Latest / UK Travel Planning / Exploring the UK with a Multi-Generational Family: Tips, Experiences, and Unforgettable Memories

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Exploring the UK with a Multi-Generational Family: Tips, Experiences, and Unforgettable Memories · UK Travel Planning

0:01
Intro: Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
0:03
Intro: Your host is the founder of the UK Travel Planning website, tracy Collins.
0:08
Intro: 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.
0:24
Intro: 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.
0:37
Tracy: Hi and welcome to episode 50 of the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
0:40
Tracy: In this week's episode, I chat with Marisa Barker and her mum Cindy all about their trip around the UK in April and May this year.
0:49
Tracy: You'll find out lots about how Marisa organised her trip, including how she took into consideration the needs of her travel party, because there were actually eight of them who travelled over, including her young son and her parents.
1:03
Tracy: So, without further ado, let's introduce Marisa and her mum Cindy.
1:07
Tracy: So I'm really happy this episode that we have got Marisa and her mum Cindy to do their trip report from their recent visit around the UK.
1:17
Tracy: So you guys are in England and Scotland and Wales.
1:20
Tracy: So you did really good.
1:20
Tracy: You did loads of great Britain.
1:22
Tracy: So I thought it'd be great for you guys to come on to the podcast and tell us all about your trip.
1:28
Tracy: But first things first.
1:30
Tracy: Would you like to introduce yourselves, please?
1:32
Marissa: Okay, I'm Marisa, and then my mum, cindy, is here with me and we're from Maine in the States And we just did the three weeks in the UK and we had a great time.
1:42
Tracy: I know it was great.
1:42
Tracy: It was great following you as well, because you were putting some pictures in our Facebook group, so it was, and because I know we've been talking for quite a while about your trip, haven't we?
1:50
Tracy: So it was really good to kind of follow as you went along.
1:54
Tracy: So who went with you on the trip, marisa?
1:57
Marissa: We had a group, that kind of like bits and pieces of the trip.
2:01
Marissa: Myself, my then four year old son, my dad and my brother travelled for the whole like 27 days, and then my mum joined a weekend and then the family that I worked with joined for the first two weeks of it, Yeah.
2:15
Tracy: so it was quite complex because you had quite a few people kind of flying in, yeah, flying in Lots of moving pieces, yeah, and a lot of fun, though, especially having the little girl that Marisa nannies for while she's not.
2:29
Cindy: she's 13, now 13, but she was wonderful with the.
2:33
Cindy: now.
2:34
Cindy: today is Finn's fifth birthday, yeah, so she was wonderful with him.
2:39
Cindy: They had a great time running and playing together, especially with dinosaur beach and things like that.
2:45
Tracy: Yeah, well, what was lovely about your trip is that it was multi generational Mm.
2:49
Tracy: Hmm.
2:49
Tracy: So how many altogether were you when you were there?
2:52
Tracy: altogether, was it 10?
2:54
Cindy: Eight, eight At once, and then eight at once, and then six.
2:58
Marissa: Yeah, because it was dad's 70th birthday, like this year, and so it was kind of a bucket list for him Get him to travel before it's too late.
3:06
Tracy: Perfect.
3:06
Tracy: So should can you give us a kind of a brief overview of the trip?
3:12
Marissa: Yeah, yeah.
3:13
Marissa: So we ended up.
3:14
Marissa: We flew into London and then got a transport from Doug What is it?
3:19
Marissa: Minaj Tours, oh, yes, yes.
3:20
Marissa: And right down to Cornwall, st Ives, where we did like the first four days, loved it, gorgeous weather, we got really lucky.
3:29
Marissa: The whole trip, really.
3:30
Marissa: We did a Cornwall tour with him and then we ended up doing a night in lime regis, yep.
3:37
Marissa: Before making our way back to London to meet up with mom.
3:40
Marissa: She flew in on a Friday and met us at our hotel.
3:44
Cindy: And then we took the train.
3:46
Tracy: Took the train up to Edinburgh.
3:47
Marissa: Yep And did two nights there.
3:49
Marissa: Had like a full independent day.
3:51
Marissa: and then did we got picked up by our tour guide in at our Airbnb and then driven up through the Highlands, stayed in Inverness for night and then went to Sky.
4:02
Tracy: Yep.
4:03
Marissa: And then Fort Williams and then a night in Glasgow.
4:06
Marissa: It was a very brief night.
4:07
Marissa: It was like just basically a sleep stop, or if we go back to that.
4:12
Tracy: Did you get the train from Fort Williams down to Glasgow?
4:15
Marissa: Yeah, we did Fort Williams to Glasgow and then Glasgow to Durham Yep.
4:18
Marissa: We started our next leg of our tour with a different guide and then did the Lakes District for two nights, dropped off in Liverpool, yep, and then we took the train from Liverpool to Conwy, did a night there and then the train from, and we got picked up with a tour guide again and did some chunks of Wales and England and then ended in London at the end.
4:40
Tracy: Wow, yeah, was it 27 days altogether?
4:43
Marissa: Yeah, I think it was right around there, not enough time.
4:47
Tracy: Yeah, i know you said that I mean you did actually cover a lot of ground actually in the time that you were there, but you did see Fast and furious.
4:54
Tracy: Yeah, 26 days I haven't seen it in me.
4:58
Cindy: Yeah, fast and furious.
4:59
Cindy: In the UK There should be a title of a new movie.
5:03
Tracy: Yeah, and you did hit a lot of the.
5:05
Tracy: I mean, the fact that you managed to get all the way down to Cornwall and all the way up to the final sort of to Inverness is amazing actually that you started to go up to that point, because those are kind of pretty opposite parts of the country.
5:17
Marissa: Yes, The one place that we missed.
5:20
Marissa: That was a item that our group wanted to do was Orkney, but I could not fit Orkney and St I I, so I was like I cannot do both of them.
5:28
Tracy: I'm sorry, and since You did an amazing job planning it, as it was honestly Yeah.
5:33
Tracy: So you know, Orkney Yes, Orkney is going that little bit further, But you know you can save that up to next time because I highly recommend it Because Orkney That's the plan is doing the islands more next time.
5:44
Tracy: Yeah, and Orkney is amazing And you were very lucky actually, because the weather was really good when you were over as well, which you know, it's.
5:51
Tracy: I mean, it's lovely traveling it wherever time of year, but it just makes it there a little bit nicer when you've got a little bit of warmth and sunshine.
5:58
Marissa: Our guide in sky said that we were experiencing like August weather.
6:01
Marissa: He's like we get like a week of this in August, So Oh, that's brilliant.
6:06
Tracy: That's brilliant Because when we were there last year, we didn't we didn't get brilliant weather.
