6 Week UK Road Trip: England and Scotland

Rochelle talks us through a 41-day UK road trip from Bath to the Scottish Highlands and back to London, sharing what worked, what surprised her, and how planning early made the whole trip calmer. We swap honest notes on UK driving, smart booking tactics, and the tours, meals and accidental stops that turned into lifelong memories.

• Planning a long UK itinerary without trying to do too much
• Leaving Heathrow before the Easter crowds and saving London for the end
• Coping with UK driving as visitors, from narrow lanes to complex roundabouts
• Using phone navigation when the in-car sat nav falls short
• The full route: Salisbury, Bath, the Cotswolds, the Peak District, the Lake District, Northumberland, Skye, Inverness, Pitlochry, Berwick-upon-Tweed, York and London
• Favourite moments: the Old Man of Storr at sunrise, York food finds, a surprise stop at St Abbs
• An accommodation mix including a castle stay and a standout manor hotel
• A laundry strategy for multi-week travel, from washing machines to heated towel rails
• UK food highlights: Sunday roasts, scones, Scotch egg, haggis, black pudding, Irn-Bru and cider
• London experiences: early Tower of London entry, a food and pub walking tour, and meeting fellow listeners
• Discover Real London black cab tours for orientation, photography and a James Bond and Ted Lasso trip to Richmond

If you've enjoyed the show, why not leave us feedback via text or a review on your favourite podcast app? Share it with anyone planning their own UK road trip. We love to hear from you, and you never know, you may receive a shout out in a future episode.

⭐️ Guest - Rochelle C
📝 Show Notes - Episode 211

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Transcript

A Six-Week UK Road Trip Tease

SPEAKER_01 0:00

What is it really like to drive around the UK for almost six weeks? Well, in this episode, Richard shares the highlights of the road trip she and husband Steve took from Bath to the Scottish Highlands and back down to London, including where they stayed, the chores they loved, and her best trips for planning your own UK road trip.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast. Your host is the founder of the UK travel planning website, Tracy Collins. Each week, 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, from the picturesque countryside to seaside towns.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Hi

Meet Rochelle And The Big Plan

SPEAKER_01 0:49

everybody and welcome to this week's edition of the UK Travel Panner Podcast. Now, this week I am doing a trip report. It's been a few months since I did a trip report, and I know you guys absolutely love listening to other people's trips. And today I have the lovely Rochelle from Australia here to share her trip report. Um now, Rochelle and I met in Bath a few months ago, didn't we, Rochelle? Which was amazing. We we uh climbed Bath Abbey together, didn't we? We did, it was great fun. It was, it was. We had a really good day, and then we went and had some. We had lunch at uh Sally Lund's. It was wonderful, yes. It was good. So it was really good. So I was really excited um when you said, Oh yeah, I'd love to come on and share my trip report with everybody. So before I ramble on too much, uh Rochelle, would you like to introduce yourself but tell us a little bit about where you're from um and who you travelled with? Because I know who you travelled with, but you share that with the world.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Okay, hello. Um yes, I'm Rochelle. I'm from Warner's Bay near Newcastle in New South Wales. Um, and I travel with my husband Steve, Stephen, and we spent um about five weeks, almost six weeks, travelling around by car and a little bit without the car, only about four days without the car.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Yeah, so you were you were in the UK for quite a long time, weren't you? So um, so where did the idea for the trip come from? And I know you told me that you'd been telling everybody at work about when you were counting down to your trip. So I guess you've been kind of waiting for this trip for quite a while.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Oh, it was it was well over a year, and I think I drove the workmates a little bit mad, the poor, poor people. Um, they were very kind to me. Um but yes, I was very excited. We we started planning about a year out, um, and um I had all this information um and sort of didn't know what to do with it. Um and we uh like once I got a bit of a rough idea because Steve likes his landscape photography, um, he had a few YouTubers that he likes to follow, so he had a bit of an idea where he wanted to go. Um once we had that, um, that's when I sort of found your podcast and your um information, Facebook and things like that, and um, yeah, jumped on there and found that was really useful.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

I know, and you booked a consult. So you met we did a one-to-one consult with you guys, which was amazing. Which was about 12 months ahead. Yeah. So 12 months before you actually arrived in the UK, which was really cool. So what I kind of at what made you at that point, at what point did you kind of go, right? Okay, this is a time I want some I want some help from Tracy and Doug?

