Latest / UK Travel Planning / Trip Report - Exploring the UK: From Cornwall's Beautiful Countryside to London's Vibrant City Life

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Trip Report - Exploring the UK: From Cornwall's Beautiful Countryside to London's Vibrant City Life · UK Travel Planning

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Your host is the founder of the UK Travel Planning website, tracy Collins.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: 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
  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.
• 0:38
  Tracy Collins: Hello and welcome to episode 65 of the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
• 0:42
  Tracy Collins: This week I am very excited to be chatting to Deborah Harson.
• 0:46
  Tracy Collins: He was on the podcast last year from episode 22 when she visited the UK with daughter Emily.
• 0:52
  Tracy Collins: Last year I was actually lucky enough to meet Deborah and her daughter Britt, who she went to the UK with this year.
• 1:00
  Tracy Collins: When I actually met up with Deborah in London, I asked if she'd come on the podcast again and she said she would.
• 1:06
  Tracy Collins: So thank you, Deborah.
• 1:08
  Tracy Collins: Would you like to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit, obviously where you're from in the US and who you travel to the UK with?
• 1:14
  Deborah Harsen: Absolutely.
• 1:14
  Deborah Harsen: Thank you again, tracy, and it was fun meeting up with you in person.
• 1:18
  Deborah Harsen: That was an amazing part of my trip, one of my highlights.
• 1:21
  Deborah Harsen: I live in I'm Deborah Harson, as you had said.
• 1:25
  Deborah Harsen: I live in Northwest Pennsylvania, not too far actually south from the Niagara Falls, and I went this year with my daughter, brittney, who lives in Las Vegas, nevada, so she had quite a bit longer of an airline trip than I did, but we ended up meeting in Washington DC before we flew over to London.
• 1:44
  Deborah Harsen: So that's who I took with me this year and it was absolutely lovely and a dream to return back to the UK after having just left it nine months prior.
• 1:53
  Deborah Harsen: I could do that all the time.
• 1:56
  Tracy Collins: It sounded like me, because I think I was away about eight months and then flew back, which it was a little bit sooner than I thought, but yeah, it was great.
• 2:02
  Tracy Collins: Yes, so last year you did the four weeks with with Dr Emily.
• 2:07
  Tracy Collins: So obviously this year you decided to visit with Brittney and I was looking up to me Brittney as well in London, which was lovely.
• 2:15
  Tracy Collins: So, hi, brittney, if you listen in, I'm sure you will be.
• 2:16
  Tracy Collins: So last year you did a lot of travels with Emily.
• 2:20
  Tracy Collins: So you went.
• 2:20
  Tracy Collins: You went Northumberland, you were in York, you went Canterbury, you went London, you're in the Cotswolds, you went Loch Ness, edinburgh.
• 2:27
  Tracy Collins: So tell us a little bit about how long you went for this year and where you chose to go with Brittney.
• 2:34
  Deborah Harsen: Well, brittney and I only were able to take a two week a little bit over a two week stay, primarily because she is a teacher and her school does go year round, so we had to go within her break.
• 2:45
  Deborah Harsen: I let Brittney choose where she wanted to go.
• 2:47
  Deborah Harsen: Originally she wanted to go see lots of castles, so I'm thinking whales.
• 2:52
  Deborah Harsen: I get to go back to whales, I'm so excited.
• 2:54
  Deborah Harsen: And then she started looking at the map and looking at different areas and because she lives in desert, she said I want to be by the water.
• 3:01
  Deborah Harsen: And so she is the one who actually chose Cornwall, which was lovely for me because it was an area I've not gone into or had not had the opportunity to really go into much prior to that, so it was new for me as well.
• 3:17
  Deborah Harsen: Oh, that's exciting.
• 3:17
  Deborah Harsen: A lot of beautiful areas.
• 3:18
  Deborah Harsen: Yeah, it was a lot of fun.
• 3:20
  Deborah Harsen: So we spent our first several days in London and then we went into Cornwall and saw all sorts of wonderful, wonderful things and then spent the last five days of our trip in London as well.
• 3:33
  Deborah Harsen: So we were able to sort of combine the bright lights of the big city with beautiful, beautiful countryside and beachfronts and just gorgeous, gorgeous areas.
• 3:44
  Tracy Collins: Oh, I absolutely love Cornwall.
• 3:46
  Tracy Collins: It is gorgeous.
• 3:46
  Tracy Collins: I didn't get a chance to go this year.
