condition. I've never had a problem with driving.
Speaker 2:We had like some northern.
Speaker 3:Scotland. Just that one time it was after COVID. I don't know if maybe there was a year off with maintenance or something, but you know, the roads are generally, I find, in excellent condition and, yeah, it's different.
Speaker 3:You're driving on the left, the left, you know, and things are reversed in the car, but the pedals are the same, you know. You're just shifting with your left hand instead of your right, you know. But I mean, I just love the freedom of having a, of having a car and being able to do the out of the way places or to be flexible, you know, if you have the time.
Speaker 3:You know, not everybody has the time, you know, they you know, and in that case maybe having a tour is great, you know, but but I think just renting the car and has just opened up, we could just go to anywhere.
Speaker 4:We basically want to go you know and and so, and the train. You don't always have that option. When we one year we thought, oh, we should plan a trip, we're just doing the train. But then then there were so many ruins and out-of-the-way places we wanted to go to that you couldn't possibly get there by the train.
Speaker 3:So we thought, okay, when we get older and they won't let us rent a car anymore, then we'll go by the train, but I mean I'm saying Americans shouldn't be afraid to go by, car it's not that hard, it's not that hard, it's not that different, it's not scary, everything just flows the same. And, by the way, I love all your roundabouts. I want more roundabouts in America because it's such a great solution when you have a bunch of roads converging.
Speaker 3:How are you going to handle this? And I love them because you're not waiting at a stoplight. You know you just flow and if you miss your curve just come back around to your street. It's gonna work out, and I, yeah. So driving I think touring Britain by car is totally possible and I recommend it especially with the sat-nav, we cannot imagine with the map. Yeah, well we do recommend because a hard one.
Speaker 1:Well, we do recommend because we work with Tripyama, who actually developed a whole resource for people who are unsure or feeling nervous about driving all over the world actually. But they have a very good program for the UK. It's not expensive as well. So we do say to people, if they have reservations about driving on the other side of the road, it's a good way to prepare. But I'm so happy to hear that you had such an amazing time that you explored and you've been all over the south this time and that you're going to go a little bit further north next time. So I'm always excited to hear that. But thanks, thanks so much, mary and chris, for coming on the podcast and sharing your trip. It's been lovely to chat with you, oh you as well.
Speaker 4:Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1:So, once again, thank you so much to Mary and Chris for coming along and agreeing to chat to me about their trip report from the UK, from their fifth trip to the UK, which was fantastic. You'll find information to the places that Chris and Mary chatted about in the podcast show notes, which are uktraravelplanetcom forward slash episode 162. But, as always, that just leaves me to say until next week. Happy UK travel planning. Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the UK travel planning podcast. As always, show notes can be found at uktravelplanetcom. 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.