SPEAKER_02 3:25

I had no idea where to go, like what flow I should do. And when we booked with you, your number one information was we were trying to squeeze too much in to the amount of time we had. So the beauty of booking um so far ahead is once once we'd spoken, I then went back and reviewed all my I had a lot of accommodation already planned out, and I was able to shuffle things back and put extra days in, um, which really worked out good, especially like in around bath. I ended up changing all that all because of the information you'd given me, and it worked out so much better than what I'd originally had planned.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Yeah, I remember, I remember that bath bit was was quite ambitious, what you had planned. I remember that that we were like, oh, I think that's gonna be a little bit a little bit too too much to try and what we changed it to worked so much better. That's brilliant. It's always good to you, and it's uh you know, we love doing the consults, yeah. Um and it was we it and we we don't get that many Australians as well, so it's always really exciting when we get Australians coming and doing the consults with um and so far ahead as well.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

So we were able to kind of keep up over the year as well with what the what you kind of were doing and your plans that you were making, and uh and the best bit about it was that I could I still had wiggle room, like there was things that I booked, but I could change because I had so much flexibility, there was still uh a lot of like plenty of bookings open and things like that. So that was probably the really good thing about starting so early. Um, yeah, I could I could change things a bit.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

Now tell

UK Driving Shock And Navigation Fixes

SPEAKER_01 4:55

me about driving because I know you were a little bit nervous about that.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

Um I didn't I didn't do any of the driving, not one bit. I have to actually, if there was an award, it would go to Steven because he did amazing. Um we did do the Trippiamo beforehand, um, and I think it helped me. I mean, Steve was just you know happy to to watch along. Um, but the it's it was actually real I I still even being a passenger felt it was quite stressful. Um, the roads are narrow, cars can park whatever direction they want on the side of the road, you've got to constantly stop to give way to there's you know, you can just be driving along and you're faced with another car. Roundabouts, oh my goodness, roundabouts, like a three-lane roundabout that you can change lanes in the middle and with traffic lights and pedestrians, and oh my goodness. And Steve just he was unreal. He just did so well. Um, and that's really good. Yeah, there were many moments, yeah, that I sort of was hands over my eyes going, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

I think it can take some Australians a bit by surprise because obviously in Australia you drive on the same side of the road as the UK, so you kind of think, okay, but actually it is different. I mean the beauty of the Tripiama course is that you can watch the videos and actually get a bit of preparation for what it's gonna look like when you're there. And you know, and I know I could I mean we live in Australia a lot of the time and we know what it's like. Like it's it's completely different driving on Australia than it is.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

There's a pedestrian crossing right on the roundabout, like and you've got you can stop on the roundabout to give way to pedestrians. It's it's insane, it's just not like what I'm used to.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

So it's a good job, it didn't, and actually honestly, I've done I I said to people sometimes that you know doing the trip-on course as a passenger also helps because I bet you were doing a lot of the it uh a lot of the kind of directions and but even the the sat nav that was in the car wasn't completely accurate.

SPEAKER_02 6:51

You're better off to use your phone. Um, we could end up in you know just n not the right spot and we drive round and round and round uh which did end up being some funny moments because we ended up in weird spots, but you know, it was yeah, just yeah, the sat nav in the car wasn't the best either.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Yeah, we found that actually recently as well. So you if you if you're navigating, you'll find that you're not gonna be sitting kind of chilling out, looking at the scenery for a lot of time, you're gonna be doing a lot of the directions and and where to go and where to turn and the preparation for whoever is doing the driving, that's for

Easter Crowds And Leaving Heathrow Fast

SPEAKER_01 7:25

sure. Now I know you travelled over East Art and we met up actually over the Easter weekend. We did. Um you were a little bit worried about the crowds then. How did you find it?

SPEAKER_02 7:33

But again, that was thanks to you having the information, even though it was crowded, we knew it was gonna be crowded. Um, but that's part of the reason why once we landed in at Heathrow, um, which was the Wednesday um before Easter, so Good Friday was the following Friday, um, that we stayed a night at a hotel near the airport. The very next day we hired a car and got straight out. We didn't even go near London or the city that day for that reason. We figured we'd just get straight out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Yeah, no, good idea. It was actually quite hot in London as well over that weekend. I remember. Yes. Um, now actually, before we go and tell, because I'm gonna ask your favourite things because people always love to find out what people really enjoyed about the trip. But can you just give us a kind of quick um overview of our your itinerary, where you actually went?

The Route From Bath To Skye

SPEAKER_01 8:20

I think that would be useful.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

Yeah, so there was lots. We did we did so much, but we we as I said, we left Heathrow, um we went for Salisbury, uh, and then yeah, and then Bath, which is where we we met up with you, through to the Cotswolds, the Peak District, the Lake District, Northumberland, Scotland, and Sky and Inverness, back down through Pitlockery Pitlockery. I hope I get this right. Yeah, Pitlockery. Um and and then down um to Berwick, is it Berwick upon Tweed or Berwick? Berwick upon Tweed, yeah. Yeah, and then York and then London right at the end. Fantastic. And altogether how many days? Uh about 41 days.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 9:03

Yes, yes. It was it was just short of six weeks. Brilliant, brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

Now I'm gonna ask you probably one of the hardest questions is do you have a favorite place of the whole trip?