• 3:49
  Tracy Collins: I went last year and we had a wonderful week down there.
• 3:53
  Tracy Collins: We had fantastic weather.
• 3:54
  Tracy Collins: It was absolutely beautiful.
• 3:55
  Tracy Collins: So tell us, how did you plan to get down to Cornwall?
• 4:00
  Tracy Collins: Did you go on a tour or did you do that independently?
• 4:01
  Tracy Collins: I did not go on a tour independently.
• 4:04
  Deborah Harsen: No, we did do a tour to go to Cornwall and I will say this was one of my favorite tours, simply because our tour director made it, and I think that's the case with a lot of it.
• 4:15
  Deborah Harsen: It's a very small tour but he was a younger man but, boy, he knew his history of Cornwall and made it engaging for everybody.
• 4:24
  Deborah Harsen: I love history, so every word he said I was soaking in and writing down in my little journal.
• 4:29
  Deborah Harsen: And even those who were there just to enjoy the beauty, or maybe their interests were some of the TV shows, of course, that are filmed in the area, or whatever the interests were he just was able to encapsulate it all and just made it thrilling and beautiful for everybody and I think that really, really, really made the tour, along with the gorgeous areas we want to see.
• 4:50
  Tracy Collins: Absolutely, I think that you're right.
• 4:52
  Tracy Collins: It's who you, because obviously you go into gorgeous areas, but if you've got a tour guide that you can engage with and who knows this stuff, that makes it even better, doesn't it?
• 5:02
  Tracy Collins: Yes, how long were you in down in Cornwall?
• 5:05
  Tracy Collins: So how did you get down there?
• 5:06
  Tracy Collins: Were you picked up by by bus and taken bus down there?
• 5:09
  Tracy Collins: Did you get a train?
• 5:11
  Deborah Harsen: No, we were picked up by a bus in London at the hotel in which we were staying and we were in Cornwall for six days yes, six days, okay, and it was absolutely stunning.
• 5:23
  Deborah Harsen: We actually started in Wells.
• 5:26
  Deborah Harsen: We saw Wells first, which is not in Cornwall, but I mean saw Wells first, then went into Dartmoor where we spent our first night, and then did Northern Cornwall and then down into the southern part of Cornwall before we headed back to London.
• 5:41
  Deborah Harsen: And just, I'm just in awe of all the areas there really.
• 5:46
  Tracy Collins: So what were the highlights of Cornwall for you?
• 5:48
  Tracy Collins: I know that's difficult, but it's actually not Okay.
• 5:54
  Deborah Harsen: Well, st Michael's Mount, that was on sort of my bucket list because Lindisfarne, the holy island, was on my bucket list last year and I was fortunate enough to go.
• 6:03
  Deborah Harsen: This sort of completed the bookend of the area for me.
• 6:07
  Deborah Harsen: I absolutely loved.
• 6:10
  Deborah Harsen: I believe it was Bedruthians.
• 6:12
  Deborah Harsen: Okay, yes, stunning, just stunning, and I guess it's at one point you could walk down those steps.
• 6:20
  Deborah Harsen: They don't recommend it now because there's been a lot of rock erosion and so forth, but, oh my goodness, absolutely stunning.
• 6:27
  Deborah Harsen: Port Isaac was gorgeous, yes, just gorgeous.
• 6:31
  Deborah Harsen: Oh, say knives, and of course, Brittany Gutter, picture taken at Land's End.
• 6:38
  Deborah Harsen: Oh, yeah, I mean there were a lot of moments and highlights that gosh, the area was just so beautiful.
• 6:44
  Deborah Harsen: I'm almost speechless talking about it and trying to think about some of the places, but it just, I think it captivated both of us.
• 6:53
  Tracy Collins: It really did.
• 6:53
  Tracy Collins: It's good.
• 6:54
  Tracy Collins: I know we've got.
• 6:55
  Tracy Collins: I can't think off the top of my head which episode it is, but Doug and I talked about our road trip round Cornwall last year in one episode, that's a nice one.
• 7:03
  Tracy Collins: Yeah, it's really good, and we do work with a private tour company down in Cornwall who does tours around Manage Tours as well, and he's been on the podcast to talk about his tours that he takes around as well Because it is a lovely area.
• 7:16
  Tracy Collins: I think people sometimes don't realise how long it takes to get there, though I agree it is quite a distance from London.
• 7:24
  Deborah Harsen: It really is, and it's so varied in the landscape as you go as well.
