Latest / UK Travel Planning / From Cotswold Villages to London Landmarks: Krista Beck's Family Trip

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From Cotswold Villages to London Landmarks: Krista Beck's Family Trip · UK Travel Planning

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Your host is the founder of the UK Travel Planning website, Tracey Collins.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: In this podcast, Tracey 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.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: 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.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Welcome to episode 114 of the UK Travel Planet podcast.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: So this week I'm very excited to welcome Kr the UK Travel Planet podcast.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: So this week I'm very excited to welcome Krista Beck onto the podcast.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Now Krista sent me an email about a month ago I think it was Krista saying how much she had enjoyed her trip to the UK.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: I wanted to thank myself and Doug for our resources and the podcast and everything that we do, so I had to have Krista to come on and chat all about her trip.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: So, krista, would you like to introduce yourself and just tell us whereabouts you live in the world?
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: Yes, tracey, thank you so much for having me.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: My name is Krista Beck and I call home a pretty little portion of the United States up in the Pacific Northwest, in Washington State.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and we just said I have been there once before.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: A few years ago now actually, it was probably about eight years ago, so I have been.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: So it's quite nice to.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: I love it when I talk to people and go.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Oh yes, I can kind of picture the state.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: I probably haven't been to exactly where you live, I just remember Seattle, but, yes, I did enjoy it.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: So whereabouts did you go in the UK?
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Whereabouts did you go in the UK and who did you go with?
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: And was it the first time that you went?
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: loads of questions there, of course, great.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: Yes, it was our first time in the UK, first time as a family in Europe.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: My husband and I traveled with our two sons who, at the time that we went, were 11 and 13 years old, and we had originally planned to go in June of 2020.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: And we all know, it happened in 2020.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: And then we rescheduled optimistically for 2021.
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: And then we were like, nope, not going to happen, so skipped 22, 23, and then finally got to make my lifelong dream a reality.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: I've always wanted to go to the UK.
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: I'm a huge Anglophile, love Jane Austen, and so this is the first of what I hope are many pilgrimages back to the UK.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's amazing.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: So how long did you go for?
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: We were there for 12 nights, 13 days.
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: We traveled.
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: A lovely time of year.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: It was late March and then the first week of April.
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: Loved that time of year because it wasn't crazy busy.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: It was kind of a shoulder season, but we did luck out and have some really nice weather and so, yes, great time of year to go.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: It is, it is.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: And also if you go before the school holidays in the UK, so it's a little bit quiet as well, so you have to kind of year to go.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: It is, it is.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: And also if you go before the school holidays in the uk, so it's a little bit quiet as well, so you have to kind of look to see and also that kind of weather end of march, but you never know what you're going to get.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: So you could get a mixture probably, which is generally like the uk at any time of year.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: I mean, this summer hasn't been particularly wonderful.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Everybody keeps telling me I'm going over in september, I'm praying that it's going to be lovely and warm when I get over there.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: So you were there for 12 nights, obviously deciding where you were going to go and what you're going to do, when you've got 12 nights and going to the UK for the first time and you say it's been like a lifelong dream.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: So how did you go about planning your itinerary?
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: We had to start with a giant list of wants and desires and pare it down to something reasonable.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: So we focused in three areas and made a triangle.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: We flew into London Heathrow and immediately went and spent three nights in Bath and Bath was a lovely place to start our trip and get oriented and get over that jet lag.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: Really enjoyed that.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: We toured the Roman Baths and Bath Abbey and really enjoyed the parks.
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: You'll hear this a lot from me but with two middle school age boys we didn't pack our trip full of museums and historic homes and castles every day.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: We did a lot of enjoying the local scene and going to playgrounds and parks and all of those kinds of things.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: So really enjoyed feeling like we were locals for a short period of time and experiencing that.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: So we loved Bath.
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: We did an afternoon tea in the pump room and that was my Jane Austen moment.
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: I imagined myself in Persuasion, absolutely loved it, loved Royal Victoria Park, walked past the Royal Crescent and saw the sights.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: So Bath was lovely.