SPEAKER_02 9:16

This was one of the questions on the list, and there was so much. There was actually, it'd be easier to say there was nothing we didn't like. We enjoyed everything. We some things were definitely more fun. York was amazing. Um, I found um again, but it was from listening to podcasts and other trip reports that we knew to try different places like the House of Trembling Madness for a meal, which was amazing. We ended up speaking to locals, and there was a lady who had her dog in, and we we ended up showing photos because we're mad dog people too, and you know, we took photos of a dog, and it was what it was wonderful with just meeting the people in the atmosphere and making friends. Um, there was we had the best scones of our life there in York, right near to the shambles. Um, that was yeah, that was because scones with jam and cotter cream was just amazing. Um, but then we liked things like um old man's store would be a favourite um because I thought that that hike was going to be really tough, and I thought I had to really mentally um train myself for that. But that ended up being we got up really early and it was still a bit dark when we started that walk. Um, and that was just amazing by the time we got to the top of that, and the sun was coming up, and um, yeah, Steve got some beautiful photos, so that was the main thing, but um it was that was that was definitely a highlight. Um, another place we really loved, which we kind of come across by accident, was um we came across um a place called St Abbs, um, right down after we'd left Scotland, and it's just a little beachy town. Um, and we sort of pulled in, we thought we'll have morning tea, and then we discovered that that's where um the Avengers movie was filmed. Um, and I'm a bit of a Hemsworth fan, so they let you take um a photo with the new Asgard sign, um, like from like yeah, from when it was is it it was when Thor was quite fat and was quite funny, and so we loved that, but there was a walk there that the lady in the information gave us to walk out over the point, and we thought we'd be half an hour, and I think we were gone something like three hours. Like it was just this big long walk, and we just stopped and sat and took the view in, and that was a real pleasant surprise. That was just amazing. I wasn't expecting it to be um anything, and it turned into being like a highlight. Um it's lovely though.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Sometimes the things that you don't expect are the things that you kind of go, wow.

SPEAKER_02 11:53

Yes, and that's why I think we we liked it as much as that was just because it just we didn't know anything about it, and we thought, oh, we'll just stop here. Um and it would and it was a beautiful day, and yeah, we just at one point we just because some of that's uphill and it's quite strenuous, so we'd stop and have a rest and just take it all in. It was just nice to do that, and that's how we spent the afternoon just filling in the day, and it was totally unplanned, and it was just it was just that was really fun, and um, and the other one I was gonna say was Stirling was a highlight, pleasantly surprised by Stirling. I love Stirling Castle, where we stayed was close to the train, so it was easy to get to Edinburgh. Um and yeah, Stirling was really lovely as well.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Yeah, we hear that quite a lot actually from people. A lot of people um a lot prefer Stirling Castle to Edinburgh Castle. Yeah, we didn't go into Edinburgh a lot.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

Yeah, we didn't go into Edinburgh because we'd done quite a few castles by that stage, so yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

You can get castled out, can't you? It's like, how many castles can I fit in my interior for? I don't want to see another castle. Yeah, I totally get that one. Totally, totally. And I guess Steve took lots of amazing photos because he's a fantastic photographer.

SPEAKER_02 13:01

He's got he's got amazing photos, and some he hasn't hasn't even gotten through yet. Like he'll he'll still be walking through them for years, probably. Um, yeah, there's yeah, I'd hate to think what he took. There were so many photos, and and that's part of it though. We'd get out somewhere and the walk might have said, you know, it's 45 minutes to go, and we'd be gone hours and hours because um he'd stop to take the photo. So that would that would make you appreciate where you were. He's actually got so many photos where I'm way down into the distance because I'd just walk ahead because I just you know he'd be stopping and taking, I just sick of standing around waiting and off I'd go. Yeah, but that that worked for us. We were happy doing that, and yeah, so we've got oodles and oodles.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Oh, that's brilliant. That is great. I know you took some great photos when we were together that day in Bath. He's just yeah, he's got an eye for it, hasn't he? He just enjoys it. Yeah, exactly. It's it's something he loves to do, and uh yeah, that's great. Now, um, accommodation, let's ask you, because you obviously stayed in quite a few different places. Yes. Do you have any favourites?

