UK trip is getting close... please help with some other planning

kamik86 · Jul 26, 2016

This is a repost from the community board when a few people suggested I post here.

I have a trip in September to London for a few days then renting a car and driving to Bath, Cardiff, Stratford-Upon-Avon, and Oxford before coming back home.

Some things I could use some help with:
Any must do suggestions for things to do in the locations that aren't London? (Trip is just 2 adults no kids) I have some ideas in each but could use more input. London I have more items I really want to do then I'll probably have time for so not as concerned about that one. Stratford-Upon-Avon and Oxford I have the least plans for.

Train tickets. We want to do the train from Gatwick to London and back. We are staying near Kings Cross/St Pancras. Should I buy tickets ahead of time or when I get there? If I buy ahead of time what if my flight gets delayed?

What about the oyster cards is there any benefit to getting visitor ones now vs just getting them when we get there?

Any other recommendations? We haven't done too much pre planning for this one (seriously compared to our disney trips I feel like we are just hopping on a plane and seeing what happens) so nothing like food or even alot of the activities are too set yet we have a list of things we really want to do, other then that are kind of winging it.

florida sun · Jul 26, 2016

Hi and Welcome :welcome:

I can help you on anything to do with Cardiff, I live here and if you need any info please let me know. :rainbow:

kamik86 · Jul 26, 2016

florida sun said:
Hi and Welcome

I can help you on anything to do with Cardiff, I live here and if you need any info please let me know.

Ok first question. Does Cardiff have good public transportation? We are staying at the premier inn city centre (we are the type that prefer to not splurge on hotels and spend the money doing stuff instead) and we want to go to the Doctor Who Experience, Cardiff Castle, and the National Muesuem over the two days we will be there. We will have a car however I'm a bit nervous about driving on the other side of the road already so the less in city driving I can do the better...

Thanks for the help!

florida sun · Jul 26, 2016

kamik86 said:
Ok first question. Does Cardiff have good public transportation? We are staying at the premier inn city centre (we are the type that prefer to not splurge on hotels and spend the money doing stuff instead) and we want to go to the Doctor Who Experience, Cardiff Castle, and the National Muesuem over the two days we will be there. We will have a car however I'm a bit nervous about driving on the other side of the road already so the less in city driving I can do the better...

Thanks for the help!

Yes very good! If you are staying in the Premier Inn, City Centre, then you are in walking distance of The National Museum (town centre) & The Castle. Also bars, dining and the best shopping going. If you are into Sports, you are also close to The Principality Stadium! You will not need your car for any of these.

Transport to the Doctor Who Experience is also right from the City Centre to the Bay, very regular and very quick by Cardiff Bay Bus! Let me know if I can help with anything else.

http://www.cardiffbay.co.uk/

http://www.visitcardiff.com/

http://www.buscms.com/uploadedFiles/CardiffBus/Baycar_Leaflet_0911.pdf

http://www.principalitystadium.wales/

Dimplenose · Jul 27, 2016

How are you getting to Stratford upon Avon and Oxford? If you have a car there are other things to do in the area including Blenheim Palace and Warwick Castle both of which are a half to full day visit in their own right. There is also an upmarket outlet mall nearby at Bicester if you like expensive shopping (there's a train from King's Cross.).

kamik86 · Jul 27, 2016

Dimplenose said:
How are you getting to Stratford upon Avon and Oxford? If you have a car there are other things to do in the area including Blenheim Palace and Warwick Castle both of which are a half to full day visit in their own right. There is also an upmarket outlet mall nearby at Bicester if you like expensive shopping (there's a train from King's Cross.).

We planned to stop at Warwick Castle on the way to stratford upon avon. We are renting a car for all the parts outside of London (Plan is we will take the thameslink train from Gatwick to Kings Cross/St Pancras, use London transportation while we are there then take the train back to the airport to pick up the car, so we never have to drive in London. Plan is then to park the car as much as possible in cities and just use the car for the drives between. I hate city driving in the states so am a bit nervous about that while having a car that is backwards from what I normally have.)

I hate shopping. Shopping is a chore that I have to do when I'm home because food, clothes and other necessities don't magically appear in my house. DH disagrees so I put up with small amounts of shopping on vacation... however going to a mall on vacation... nope not for me.

kamik86 · Jul 27, 2016

One thing I was really hoping for help on.

