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Winter Travel in London and the UK: From Coastal Walks to Christmas Magic · UK Travel Planning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: In this episode of the UK Travel Planning Podcast, discover what it's really like to visit the UK in winter, as Abigail shares her month-long adventure from coastal walks in Brighton to Christmas magic in London, plus practical tips on transport, packing and staying connected.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Your host is the founder of the UK Travel Planning website, tracy Collins.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: In 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.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: 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.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Hi, welcome to episode 154 of the UK Travel Planning Podcast, and this week I have a trip report with Abigail Hannah from New Zealand.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: So not only has Abigail been on the podcast before or my global travel planning podcast, I should say before this is her first time on the UK Travel Planning one, but it's also great to have a New Zealander on the podcast, abigail.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: So welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: Kia ora Tracey, it is such a privilege to be here and it's interesting.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: You say it's exciting to have a New Zealander, because I was at the airport once and they took ages checking my passport.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: I was actually boarding the flight to the UK and they checked for ages and I was like, is there a problem?
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: They're just like sorry, we don't see many New Zealand passports.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: We just wanted to double check.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: You're allowed in.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Oh, that is so funny.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: That is so funny.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Well, you're the second New Zealander that we've had on the podcast Awesome.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: So if there are any other New Zealanders out there who have been to the UK recently, who are podcast listeners, get in touch, because we want to talk to you about your trip Now, abigail.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Get in touch because we want to talk to you about your trip Now, abigail.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Just give us a quick introduction, because I have mentioned you've been on a Global Travel Planet podcast before and actually I've been on your podcast a few times.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: So just chat to us about who you are and what you do.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: I think that would be great to start with.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so I'm based in New Zealand.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: I've actually only lived here for nine years, even though I was born here, but I grew up in India, so that's a bit of my backstory.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: But I absolutely had to.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: I found it really hard moving back to New Zealand because it was supposed to be home, but I slowly and very quickly fell in love with the country and just have since then explored every single corner.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: And I'm so passionate about other people getting outdoors and seeing New Zealand because when you visit New Zealand, it's all about the outdoors and the scenery.
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: And so I love hiking, I love sea kayaking, I enjoy rock climbing and we're actually currently building out our van.
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: We're about 90% done and we're about to hit the road full-time and be full-time van lifers.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: So that's the exciting next chapter.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: But yes, I also host New Zealand's top travel podcast called Aotearoa Adventures.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: If you can't spell that, you can type New Zealand travel podcast and you'll find it.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: And Tracy was on and talked about her visit to Aotearoa, new Zealand, which was really cool.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: It was, and it's still hugely in my memories because I loved it so much, and it's somewhere that Doug and I constantly talk about going back to.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: So we will be back to New Zealand at some point, because it is a stunningly beautiful country.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: Oh, I'm obsessed with it.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: I could explore it for the rest of my life and still not see it all.
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: And I've had so many guests on the podcast that are like ah, I came for a three-month trip and now I'm still here, 20 years later.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm very lucky in that it's not very far for me to go really hop on a plane.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: It's a few hours away.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: I will be now and I have talked on your podcast all about my trip to New Zealand, and you've been on my global travel planning podcast talking about New Zealand and also about Nepal and Kathmandu recently, which has has been amazing, but this one, this podcast, is all about your trip report and your visit to the UK.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: So let's kick off with that.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about and give us an overview of your recent trip when you went, how long you stayed and the main reason for your visit.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, probably one of the reasons not many New Zealanders make it to the UK is it's literally on the opposite side of the world.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: I think it's 40 hours of transit time just to get like to Europe and that side of the world.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: But we kind of went a little bit slowly.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: So we went to India and Nepal first that's what I spoke to on the global travel planning podcast and then we went over to the UK and our entire trip was just to see family.
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: So we've got family in Nepal.