6:09
Tracy: We were there for three days and I think it rained for two, so it wasn't the best, but it was still lovely place to go.
6:14
Marissa: That's why I had scheduled the three and a half days in skies.
6:17
Marissa: I thought we'd get a bad weather day at least.
6:19
Tracy: Yeah, that was actual bonus that you didn't, because I know when we talked about it and I do say that to people when they go the plan, like one day in sky or two, is that you've got to think you know just in case the weather's not great.
6:31
Tracy: you know plan around that.
6:33
Tracy: So, talking about planning, i know that you planned, you started planning this quite a long time ago because there was a lot involved in it.
6:40
Tracy: So how did you talk to your planning process, marissa Well?
6:47
Marissa: probably like 2019,.
6:48
Marissa: I started kind of looking at it and planning it casually and kind of like looking at all the bits and pieces and doing like a bunch of like rewrites and plans.
6:56
Marissa: And then, like we originally looked at like a bus tour, and then we changed our minds and we wanted to do self guided.
7:02
Marissa: and we looked at driving and I was like no, we're not driving it, like I can't, can't do that.
7:07
Marissa: So it was a lot of moving pieces and I was just kind of like casually putting the list together to get it done before my son was in school and my dad was too much older, so it really worked out to be this year and then I started, probably late 2021, early 2022, really like planning, really, really intensely.
7:28
Tracy: Yeah.
7:28
Marissa: I'm getting stuff like booked and organized and I found your travel group and it was such a huge help.
7:36
Tracy: I remember when you joined, because it seemed a long time in advance that you were planning, which is fine, and I know I've had a lot of questions because you were debating about how to get around the country, because you kind of had definite places that you want to go and also because you were traveling there was quite a few of you traveling as well And you also had to think about the fact that, again, that multi-generational thing is like.
7:56
Tracy: you know how could you keep the kids happy?
7:58
Tracy: and also you know all the different needs of everybody traveling on the trip.
8:01
Tracy: So it was, it was brilliant.
8:04
Tracy: So, and I know you've been a brilliant member of the Facebook group and I love the fact that you're still part of the group, even though you've.
8:10
Tracy: you know you've returned.
8:11
Tracy: We'll be back.
8:12
Tracy: Yeah, it's, and it's wonderful because you're sharing your experiences and your knowledge and helping out.
8:18
Tracy: So I really appreciate that.
8:19
Marissa: So I just want to say thanks for that, as well, yeah, of course, the group was such a huge resource for me, like as soon as I found it and like I could search through the group and like your website and stuff and find pieces that I was like stuck on, like I'd be like how do I get from here to here?
8:33
Marissa: And it'd be like, oh look, there's an article about it and figure it out from there, or the links, or the links, and then like And then, like I debated back and forth about doing the itinerary consults, i was like I don't know, like I don't want to, like I don't know, but it was my anxiety.
8:49
Marissa: It made it so much easier to like meet with you and Doug and go over like OK, yep, this looks good.
8:55
Marissa: Here's my suggestion for this.
8:56
Marissa: And like, such like really made my life so much easier.
9:02
Tracy: I think it's often because we do a lot.
9:05
Tracy: I think it's often the reassurance that we can give, and often the little tips and little things that would go through, that can make things less stressful when you're planning, especially when you know it's somewhere you've not been before.
9:17
Tracy: You know you were planning for a lot of people, so that's kind of you feel that responsibility of making sure that it was going to work out.
9:23
Tracy: So you know it was great doing the consult with you as well, because you did have you did have a good plan.
9:31
Tracy: You already knew what you wanted.
9:32
Tracy: So helping you tweak it, and is to say, just helping you feel more confident about what you planned, was really helpful.
9:38
Tracy: So obviously we were just talking before we started recording the podcast, actually about the fact there's so many places to visit in the UK, yes, so how did you go about initially deciding where you wanted to go?
9:53
Marissa: I probably started a list of places in the UK I wanted to go when I was like probably a kid, Just from like travel shows.
9:59
Marissa: We grew up watching like a lot of travel shows And then just kind of like seeing once I figured out what group who was going with us in our group, asking them like what their priorities were and what they wanted to do, and then doing like a lot of research And like back to your site like OK, what do you recommend and how long in each place?
10:17
Marissa: you had said and kind of what I could fit in and having to subtract some.
10:24
Cindy: And I think some of it too, was she really took into consideration the, as you said, the multi generations and the different areas of interest and likes.
10:35
Cindy: And you know and knowing that her, like she, knowing her dad, wanted to go to Wales because he has a lot of family history there.
10:45
Cindy: I wanted to go to Scotland because there was a lot of family history.
10:50
Marissa: Then wanted to go to the dinosaur beach.
10:52
Cindy: Right, You know he's four Doing beach activities, doing fun activities like that, knowing that her brother loves history and so doing some of those history and wall was his absolute must.
11:04
Cindy: So everybody got to like pick something that they really wanted to do.
11:08
Cindy: Yeah, yeah, She found a way to incorporate it into the daily agenda which we lived by.
11:15
Cindy: Her dad lived by.
11:17
Cindy: It was great.
11:18
Cindy: Every morning he was checking the agenda.
11:20
Marissa: He had his itinerary.
11:21
Marissa: Yeah, yeah.
11:23
Tracy: So how did you, once you got all those places from everybody Because and it's great that everybody had the kind of the first choice and their interest how did you then go about how to put that?
11:35
Tracy: you know how to put that into an itinerary, so it made sense.
11:38
Marissa: I kind of.
11:38
Marissa: So I actually ended up having to flip our itinerary like fairly last minute Not last minute, I guess six months in advance.
11:47
Marissa: I had it all planned out and sorted and we were going to fly into London, go up to Scotland and at the end do Cornwall and then fly out from London.
11:54
Marissa: But the schedule for the kid and Annie's school was changed So we had to switch it for her vacation and start with St Ives.
12:01
Marissa: Yeah, So I kind of like looked at the map and to see like OK, go from London, it's this long to get here and I can do this many days here.
12:10
Marissa: And then like had it calendar out and then like, OK, prioritized doing three days in sky versus three days somewhere else.
12:18
Marissa: Like you do two days here, three days here instead and kind of like seeing on the map where it would be and how to get there and stuff.
12:25
Tracy: Yeah, I think a map is using a map is really invaluable.
12:28
Tracy: I know, because I've got that, i've got that itinerary challenge and in that there's maps in that And I was saying it's really good.
12:34
Tracy: I didn't map it out because you know you might find that some places are closer together than you actually realize in some ways, or a lot further apart than you sometimes realize, and like, for example, getting down to Cornwall, getting to St Ives, it's a long way to go, yes, and often people don't realize.