• 7:29
  Deborah Harsen: It's not just a moment of oh, here we are.
• 7:32
  Deborah Harsen: I mean, fortunately for us, our bus went right past Stonehenge so Brittany was able to say, oh, here's Stonehenge and we saw it beautifully as we passed by, and stopping in places like Wells and Dartmoor National Park I think really really helped keep the excitement up and it wasn't just a long drive.
• 7:52
  Tracy Collins: Oh, that's always the advantage.
• 7:54
  Tracy Collins: It's a long way to go, but when you do drive there, there's lots of places to stop along the way, in fact, too many places to stop along the way.
• 8:00
  Tracy Collins: That's true too.
• 8:01
  Tracy Collins: That's true too, it can take quite a while to get there.
• 8:04
  Tracy Collins: I know last year we got the train to Exeter and picked up a hire car there and then did our drive from there and then back to Exeter to pick up.
• 8:11
  Tracy Collins: Well, we're supposed to pick up the train, but we ended up keeping the hire car for a little bit longer.
• 8:15
  Tracy Collins: Right, but yeah, you also had lovely weather as well, because you were there in June.
• 8:19
  Tracy Collins: Well, yes, and no, yeah, okay.
• 8:20
  Deborah Harsen: activity In Bow Look dichote.
• 8:22
  Deborah Harsen: It was.
• 8:22
  Deborah Harsen: It was beautiful.
• 8:23
  Deborah Harsen: I mean, when we arrived in London when you and I met, it was incredibly hot.
• 8:27
  Deborah Harsen: Yeah.
• 8:27
  Deborah Harsen: When we first set out to Cornwall, it was beautiful, but it did get Much cooler as the trip went on, and certainly when we were in southern Cornwall we had one day where we were just sort of enjoying the Sun and, oh my goodness, I actually got windburn and didn't realize, because the temperature was low enough, yeah, but wind was blowing constantly and Eventually looked like, oh my goodness, wow my face.
• 8:58
  Deborah Harsen: It was actually.
• 8:58
  Deborah Harsen: It was actually from the wind.
• 8:59
  Deborah Harsen: So we had some cooler days not unpleasant cool and not the rain that I understand they had been After that, but but definitely some cooler days, but it didn't take away no any of the charm.
• 9:12
  Tracy Collins: No, that's good.
• 9:13
  Tracy Collins: Well, it's sometimes crazy.
• 9:14
  Tracy Collins: It can.
• 9:14
  Tracy Collins: It can get too hot, that's I think.
• 9:17
  Tracy Collins: When we were down there last year, it was, it was perfect.
• 9:19
  Tracy Collins: I actually was wearing shorts, which I never thought I'd ever wear in UK, but I had shorts on, which was really good.
• 9:24
  Tracy Collins: So so that was your Cornwall bit, what was where there's some accommodation that stood out in Cornwall.
• 9:30
  Deborah Harsen: In Cornwall.
• 9:31
  Deborah Harsen: Yes, there was a place, the Carlyon Bay Hotel, which was rather in the middle of nowhere.
• 9:38
  Deborah Harsen: It's right between Charleston and in Foy in that area and a beautiful area.
• 9:43
  Deborah Harsen: But this hotel had Incredible amenities.
• 9:47
  Deborah Harsen: We could have played golf for free, they had a gorgeous lawn, all sorts of these lovely round beach chairs With umbrellas over, and you just sat there and watch the water and you could walk to the beach.
• 9:57
  Deborah Harsen: Helicopters were landing for you know very VIP people who were arriving.
• 10:02
  Deborah Harsen: I didn't get to see who they were, but I saw their helicopter.
• 10:06
  Tracy Collins: I have to say what no.
• 10:08
  Deborah Harsen: I thought it was you actually I was going out but wasn't you.
• 10:12
  Deborah Harsen: But that was one of my favorite places we stayed at in Falmouth, a place called Green Bank which had been a an inn for Gosh I think it was three or four hundred years at this point and that was very quaint and very, very pretty.
• 10:29
  Deborah Harsen: To Bridges Hotel in Dartmoor, which is in two bridges, was absolutely stunning and that was a beautiful place too.
• 10:38
  Deborah Harsen: But I think our favorite, our standout, was the Carlyon Bay.
• 10:41
  Deborah Harsen: Simply the location, the, just the amenities.
• 10:45
  Deborah Harsen: You felt like you were being treated like royalty and it was just.
• 10:49
  Deborah Harsen: It just really stuck out.