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: Then we moved from Bath up to the Cotswolds, stopped in Castle Coombe on the way and that was our first taste of the chocolate box houses and the sweet it was just the sweetness that is.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: The Cotswolds Absolutely loved it.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: We stayed up in Broadway Village at a 700-year-old coaching inn and it was charming.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: And I loved the Cotswolds so much that I wanted to buy a piece of real estate 4,500 miles from home.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: Yes, turns out I can't afford it and it's impractical, but the Cotswolds were everything I dreamed that they would be, I was going to say because they're just quintessential England, aren't they?
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: It's a real roses around the door, thatched cottages, and I too would love to own a cottage in the Cotswolds.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: But if I ever become a billionaire because I feel that's what you need to actually afford one, I think that's probably one of the first things I would do.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: But I'd be very disappointed as a Jane Austen fan if you hadn't gone to Bath.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: So I'm quite I'm pleased that you said that's where you had gone.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: How did you get to Bath and the Cotswolds, were you?
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: driving.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: Did you hire a car?
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: Great question.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: Originally, we planned to take the Heathrow Express to Paddington and then take the train to Bath.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: About a month prior to our travel, we got notification that there was going to be a train strike, potentially planned for the day that we flew in, and we're first timers and felt like that was a little more than we knew how to handle, and so we looked into a private car transfer from Heathrow to Bath and were surprised to find that it was actually cost effective compared with four train tickets, and it was the best.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: We were jet lagged, getting off an overnight flight, and our driver picked us up inside of Heathrow.
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: He was like a tour guide for us on the two two-and-a-half-hour drive to Bath and gave us a lot of really great input about the area and things to do, and it just couldn't have been easier.
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: So that was an excellent way for us to start, dropped us right at our hotel.
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: An excellent way for us to start dropped us right at our hotel.
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: And then, when we were finishing up our time in Bath, we actually rented a car and we used a car to move ourselves around the Cotswolds, which for us turned out to be a great decision because we were like locals again and we explored the Cotswolds independently.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: And we explored the Cotswolds independently and I think the Cotswolds, to be honest, are best explored either in your own car or going on a tour with somebody taking you around.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: That's the best way.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: Public transport around the Cotswolds isn't the easiest and I love the fact you know getting the transfer when you arrive at Heathrow.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: I love being met, I like being transferred to where I'm going, because after a flight and you're tired and you're jet lagged, you're not at your best and you know it.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: Just paying a little bit extra, whatever, just get yourself where you need to be.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Um, I'm absolutely all for it.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: I just think you're starting your holiday from that moment.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: So why not make it the best, rather than struggling to get to where you need to be and getting stressed out?
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: So I think that's a great idea.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: And then picking up the car yeah, absolutely.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: I say that to people all the time and I think you know sometimes it's going to cost me, you know x amount and I'm like, yeah, but it's part of your holiday and it sets you up on the right footing.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Another thing that you actually mentioned there, chris, that really resonated with me because my daughter's 28 now, so she's just grown up.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: But when I used to travel with her a lot and I remember actually being in Paris with her and she was playing in one of the parks and making friends with the local kids and it was brilliant, it was absolutely brilliant.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: So taking the kids to the park so they can play and meet and I remember doing that actually with her in Malta as well.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: I've got lots of memories that it's just a wonderful way for the kids to kind of mingle and mix with everybody else, like all the British kids that are out and about playing as well.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: So I'm sure they loved that.
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: Yes, they did and I really did.
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: I felt like it made our trip a cultural experience and widened all of our horizons, and traveling with kids has its own challenges, but the benefits for us far outweighed any challenges because they opened doors for us everywhere we went, whether it was in a shop or a restaurant or on a playground.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: It was a conversation topic and a commonality and it helped us to get to meet people and feel like we were part of what was going on.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: No, it's lovely, it really is.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: And did they enjoy the Cotswolds?
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: What sort of things did you do in the Cotswolds?
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: We did all kinds of things Again, a mixture of things that I really wanted to do on my bucket list and things that they were excited to do.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: So we, like I said, spent our evenings in Broadway Village that's where our hotel was and Broadway Green has the most brilliant playground I've ever seen and it was absolutely tremendous.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: So we enjoyed that.
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: We enjoyed village hopping, we really liked Stowe on the Wald and pub lunches.
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: We visited Soodley Castle, which was absolutely gorgeous.
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: I loved it.
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: Tudor history galore, but it also had an adventure playground and these beautiful grounds that the boys liked to run around in.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: And we took an air rifle lesson at an air rifle range in Sirencester and that was super fun.