12:50
Tracy: I was talking to Doug the other day about Cornwall and often people don't realize just how far it is actually.
12:55
Tracy: Go down to Cornwall, you know, and I think you did it the right way because getting he picked you up at the airport So you did not worry when you arrived And then you had the drive and obviously you stopped off on on places along the way as well, so that becomes like a tour on your first day, which is And it was a six hour transport which after we had like a six hour flight.
13:14
Marissa: So because we're lucky, we get a direct flight and it's not comparable to most people's.
13:20
Marissa: So we caught off the flight and a lot of us didn't sleep on the flight.
13:24
Marissa: So some of us napped on the ride down and we didn't have to think about it because we got the transport and like transport ended up being probably less than it would have been for us to all take the train or anything.
13:33
Marissa: Yeah that was another thing.
13:35
Cindy: I think you did.
13:35
Cindy: You did a lot of cost comparisons on the best ways to travel and the best And she looked at so many different bus tours and cost comparisons and places that they went and we just couldn't.
13:49
Cindy: So that's when she decided to just create her own tour, because you couldn't find exactly what we wanted.
13:55
Tracy: Yeah, And the advantage was is that, because there's quite a few of you, you could do the private tour.
14:01
Tracy: You could have the private guides, because you could share the cost out And that's exactly what you're doing that.
14:07
Tracy: So you had all of the advantages of having somebody drive you, somebody guide you, but be able to split the cost of that between you all of you, which is brilliant.
14:19
Marissa: And just having a tour guide, you get such a better viewpoint of everything.
14:23
Marissa: You're driving down the road and he's pointing out like oh, this is this historical building which you would have just driven by it and know nothing.
14:29
Marissa: Well, like, oh, this is where these people were from and lived, or like the history of things, and I really like, really value that, like extra part to it.
14:39
Marissa: Like I said, i'm driving myself around.
14:42
Tracy: I think that's a really important point And it's because obviously we've got some preferred partners that we work with with UK Travel Plan And obviously you know Doug and Manij Terza is one of those And I think, and that you know, we've got John England and the Southeast England, victoria, the Cotswolds and Mark.
14:57
Tracy: We've got loads of people now And I part of the kind of reason that I love working with those people is because of the value that they bring when you go to those areas, because you learn so much more than and it's nice If you want to do your own driving trip, that's absolutely fine, but I think if you have got the possibility of actually having somebody that knows it, knows the area, can guide you around as well as driving, so you can sit back and relax and enjoy it and not have to worry about the rules of road and all that sort of stuff, but you're learning at the same time, you can fully take it in, can't you?
15:31
Cindy: Yeah, i think that I would highly recommend, if people are considering visiting the UK, that they do some sort of guided tour the first time, as opposed to self-drive, unless you know somebody that's over there.
15:44
Cindy: I think, like my son, now that he's done the tour, he's adventurous enough and confident enough that he would do a self-drive tour.
15:53
Cindy: But it was really a great introduction And, if you have any kind of anxiety about getting places on time and doing things, it was just so nice to be able to be picked up, relaxed.
16:06
Cindy: you didn't have to worry about anything other than getting in and out of the vehicle and you could chit-chat with people and just relax and enjoy it.
16:16
Tracy: And that's it.
16:17
Tracy: And also for you, marissa, as well, because obviously you had your son with you and I know what it's like when I used to travel with my daughter.
16:22
Tracy: when you've got a little one with you, you're always more preoccupied, kind of thinking about them, but at least if you're not driving you can actually spend the time with them.
16:30
Tracy: You didn't have to worry about things every night, about what was organized, because somebody else was doing it, and you did a really good job of that kind of each part of your holiday.
16:40
Tracy: you know, when you went from the bit that you did yourself and then you went to the next drive or guide, so that worked very well, and obviously you had different people as well, which is a nice way of doing it, i think as well.
16:51
Marissa: Yeah, and I think starting in St Ives it really worked out well for us because it gave us like we had.
16:56
Marissa: We were there, easter Sunday was our first full day.
16:59
Marissa: We landed on the Saturday and we had Saturday to drive down, but, like our full day on Sunday, we could kind of just do.
17:05
Marissa: I planned it just to kind of be around St Ives And we ended up doing St Ives in the morning and then St Michael's Mount in the afternoon And just kind of like a more low key day, like to get used to and get rested and stuff.
17:18
Marissa: And in case anybody had jet lag, which we actually none of us really had any issues, it seems.
17:23
Marissa: So that was good.
17:24
Tracy: That's good.
17:25
Tracy: Did you enjoy St Michael's Mount?
17:27
Marissa: I did.
17:27
Marissa: We thankfully brought a carrier for my son and I had my brother carry him, because it's some serious stepage.
17:36
Tracy: Oh yes, Call it an open saddle.
17:37
Tracy: Yeah, I'll tell you a secret.
17:39
Tracy: Don't tell anybody, but when we went last year, Doug went up to the house, the house.
17:44
Tracy: I just sat on the grass enjoying the views.
17:47
Marissa: I don't blame you there.
17:48
Marissa: Yeah, i don't blame you.
17:50
Marissa: The views were gorgeous up at the top, but it was quite the hike.
17:54
Marissa: Yeah, and Doug would have definitely done the same if he had done with us.
17:57
Marissa: Yeah, i did some of that too.
17:59
Tracy: Yeah, i did it, i enjoyed it and I sent Doug to take the photographs and I said you know what?
18:04
Tracy: I'm going to sit and enjoy the weather and these beautiful views, because it was, it was stunning, yeah.
18:08
Tracy: So obviously you went to London as part of your trip as well.
18:12
Tracy: So how did you find London?
18:14
Tracy: How was that?
18:15
Tracy: Because obviously it's a bit busier in London.
18:17
Tracy: It's a major city.
18:19
Marissa: I am a country girl.
18:20
Marissa: Yeah, for sure I liked London.
18:22
Marissa: I actually I liked once, once we were in London and in a hotel and not carrying our bags on the tube, yeah, which is not so.
18:29
Tracy: Which is not so much settled.
18:32
Marissa: We were able to take the tube to two places and that app that Doug recommended was super helpful.
18:38
Marissa: Yeah, because I actually know where I needed to go, i'll be sitting there I think probably all the transport for London go app.
18:44
Tracy: There's a.
18:45
Marissa: Yeah, the train line and then the Yeah Was really helpful but I liked walking around it.
18:51
Marissa: But I definitely think we had enough time just because, like, we did An evening and then a full day, yeah, and then at the end we had another full day and an evening And I think for us we kind of saw what we needed to see.
19:03
Marissa: I would definitely go back and I'm sure there's more I can see, but I'm like we did the British Museum at the end, which was really cool.