SPEAKER_02 14:30

The one the one that

Favourite Places And Surprise Moments

SPEAKER_02 14:31

really stood out again, probably because we weren't expecting it, was a place in Berwick upon Tweed, and it that was Marshall Meadows Manor, and that was just I think they did a lot of weddings and things in there. Um, but we were kind of turned up in our hiking gear and our, you know, joggers and um the restaurant itself was um a bit fancy, and we were like and we got and we got a little upgrade on our room, so we got a nicer room than what I'd booked. Um, and it just even at the restaurant, the the lady that served us, we just kind of felt really special. It was it was I that was probably a standout. Um, but there's the there wasn't any that we didn't like. Um back in I can't even think of the place early on in the trip, there wasn't just lots of different styles, like might have been the old English sort of cottage, or uh we did stay in a castle, which was fun. That was at um I'm going blank. I'm sorry, I can't even think of where that was. Lumley Lumley Castle in Down. Yeah, lovely. Yeah, Chester Street, Dumbledore, yeah, that was really cool. That was really cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

So you tried lots of different accommodations. So did you do obviously like hotels, castles, BBs? Most Airbnbs.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

Most was booked through, yeah, most was booked through booking.com. Um and we had a couple of Airbnbs. Um there are the accommodation, the man, and it was booked through booking.com at um York. From the minute we booked, he answered questions and he was he was actually really helpful and yeah, really and never met him, we just messaged back and forward, but he was really good too. So yeah, but everything was yeah, really interesting because we we like the old buildings and yeah, it was it was really cool to stay in lots of different places.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Excellent. I'll have to get the name of the one that you stayed at in York as well, because we can put it in the show notes um for sure. Yep. And also the I guess the thing is as well, is that you can you can have free cancellation with quite a lot of the booking.coms. We use it because it I like the ability to do that. Yes. If I change plans.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

Yes, everything was free cancellation that we booked. Um uh even the Airbnbs would have let us change if we needed to. Um, but yeah, and I sort of did my research around things before I booked it um and asked recommendations, and there was like even I think I put a post out on the Facebook thing and got a list of places, and that's uh that's how I ended up getting the one in your uh that's how I got the one in York. Was it I think it came from your page, it was a recommendation, and someone said this is where I've just stayed, and I jumped and it was great. I'd been looking at it anyway, yeah, and that's why I booked it.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Yeah. It's always here, it's always good to hear what other people, you know, other people's experiences. Um now I'm gonna ask you because I know I just know that there are gonna be people listening going, okay, so you were away quite

Where They Stayed And Booking Tactics

SPEAKER_01 17:23

a long time, and you were staying in hotels and castles and nice things. How did you do your laundry?

SPEAKER_02 17:29

Every I actually worked it out that every couple of places had a washing machine um and and did factor that in. So at least once a week we had somewhere that had washing facilities. So we just yeah, we just washed we and um the heated towel racks in the room came handy because that's where I dry things is hang everything over that, and and by the next morning everything was dry. That's amazing. I really liked that invention.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

Yes, they are really cool, aren't they? And we do exactly the same, exactly the same. And it's um yeah, you're trying to work it out so that you can make sure that you've got somewhere that you can do your washing without thinking about it. So that's really good. Now I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna pivot slightly to to food and what you enjoyed or what you didn't enjoy. I know you mentioned that the

Laundry On The Road Without Stress

SPEAKER_01 18:14

scones you really enjoyed. Scones.

SPEAKER_02 18:16

Scones were quite a cream experience. Um we did try to, we did try, well, as of your recommendation, every Sunday we had a Sunday roast. We did try, and we did that most places. The best one we had where I would have said was the place we stayed in um in Stirling. Their Sunday roast was really lovely. But I did try Scotch Egg, I did try Haggis, um, black pudding, you know, um, and some of the accommodations were kind enough to leave little treats. So we tried um there's that soft drink. Um, it's orange.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

Orange, yeah, tieser.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

Yeah, I think. Oh no, it's not taser.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

No, it's just in the oh, why has it gone out of my head? Yeah. Oh, Doug loves it. Yes, um, it's like an orangey fizzy drink. He's shouting at me. What's the orange iron brew? It's like poly waffle. I'm saying ties, yeah. Obviously, not it's iron brew.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

It's iron brew. Um so we did you enjoy that? I liked that. Um and what else did we try? Every anything that was sort of Scottish or English, we did try to give it a try once. That's good. Um just to yeah, just to try. Um, I did because we neither of us are really big drinkers, but I did all um decide that I like cider. Um, there was a brand of cider that would come in quite a big, big glass. So by the end of the trip, I was having nearly one of them every night. So they that was that was something something I don't do here. Um, so that was nice. And Steve was really a big fan of every time we ate out, he'd have a soup of the day. And it was lots of different soups everywhere he went, and he had a soup of the day. And I think the one at Lumley Castle came with the big pile of bread on top of it, was like uh a spring onion soup or something. Oh nice, and that was that was yeah, that was so yeah, so he had that was probably something he tried to do every every place we went out is try the soup of the day. Cool.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

There's some nice food. I have to say, I um I I think the UK's got a bad reputation for food. People kind of still think it's all a bit bland, but there's so much variety and so much that you can try. Yes. And um, you know, even Sunday roasts for me are just amazing, and I I love my afternoon teas. Yes. But I also like just love to go and go to Greg's and getting a a steak baked dug favourite or sausage roll, just you know, really.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

We did have Greg's occasionally. Steve was also a fan of the bacon because it's really thin. Um so he was quite a fan of the bacon, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

But yeah, that's something I do miss in Australia. I have to find uh the the bacon's never quite as good as no, they don't, they really don't. Right, we're gonna pivot from food. We're gonna ask you about what you bought because I know that you're a sewer and I know you were looking forward to going to Liberty. So did you? And did you buy anything? It's pretty pricey.