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: And so it was this mix of ancestor and that was super fun.
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: And so it was this mix of like boy activities with the beauty that is everywhere and these historical stops and cultural sites.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: So it was wonderful.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: So, um, after your three, three nights, did you say in the cotswolds, where did you head next?
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: Well, we had my favorite day of the trip, which was we got up early and we hopped in the car and we drove to Highclere Castle and we had a wonderful morning at Highclere and it was just an absolute highlight.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: It gave me chills and from there we knew that we did not want to attempt driving in London or anywhere near London, and we knew our limits, and so we found a spot on a map where we could drop the rental car.
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: This was all arranged in advance, but we drove the rental car from Highclere to Basingstoke and took the train from Basingstoke to London Waterloo.
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: And it's become kind of a family joke because when we picked up the rental car in Bath, the gentleman at the desk, when he heard we were dropping in Basingstoke, said Basingstoke, why do you want to go there?
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: And so we didn't know a it made sense on the map and it was actually very easy, very, very easy.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: Exactly that's that's what we did.
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: So then we trained into london waterloo, transferred on the london underground and then we were off and enjoyed six days in London.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: Oh, excellent.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: So where did you stay?
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: in London, we stayed at the Haymarket Hotel, which is very near Trafalgar Square.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: Charing Cross Station was very close, so we found that it was extremely convenient.
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: Absolutely loved London.
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: We walked everywhere and in fact the boys scootered everywhere.
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: We brought actually carried on the plane their kick scooters and they had them everywhere.
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: So throughout Bath, throughout London, we put the miles on our feet, but for kids it's way more fun for them if they are on a scooter, and so we.
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: They saw London by scooter.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: Oh well, cool, and so what?
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: So six days in London, so that's a.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: That's a fair amount of time that gives you a time to kind of see the highlights.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: So tell me what you loved most about London.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: That's the first question I'm going to ask you.
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: First thing that comes to mind is just the beauty of the city, the architecture, and getting to see it on foot was a wonderful way to see it.
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: It was also such an easy city to get around Once we figured out the London Underground.
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: We used the City Mapper app to help us get from here to there, and so it was just easy to navigate.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: But the beauty and the buildings and the history and the richness of that were inspiring.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: We were kind of goofed up on our sleep schedules anyway, so we enjoyed getting up early in the morning and going out onto the London city streets before it got trafficked and hustly, and felt like we had this little private moment with London and it's worth sacrificing the sleep because it's just so beautiful and it happened to be blue sky days when we were in London.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: We couldn't have asked for better weather.
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: It would be brilliant on a rainy day, but being able to be out and touring the city with the sun shining is really a treat, oh fantastic.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: So talk us through your favorite experiences when you're in London or places that you visited.
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: Yep, we loved the Tower of London.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: We had booked a predetermined entry time for first thing in the morning.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: Highly recommend that, and on the advice of you and your guests, we headed straight to the Crown Jewels exhibit.
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: At the moment that we got in and didn't have any weight at all and all four of us found that just to be fascinating, and that you have access to those things to see them that close was really amazing.
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: And by the time we exited the exhibit the line was so long and we were really grateful that we had done that From the Tower of London.
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: We enjoyed two museums.
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: We did the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum.
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: Of the two, our crew loved the Science Museum.
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: Just so interesting to see the human innovation that you can see up close there and that was super fun.
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: We loved the parks.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: We did a lot of the parks in central London and really navigated the city through parks because many of them connect, as you know, so really convenient to do that.
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: We picked some areas outside of London that we wanted to go a little bit farther, so we checked out Holland Park and Holland Park we checked out because it had a great park, and then from there we walked through Kensington and enjoyed seeing the city that way.
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: We also ventured into the city of London and enjoyed touring around down.
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: There, found a really cool place to play miniature golf inside called Putt Shack.
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: So that's another one of those things we sprinkled in because we let everybody do some inputting into the itinerary.
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: And it was fun.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: That's cool for the kids as well, isn't it?
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: It's just so cool for them to enjoy that as well.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: Have something to look forward to.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: You've got a few historical things to see, kids, and then we're going to go and play a bit of mini golf.
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely, and we just loved, we loved Covent Garden, we loved the Seven Dials area, we loved seeing Big Ben and we watched a passion play it was over Easter in Trafalgar Square with hundreds of Londoners and it was another one of those moments where we just felt like we were one of the gang.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's cool.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: And how did you get, did you?