19:10
Marissa: Yeah, my son loved the sarcophagus, oh yes, so that was good.
19:15
Marissa: That was on.
19:16
Marissa: My brother's like must see was British Museum.
19:18
Marissa: And then we did like a lot of walking on our first day full day in London and did just like the Trafalgar Square Covenant.
19:26
Tracy: Garden.
19:28
Marissa: Yeah, at the end, yeah, Because my brother has a friend that lives in London, so we saw her husband perform in Covenant Garden and stuff.
19:35
Cindy: So that was brilliant So you've got to do London twice.
19:38
Cindy: Yes, i only did the tail end, and for me it was so busy that it wasn't.
19:47
Cindy: You know, as we are more of the wide open, less busy places.
19:53
Cindy: But also somebody, when I was talking about it, was saying they were getting ready for the coronation too, so it probably was busier than usual.
20:02
Cindy: I don't need to cover it too, but it was definitely It was.
20:07
Tracy: It was very busy because I was there, because obviously they're the tail end of the Easter holiday, it's a rough school, so it's really busy.
20:14
Tracy: So I was there then and I went in and they will just, i think it was the day the London marathon.
20:19
Tracy: I've never seen it as busy as it was there.
20:21
Tracy: Yeah, it was absolutely manic And I think a lot of it was preparations for the coronation And I think it's just a lot of.
20:28
Tracy: The weather was pretty good, so a lot of people were out.
20:31
Marissa: Yeah, we had the largest weather, so everybody was out and about.
20:33
Tracy: Yeah.
20:33
Tracy: So you know, even I was like well, this is, this is really busy, really really busy.
20:40
Marissa: And of course, we ended up on a May.
20:41
Marissa: May day was our full last day in London, so we had the bank holiday on one end and the Easter holiday on our other end in London.
20:48
Tracy: Yeah, We were like yeah, you got it, you really got it.
20:51
Tracy: But it gets busy, like June, june, now July and August.
20:56
Tracy: I think it was extremely busy because of the coronation as well, because then there were so many preparations going on for that.
21:02
Cindy: So that was all, yeah there were just so many people It was just, you know and with such a large group it was hard to even just walk and stay together.
21:11
Marissa: Yeah.
21:12
Cindy: But it definitely something that I probably would do again.
21:16
Tracy: But yeah, I think I think London and I do say you know to people on the planet trips, UK, Yes, spend the time and go and see London, go and see the things that may go on your list, that you really want to see London.
21:28
Tracy: But the best thing to do is go and get out of London.
21:31
Tracy: Yeah, absolutely, Because and you'll have, you'll have realized as you've traveled around, you know that there's.
21:38
Tracy: You get out of London and you get out to the countryside and you'll meet so many different people.
21:43
Tracy: You'll hear lots of different accents.
21:45
Tracy: You know you're in Wales, you're in Scotland, you're in England, you're down in Cornwall, So you know you'll have met lots of.
21:51
Tracy: You are in Northumberland, which is where I'm from, So you'll have met lots of different people.
21:55
Tracy: You know, and you get a different taste of the country when you, when you travel around like that, For sure.
22:02
Marissa: I'm really glad that we had London on both ends too and not just like a full, like four days in London, because that would have been like really overwhelming, yeah.
22:09
Marissa: So having like the day and a half and the day and a half bookends really was helpful And I think under our last day to be like a more low key hop on, hop on best tour because I knew we'd be exhausted.
22:20
Tracy: And that's the thing I think sometimes people's are don't realize just how exhausted London is.
22:25
Tracy: I'm going, i've got 10 days at 20th or 30th of June and I've got full on.
22:31
Tracy: I'm doing lots of tours and I know I'm going to be exhausted, you know.
22:34
Tracy: So I'm kind of giving myself up for that, because it is.
22:37
Tracy: It's a lot of walking and a lot of noise and a lot of business, business.
22:42
Marissa: I didn't realize just how like restaurants they always have like loud music and a lot of people talking Yeah At the same time.
22:48
Cindy: So like that was very over stimulating Yeah, especially from my son, that was a lot So yeah, totally, totally understand, totally get that one thing I think is important to know, to that we've found out when it comes to restaurants and things If you want to have dinner somewhere, you need to make a reservation.
23:07
Marissa: Which is something Tracy told me, but I don't like to Right, but it's that far ahead.
23:12
Cindy: Well, and it's also something that we're just not used to doing.
23:15
Cindy: You know it's not, yeah, but it definitely, especially with the bigger group, needed and, and we're more of the oh, let's we're walking about, we're all getting hungry, let's find a place that looks fun to eat.
23:28
Tracy: Yeah.
23:29
Cindy: You can't do that Yeah, we learned.
23:32
Marissa: Yeah, and especially because there's a lot of I didn't have any issues and saying I was with that, though.
23:36
Cindy: No, not in the small areas.
23:38
Tracy: So we're kind of talking about food.
23:39
Tracy: Let's talk about how.
23:41
Tracy: How did you find the food?
23:42
Tracy: What did you enjoy?
23:43
Tracy: What were your favorite dishes So good?
23:46
Marissa: I could have lived off of the fish and chips just everywhere.
23:49
Tracy: This is kind of reputation about, about food not being brilliant in the UK, but actually I don't think we had a bad meal.
23:57
Marissa: I think everything that I eat was delicious.
24:00
Marissa: That's brilliant.
24:01
Marissa: We tried things, different things too, we did.
24:04
Marissa: We went to your recommendation in London for the Dishoom Indian restaurant Yep, which was probably my first experience with Indian food, and you enjoyed it.
24:13
Marissa: It was delicious.
24:14
Marissa: Not many choices for a four year old, no.
24:18
Tracy: No.
24:19
Marissa: But he had a mango smoothie and like a dessert So he was no-transcript But he'd be happy with that.
24:24
Marissa: Yeah, he was pretty happy with that.
24:26
Marissa: So I was pretty happy with all the ice cream, gelato, ice cream like dessert, pretty much daily Clotted cream or cream teas and saying I was in the pasties, mmm.
24:39
Tracy: Oh yeah, Did you have a favorite Cindy meal?
24:42
Cindy: I really like the fish and chips.
24:44
Cindy: Yeah, yeah, i think that was probably my favorite the sticky toffee pudding.
24:49
Marissa: Oh yeah, that was that was.
24:52
Cindy: That was amazing.
24:53
Cindy: We because, yeah, when we were on Isla sky, we were, we were in the Airbnb, yeah, and we were right on the water.
25:01
Cindy: But Some of our parties stayed at the little hotel a little old in the old in, and they had a restaurant attached to it where you Could make reservations if you were staying there.
25:12
Cindy: So we would go there for dinner each night.