• 10:50
  Deborah Harsen: Beautiful place but just a beautiful setting, just a beautiful area, perfect.
• 10:56
  Tracy Collins: So after, obviously, you had a few days in London, you went and did your Cornwall tour and then you came back to London, right?
• 11:03
  Tracy Collins: So should we talk about London?
• 11:05
  Tracy Collins: What, what you, what did?
• 11:06
  Tracy Collins: What did Brittany want to do and see in London?
• 11:09
  Tracy Collins: What were your priorities?
• 11:10
  Deborah Harsen: Well, our, our hotel in London was in Westminster.
• 11:14
  Deborah Harsen: It was right on St Vincent Square, gorgeous location for walking, a little bit of a trek for the tubes, but not not too bad.
• 11:22
  Deborah Harsen: And so our very first day we got to our hotel about one o'clock and Dropped off our luggage and walk ten minutes and we're smack dab in here's Big Ben and here's Parliament and here's Westminster Abbey and, and I think for Brittany it was a case of wow.
• 11:39
  Deborah Harsen: I think this is bigger than life, and I know she enjoyed that a lot.
• 11:44
  Deborah Harsen: The next day we went to the Tower of London and she has said to this day that that just really amazed her.
• 11:51
  Deborah Harsen: I don't know if it was necessarily the age, the structure, just the entire Mood of the place, but she has repeatedly said the Tower of London was one of her favorite places.
• 12:02
  Deborah Harsen: And she got to meet the fourth hired Female Warder at the Tower and she was thrilled to death about that and the the warder.
• 12:12
  Deborah Harsen: She was incredibly kind and let us take pictures and she was just really, really wonderful and Brittany really, really enjoyed being able to meet her too.
• 12:21
  Deborah Harsen: So I think that just helped to make the Tower of London even more memorable.
• 12:24
  Tracy Collins: It is, and and I actually met her as well in In May, I think it was when I was at Tower of London quite a few times this this summer and, yeah, she hadn't been there very long, maybe three months, I think it was it.
• 12:35
  Tracy Collins: Yeah, yeah, yes, so I've also got a photo with us.
• 12:39
  Tracy Collins: She's lovely, but, yeah, I mean, quite daunting to send.
• 12:41
  Tracy Collins: How much history she had to learn.
• 12:43
  Deborah Harsen: Obviously you've got to learn such a lot, but what a privilege, what a fantastic Opportunity it really was and and I loved at the Tower of London to all of the different school groups and you must have seen that in May who had decorated all the throne, appearing chairs throughout the lawn and the paintings and the artistry.
• 13:04
  Deborah Harsen: Those were just simply fun.
• 13:05
  Deborah Harsen: Those were so much fun to see and to see the different school groups and I just enjoyed that almost as much as being at the tower even though it was one of my favorite places and I love seeing that as well, so that was really enjoyable.
• 13:17
  Tracy Collins: What other highlights did you have in London?
• 13:20
  Deborah Harsen: We ended up going to the Victorian Albert Museum.
• 13:23
  Deborah Harsen: This was a Sunday, so we were there for several hours and then went next door to the Natural History Museum and enjoyed both immensely could spend all day in both.
• 13:34
  Deborah Harsen: So just spending a couple hours in both didn't really lend credence to seeing too much, but we really enjoyed it.
• 13:40
  Deborah Harsen: And a couple days or the next day after that we went to the National Portrait Museum, which had just reopened, I think two days after Brittany and I had arrived.
• 13:50
  Deborah Harsen: So that was a lot of fun.
• 13:53
  Deborah Harsen: They've put an awful lot of energy and money and vision into redesigning that museum and making it more cohesive.
• 14:02
  Tracy Collins: I think it's really, it's really yeah.
• 14:05
  Deborah Harsen: It's stunning, it's really good, and in our way to the National Portrait Museum, I finally got to do something else I've wanted to do for years, and that was have tea in St Martin's Crypt.
• 14:17
  Tracy Collins: Oh, okay, have you in the Crypt.
• 14:18
  Deborah Harsen: Yeah, and I just, I always wanted to do that, never had opportunity or had squeamish people with me, and Brittany was all for it.
• 14:28
  Deborah Harsen: She said, oh, absolutely, let's go.
• 14:30
  Deborah Harsen: So we got to do that too, and that was great, yes.
• 14:34
  Tracy Collins: And another thing I know you had on your list is you had a photo shoot with our lovely Dommie of Scaling Studios.
• 14:40
  Tracy Collins: How did that go?