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: My husband's brother and sister are based in the UK.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: I hadn't met one of my nieces the other two, it had been two years, I think, since we last saw them, and then we also had a whole bunch of high school friends that are in the UK that we went and saw as well.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: So when you first asked me to come on, I was like, oh, it was such a boring trip.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: We didn't do that much.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: It wasn't like a sightseeing trip, it was.
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: Our main purpose was to see family.
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: But we did go to Brighton.
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: London and the Isle of Wight were kind of the key places and we did do some fun stuff around there.
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: So we can talk about that.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know what.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: It is really interesting to talk about this because there are lots of Australian, british Australians who will travel back to the UK to go and see, and Doug and I kind of in this category.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: So we'll go back to the UK and we will see family and friends.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: So you have to balance that, wanting to see family and friends, but also you're in the UK, you're not going to not do some sightseeing, are you?
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: It's just you're going to fit that in.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: So how did you balance that?
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so I didn't touch on time of the year, but we were actually there at Christmas and so, being winter, I feel like it was quite different.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: The last time I was in the UK I was 16 and it was summer and I think it was the hottest summer that had on record in a couple of years.
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: So I remember from that trip this beautiful, like blue skies, sunshine, most days, and it was with my family.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: I've got five younger siblings.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: We hired this van that was must've been a nine seater, I think, that we all crammed into and we actually got a national heritage pass I think is that what they're called.
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: And so the family pass was actually 200 pounds for an entire year, but there were like eight of us on this one family pass, so it was a great bargain.
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: I don't know if they still do them, but I highly recommend.
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: And so we just ticky-toed around the UK in this beautiful summer and went to all these national national trust places, um, but it was quite different this time around, being winter and the sun comes up at about 8, 30 in in the morning and it sets at about 4.30.
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: So our activities were a lot more cozy, should I say.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: But again, anna was also over the UK at the same time as you.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: It took a bit of adjusting to you, actually, because you forget in some ways, you forget just how short the days are in winter, particularly December and January.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: You're like, oh, there's a lot more darkness than there is daylight, and actually that is a huge thing to think about if you're planning a trip.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Actually, I'm going to do a podcast soon about visiting London at Christmas and things to do and that will be one of the considerations that you need to kind of think about.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: But how did you kind of manage to like plan in terms of packing and taking stuff?
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: Cause I'm going to ask that because I've just actually done a podcast the global travel plan I want and talk about packing and there's a huge debate about just taking, carry on and then, you know, checking your bags.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: But Doug and I have just traveled throughout different, you know know, different seasons, so we had more luggage than we would normally.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: How did you deal with that, with packing, for knowing you're going to be in the UK in winter, it was going to be dark, yeah, a bit more cozy yeah, so, like I mentioned, this was actually um month two of a three-month trip.
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: So our first month was India, nepal, so we had quite a different wardrobe for that.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: And then the UK and the US was our next stop, and so that was winter and it was quite cold.
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: So I'm pretty sure I probably wore like thermals most days I'm quite a cold person so I had like my merino layer and I would also wear like merino leggings underneath my jeans just for that extra warmth.
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: And then I had my leather boots, my blundundstones, and I'm pretty sure I lived in those every single day.
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: I don't think I wore anything else because it was quite.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: It was wet for probably half half the month of the time that we were there, and I feel like I only saw the sun maybe three days in that entire month, but one of them was in Brighton.
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: So Brighton was the first place we went to, and so should I tell you what we did around there?
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Yes, I love Brighton, and it's far too long, actually, since I've been to Brighton, so that's high on my list when I get back over to the UK.
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: Well, it's interesting because I feel like Brighton is like the seaside place that everyone goes to in summer, so it was definitely a lot quieter and sleepier in winter and you could tell.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: But there was this beautiful cliff walk and I'm the kind of person that just loves doing stuff outdoors when I travel.