25:14
Cindy: Yeah, and we tried the first night, i think we tried that sticky toffee pudding and, oh my, i'm not a big dessert person, but, wow, change my mind.
25:26
Tracy: So that that is always a favorite.
25:27
Tracy: I hear so much about the cat because I'm not a big dessert person at all.
25:31
Tracy: I mean I'm I like cold desserts more than the warm does.
25:35
Tracy: But my husband, he loves his sticky toffee pudding absolutely.
25:39
Tracy: Did you have it?
25:40
Tracy: custard or cream?
25:41
Tracy: They?
25:42
Marissa: had ice cream of it.
25:43
Tracy: I scream.
25:44
Marissa: Okay, so my son would eat the ice cream and I'd eat the toffee pudding.
25:47
Marissa: Yeah, oh lovely now.
25:49
Tracy: I'm glad that you enjoyed that and that you enjoyed like all the different different foods.
25:53
Tracy: Did he try haggis when you're in Scotland?
25:55
Tracy: We did.
26:00
Marissa: We went to Dunvegan Castle Yeah in the sky and they had like a haggis with cheesy potato like a little cheese and haggis in it, so good.
26:09
Marissa: The food, for it being just like a cafe and a castle, was amazing, and they had a venison stew there too.
26:16
Marissa: Yeah, the more it was really good.
26:17
Cindy: We had a couple of times too.
26:19
Tracy: Yeah, so did you.
26:20
Tracy: Did you guys eat out all because I know you stayed?
26:22
Tracy: we're talking about accommodation, because I know you stayed in some Airbnb's and hotels, but how did you find in terms of catering?
26:30
Tracy: What did you do for?
26:30
Tracy: did you have the breakfast, where you stay in, and then have lunch out and then?
26:34
Marissa: Um, we did a lot of eating out.
26:36
Marissa: My son and I would stay back more often than not More often than the others did for like doing dinner at home and stuff.
26:43
Tracy: Yeah.
26:44
Marissa: I think we did a couple of nights where we would do take-in or like mac and cheese and stuff for him, but most of time we went out.
26:50
Marissa: Yeah, but we would also.
26:51
Marissa: We would like Sandwiches and stuff for lunch, yeah.
26:54
Cindy: I like deals and stuff most of the stores sold the fresh sandwiches, even the warm sandwiches, you know you, so you could get.
27:01
Cindy: We would pick up some things and then when we were on the Islas guy tour, our tour guide had built-in lunch stops in places, so we would go out for lunch there and we stopped.
27:14
Marissa: He sent us to stop for groceries before we got on to sky and So I made sure I had like lots of fruits and stuff and peanut butter and jelly for my son during the game stuff.
27:22
Tracy: Yeah, yeah, it's good, and a lot of their supermarkets as well.
27:25
Tracy: You can get the meal deals with checks, yeah, so you know they're really good option because you get your drink and your piece of fruit or your pat the Chris And you drink.
27:32
Tracy: I loved it.
27:33
Tracy: I know you just mentioned before you about your son.
27:35
Tracy: Get the whole crisps and chips thing, because that's really confusing, isn't it.
27:41
Marissa: I'm really more confusing than I thought it would be for him, because I'd be like yeah, i'm getting fish and chips you can eat, and it came with chips and peas and he loves peas.
27:50
Tracy: He loves peas.
27:51
Marissa: Yeah, I was like, yeah, You can eat the chips and peas.
27:53
Marissa: And like I'd give him fruit and stuff before we went out for dinner And make sure he was gonna be full and then he'd have dessert.
27:57
Marissa: And he was like, but those are french fries.
27:59
Marissa: And I was like, no, they're chips here.
28:02
Marissa: Yeah, he's like no, chips are like in a bag.
28:05
Marissa: And I was like, no, those are crisps here.
28:06
Marissa: And I had to explain that to him like a dozen times And I think by the end of it He was just doing it just on purpose.
28:12
Marissa: He's like no, those are not chips, So those are your french fries.
28:17
Marissa: And I was like, buddy, I think by now you know.
28:20
Tracy: What are the difference?
28:22
Tracy: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's funny about it though There's different terms that we use another chips and crisps, and you know, and because I grew up between the UK and and and Africa, and in Africa we used to call them chips for crisps.
28:35
Tracy: Oh, then I used to come back and then I get it all confused.
28:38
Cindy: Yeah, Oh, what is it?
28:39
Cindy: What have I called them?
28:40
Cindy: Yeah, her dad and our son really liked all the different pubs and the trying the different beers and the cask beers and things like that and the Hand pumped beers, which, so they really were having fun trying all those different things out.
28:58
Tracy: Yeah, No, yes, there's always a favorite.
29:01
Tracy: Actually put a photo on in the Facebook group.
29:04
Tracy: Last week I went in and took all the picture on one of the supermarkets all the different beers that you can buy, just Different.
29:12
Tracy: I know that was a very popular post that I put on, saying there's so many different Tuck, the sorts that you can get and, of course, all the different types of them, gin that you can get as well, and yeah, yeah, it's very popular there.
29:23
Tracy: Yeah, it is really, really popular.
29:26
Marissa: I'm joined the whiskey tasting.
29:29
Cindy: I'm more of a.
29:30
Cindy: I'm more of a bourbon whiskey person and yours is more of a malted scotch whiskey.
29:36
Cindy: Yeah, but I did try them and I found some that I liked.
29:40
Cindy: Oh, that's good.
29:42
Tracy: So let's talk about accommodation.
29:43
Tracy: So how did you choose your accommodation and what were your favorites?
29:49
Marissa: Well, since we had a bigger group, i tried to do like Airbnb's a Lot of the time where there was like a large enough space, especially for we're gonna be.
29:58
Marissa: So if we were gonna be somewhere for multiple days, i tried to do Airbnb's, and if it was just gonna be like a one night overnight, I would do like a hotel, just because then it you have everybody their own space and be Like affordable.
30:10
Marissa: Yeah, like so saying I, as we found like a gorgeous Airbnb that fit our whole group, which was impressive, yeah.
30:16
Marissa: And then, like London, we did hotels because, like you're not gonna find something for that big of a group And it's just easier to split everybody up at that point, give everybody kind of a break.
30:26
Marissa: And Then, at um Rah, we did like a Airbnb.
30:30
Marissa: Yeah, and then, like in Vanessa's the hotel, because we were there for a night and you have favorites out of those, yeah, our Isla sky Airbnb I booked as soon as it was available on Airbnb because I saw it like two years ago.
30:45
Marissa: And I was like that's where we need to stay, need to stay there, yeah, and that was probably, literally, that was definitely the first thing I booked out of the entire trip.