• 14:43
  Deborah Harsen: Lovely.
• 14:43
  Deborah Harsen: Dommie is amazing.
• 14:45
  Deborah Harsen: She is sweet, she is professional, she knows what she's doing and she managed to do it with so much personality and ease and just sort of making you feel like I've known you forever.
• 14:58
  Deborah Harsen: I just I adored it.
• 15:00
  Deborah Harsen: It was.
• 15:01
  Deborah Harsen: We just opted for the half hour photo shoot simply because Brittany won't be too upset when I say this, but having her picture taken is not her thing, okay.
• 15:10
  Deborah Harsen: So we just opted for, you know, a smaller photo shoot, but also wanted some nice photos of the two of us while we were there.
• 15:17
  Deborah Harsen: And so we were right in, right by Westminster Abbey, the phone booths there, and then we went over the bridge to another view by the London Eye, so very, very closely densely packed areas that we were in.
• 15:31
  Deborah Harsen: And Dommie, just she was just amazing, just great.
• 15:35
  Deborah Harsen: The pictures are phenomenal.
• 15:37
  Deborah Harsen: I keep, I'm looking at them going.
• 15:39
  Deborah Harsen: Really, that's us.
• 15:41
  Tracy Collins: She's really good.
• 15:42
  Tracy Collins: She's really good.
• 15:43
  Tracy Collins: I think actually that my most favorite photo that I've ever had taken of me was she took it in Notting Hill in April and I just and I rarely would say that I love a photo of me, but I just absolutely love it.
• 15:56
  Tracy Collins: It's just fantastic photo.
• 15:58
  Tracy Collins: She did a really good job.
• 15:59
  Tracy Collins: She just always does a great job and you know, when I first the first ever photo shoot we had with Dommie last year, I was all a bit I've never done one of these, but she puts just so at ease.
• 16:09
  Tracy Collins: She does.
• 16:10
  Deborah Harsen: She's incredible.
• 16:11
  Deborah Harsen: Yeah, I think she had Brittany joking with her within the first three minutes and just she just made.
• 16:18
  Deborah Harsen: While she made me feel very comfortable, but she made Brittany just feel like, okay, this is what we're doing, let's just do it and having some fun.
• 16:25
  Tracy Collins: Yeah, oh, that's great.
• 16:26
  Tracy Collins: So we'll have to.
• 16:27
  Tracy Collins: Maybe if you want to send us some photos we can put in the show notes, if you want to share those, that would be really good.
• 16:33
  Tracy Collins: Obviously, you've said that you managed to go and have tea in the cafe and the crypt, yeah, so what other foods did you eat and how did Brittany find it?
• 16:42
  Deborah Harsen: Her goal was to eat as much fish and chips as possible.
• 16:45
  Deborah Harsen: This was her goal, I'm not sure, and she definitely tried other things.
• 16:49
  Deborah Harsen: We had Sunday roast one Sunday, obviously, and some different things.
• 16:53
  Deborah Harsen: But right around the corner from our hotel was this fabulous place that has been on my list I'm a huge list maker of places that people recommend and it's called the Laughing Halibut and it was incredible.
• 17:07
  Deborah Harsen: We ended up eating there three times and this was between pre and post our tour, oh yes.
• 17:12
  Deborah Harsen: And by the third time our waiter knows us Am I going to see you girls again?
• 17:18
  Deborah Harsen: Type thing.
• 17:19
  Deborah Harsen: We did take away, I think, the first time, and then we actually ate in the restaurant the last two Superb and just superb.
• 17:28
  Deborah Harsen: It's wonderful fish and chips.
• 17:31
  Deborah Harsen: Emily and I had had wonderful experience at another small place called the Fryer's Delight.
• 17:38
  Deborah Harsen: Yes, these places are comparable in that they're obviously very family owned and small and sort of niche and lovely, just lovely.
• 17:48
  Deborah Harsen: So I couldn't recommend that enough.
• 17:50
  Deborah Harsen: But then we went to Burrow Market as well and tried the salted beef.
• 17:55
  Deborah Harsen: Oh, I know, was that that was delicious.
• 17:58
  Deborah Harsen: I had a donut that should have been called a cake.
• 18:02
  Deborah Harsen: It just was luscious and creamy and incredibly beautiful and lovely, and of course, brittany tried the fish and chips there too, and I loved them.
• 18:14
  Deborah Harsen: But that was another highlight, though just being able to go through Burrow Market and all the food or sampling some of the things on display.