Food Wins From Roasts To Scones

SPEAKER_02 21:02

It is, it is the I it's something that I like as soon as we booked, I went. That's that was the first one of the first things that was a must-do. I've got to go. Um, and I and I sort of pre-shopped because I knew I'd have Steve with me, and I, you know, he sort of stood in a corner and looked at the architecture and checked out the building while I shopped, and it was incredibly hot in there too. It was really, really hot. Um, so but the staff were beautiful, like they all had a chat. I think when they when they realise you're Australian, um they were happy to chat, but the variety, because we could buy Liberty Fabrics here, but just not the variety, and so I sort of spent time just feeling things and checking things out. So that was that was a real highlight for me. Um, but I only bought a couple of metres of fabric just to bring home because it it is pretty pricey. So and I'll I'll make up something special here when I'm home when I get when I get around to it. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:59

Oh, that'll be lovely. Well, how how was your luggage allowance when you came back? Where did you go over or you alright?

SPEAKER_02 22:04

I I left with a backpack and a carry-on bag. I came home with a really big bag that we went and bought a bag because I'd bought um like some treats and lots of little bits and pieces, and I just couldn't fit it in the carry-on bag. So I managed the whole trip until the last week. And then we went to Primark and bought a bag. It's sitting here. I don't know what I'll do with it now. Really big side. Put the backpack in and yeah, that's how I got got everything home. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

No, that's that's a that's the right way to do it. Absolutely absolutely the right way to do it. Yeah. And and how did you find in terms of kind of budgeting then? Because obviously things like castles and cathedrals and that they're pretty pricey to get into.

Liberty Fabric Shopping And Budgeting

SPEAKER_01 22:50

Yeah. Um, so did you find that kind of budgeting-wise it kind of it worked out?

SPEAKER_02 22:55

We set I set a budget. Yeah, I set a budget before we left, and we we actually didn't hit the budget. We actually worked it out really well. I think it just came from planning, and I'd had like a buffer budget allowed, and we didn't use all that. So um yeah, it was good. Yeah. There was there was nothing that we didn't wish we'd done. We sort of got to do everything, and that's why in the end, we'll talk about I did the two black cab tours in the end because yeah, yeah, that was really fun.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

I know. Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna kind of go on to tours now because um I I love that you did this. And um

London Tours That Made It Click

SPEAKER_01 23:32

and and we do it's really interesting because often we'll say in consults, like we recommend if people are flying at Heathrow that you know doing a tour with Discover Real London. We have spoken to to Ollie and he has lots of drivers who do this that will pick you up and you'll do a a a um touchdown tour and orientate yourself on London and it's absolutely fantastic. And I've had a few people who booked it and went, Oh my god, it was the best thing we did. And we had a few people who haven't booked it who said, We wish we had. Now I'm gonna I'll I'll yeah, so I guess um before we go on and wax the lyrical about Discord Real London, because I know we are going to. Um did you do any other tours as well as them?

SPEAKER_02 24:12

We did book um so London, London surprised me. I didn't think I was going to love the big bustling city, the big busy city, but London was beautiful. I I loved London. It was just I I will go back. I would definitely go back because we only saw a tiny little blip. We were only there four nights. Um, and so that more the first morning, full day there, we did the Black Cab tour, but we also did um uh the Tower of London, the early, the early entry where you got to see the the yearman water and the then the guided tour through. Um, and that was that was really good. But we also booked um a tour again in the afternoon. We did the taste tales and traditional ale. Oh, traditional ales. Yeah, and so we kind of because of that, our time at um the Tower of London was like we could have spent all day there easy. Um easy, yeah, yeah. So and and that what what was really lovely about that though is there happened to be, and I've told you this story before, but there was this lovely couple that we got talking to on the very first tour, and when the tour was over, we stood around for another half hour or so just chatting to these people, they were so lovely, and they actually um follow your Facebook page as well, so we just got chatting, they were lovely. Then we turned up for the taste tales and traditional ales, and they were there as well, and it made sense because obviously we've all taken your advice and booked these tours. Um, and we were so excited to to be on like this the second tour again that we have actually exchanged details now and we're in contact. We we message quite regularly, so I get to find out all about yeah, they're from Indiana, so we get to find out all about all about their life, and it's been really fun to get to know someone and yeah, it's been they kind of made it really special.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