30:52
Marissa: Was that stay.
30:53
Cindy: Because said it was right on the water right on the water in Carbos to you know front courtyard, a back courtyard walking trails.
31:01
Marissa: Love it was three bedrooms and a living room and a kitchen and it was like perfect size for all of us.
31:07
Marissa: And that was before I knew our two others were gonna be joining us.
31:10
Marissa: But it worked out that there was the in next door.
31:12
Marissa: Yeah, they could just stay and give us, like, give everybody kind of some space to do their own thing, and it was also nice that location.
31:20
Cindy: There was a little playground, so Finn was able to go to the play a little community store and.
31:25
Cindy: Matthew, which is her brother, our son.
31:29
Cindy: He's an early riser because of his job and he likes hiking, so he was able to get up on a lot of mornings in the different Locations.
31:38
Cindy: Yeah, we were both one nights and go for a morning hike and take some pictures and then come back and we were all Getting ready for the day.
31:47
Tracy: That's good.
31:47
Tracy: I know you mentioned the place you stayed in.
31:48
Tracy: The Lake District as well was a favorite.
31:52
Marissa: Ashness farm.
31:53
Marissa: That was the best that was our guide, keith, for the Lake District, recommended that.
31:58
Marissa: Yeah, that's one of his preferred places to stay and I Absolutely can see why.
32:02
Marissa: Right up the road from Ashness You're on like this tiny side road up in the Like was it northern lakes?
32:11
Marissa: at that point, mm-hmm and um, there's like a gorgeous viewpoint over all the lakes and you're on the farm and the lambs and it's a better breakfast.
32:21
Marissa: So you get your your cook breakfast, full English.
32:25
Marissa: In the morning, fresh break.
32:27
Marissa: She baked the bread, is it the kind?
32:29
Cindy: of sausage.
32:30
Cindy: Is that what that was?
32:31
Cindy: the humbria, that was amazing.
32:35
Cindy: That was probably my second favorite thing.
32:37
Marissa: Yeah, yeah, i Could have stayed there for a long time, just like to go out in the morning and enjoy, like The view over the lake, because we're up on the hill and the lambs and everything and my brother was able to hike the mountains behind us.
32:53
Tracy: And you were there for the perfect time of a time of year for the lambs as well.
32:57
Marissa: Yes, there's so many lambs, especially because Marissa's way before lambing back home to.
33:04
Tracy: So I was missing out on my sheep.
33:05
Tracy: Yeah, you miss them, but you got to see them there, so that's really nice.
33:09
Tracy: Yeah, so that's good.
33:10
Tracy: And I know you mentioned the white heart in and Wells was somewhere else that you really liked as well.
33:15
Marissa: We loved Wells.
33:16
Marissa: It was gorgeous.
33:17
Marissa: I definitely wish we had had more time there, that's one of the places I'd go back.
33:22
Cindy: They were so accommodating so nice.
33:27
Marissa: The beer, my, that was my brother's favorite place.
33:30
Marissa: They had a really good beer selection.
33:31
Marissa: I guess The food was good.
33:33
Marissa: We learned that everything's like a bit slower paced for meals in the UK compared to the States.
33:39
Marissa: Yeah, because everybody like in the States, i feel like it's like okay, sit down, they order and they want their food like pretty quickly and so it's like no more Like relaxed and slower, and we had to get used to that, yeah, but like the food was so good they um, that was towards the end of our trip and my son was like I just want a grilled cheese.
33:58
Marissa: And I was like What are the chances that you can make a grilled cheese for him?
34:03
Marissa: And I was like literally two pieces of red and cheese and he will be the happiest kid ever.
34:07
Marissa: And the chef was like Absolutely, and made him probably the best grilled cheese I've ever had a snack of.
34:14
Cindy: So wow, it works out well Yeah and we had, we were sharing a room, yeah, and they didn't have like a really big bed, and so she, the assistant manager, i think.
34:25
Cindy: So, yeah, the assistant manager came running up with, you know, a folded up Heavy quilt and made fit a little bed on the floor, and it was yeah he slept really well.
34:36
Marissa: It was great, so accommodating, and Wells was just gorgeous.
34:38
Marissa: Oh, my god, i'm gonna be a draw.
34:40
Marissa: I wish I had been able to stay for the evening song, because I've heard that that's really nice, yeah.
34:45
Marissa: But we went to the victors close and the bishops got to see the bishops Area, like with the water and stuff, yeah, yeah.
34:53
Marissa: And then we had our tour guard, keith, to tour guide Keith for that part, and Just the history and like being able to like learn from him, and he walked all around with us and showed us everything and It was kind of cool, like we get to have lunch and breakfast with him and kind of like Learn about the area.
35:10
Tracy: So yeah, that's cool, i'll link him.
35:13
Tracy: I can hear people going Oh, i really want to know where these places were, that you get paid and I will.
35:17
Tracy: I will make sure I get the names off you and Yeah, i'll link to those in the show notes.
35:21
Tracy: Yeah, if anybody's listening, i don't worry, there will be the show notes and you can check out the places that they stayed.
35:28
Cindy: Yeah, and then it was funny because we had two different tour guys that I was with and they had two different styles, and one of them, you know you had a definite set agenda and this is where we're going, which was great.
35:38
Cindy: Yeah, she knew what you were doing.
35:40
Cindy: And then the second one, keith, it was more of, and he actually stayed with us where we were staying right, and so we had a General idea of our options, and then in the evenings, when we knew kind of what the weather was going to be like, we'd sort of talk about a possible plan, and then at breakfast We would make a more definite plan, and you know we could change it as we went along, and so I like them both equally.
36:08
Intro: Yeah, it was.
36:09
Cindy: You know, there were advantages to each one.
36:12
Marissa: Yeah it was really nice to get the two different like styles to and like.
36:17
Marissa: I Would recommend highly both of them and I would definitely go back.
36:23
Marissa: And there's a lot more.
36:24
Marissa: I told Keith that the next time I go back that I'll just have him, i'll just be like here.
36:28
Marissa: I have a leak tell me where I'm going.
36:30
Marissa: I Have a lot of the places that we ended up going were not places I would have known about or like would have been on my radar, and There's a lot of like smaller villages and like towns that were really like nice But I wouldn't have like really known.
36:47
Tracy: So, and that's the thing is, like you can get off the beaten track and you know There's the places that everybody knows about.
36:54
Tracy: But that's the thing about if you, with somebody, you're gonna, you know, go to those places that you wouldn't necessarily know about yeah, we did Stonehenge, but we also did what the Maidens or the sisters.
37:09
Marissa: Oh yeah, like he showed us Castle Rig, castle, stone Circle.
37:14
Tracy: Yeah, and.