Train tickets. We want to take the train from Gatwick to Kings Cross/St Pancras. Should we book ahead or when we get there? Does it cost extra with luggage or is that just included? Any tips about the train?

Chilly · Jul 27, 2016

No extra charge to take luggage on the train.

You can get train tickets here:

https://www.thetrainline.com/

kamik86 · Jul 27, 2016

Chilly said:
No extra charge to take luggage on the train.

You can get train tickets here:

https://www.thetrainline.com/

Thanks. Seems my best option is a direct to St Pancras with an anytime return.

The next question it has an actual start train time. Do I need to make it quite a bit after I should arrive in case it takes a while to get there with customs, baggage etc? Would the ticket still be good for a later train if I missed the original time?

Chilly · Jul 27, 2016

kamik86 said:
Thanks. Seems my best option is a direct to St Pancras with an anytime return.

The next question it has an actual start train time. Do I need to make it quite a bit after I should arrive in case it takes a while to get there with customs, baggage etc? Would the ticket still be good for a later train if I missed the original time?

Yes i'd give myself an hour minimum but probably more like 90 mins to get from the plane to the train, maybe even 2 hours.

If you book a cheaper ticket with a specific time then yes you can only get that train.

MinnieJem · Jul 27, 2016

My partner and I visited both Stratford Upon Avon and Oxford last year! Highly recommend getting afternoon tea at The Fourteas, a 1940's wartime themed tearoom in Stratford Upon Avon. You could also take a tour or watch a show at the Royal Shakespeare Company theatre. In the gardens next to it there's some statues of famous Shakespeare characters you can take pictures with and also boat tours on the river. Along the high street area is Shakespeare's house (admission fee) and opposite is an all year Christmas shop which might be nice to pick up a decoration from.

In Oxford we really enjoyed the Museum of Natural History (free) and you can also walk around some of the Oxford University buildings (some are free). Particularly the library (which we were unable to visit) and the Cathedral (admission fee) you'll recognise from the Harry Potter films. Of course if you like Harry Potter make sure to find 'Platform 9 3/4' while you're at Kings Cross/St Pancras for a photo with the trolley and a look in the gift shop!

Between Oxford and Stratford Upon Avon you could visit Bourton on the Water. There isn't lots to do but it's a nice place to get lunch and walk around, very picturesque. Probably exactly how you'd imagine an old English village!

On the outskirts of Bath is another picturesque village called Lacock with a few Harry Potter filming locations (the Potter's House, and the Abbey was used for some of the Hogwarts scenes).

MinnieJem · Jul 27, 2016

Also if you like castles, abbeys, palaces etc. have a look on the English Heritage website and the Welsh one (CADW). Some offer free entry, but typically the nicer ones are around £8.00 per person. English Heritage offers an Overseas Visitor pass (9days or 16 days) and CADW offer an Explorer Pass (3 or 7days) but depending on how many places you plan to visit it may be cheaper to just pay regular admission.

http://cadw.gov.wales/Traveltrade/explorerpass/?lang=en
http://cadw.gov.wales/daysout/maps-and-itineraries/?lang=en

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/#?category=Property&theme=&page=1&place=
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/overseas-visitors/

The majority of historic buildings are managed by one of these charities but Warwick Castle is a privately owned attraction and is part of the Merlin group (who own Legoland, Madame Tussuards, The London Eye, Sealife Centres, Dungeons and the major theme parks). A lot of these are great attractions and either in or around London but it could work out very expensive if you want to do a few them. Merlin do offer an annual pass or you can often get 2 for 1 deals etc.

http://www.merlinannualpass.co.uk/compare-passes.aspx

kamik86 · Jul 27, 2016

Chilly said:
Yes i'd give myself an hour minimum but probably more like 90 mins to get from the plane to the train, maybe even 2 hours.

If you book a cheaper ticket with a specific time then yes you can only get that train.

Ok so I see tickets that say things like "Anytime day Single" is "Anytime return" mean
1) I have to take the train at 10:30 on the way their and can return at anytime within 1 month
2) I have an anytime day 9/23 ticket to London and an anytime within 1 month return

If the answer is 2 then this is exactly what I want.