Yeah, yeah. I just love it because it's like and actually you did send me a message at the time because um because obviously, you know, I I I I meet some of the people who listen to the podcast, I meet some of the people, obviously, if you book a consult or you send us an email or yeah, or we do a review or or you make some sort of contact, but obviously not everybody I know. So when walking around London, um I can I get recognized, which is always a bit strange that people come up and say, Oh, are you changing like yeah, yeah, hi. And I love saying hello to people, it's always so nice to see people. And you know, if you do see myself or Doug around, do come and say hello. And um, you know, we we'd just love to have a chat. Um, so it was really nice. But when when you sent me the email, you was you were saying it's not only do you help people um you know plan their trip, but you're connecting people as well. And I just thought that was I just loved that.

SPEAKER_02 26:55

Well, that's why I did send that yeah, yeah. That's why I wanted to tell you that because it was like that's another thing that your all your information that you put out there that also brings in, and it just made sense that they were on the same tours because they've obviously listened to your information and they've and they've they've both been there the similar amount of days we were, and they're doing the same thing, they're squeezing in as much as they can. But I mean, how un how unreal that they just ended up on the same tour on the same day, and they were just such nice people that I I think, yeah, it was they were yeah, it was really fun. It just made it extra special. Oh, yeah, it was good.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

It's so nice, and it's so nice. So those are both uh in so if you're listening and kind of wondering what these tours are that that um Rochelle was on, it's the yes, it's the uh opener ceremony at the Tower of London and the Tail Taste Tales and Traditional Alex. So they're both walks devour tours um in London. Both recommended by me. I I yeah, and I mean I love the company, they're they're really good company. The the tours are excellent, and the the the staff are fantastic. I just have to ask you the because the taste, tales, and traditional ale is is my real weakness when it comes to I love food tours, I really do, but I absolutely love that tour so much. Yes, um, and it's the the Scotch egg that you get on that tour is the best Scotch egg in the entire world. If you want to try a Scotch egg, that's the one to try.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

Yeah, it was good, it was good. And the we had the guide was Jed, and he was lovely. He was only a young, young sort of fellow. He was really lovely. Um, and yeah, it was really nice, yeah, just to try. And I'm not a beer drinker, or I'm not a drinker, really, and I still managed everything but the Guinness. I didn't didn't like the Guinness, but I still managed to.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

I know I'm not a Guinness drinker, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:33

Yeah, so it was really fun, it was a great way to see the the city, a great way to experience and to find out little bits and pieces about um different things that you know, stuff that if we'd have walked through we wouldn't have seen or experienced or understood. It was that was really what was what was great about it.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

Yeah, it's funny, and also you know, so some of those pubs that you would not have found some of those pubs because they're kind of hidden away. Yep. Um and I just love the fact that I could be sitting having a drink, you know, where Charles Dickens sat and had a drink. I just I mean it's like it puts it all into perspective, it's just amazing. And that's what London is about, really. And it's uh so I'm I'm so glad you did those two tours. Yes, I'm so glad you met up with another couple who are doing the same tours. And I'm gonna say a big hello to you guys in Indiana, Indiana you say um from from me, and um that's lovely. And you can say hello when you when you're in contact with them next as well. It's uh it's lovely to to find that out. Um so so you did those two tours in London, yeah, and yeah, as you mentioned, you did the Discover Real London Black Capture. So let's talk about that because I know you guys loved that so much.

SPEAKER_02 29:36

Yeah, twice. Yes, look, it and you said about the favourite thing, and I think that would actually be up there. It was just wonderful. We again I booked that a year out and sent Ollie the message, told him Steve likes to get photos, and this is what we were looking for, and when's the best time? And that's he suggested they pick they pick us up at 7 a.m. so we get good lighting. Um, and he obviously um spoke to his staff and picked somebody who knew about photos. Um, and so we ended up with um Tony, um, who was just amazing, like the information he had, um he was one of the nicest people that I've ever met. He was just so lovely. Um, and he really did know his stuff about where to get the good photos. Um, him and Steve found part way through that they had a love of James Bond. So then the tour kind of took a different direction, and we ended up, you know, there's I've got a photo of Steve pretending to be James Bond in one of the movie shots, and um, you know, and Steve's always a behind the camera kind of person, so we kind of got him in the front of the camera, and um, and we just everything, just a lot's in common, and a really nice man. Um, and after that had ended, the tour was done. I messaged later the day because he talked about the Ted Lasso tour, and I'm a huge Ted Ted Lasso fan. Um, and I said, Oh, I don't suppose you've got time on the Wednesday. And he actually had another tour that morning, and he he doesn't usually do the two tours in one day because it's a lot, because he lives um uh an hour away, or so he already had a bit of a drive, um Kent, I think he lives, so like it was like a good drive for him. So he would have had an early morning tour with somebody else and then and then come and got us and did an afternoon Ted Lasso tour and took us all around Richmond and stuff. So, like, yeah, really above and beyond, and yeah, and like he arrived with a the box of Bickies from the sh show on and like it was just and I had the scarf on and you know, like right into it. And Richmond is uh and I wouldn't have seen that, we wouldn't have gone anywhere near that. We did a quick drive-through Notting Hill on that tour. Um, and um Richmond is beautiful. Richmond's such a lovely place. So that I'd I'd go back to Richmond, like it was just yeah, very, very nice area.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