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: Obviously did a lot of walking.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: You have to do a lot of walking in London and I I always say to people that prepare for that Cause I think you think you're going to do a lot of walking.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: You are going to do a lot more walking than you even expect, you're so right.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: So how did you use the tube to get around?
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: Bosses to get around?
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: Yes, we did.
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: We mostly used the London Underground.
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: We occasionally splurged for an Uber when we were really tired, typically, or it was later at night and that was great.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: And the combination of the two was super, because Ubers let you see the city as it's going by, versus being buried underground.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: The underground is so easy, so convenient.
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: We weren't exactly sure how it would work, since one of our sons was young enough to be free, but we were easily guided by one of the staff there to essentially the wheelchair accessible gates and it was easy to move through.
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: We didn't do an Oyster card, we just used our contactless credit cards.
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: It was easy as pie and loved hearing the announcements of the tube stops upcoming, because everything in england sounds absolutely charming to us americans, like tiddly winks and I guess, yeah, we're cute as can be, we take it for granted.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: I guess, uh, but it's like you would just hear in their mind the gap sign, you know I could probably do it with the proper english accent, mind the gap um, yeah, you hear all those.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: So you stayed in the, in a central location, which is really good.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: You kind of use the city map app which we recommend you used.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: We always say people decide whether oistocon or contactless works for you.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: Once you've decided that's it, go for it.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: Either method's perfect, whichever one.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: Um, you know you weigh it up and decide which one you want to go for.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: It always seems to be such an emotive subject, but I just kind of say decide which one will work for you.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: Um, so what about foods?
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: Did you?
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: Where did you eat when you're in london?
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: we had some memorable meals.
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: One was at this restaurant called Pick and Cheese, in Seven Dials Market.
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: It's my favorite.
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: Oh, I'm so glad.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: Yes, so for listeners that don't know, if you're into cheese which we are very into cheese and England's a great place to be if you're into cheese, it's this restaurant where you sit at a booth and there's this conveyor belt that goes around the restaurant with these little plates with glass domes that have cheese and a cheese pairing in them, and as they go by you can select one, take it off and then you're purchasing that pairing and it was just so novel and fun and it was fun to try the different pairings that they had.
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: And fun, and it was fun to try the different pairings that they had oh, do you like this cheese with this spicy jelly or this kind of a cracker.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: So it was super fun.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: We loved that.
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: Like I said, we were there for Easter Sunday and so we did an Easter tea at the JW Marriott, which is right by Hyde Park, and that was a bit of a splurge, but it was beautiful setting and delicious goodies and super fun.
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: One of the things that really worked for us is we stayed at hotels in all three cities and we specifically selected hotels where we could either purchase breakfast as a part of the package or it came with it and our breakfasts were lovely throughout our trip and that just made things so easy.
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: It was one less decision to make, one less plan to make, and we knew we could get up, have something tasty and then be prepared for the day.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and then when you were on the go during the day, how did you eat during the day for lunches and things?
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: Did you do the kind of the day, yeah.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: And then when you were on the go during the day, how did you eat during the day for lunches and things Did you do the kind of the supermarket thing of the lunches.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: You know, you can get the sandwich and I can't even think the word of it for it.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: Now, the meal deal.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: The meal deal.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: It's gone out of my head.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: Honestly, you can tell it's Friday afternoon Meal deals?
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, because they're my favorite.
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: So I'm heading back in September.
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: I've already got my eye on a prawn meal deal sandwich from Marks and Spencers, but they're good value on this.
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: Yes, they are a great value and super convenient.
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: Some days we didn't do a lunch because we'd had a big breakfast and that was another plus with the built-in breakfast with the room, plus with the built-in breakfast with the room, and then we would have a bigger supper dinner type meal in the evening or just grabbing snacks around.
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: We didn't do a whole lot of fancy.
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: That didn't really fit what we were doing, but it was very easy to find food and we found everything to be super approachable and it was great.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: So did you buy anything?
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: Any souvenirs when you were over there?
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: You know we didn't, and I'm surprised because usually I love to buy a piece of clothing or something that when I then wear it in the future I just love.