StarlightStarbright1 · Jul 27, 2016

I live near Bath and would suggest that you visit the Roman Baths, Cathedral and if you have time, the thermae Bath Spa is fantastic during the day or on an evening. The rooftop area is truly unique.

https://www.thermaebathspa.com/the-spa/spa-sessions-new-royal-bath/

Chilly · Jul 28, 2016

kamik86 said:
Ok so I see tickets that say things like "Anytime day Single" is "Anytime return" mean
1) I have to take the train at 10:30 on the way their and can return at anytime within 1 month
2) I have an anytime day 9/23 ticket to London and an anytime within 1 month return

If the answer is 2 then this is exactly what I want.

Yes number 2 is what you want.

CarolAnn856 · Jul 31, 2016

kamik86 said:
One thing I was really hoping for help on.

Train tickets. We want to take the train from Gatwick to Kings Cross/St Pancras. Should we book ahead or when we get there? Does it cost extra with luggage or is that just included? Any tips about the train?

Re. luggage...it is included, but I will tell you that there is not a lot of space for it. One thing we discovered, though, was that larger suitcases can sometimes fit in the space between seats that are back-to-back. So if there isn't any room on the luggage rack (which only holds a few), try that. There are also overhead racks, but they only hold items that would fit in an overhead bin on an airplane.

My other advice is to pack less than you think you need (but definitely bring a small umbrella!). I did better on this trip than my last, but I still brought more clothing than necessary. I guess I'll just need to plan another trip, since third time's the charm, right?

kamik86 · Jul 31, 2016

CarolAnn856 said:
Re. luggage...it is included, but I will tell you that there is not a lot of space for it. One thing we discovered, though, was that larger suitcases can sometimes fit in the space between seats that are back-to-back. So if there isn't any room on the luggage rack (which only holds a few), try that. There are also overhead racks, but they only hold items that would fit in an overhead bin on an airplane.

My other advice is to pack less than you think you need (but definitely bring a small umbrella!). I did better on this trip than my last, but I still brought more clothing than necessary. I guess I'll just need to plan another trip, since third time's the charm, right?

We are planning to bring less clothes. Most of the time on longer trips we do laundry part way through anyway we can easily do that once or twice in the 10 days we are there.

We have gotten to being able to do one large checked bag, one carryon, and two backpacks between us easily on other trips. The only thing we are thing we are a bit worried about is the large checked bag as its not the easiest to carry so I'm not sure how it will be on the train. We may have to try and go to one of the smaller checked bags we have.

CarolAnn856 · Jul 31, 2016

kamik86 said:
We are planning to bring less clothes. Most of the time on longer trips we do laundry part way through anyway we can easily do that once or twice in the 10 days we are there.

We have gotten to being able to do one large checked bag, one carryon, and two backpacks between us easily on other trips. The only thing we are thing we are a bit worried about is the large checked bag as its not the easiest to carry so I'm not sure how it will be on the train. We may have to try and go to one of the smaller checked bags we have.

That might be a very good idea. The other thing to consider is that we found that it was often difficult to locate an escalator or elevator in the tube stations, so dealing with even our rolling luggage was a pain, since we had to use stairs. We used the tube to get to the train station, so that was an issue for us when we left London to go to Glasgow.

Dimplenose · Aug 3, 2016

kamik86 said:
I hate shopping. Shopping is a chore that I have to do when I'm home because food, clothes and other necessities don't magically appear in my house. DH disagrees so I put up with small amounts of shopping on vacation... however going to a mall on vacation... nope not for me.

It was just an option, but I must say that I agree with you. By the way my DH thinks we do not only have a "magic refrigerator" but a "magic laundry basket" in our house!

kamik86 · Aug 3, 2016

Dimplenose said:
It was just an option, but I must say that I agree with you. By the way my DH thinks we do not only have a "magic refrigerator" but a "magic laundry basket" in our house!

Lol actually if anyone thought that in my relationship it would be me. I don't do laundry and he does more of the grocery shopping then I do (He works at target and they have groceries. So he picks stuff up on the way out alot)

UK trip is getting close... please help with some other planning

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