So Richmond is lovely. I used to I used to live near there. It's lovely, it is lovely, really nice. So yeah, and of course the Ted Lasso connection. Who doesn't love Ted Lasso? I mean everything about it fabulous. Yeah, it just sounded it sounded amazing. I was so pleased that you you booked again and that they were you know Tony was able to take you out. It just and I know I know at the time you were sending a message going, Oh my goodness, we absolutely love this too. I did love it, just so fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

And even to the point where he mentioned a few other things that we could do on different tours, and I said, He is probably a reason why I would go back. Um, he'd be one of the first people I'd try to book a tour with, because he did mention a few other places, and I thought, oh, I would go back just to do that, those tours that he that he talked about that was extra, like without a doubt, wouldn't even hesitate. So hopefully I do get back there to do those.

SPEAKER_01 32:58

I hope so. I hope so. And when you do get back, maybe we can meet up again. Because I'm gonna say because we we did meet up in Bath so it was very lovely of you because when we did the console, I had happened to mention that I had not climbed um to the top of Bath. That was in a podcast. Yep. Yeah, oh was it a podcast? I mentioned it. Was it? Oh, I thought I might have mentioned it during the consort when we'll talk about it. Or maybe I just hadn't said that. Yeah, no, I was listening to a podcast and it said and you'd say, Yep. I haven't done so. You sent me a message and said, let's do it. Yes, I did. This is when we've changed our itinerary around.

SPEAKER_02 33:29

Are you available on the I wasn't sure if you'd want to? No, I did.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

I did. Fourth of 4th of April, I remember it was the 4th of April because it was a Saturday, and you said, Right, so so I got it booked, um, got the train out from London, uh, and we met up in Bath and we took some I'll sh share some of the photos we took that Steve took actually. Yeah, um, because we weren't able to go right up to the top because it was kind of they were doing some work on it in that time. Yeah, but that was really cool.

SPEAKER_02 33:57

And it was lovely, it was just lovely that you took the time to like to make the trip to come and meet us, and um yeah, it was really special. It was lovely. Oh, and then we went and had a lovely lunch at Sally Lund's as well. Sally Lund, yeah. Yeah, which was really nice. So I liked that again because you showed us all the way down the bottom, and I wouldn't have known about that either. Like there's that little bit of extra that we we you know we wouldn't have seen had had you not shown us that.

SPEAKER_01 34:22

So yeah, follow your little guide and that's having a little walk around Bath of me. So that that was really nice. So I'll just say if you planted a book of console, I can't promise that I'll be able to come out and and see you. It was I just happened to be in the UK at exactly the same time as Rochelle and Steve. But I actually said that I have met up with other people, so that's what that is cool. If if you so you never know. We did feel very special. We did feel very special. Oh, it was lovely, it was so lovely to meet up with you guys, it really was. Um, you briefly mentioned Sky because you mentioned the old manor store before. And I do want to ask you about Sky because

Skye Crowds Plus Trip Lessons

SPEAKER_01 34:58

I have it Sky is getting pretty over-touristic, and Scotland, Scotland is it the whole of Scotland is beautiful, and I spent some time this trip on some other islands. I did go to Skye, but I did go to um Harrison Lewis, and then I went on to Mole and Iona, trying to kind of showcase some of the other islands because they were beautiful, but but I but I do want to ask you about Skye and how you found it found it, um, and also want to ask if I've inspired you so to go and see some of those other islands.

SPEAKER_02 35:23

You have because you were actually on Island uh Lewis and Harris when I was in Sky, and I think I did send you a photo and say, Hey, this is where I am, and I knew where you were, it was kind of cool. But yeah, I did like Sky. I I would again we did we did because we knew where to expect that they would be busy. Um we I wasn't like it didn't bother us if we hit it hit a patch where there was a bit of a crowd. We were it wasn't too bad. We just got up early and just managed. Yeah. Um it was beautiful. Um, and the the lady where we stayed there too, she um uh that was really lovely, just getting to know her, and she sort of lived there, she grew up across the road, and we got all her information about what it was like with in the little Endham Bane where she lived. Um, and that was really interesting. The photos we sort of did um our best to try and find um Highland c cows, which was lovely. And things like you'd be driving along and all the sheep were on the road, and we actually had to get out of the car and shoe them off in one point. They were just laying on the road, and you know, that was really like just not like what we would ever experience here, so that was really nice.

