radimus

Next summer, my daughter and a pack of her 17-18 year old (girl)friends want to go on a vactaion to the UK and some of the closer high spots (Ireland, Scotland, France, etc)... Probably spend 1-2 weeks touring around with myself and hopefully 1 or 2 other parents as chaperones.

We are just in the imagining stage right now. I have a few general bullet points...

Busses and trains will be my friend
Cell phone service (and data plans) will have to be researched
GPS is my friend
Language will have to be English (or what passes for it in the US :) )
Tell anyone that asks that we are Canadian :)
Each of the girls has to keep an empty package of Valtrex in their purse/pocket
I'm making each of the girls responsible for at least applying for their passports by Christmas and having a bank account for saving money

Any tips or suggestions will be helpful.

YouTube - Herding Cats

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Jogga

radimus, you will be more than welcome in North Wales for a pint (or two)!

• Despite the UK being (almost) civilized, rural bus services are generally poor.
• Trains are a good (but expensive) way of getting around except at weekends when the maintenance schedules tend to be conducted.
• The language is English ;) but is increasingly Polish in the towns and cities :)
• You should have no problem roaming on your cell phones, but charges tend to be high (read extortionate)
• Short term car (van) hire might be an option if you are considering a lot of traveling, our transport infrastructure is not as joined up as it might be.
• GPS works fine :)

Enjoy your trip and, if your coming anywhere near North East Wales, let me know when.

stevenator65

I've never been there - yet, so I can't offer advice. But I wish you the best. Sounds like a great trip!

radimus

I was looking at some of the tour packages. many of the less expensive 10-14 day tours of London/Wales/Ireland run about 1,000-1,600 and air fare is about another 1,000.

I'd think it would be pretty cool to do and the kids get to see some of the world... But one big city is much like any other big city (except for whatever runs in the gutter)

This one looks like it covers many of the highspots in the region...
Cosmos Tours : Wales and Ireland

We might just do it ourselves and rent a minivan and drive ourselves around. The girls are very "history oriented" and would like to see cool historical locations.

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Jogga

Might be worth considering the relative strength of the £ and € against the $. You'll need plenty of spending money ;)

Tankman

Sounds like a great trip!

Currency exchange knowledge sounds like good advice!

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jflick35

My dad was stationed in England for 3 years, I would put seeing Rome at the top of the list. Especially if they are history buffs. The trains in Europe are great. Do you have the electrical conversion covered? In the car it's the same but I think wall voltage is 220. This is coming from experience in 1978 so things may be different then I remember.

breley

Originally Posted by Jogga

Might be worth considering the relative strength of the £ and € against the $. You'll need plenty of spending money ;)

You forgot to mention that pesky VAT on items as well!:)
As I recall from my couple of visits years ago the water pressure difference was noticeable where showers were concerned, which could probably a big thing for US teenagers who are used to higher shower pressure in the US. I don't know if that's still true 15 years later or if pressure was a function of the particular part of the UK visited (Scottish lowlands and SE England for me).

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spud42

i did the trip in 1992.. but we went for 6 months... do london.. the tube is great for getting around. the ferry to ireland is good.... we had a car so it was a fair bit more expensive.... so many many places to see.. you will end up suffering from AFC syndrome... (another flipping castle) lol

edingburgh castle is good as is the city... dont forget to ring NON's doorbell..

i enjoyed York.. the JORVIC viking centre was good..see dover castle.. the tour goes into the casements used in the napolean war as well as for Churchill in WW2.....lands end to john o'groats.. you cant go too far without seeing some history or something interesting..

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nonentity

Not that I am biased or anything but it would be a shame to come all that way and not sample some of what Scotland has to offer.

Edinburgh is obviously the jewel in our crown and if you were basing yourselves in London / central England, and you booked well in advance, the train fares are very reasonable. There are single tickets available for between £25 and £35 from London(check Virgin Trains as one example) which is pretty good for this country, although they are not bookable that far in advance of course.

Here are some other peculiarly Scottish sites to peruse through and whet your appetite.

National Trust
Scottish Tourist Board
Edinburgh Castle

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psionandy

I'd probably put Edinburgh on the list as well as London... Rome and Paris would be another 2 highlights if you're going to cover a lot of ground.

And Liverpool of course if you want to do the historic "gateway to America" thing, or are Beatles fans.

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