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: I'm just like I want to be outdoors all the time.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: So we had this beautiful sunny day and we did this cliff walk all the way from Brighton to Rottingdean, which is this little old town village I think that's what it was called, that's what I've got in my notes, and yeah, so we went into, like I don't know, a 200 year old pub or whatever it was and had a drink.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Fairly new, then fairly new.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Oh, I'm sorry.
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: In New Zealand.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: That's quite old.
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: It might have been older, I don't remember but I remember looking at my watch and being like, oh, it's only five o'clock, it feels like it's nine or ten because it was so dark and something else that was quite cool, because it was Christmas and because in New Zealand all our Christmases are in summer, I really wanted to kind of lean into the winter Christmas and just embrace it.
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: So we went down to like a local church around the corner that was having a carol service and the choir was there and we all had candles and there was wine and it was just like very wholesome.
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: And then we also went to the Glenbourne Opera House, which is just outside of Brighton as well, and that's a 1,200-seat opera house and, yeah, that was a really cool experience as well.
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: And that's a 1200 seat opera house and, yeah, that was a really cool experience as well.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: Okay, that's, that's something I've not done, that something a little bit different.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: So after Brighton, you were in London, so I was also in London, but I went at the end of November to get a lot as much of the Christmas decorations in as I could, because I was actually traveling on mainland Europe and went to lots of different countries to visit some Christmas markets, which was a lot of fun.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Um, so tell me about London, because London's in a great place to visit.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Well, I love London at Christmas.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: So how did you find it?
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: that was what I was most excited about on this trip.
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: Um, and my husband Isaac was, um, it was just like the one thing that I that I wanted to do.
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: I'm like I know we're here see family, but I have to see the Christmas lights in London.
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: And I think a lot of that came from you, tracy, and seeing all of your photos and videos of the Christmas lights over the years, and I was like this is the one thing we have to do.
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: So it was really cool and we met up with some friends in London and, honestly, I just followed them around.
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: So I have no idea, like, what the kind of route is that we took.
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: I have no idea, like, what the kind of route is that we took, but we started in Piccadilly Circus and then we kind of hit St James Road Street, leicester Square, trafalgar Square, st Martin's Lane and Piccadilly.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, piccadilly Circus is where we started.
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: So we just kind of went on this big wander and, honestly, it felt like every single street in London was just so festive and there were crowds and crowds of people.
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: But it was just very wholesome and everyone's all bundled up and you're just having a good time.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: It is amazing, I think, that there's just such a great atmosphere and everywhere is decorated.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: The shops are amazing, the decorations are amazing, the whole atmosphere is just great.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, especially if you get one of those cold, crisp kind of winter's day, so it's not raining, it's not drizzling, it's not miserable, it's just been a sunny day and it's cold and you can get wrapped up.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: So I spent a lot of time kind of pounding the streets in London to get as much video and information and photos of the shops and the decorations.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: So they'll be on the website and hopefully we'll be sharing those on YouTube as well soon, if you're planning to visit London at Christmas.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: But did you go to Covent Garden at all?
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: Because that's also a lovely place to go.
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: Yes, we did, and they have the big bell decorations.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: That was really pretty as well, and Christmas trees everywhere.
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: So many Christmas trees.
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: I think the one in Trafalgar square was a gift from norway or something.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it is.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: They give that every year, so that usually arrives.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Uh, usually, I think I'd I'd already left the uk by that point to do some travel, but, um, it arrives around about the 5th, I think, of december.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: That usually goes up or around about between the 5th and the 10th, I think.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: But yes, that's.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: That's been a gift, um, since the of World War II, I believe, from the Norwegian people.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: So it was just it was really cool and it's cool to just kind of wander down and just take in all the festivities.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: No, it's really good.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: So let's talk about some of the practicalities, because I know you did spend a lot of time with family, but still you still had to do the kind of practical stuff that we get asked about.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: So how?
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: did you get around?
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so we used public transport pretty much the whole time.
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: Um, um, when we first landed in Heathrow actually, this is one thing I'll say we, heathrow and Gatwick are very far apart and it is important to know which airport you're flying into.