SPEAKER_01 36:42

That's so cool. Was there was there a particular, I know I've kind of asked you what your favourite things were, but was there a particular moment during the trip that you just is always gonna stay in your mind from this trip that you when you think about it, you think, oh that that particular moment was just just magic.

SPEAKER_02 36:59

I I was trying to think because it's really hard. There's so many lots of lots of memories that were like everything was wonderful. I think as I said before, London really surprised me. I didn't think London was gonna be as lovely as what it was. Lake District was really nice, even though it was wet and rainy. Um there's so many walks and things that we could do. Um, you could spend a lot more time there because you in order to do some of those walks, you do need to wait for better weather. So we missed a little bit of like what Steve would like to do. Um, the harder hiking and that sort of thing would be, you know, you'd have to have better planning around that. Um yeah, I don't know, it's hard to pinpoint an actual Facebook. All memorable. It was just we're just so lucky.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

Yeah, it was so lucky to get to go. So if if you were going to do the trip again, so the whole is anything to skip? Is anything to skip or anything you'd probably spend longer at? Is anything you think, uh, maybe shorter time than the other one? The list's got longer.

SPEAKER_02 37:57

I've got a big list of everywhere I want to go now. Um, I would still go to London, we would still go everywhere. Um but it's your advice that was the really helpful part because I knew well, there's many times I'd say, Oh, I know about here. We and I'd jump onto your website or I'd get the information up. Um, that really helped a lot. Um yeah, I don't know, there's so much. There's it's just I can't think of anything that was my favourite.

SPEAKER_01 38:26

All of it. I love it. I love the fact that we just loved all of it. It's it's so cool. Now, if there was um one tip that you would share with somebody who's planning this sort of length of trip and road trip

One Tip For Any UK Road Trip

SPEAKER_01 38:37

around the UK, is there something that you would say, this is my one number one tip that you should do.

SPEAKER_02 38:43

Don't be disappointed if it doesn't work out how you originally thought. So if something went wrong, you hit traffic or you hit you can't get a park, or just uh go with it. Just enjoy it for what it is. So if that plan doesn't work out, just enjoy it anyway, because you're there and you're having a lovely time and you're not at home at work. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:05

Um just go with the flow. Go with the flow.

SPEAKER_02 39:08

Just go with it, yeah. And but just be prepared that if even with all the organizing in the world, just enjoy it and take it all in and appreciate that you're seeing experiencing something different. Perfect, perfect.

SPEAKER_01 39:21

That's great. And um, do you have plans to return? Yes.

SPEAKER_02 39:26

We we were making plans before we even came home. Um I'm hoping 2028 we'll get back there. We've already got plans to go somewhere else next year now, but yeah, hopefully the year after. Yeah, that'll be cool. And that would be in Wales and other places that we didn't get to.

SPEAKER_01 39:44

Yeah, okay, perfect. Well, hopefully Doug and I will help you with um with your plans around that again as well. That'd be really good. And you never know if we're there, we can get to meet up again, which would be really cool. Um now I'm gonna share in the show notes, I will share some of the links of the places that um Richelle's talked about in terms of the places they eat or the um some of the accommodation. Um, and obviously I'll share to uh the Walks Devouters and to um Discover Real London as well. So those will be in the show notes at uktravelplanning.com forward slash episode 211. Can you believe it, Rochelle? Episode 211. That's good. That's great. Icon. It's incredible.

SPEAKER_02 40:23

I think I've listened to most of them. Have you? A couple of times. A couple of times.

SPEAKER_01 40:29

Wow. Oh, that's amazing. Uh well, for this episode, I'm going to say a huge thank you to you, Rochelle, for coming on and uh sharing your wonderful trip report. It was to say it was great to meet up with you, you guys in the UK when you were there. I'm so happy that you did a consult and that we were able to help you with your plans as well. Um, and to say hopefully we'll either help you with your next plans to visit Wales and some of the other places you didn't visit. And uh and meet up with you soon. But um and also meet up with you hopefully in Australia as well when we're down in New South Wales. Yes, please do. We will. Oh well. But uh thanks so much for coming on and sharing your report, Rochelle. Thanks for having me. Thank you. Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the UK Travel Planning Podcast. As always, show notes can be found at uktravelplanning.com.

Where To Find Links And Final Thanks

SPEAKER_01 41:15

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.