• 18:25
  Deborah Harsen: That was just a treat, just a treat.
• 18:29
  Tracy Collins: Oh, it's fantastic.
• 18:30
  Tracy Collins: I did a food tour of Burrow Market, which was great, and got to try lots of different foods.
• 18:36
  Tracy Collins: It was busy because Saturday it can get very, very busy at Burrow Market, so it was very busy, but we were lucky because we didn't have to stand any cute to get things.
• 18:43
  Tracy Collins: Our fellow guy did that.
• 18:46
  Deborah Harsen: That's true.
• 18:46
  Deborah Harsen: I believe it was a Wednesday morning.
• 18:49
  Deborah Harsen: I believe it was a Wednesday morning and, yeah, it was bustling when we got there but it wasn't busy.
• 18:55
  Deborah Harsen: But that wasn't until probably one or so one 30 in the afternoon that you could see if people were starting to come and it was going to be a lot more crowded.
• 19:05
  Deborah Harsen: And that's the other thing I'd say about London too.
• 19:08
  Deborah Harsen: I know people, especially on the Facebook group, often asked do I really need to book things?
• 19:12
  Deborah Harsen: Do I really need to do this Now?
• 19:14
  Deborah Harsen: Last year, and just being fortunate enough to have just been there, and nine months ago and when people were first starting to travel, emily and I could pretty much get into anything we wanted to fairly easily.
• 19:26
  Deborah Harsen: What a difference nine months makes.
• 19:28
  Deborah Harsen: I mean, we had all of our tickets for the Tower of London, westminster Abbey and different places pre-book, so that wasn't an issue.
• 19:35
  Deborah Harsen: But oh my goodness, the crowds, the sheer number of people that are now out and about and traveling and in restaurants or in pubs, was entirely different.
• 19:48
  Deborah Harsen: It was almost like visiting a different city.
• 19:50
  Tracy Collins: It's very, very busy.
• 19:51
  Tracy Collins: It was very busy this year, In fact, when I was there in April, I was there before the coronation for a week.
• 19:57
  Tracy Collins: I've never seen it so busy in April.
• 19:59
  Tracy Collins: It was crazy.
• 19:59
  Tracy Collins: And then in June it was very busy.
• 20:02
  Tracy Collins: I actually popped over to Paris for the day.
• 20:03
  Tracy Collins: Doug and I went to Paris last year and it was busy, but this year it was even just everybody's traveling there that wanted to travel, all that kind of pent up waiting Everybody is.
• 20:14
  Tracy Collins: So I know we get asked all the time should I bother booking?
• 20:17
  Tracy Collins: Should I bother?
• 20:18
  Tracy Collins: Yes, yes.
• 20:20
  Tracy Collins: The answer is yes.
• 20:21
  Tracy Collins: If you want to go somewhere in particular, if you want to eat somewhere in particular, book.
• 20:26
  Deborah Harsen: Yeah, I just saw a picture recently of Edinburgh, the Royal Mile, for the tattoo.
• 20:31
  Deborah Harsen: Now, emily and I were there last year and I had reservations about it.
• 20:35
  Deborah Harsen: Oh my goodness, the tattoo the first time in a couple of years and it was busy, but it was not a madhouse.
• 20:40
  Deborah Harsen: The picture I saw just the other day people were literally shoulder to shoulder.
• 20:45
  Deborah Harsen: It was a massive humanity.
• 20:47
  Deborah Harsen: So yes, people are traveling.
• 20:49
  Deborah Harsen: Yes, book.
• 20:51
  Tracy Collins: Yeah, don't underestimate it Absolutely.
• 20:53
  Tracy Collins: That's a very good tip, yes, so what about packing?
• 20:56
  Tracy Collins: Obviously you're used to packing.
• 20:57
  Tracy Collins: You know what you're taking, so you guys were pretty organized.
• 21:00
  Tracy Collins: I reckon with your packing.
• 21:02
  Deborah Harsen: We both just did carry on again.
• 21:04
  Deborah Harsen: It was just for two weeks.
• 21:05
  Deborah Harsen: That wasn't difficult at all.
• 21:07
  Deborah Harsen: The one thing I did differently this year last year I'd taken a large tote from my under the seat storage and that was lovely.
• 21:14
  Deborah Harsen: It worked just fine.
• 21:15
  Deborah Harsen: But you know, you had to dig for things.
• 21:16
  Deborah Harsen: It wasn't as organized and I actually found this year in under the seat suitcase that actually slides on to my carry-on.