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: I knew that we had them the wrong way around, but we flew into Heathrow to go south and then we've like, yeah, we had them the wrong way around and I knew it, but it was a compromise we were willing to make for the more affordable flights.
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so we got out of the airport at Heathrow and went straight to, like, the train desk and they were just able to give us tickets to Brighton and told us which bus to be on and it was.
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: It was pretty straightforward.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: To be honest, we hadn't pre-booked anything.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: We just kind of showed up and did it as we went, and then for the next legs like getting back to London, getting to Milton Keynes we just booked all of those legs a couple of days before we went.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: And you went by train or by bus.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: Mostly by train, but a few buses.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: I think it was more affordable to catch the buses to the airports, yeah.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and how did you find the trains?
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: I can hear Doug kind of going ask her about the trains.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: How was her training?
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: experience.
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: I don't remember it being too complicated.
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: I remember it being pretty straightforward, and I've seen Doug's videos.
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: I had him at the back of the mind telling me to look at the board, find out which train it is wait for the platform.
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: We also used the apps as well, which were super helpful.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: We got the two together pass, which meant that we could save 30%, I believe when the two of you were traveling together, so we were always traveling together, and so that worked out for us really well too yeah, that's it.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: That's something that Doug always says to people.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: Check to see if you can get one of the rail cards which will save you money.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: Now, talking about money, and I know at the moment, for the Australian dollar and the New Zealand dollar, we haven't got a great exchange rate at the moment it was a pound?
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: yes, it.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: Yes, it was, it still is.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: How did you handle money?
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Because we get asked this all the time and, to be honest, I very rarely carry any cash in the UK these days which Doug goes mad about because I literally carry my phone, so I just use contactless 99% of the time.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: So how did you?
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: How did you find that?
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: How did you deal with cash contactless?
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: Did you get?
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: How did you find that?
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: How did you deal with cash contactless?
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: How?
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: did you deal with exchange?
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: All that sort of stuff.
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: So I don't think I even saw banknotes actually in the UK.
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: If we did, it was my husband, isaac, that looked after the cash.
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: But I'm a really big fan of a Wise card and I've been using those for years.
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: So what it is it's effectively, I guess it's like an international bank and what it means is that you can add currency, any currency.
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: So I'm adding my New Zealand dollars, transferring that in New Zealand, and then you also open up a bank account in pounds and you can transfer it across and you get really good exchange rates and you can choose which days you are doing those transfers as well.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: So would kind of move some across.
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: When it went down a little bit, even though the exchange rates were so bad while we were over there, um, and it just meant that we were spending in pounds, um, and you're not paying those transaction fees every single time you're tapping, um.
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: So, yeah, my husband was carrying the physical wise card and then I had the same wise card on my phone as the contactless.
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: So when we were tapping in on the tube and stuff, we would both just tap on with the wise card.
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: We didn't get Oyster cards and that worked really well, although it was a little bit funny when you're going through your bank statements and you've got like the exact same transaction for the tube, like two in a row.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's a mistake.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: What's mistake?
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: What's going on?
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, we always say you know, the whole contactless versus oyster con is such a big debate, um, and we always just said everybody, just check the pros and cons and choose what works for you, because it's such a divisive.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: Honestly, it's one of those divisive topics that I think people are very like.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: You know, you should only do this or no, you should and we're like yeah, just read the pros and cons and decide what there's no right or wrong with this.
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: I'm pretty sure I asked you this question as well before I went up, yeah, tracy what do I do?
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: Which one do I get?
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: Um, and I just, I just like it's extra effort to get an oyster card to me.
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: I couldn't see too much difference.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: I was like we're just gonna go contactless.