37:14
Marissa: Mary maidens was Cornwall, but there was another one with her daughters, or sister.
37:19
Marissa: Oh, lone Meg and her daughters.
37:21
Cindy: Oh yes.
37:21
Marissa: That's one circle which was really.
37:23
Cindy: I mean, yeah, it was nice to go to Stonehenge, but when we were at the other ones you could really get up close and personal and yeah, check it out Yeah.
37:32
Marissa: And he made sure, like we knew, like if you're doing Stonehenge, you need to be the first bus in and he had us there and he had us on The bus and had us like there first before it got too before that, exactly inside, inside of knowledge, isn't it?
37:45
Marissa: Yeah, it really is like I wouldn't have known, like we did, snow tail manner.
37:52
Tracy: Yes.
37:53
Marissa: I wouldn't have known about that.
37:54
Marissa: Or like Lynn Lynn I'd wall, which was like a hike in Whales up to like a lake in the mountains, and those are things that would have been off my radar and It's just really cool.
38:05
Cindy: What was that Slate mine that we went to?
38:09
Cindy: Oh, it was really cool.
38:10
Cindy: Let me look.
38:13
Cindy: We went to the.
38:15
Cindy: It was a slate mine and it was really that was in the late right Yeah, and it was.
38:22
Cindy: I don't even have a really neat No they're a really nice gift shop, but they also they did a lot of sculptures with the sleigh.
38:28
Cindy: It was beautiful.
38:30
Marissa: I can't remember the name of it.
38:31
Marissa: Yeah.
38:32
Cindy: Slazier.
38:33
Marissa: I don't remember.
38:34
Marissa: I don't have that down, i just have to sleep right now.
38:37
Intro: Oh yeah.
38:37
Marissa: We were able to do a lot more And like see a lot of gardens and stuff that I wouldn't have known about yeah, so it's good.
38:45
Tracy: Yeah, you know you definitely had a, you know a Well I kind of well rounded experience.
38:51
Tracy: That's what I describe it as that you, you know, you got to go deeper, you got to go further, you got to see more than you would have done, yeah, if you hadn't organized it the way that you did.
39:00
Tracy: I.
39:02
Cindy: Really liked and daddy really liked, and Matthew Liverpool too.
39:06
Cindy: That was oh yeah, yeah, liverpool was.
39:08
Cindy: It reminded me of a small Nashville here in the United States Because of the live music all the time.
39:16
Cindy: Yeah, and that was.
39:18
Cindy: I really enjoyed that too, walking around there and just being able to pop into a pub and hear the music in the streets.
39:24
Cindy: And Roger's a huge Beatles fan, so they did the Beatles tour.
39:29
Cindy: And then great again met up with Matthew's friend Recommender.
39:35
Cindy: She has like a friend who's a good, like a big Beatles guy who's a tour of my dad around all day Oh perfect, it's a huge.
39:42
Tracy: Beatles fan.
39:42
Cindy: He used to work in the cavern.
39:44
Cindy: Yeah and he took Matthew and Roger on a big walking tour and they So that was.
39:51
Cindy: That's really good.
39:52
Tracy: And that's the thing.
39:53
Tracy: It's like you, everybody on your trip got all their interests, can't it It's for, which was exactly what you aimed for.
39:59
Tracy: See, you know, you did such a good, and I've said I said this to you on an ice six months ago when we spoke just like you did a really, really good job.
40:07
Tracy: She did.
40:09
Cindy: I said she's.
40:09
Cindy: She's, mr Calling.
40:10
Cindy: She needs to be a travel guide or travel.
40:15
Tracy: You're the great one and and so I was thinking about Was there anything that surprised you about the trip?
40:21
Tracy: because obviously you're prepared, but you know when you go somewhere that you haven't been before.
40:24
Tracy: But and often a lot of people think they know the UK because you watch a lot of TV.
40:29
Tracy: Yeah, was there anything that that surprised you when you, when you came over?
40:34
Marissa: Um, i don't know, i feel like I was just kind of surprised by how tired I was from traveling, um, but like I don't know, i don't know if there's like a really like everybody was so nice and food was so good and like Just, i think everything went really smooth.
40:50
Tracy: The weather was probably better than maybe it Was the weather better than you expected.
41:00
Marissa: I think, that was so good.
41:02
Marissa: We had Probably like one washout day when we were in lime regis and we walked to the fossil beach, because that was the reason we were there was to see the fossils, yeah, and we walked the mile to the fossil beach in the gale.
41:15
Marissa: It was like one of the days where they had the gale eight or something and pouring rain.
41:19
Marissa: Oh no, we were Literally looked like we had been swimming for like hours by the time we got done with our walk.
41:25
Marissa: So worth it, though, because It was something that we were only there for like one day and we weren't gonna be able to do it the next day because the tide was gonna be off and whatnot.
41:34
Marissa: Yeah so Other than that, though, like we really, we got some showers and stuff, but we got really lucky.
41:40
Marissa: But back home, while we were there getting 65 and sunny, they had two weeks solid of rain, oh, which is not what we usually get.
41:49
Marissa: So we went to England for the good weather and the rain stayed at home, apparently.
41:55
Tracy: Oh well, that's okay.
41:56
Tracy: It was better that way around.
41:57
Tracy: For sure, Exactly I.
41:59
Cindy: Don't think it was a surprise, but I think one of the things that I was really struck by was the history and because, you know, we're from the states and we're relatively very young country compared to your country in the UK.
42:19
Cindy: So just, you know, seeing the buildings and the stones, and I remember walking with Keith and saying, just you know, keith, how old would you say the stonework is?
42:28
Cindy: Oh, it's probably, you know, three, four hundred years old.
42:31
Cindy: You know, and that's something that you know, our oldest places are, you know, maybe a hundred 150.
42:37
Cindy: Yeah, so that was really, and for me I think the most emotional moment is I had done some ancestry and found that I was.
42:48
Cindy: I'm directly related to the McBaines in Scotland and my great-grandfathers were the clan chiefs.
42:56
Cindy: So we went to the McBaines Museum Memorial yeah, but there's a little park there.
43:03
Cindy: And then when we went to the battle of Caladin, I always say it wrong, like the third stone that we saw on the walkway was my great, great, great great Gileas McBaines, and so that was very powerful for me.
43:19
Marissa: Yeah, i can imagine.
43:20
Tracy: I can imagine.
43:21
Tracy: Yeah, it's nice to be able to do that, isn't it?
43:24
Tracy: It's nice to be able to go back and kind of get that connection, you know, with generations past.
43:30
Tracy: But we're able to do it.
43:30
Tracy: But even I, you know, obviously you know from the UK and but even you know, my great-grandfather was from Cornwall and I love it when I go down there because I feel that connection with the tin mines down in Cornwall.