• 21:24
  Deborah Harsen: I use that instead and I'm not sorry and probably would never use just a tote again.
• 21:32
  Deborah Harsen: So yeah, it was fabulous.
• 21:33
  Deborah Harsen: I knew exactly which pocket my passport was in, or knew exactly which pocket the extra change of clothes or whatever I needed was in.
• 21:40
  Deborah Harsen: So yeah, so that's the difference between last year and this year as far as packing, but both times carry-on.
• 21:47
  Deborah Harsen: We did a load of laundry.
• 21:50
  Deborah Harsen: I think carry-on is great.
• 21:52
  Tracy Collins: I mean, I don't know, for us it's 7 kgs, and because I have to take things like my Insta360 and I've got my laptop and I've got my, I'm already on 5 kgs before I put any clothes in.
• 22:03
  Tracy Collins: Yes, so I can't take anything.
• 22:05
  Tracy Collins: But my dream would be to just do carry-on.
• 22:07
  Tracy Collins: I must admit I've found two things this year that have changed everything.
• 22:10
  Tracy Collins: One is those compact cubes, packing cubes, that what do they call them?
• 22:16
  Tracy Collins: I kind of think of the name of them.
• 22:17
  Tracy Collins: You know what I mean.
• 22:18
  Tracy Collins: No, I absolutely use them too.
• 22:19
  Tracy Collins: Yeah, they just so brilliant.
• 22:21
  Tracy Collins: They put the Cap'n cubes in and they I'll take the air out.
• 22:25
  Tracy Collins: I can't think of the name of them, but they're fantastic, oh, amazing.
• 22:28
  Tracy Collins: So they're really good.
• 22:29
  Tracy Collins: And the name's completely gone out my head, but I will put a link in the show notes when I do remember.
• 22:34
  Tracy Collins: And the other thing is which is something I started doing a few years ago when I was travelling around Queensland for work is just starting to put things in small packing cubes in my hand luggage.
• 22:43
  Tracy Collins: So I put my book and a pen and a notepad in one.
• 22:46
  Tracy Collins: I put my earphones and all the electrical stuff that I wanted in another, so I don't have to go digging around my backpack, so I found that really helpful.
• 22:53
  Tracy Collins: Yeah, so I've been doing that.
• 22:54
  Tracy Collins: It makes it much easier.
• 22:56
  Tracy Collins: Yeah, so that makes things a little bit easier, absolutely so.
• 22:59
  Tracy Collins: Is there anything?
• 23:00
  Tracy Collins: Because obviously you've travelled to the UK a lot, deborah, but was there anything this time that surprised you?
• 23:07
  Tracy Collins: Anything that?
• 23:07
  Tracy Collins: Or is there anything that Britt said she wasn't expecting?
• 23:11
  Deborah Harsen: I think what surprised me the most besides just the absolute lushness of Cornwall and realising I could just get lost there very, very easy was the fact that we actually went to a tea plantation Trigothna tea plantation in southern Cornwall, they said, and it's the only one in the UK.
• 23:29
  Deborah Harsen: They said they are actually one of the larger suppliers of tea to China, which I found quite interesting.
• 23:36
  Deborah Harsen: Oh right, yeah, but around that area, and of course, because they can grow the tea it's because of the changing climate, because of the Gulf Coast stream that goes up through there there were so many tropical plants.
• 23:47
  Deborah Harsen: It just felt surreal, no other word for it.
• 23:50
  Deborah Harsen: I know I'm in the UK and there's a palm tree looking.
• 23:55
  Deborah Harsen: So it's just.
• 23:57
  Deborah Harsen: That was completely surprising, but in a very good way, in a very delightful way.
• 24:02
  Deborah Harsen: At the tree plant or at the tea plantation excuse me too we got to pick our own tea leaves so we could brew tea later.
• 24:09
  Deborah Harsen: So I mean, that was just a fun, surprising additional activity that I certainly would have never expected and I know we enjoyed that.
• 24:19
  Deborah Harsen: For Brittany, I think the thing that surprised her was when we got to St Michael's Mount and of course we took the boat over and I kept referring to this causeway that you could walk over and she obviously not for the first time or the last thought her mom was completely bonkers.
• 24:36
  Deborah Harsen: And we get to the top and climb to the top of St Michael's Mount, the castle, and she's looking down and you could see the tide going out, so you could see the causeway, and she ended up walking it.