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: But we were committed to traveling just with carry-ons or hand luggage, which was a major win, especially if you're transferring to different cities and there's four of us.
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: So it was great.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: But we did me especially.
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: I crammed that suitcase as full as possible so I really did not have a ton of extra room.
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: So we had a few little things picked up, a couple of fun little souvenirs at High Clare, but I'm definitely going to have to go back in the future for more shopping.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: I was going to say that that's just another excuse to go back, Krista, because you'll have to go back with an empty suitcase next time and buy.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: Well, that's what.
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: I'll be doing this year because I have a lot of things to bring back, because I seem to.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: I just seem to accumulate things over there and leave them at my mom's and she's like do you think you could take those back with you next time?
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: So I'll be traveling back with an empty suitcase and no doubt buy a whole lot of new things, as I always do when I a private transfer.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: But did you do any tours with anybody?
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: We did.
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: The one thing that was really special is our tour of Highclere was one of their small group semi-private tours, which was a splurge but was so incredible.
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: There were about 60 of us there and I'm told that on a busy day they can have 1500 or 2000 people tour Highclere, and so we were really in just this small little group of 20 of us were broke out with a tour guide and it was a wonderful way to see Highclere.
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: And then there was a tea service with goodies and treats afterwards in their coach house.
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: So highly recommend that Our tour was called the Earl and the Pharaoh and it focused on the history of the Earl that was very involved with Egyptian Canavan yes, thank you the Egyptian archaeology and exploration.
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: So we got to see the exhibit downstairs and Excellent, it was marvellous.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: Isn't it a bit?
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: I'm assuming you're a Downton Abbey fan.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: I'm a huge Downton Abbey fan.
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: So isn't it a bit surreal?
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: Walking around, like you expect Lady Mary to pop up at any point, you're kind of looking around like a super fan.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: But I became a super fan in about the first two seconds as we drove up the drive and got that glimpse of the house and, yes, I was like, oh my goodness, here's Lady Mary's bedroom and here's where they sat around after dinner.
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: The ladies sat around and and I'll say that the beauty of the house is even enhanced being there in person, because you can really appreciate the details and the beautiful ceiling treatments and it's just amazing what generations have put into that.
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: We don't have anything, to my knowledge, especially here in the western part of the United States, that can compare certainly with the history, and so what a treat to be surrounded by things that were cared for and so old and there's Napoleon's desk that they collected all these collections over the years.
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: They're just amazing.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's fabulous.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: So you had a photo shoot in London, Krista.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: How did that go?
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: We loved it.
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: Thanks to your podcast, we connected with Dami from Scalens Studios and she was so fun.
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: She was super responsive by email, it was really easy and she knew all the right places to go to get the perfect shots and I would highly recommend this for anyone traveling this.
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: This for us was such an important, cool trip and now we have these forever memories and fabulous Christmas card material really, really fun and pictures that all four of us are in, not just a couple of us.
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: So that can be hard on a trip.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: You end up where it's like there's just two of you in it or three of you in it and the person taking the picture's not in it, and you swap around and there's still not.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: There's still not everybody in it.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: So, and that's what Domi loves taking family pictures, because she said, these are wonderful memories that this family are going to remember forever and they'll be on the wall and when the kids are 30 and 32, you'll be going to remember that trip to London and you can look back on it.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: And I know, because my daughter's 28 and I look back on photos of her.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: You know when she was, when she was younger and it's it seems like it was yesterday, but having those photographs and the memories is just absolutely amazing.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: So I'm glad that you enjoyed that and Domi's amazing she is amazing.
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: She also showed us some, some corners that were just beautiful, of the city that we wouldn't have seen otherwise.
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: So it was like having a tour guide and a photographer that was just personalized for us yeah, it's fabulous.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: So next time you go back, have you got an idea whereabouts you're planning to visit?
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: such a good.
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: I have such a long list Because I'm a Jane Austen fan and particularly love Pride and Prejudice.
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: Derbyshire is really high on my list, so I would love to do the northern part of England and do Northumberland and York and the Lake District and Derbyshire, york and the Lake District and Derbyshire so that's high on the list.
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: I would love to visit Scotland and then there's the whole southern coast and pretend to be a pirate and see the White Cliffs.