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: It makes it easier yeah, exactly it's.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: It's honestly it's up to you.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: I, I sometimes use most of the card, I sometimes use my phone, it depends, um.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: But I do say to people like, if you, if you know, doug and I are slightly older than you and sometimes you know when you there's lots of things going on and I I don't know where I put my phone or I don't know where I put my card or whatever.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, I've just like, at least if an oyster card goes in my pocket or and then if I lose it, not a big deal and we've actually had feedback from people said oh, my husband actually lost his oyster card, so thank god it wasn't the credit card, you know so
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: again, it's.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: You just have to work out exactly what works for you.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: So that's what I say.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: But Doug and I also use wise cards.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: He's got a card, I've got a card, I have mine on my phone.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: I think I have something like 20 different currency accounts on there, um, because obviously this last year I've been in 22 countries, but I don't know how many different currencies, but majority of those I could use my wise card for, which is brilliant.
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I've just been on a trip to South Korea and I just tapped my wise card everywhere and it just works so well, so I'm a big fan of that.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Definitely easier.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: So let's talk about budgeting, because obviously you were doing a big trip, we're gonna just come back from a big trip and and obviously when you're away, when when the Australian dollar, the New Zealand dollar isn't as strong as it was and you have to kind of think about budget constraints.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: So how did you manage with budgeting?
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: that's a really interesting question.
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: I was kind of hoping you wouldn't ask, sorry, no, I think we had an idea of how much we would be spending on the trip, but I think we exceeded that quite a little bit along the way, and a big part of that was the exchange rate.
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: But because we were primarily seeing family, we weren't actually spending money on accommodation.
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: So in the UK in particular, eating out when we were with our friends was a big expense.
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: And then getting around and yeah, like it was $40 New Zealand dollars for my husband and I to go into London and back out, which seems like so much, and I know it's just the exchange rate.
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: We were based in Wimbledon, which is, I think it's just outside the tube, um, yeah thing.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: So you had to like transfer the trains, um, so I think transport overall was like a little bit more costly than we were anticipating.
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: But I was also working full-time, well, part-time, um, on the road as well, so that kind of helped with cash flow, just being able to still have money coming in and still being working while we were traveling.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: So, yeah, I don't know if that quite answers your question about budgeting, but I think put some contingencies in there, or do your research beforehand, because we didn't do much research into cost and you know what I, because we we tried to kind of have an idea of what things are going to cost, but I always think things cost more than you expect.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: It just does, and things like exchange rate fluctuating can be an issue.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, doug and I have done some house sitting, which really helped because that brings costs down, because I find accommodation and eating out are just huge expenses and so that's something that we've tried to do, and obviously you were staying with family, so that helps and I do go and visit friends and stay and stay with family sometimes as well, when I'm in the uk, which helps.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: I will say, though, I found that groceries in the uk were quite a bit cheaper compared to what I'm used to in new zealand, which um surprised me and made me a little bit angry when I saw new zealand lamb for so cheap.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Your christmas specials in the uk are extraordinary to be honest, that does not surprise me, because we thought new zealand groceries were really expensive.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we were a bit like oh yeah, so I I don't know if that's just like a comparison between new zealand, um, but if you are, if you do want to do your own grocery shopping and that's an option, that might be quite an affordable way and also, well, I was going to say that you can look at like meal deals and places like Marks and Spencer's and Tesco's and Sainsbury's and they're, they're really good.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: That's something that we do all the time just go for a meal deal because and I know we get feedback in the Facebook group all the time going oh, thank you so much for saying about meal deals, because we knew about them and so we could budget that way because, yeah, I think, and Doug and I try to either have a if we stay in bed and breakfast have a reasonable-sized breakfast, so we then only eat the main meal at the end of the day because that's another thing, just to try and keep the cost down.
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: The other thing that surprised me about London I didn't realize you have to book these places if you want to be eating out and having dinner there, because that's something you only do in New Zealand.
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: If it's like a very fancy restaurant, like, you'll book in advance, but in London it seemed like anywhere we wanted to eat and we were a bigger group with our friends.
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: There might have been four or five of us well, four or five plus yeah.