43:40
Tracy: Yeah, you know, even though it's 120 years ago.
43:43
Tracy: Then he moved up to North umberland.
43:45
Tracy: But it's not for you guys, but to come across from from the states, to be able to do that, it's it's.
43:50
Tracy: It's amazing, isn't it, to kind of get in touch with that, with with your roots.
43:53
Tracy: You know how far back it is that you can, you know, have to find that connection.
43:59
Tracy: So that's lovely.
44:00
Tracy: Now I'm gonna ask you one more, because I'm kind of conscious of the time, because we're on 44 minutes already, so we're doing a lot of talking today, which is brilliant.
44:07
Tracy: it's really good to talk to you guys.
44:08
Tracy: Yeah, but if there's, if there was anything that you're gonna do differently because I know you're gonna plan another trip, marissa, i know you're definitely gonna is there anything you would do differently?
44:16
Cindy: Yeah, i would not get.
44:17
Tracy: COVID while I was there.
44:18
Tracy: Yeah, you got sick, didn't you?
44:21
Cindy: No, there I think I think we would have for me to do differently, would have slowed down and tried to maybe done just two or three things or two things and then left more free time to just wander about.
44:39
Cindy: You know, as you're, when you're driving about and you see a cute little town and yeah, i like to go shop and things like that's.
44:44
Cindy: That's just me.
44:47
Cindy: So that's, i think, something that I would have done differently.
44:51
Cindy: It's just spent more time and had had more free time to just kind of wander about.
44:56
Marissa: Yeah, with the way that I had to do it with so many things, we didn't really get that opportunity.
44:59
Marissa: But the next time I would definitely do like make sure that I'm in like the same place for two or three nights instead of like a bunch of one night stays, yeah, so that I could see more.
45:07
Marissa: And then, like we packed pretty light, but like even packing lighter, but like I packed for my son and I in a check bag and backpacks, yeah, and I still had outfits that I packed that I probably didn't wear, even though I only packed like five outfits that we made to my head laundry every week and did the same.
45:29
Marissa: But I really could have packed less.
45:32
Cindy: But it's not so hard to pack for the UK because you've got like.
45:36
Cindy: It's almost like you're packing for three different seasons.
45:39
Cindy: I should know what you're gonna get Especially going from Cornwall to Sky.
45:42
Marissa: we didn't know, like, what the temperature differences were gonna be.
45:44
Marissa: Yeah, but it really I could have packed less, reminding myself that if there's something I need, i can buy it there, absolutely, absolutely.
45:53
Tracy: But you know what, even I've done that I've just because I've been over 12 weeks, so I try to minimally pack and I've still got stuff that I'm looking at the cupboard going.
46:01
Tracy: I don't think it's actually gonna be warm enough.
46:03
Tracy: I think was maybe a bit optimistic about, i think it was gonna be very hot, and it's not which it was last July, and then I'm not gonna wear.
46:09
Tracy: So I think.
46:10
Tracy: I think that you know it's not how many outfits.
46:12
Tracy: There's always something you think, oh, i've not worn that.
46:15
Tracy: Yeah, so it's so.
46:16
Tracy: It's difficult and, as you say, over the UK, because the weather can be so variable and you were going from right down south to right up north and that there's a big temperature difference then as well, so it's difficult to know.
46:27
Marissa: Yeah.
46:28
Tracy: But I always end the podcast with the same question for everybody.
46:31
Tracy: So I'm gonna ask you guys, if there's one tip you would give to anyone planning their trip to the UK for the first time.
46:37
Tracy: What would that be?
46:39
Marissa: Mine would be doing the itinerary consult, because it really like made my anxiety so much less because I was so stressed out and so worried that I was gonna get something wrong and like messed up the whole trip for everybody and put a lot of pressure on myself.
46:53
Marissa: But that just being able to like have the two extra sets of eyes overview it and like kind of like nope, it looks good, like here's my suggestion on this, and that just really I feel like took my stress level down a lot and like really made it so that I could like enjoy the trip while we were on it and I didn't have to worry like oh, did I mess something up?
47:13
Marissa: did I mess something up?
47:14
Marissa: What?
47:14
Marissa: So I think that was really my my thought, that's brilliant and we loved.
47:18
Tracy: We loved working with you, marissa, and helping you, and it has been a pleasure for the last couple years really, since you've been planning and going through it, and it was just so lovely when you were on the trip and that you shared in the group and I know you sent me some messages saying how things are going.
47:35
Tracy: I was asking, and it was just lovely to have that, and that's one of the things that's really special for myself and Doug is that you know when we do the itinerary consult.
47:45
Tracy: So it's like we get to know you guys.
47:46
Tracy: So, yeah, you know, and it's been, it's fantastic.
47:49
Tracy: The only thing was I didn't get the chance to meet you when you were over.
47:52
Tracy: I know, oh, that was something we couldn't coordinate, but but I'm just so pleased that you had had such a wonderful trip and that you'll just have to come to Maine.
48:00
Tracy: Yeah, well, we will do.
48:03
Tracy: Anyway.
48:04
Tracy: So I just want to say a huge thank you to Marissa and Cindy.
48:07
Tracy: Thank you so much for coming on the podcast and thank you and talking us through your trip.
48:12
Tracy: It's been brilliant.
48:13
Tracy: Thanks very much to Marissa and Cindy once again for coming on this week's episode of the podcast.
48:19
Tracy: It was really great to talk to you guys about your trip and get your trip report and recommendations via podcast.
48:26
Tracy: So thanks very much you guys for agreeing to do that.
48:28
Tracy: You will find links to everywhere that Marissa talked about in this episode, so the accommodation and the guides that they used in this week's show notes, which is at UKTravelPlanetcom, forward slash, episode 50.
48:43
Tracy: I just want to say thanks to everyone for supporting the show, whether that's via the tip, your guide button on our website, or via sponsoring the podcast, which you can now do from as little as three dollars a month.
48:57
Tracy: We really, really appreciate that, and I will be giving a shout out in an episode soon for everybody who is sponsoring us, because we absolutely appreciate it so much.
49:07
Tracy: It's lovely that you do that.
49:08
Tracy: Do pop over and join the Facebook group as well, if that's something that you're interested in joining our community over there.
49:13
Tracy: Information about our itinerary consultation service as well will be in the show notes, and we will be reopening that service again in July.
49:22
Tracy: We do a limited number every month, so if it is something that you think you would like to do, please take a check out the link and see if you can book a slot.
49:32
Tracy: Anyway, that's until next week.
49:34
Tracy: That's all.
49:34
Tracy: Leave me to say, as usual, it's a happy UK travel planning.