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: So we have a lot of work ahead of us.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: Tracy to get our fill of England.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: I think that's quite a few trips, to be honest.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: I mean, we're just planning our trip for September and Doug's going to be with me for three weeks and we're like, should we go to Scotland, drive around Scotland, or should we go to Wales and then go to the Republic of Ireland and then through to Northern Ireland and across to Scotland, or should we do the.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: South Coast, so we're exactly the same.
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm staying on for six weeks after to spend a lot of time exploring London, because it doesn't matter how much time I spend in London, I could keep going.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: There's always something new to see in London.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: So I'm looking forward to that.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: But, honestly, the three weeks and so I know exactly where you're coming from it's really hard and we've been to all the places and I go oh, which place do we want to go back to or explore a bit more of?
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: The Scottish islands are kind of calling to me.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: But I think we're probably going to do that, that circular route starting in London and working our way back from London.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: So by the time this episode actually comes out, beginning of September, I will actually probably be in the UK.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: So I will be popping on in a couple of weeks to actually tell everybody where we have been and what we've done.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: So but I'm looking forward to talking to you after your future travels, that's for sure, krista.
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: Yes, and I have to give a shout out to your podcast because I have listened to all the episodes and for me it's bucket list material, so it's helped me dream through future trips.
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: It really helped me narrow down to where we wanted to start with this first trip and I just wanted to mention that there were a few resources that were particularly helpful to us.
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: You had a guest talk about specifically driving in the UK and the road signs.
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: The road signs are different.
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: Obviously we'd be driving on the opposite side of the road but the signage so that was super, super helpful accessing those resources.
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: All of Doug's tips about using the trains were super helpful.
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: We have very little train experience where we're at, so that was wonderful.
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: All of your resources on London basics and things to see were great and obviously in a trip, especially if you're only going for 12 or 13 days, you just can't see it all, especially in London.
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: Even in London there's so many things to do.
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: There's so, so many things that we didn't get to, but your information helped us to prioritize, choose the must-sees and make reservations and then have an idea of things that we wanted to do, and a lot of them didn't happen because we made space for just hanging out and we're also not wanting to get too tired, too hungry, all of those things, and just enjoy the sights.
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: So love your podcast, super helpful.
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: Christmas in London is on my bucket list and that's one of my favorite episodes.
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: Oh, brilliant.
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: Yes, Well, we had a lovely time there last year at Christmas too.
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: I had to go back.
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: I was like, no, I need to go back, I need to be in London for Christmas.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: And so it was.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: It was, it was lovely, it was a lot of fun.
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: So, yes, I don't think we're back at Christmas this year, but definitely plan to do a Christmas over in London because it is so magical.
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: Want to.
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: Absolutely magical.
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: Want to so.
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: Krista, what would be obviously using all our amazing resources, and thank you so much for saying that yes.
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: What would be your tip for anyone planning is do not try to see everything.
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: Don't try to see everything that you want to see, because we really enjoyed having that time and space to not pack it all in and just pack our days chock full.
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: And space to not pack it all in and just pack our days chock full and do a little bit more of living like a local and walking around and going to the supermarket to buy shampoo and just the little things that we find, looking back, were so memorable.
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: So having reasonable expectations, prioritizing the itinerary and being willing to say that's for next time, at a moment's notice.
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: So I didn't get to this museum.
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: Really wanted to, but that's okay.
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: It's about more than checking boxes.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: Exactly, and I'll be there next time.
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: That's what.
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: I would say, there's always something.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: You know something.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: I guarantee I'll be there next time.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: That's that's what I would say.
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: There's always something.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: You know something.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: I guarantee I'll be there for six weeks.
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: There'll be something still when I leave.
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: Go, oh, I meant to go and see that.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: I meant to go and do that.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: I want to do it.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: So you just have to kind of go, make peace with it.
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: You just do, you fit in and do what you can do based on your needs and you know your itinerary, your family and that's what I always say, people there's no right or wrong way of doing it.
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: You make it work for you and that's the important thing.
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, krista, for coming on to the podcast.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: It's been so lovely to talk to you this week.
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: Thank you, tracey, I really had fun.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: As always, show notes can be found at uktravelplancom.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: If you've enjoyed the show, why not leave us feedback via text or a review on your favorite podcast app?
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: We love to hear from you and you never know.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: You may receive a shout out in a future episode.
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: But, as always, that just leaves me to say until next week.
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: Happy uk travel planning.