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: So that's something to keep in mind book ahead if you want to eat out in London yeah, book ahead for a lot of things.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: We've got an article about how far ahead you should book.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: Because that's another question that comes up a lot, I'll link to that in the show notes, because that's a, that's a, that's a good point.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: Um, abigail, now what about staying connected?
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Did you use an e-sim?
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Did you buy a sim card?
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: How did you do?
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: it?
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: Oh, that's a really good question.
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: I think what we did is we picked up a SIM card at the airport and we put that in my husband's phone, and then I had an eSIM that I was using for the whole trip as well, which also worked in Nepal and the US, so between the two of those, that's kind of what we did, but I was mainly relying on him to hotspot me for data because he had more data on his plan, but that worked pretty well, yeah, so we just picked up something locally and had an eSIM as a bit of a backup, just in case.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's a good idea.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: I know we've been using eSIMs for the last well, all the last few places we've been to about the last few years I think we've been using eSIMs and and I just find it so easy.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: When you just fly into a new destination, you switch over and off, you know where you go, so it works really well.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: Oh, just popping back to London, did you get into into any of the museums in London to get the V&A by any chance?
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: yeah, so we had, um, we had one day in London which was just that evening, seeing all the Christmas lights, um.
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: But then, um, we came back after New Year's and I kind of just wanted to have a day walking around London.
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: I I was like you know, we're here, I just want to see all the things.
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: I'd done it before on my previous trip.
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: But we kind of just wandered around.
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: So we started near the London Eye, didn't go on it, the lines were really long and I honestly, tracy, I've grown up in India so this shouldn't be a shock to me.
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: But I found the crowds in London just huge, like there were so many people around, like Westminster and Big Ben.
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: We were kind of just jostling our way through the crowds, which I don't remember from previous trips.
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: I don't know if it was just the time of year or because it was the only sunny day we'd had in about a week, but we wandered up to Buckingham Palace, went through Hyde Park and then from there we went to the V&A, because I had been to the National History Museum and the Science Museum on past trips and I wanted to see the V&A.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: So, yeah, we had a wander around there.
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: It was really cool and I especially like the big.
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: I think they're called like cast the moulds Cascot.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: There we go.
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: Tracy knows what I'm talking about.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: I found that interesting.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Well, every time I go back to London I it's really funny because I'll just go and sit in the cast courts for an hour on my own and just I just love them, absolutely love and and I know if you've listened to the podcast before, you probably think, yeah, I talk about the V&A a lot.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: It's just I honestly love it.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: I love the V&A, I just love the just sitting there and I don't know the whole atmosphere.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: The cast courts is just something I really love it.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: You're just surrounded by all these casts of amazing places from around the world.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, it's, it's fantastic.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: And did you get to their cafe?
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: Because it's the first museum cafe in the world and it's all art deco, so I hope you did but if you didn't, you have to go next time.
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: I can't remember if we stopped at the cafe, um, but we did.
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: We wandered through quite a few of the levels, didn't see it all because we were a little bit short on time, but I quite enjoyed, like the stained glass gallery as well, um, I found that super interesting, um, but yeah, you could spend hours around all the museums in london and I also just love so much that they were free to enter.
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: I think that's just, it's such a good rainy day activity as well.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: It gets very busy, though I know I think the year, oh Christmas before Doug and I tried to get the Natural History Museum on a rainy day.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: Forget it.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: We didn't book and it was like the queue was far too long.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: But I'm actually going to do a podcast about the museums in london because we do get asked a lot about them and a lot of the museums are free.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: So natural history museum, british museum is free, vna is free, the science museum's free.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: A lot of them are free, smaller ones not necessarily, but a lot of those are included in things like the london pass, like the florence nightingale museum is excellent, worth visiting.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: So we'll have a chat actually in a future podcast episode about those.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: Now, did you buy anything?
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: I know you were going on to America, so probably a little bit difficult, but did you purchase anything when you were in London or in?
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: the UK.
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: I don't think we did.
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: I don't think we got any souvenirs to take home.
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: We got a few Christmas presents, but we yeah, we really didn't want any excess baggage no, no, I get that.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: I, to be honest, I've left a suitcase full of stuff at my mom's but I could not bring back because we were traveling back via a number of countries and I was like I'm not dragging this around with me.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: So I totally get that.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: But you're very good with that because I find, especially if you go into some of those Christmas shop, the Christmas decorations are just so gorgeous.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: I was definitely tempted.
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: Actually we did get.
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: We got one thing which was a gift for Isaac's grandma who we were seeing in the States.
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: So we were, we were going to get rid of it before we got home and we picked that up at one of the markets in Brighton.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: It was sort of this handcrafted um little.
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was awesome the the markets down in Brighton as well, just meeting local businesses and craftsmen and artists.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Yep, yeah, and you were.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: You were there at the right time of year for the Christmas markets as well, so there's lots of Christmas markets on as well, where you can buy lots of cute little things if you're visiting um.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: So I'm gonna ask what was the highlight of the trip for you?
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Is that anyone?
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: oh, I, I mean, of course, the highlight was the people.
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: Um, we had an incredible christmas on the isle of wight, but it also came with um the flu, oh, no, so um, it was.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: We were staying on my well, a family farm, so my brother-in-law's wife's farm, um, but it was this beautiful, beautiful, serene location just in the countryside, which was amazing.
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: But then we all got sick because the girls managed to bring some sniffles home from school.
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: So that was a highlight.
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: The food over Christmas was highlight, because the Brits know how to put on a feast.
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: Um, oh yes, yeah, that was awesome, um.
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: But I also just loved our day in London, walking around, um and just it being a blue sky, no clouds, sunny but still crisp.
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: You kind of touched on that before, um, but that was a highlight for me as well.
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: One thing in London I wish we'd done was St Paul's.
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: Um, we did go and we kind of like walked past it in the evening, but I wish we'd gone inside, cause I I think we went inside on my previous trip, but I feel like it's it's underrated.
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: It's so big.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: It's beautiful, it's beautiful.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: I went to, I went to, I went there for Evensong in January.
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so that's something that's going to be top of my list for the next visit, I think.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: Good.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: Well, it's good to hear that you're.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: You know you've got a planning, potentially in the future, another visit back to the UK, but for this episode of the podcast, what would be?
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: And I always end with the same question.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: So what would be your one tip that you would get?
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: You'd give for anyone traveling to the UK for the first time.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: I think specifically going to ask for New Zealanders as well.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: I think this might be useful for a New Zealand audience.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: Anything in particular for a New Zealander planning a trip to the UK for the first time.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: I think specifically going to ask for New Zealanders as well.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: I think this might be useful for a New Zealand audience Anything in particular for a New Zealander planning a trip to the UK for the first time.
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think my tip and we've already touched on this but, honestly, having that wise card and for it to just be such an easy solution, I think that that would be my biggest tip honestly, because you just get hit with so many fees when you, when you take your anz card or your bnz or whatever it is you've got in new zealand um taking those, you just get hit with far too many fees.
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: So that's that's my tip very boring but very practical no, very practical, and that's that's important.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: So, um, thanks so much for joining us this week on the podcast Abigail.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Tracy.
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: It's been lovely to chat with you.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: It's always good to catch up.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: You can find out links to all the information that we chatted about in this episode at the show notes uktravelplanetcom forward slash episode 154.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: But for this week, abigail and I are about to sign off and say the usual happy UK travel planning.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: Bye, from both of us, bye, bye-bye.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: As always, show notes can be found at uktravelplanningcom.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: If you've enjoyed the show, why not leave us feedback via text or a review on your favourite podcast app?
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: We love to hear from you and you never know.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: You may receive a shout out in a future episode.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: But, as always, that just leaves me to say until next week.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: Happy UK travel planning.