• 24:48
  Deborah Harsen: When we got down to the bottom, she could walk it and she just had so much fun doing that.
• 24:55
  Deborah Harsen: I think that was a surprise because, once again, it's something you didn't expect to be able to do and she was able to do so.
• 25:02
  Deborah Harsen: I think those moments were the biggest surprises.
• 25:05
  Tracy Collins: Oh, that's lovely, and it's nice to go over by boat and walk over if you can, if the tides are in your favour.
• 25:09
  Tracy Collins: So that's lovely, that's really good.
• 25:11
  Tracy Collins: Absolutely, it's the one tip.
• 25:13
  Tracy Collins: I know we asked you this question last year, but I'm going to ask you on the end of this podcast, because I ask everybody and you might come up with something different this time what is the one tip that you would share for anybody planning a trip to the UK for the first time?
• 25:24
  Deborah Harsen: Deborah Well actually I have two.
• 25:27
  Deborah Harsen: One sort of goes together Anytime you're anywhere and you can ask a curator, a verger, you know anybody questions.
• 25:35
  Deborah Harsen: Do that and in turn, visit the gift shop, because I think you find the best treasures there.
• 25:40
  Deborah Harsen: You really, really do.
• 25:41
  Deborah Harsen: But the biggest thing I found this year was and I believe somebody had posted it on your Facebook page to download the MPC app and that's Mobile Passport Control, and I did before a trip and I thought, well, I wonder if this will really make that big of a difference.
• 25:58
  Deborah Harsen: Now it is primarily I looked into it today in the anticipation for this primarily for US residents and eligible Canadian residents.
• 26:06
  Deborah Harsen: So I know it does take out part of your viewership and the people that would listen, but essentially it was like global entry.
• 26:15
  Deborah Harsen: So all I had to do to put into it was where we were landing and we ended up coming back in through DC, what terminal we were going to be at.
• 26:23
  Deborah Harsen: We had nothing to declare and, as I'm doing, take a.
• 26:27
  Deborah Harsen: You snap a picture of yourself while you're doing it.
• 26:30
  Deborah Harsen: We're in line with a line that was longer than anything I've ever seen before and I'm doing this and I finally asked one of the workers as he went by is this the line for the MPC?
• 26:41
  Deborah Harsen: He goes, no, and he takes us out of this incredibly long line, takes us to an entirely different area of the airport.
• 26:48
  Deborah Harsen: There's five people, six people ahead of us in line and we, literally you get this QR code, you put it down on the screen and you're through, and essentially what it does is it takes out all of your reentry requirements.
• 27:01
  Deborah Harsen: You've already downloaded them into this.
• 27:03
  Deborah Harsen: They do a quick search and forward you this QR code and you're through and it was amazing.
• 27:11
  Deborah Harsen: So download it, do it.
• 27:13
  Deborah Harsen: That would be my biggest.
• 27:15
  Tracy Collins: That's for US citizens arriving back into the US.
• 27:19
  Deborah Harsen: Yes, to get back into the US.
• 27:20
  Deborah Harsen: It was just so easy and I know that line had to have taken people over two hours to get through.
• 27:28
  Deborah Harsen: So oh, wow, yeah, yeah.
• 27:30
  Tracy Collins: A great tip yeah.
• 27:32
  Deborah Harsen: And that's no exaggeration.
• 27:33
  Deborah Harsen: That line was just horrendous.
• 27:35
  Deborah Harsen: It just wove itself back and forth, over and, over and over again.
• 27:39
  Tracy Collins: Oh well, that's brilliant to know.
• 27:40
  Tracy Collins: So I'm going to say a huge thank you, deb, for coming back onto the podcast again to talk about your trip with Brittany.
• 27:48
  Tracy Collins: It was brilliant to talk to you.
• 27:50
  Deborah Harsen: And it was wonderful to meet you in London too.
• 27:52
  Deborah Harsen: I enjoyed so much going to Starbucks and saying, oh, that's where my friend and I met.
• 27:57
  Tracy Collins: Oh, it was.
• 27:58
  Tracy Collins: It was so nice to meet you there and obviously to meet Brittany as well.
• 28:01
  Tracy Collins: So for anybody listening, for the show notes for this episode, we'll have the places that Deborah visited.
• 28:08
  Tracy Collins: We'll have links to the different restaurants at Shater, which I'll also be adding to our London food guide, which is on our website, londontravelplanetcom, and also the show notes will be on UKTravelPlanetcom.
• 28:20
  Tracy Collins: That's where you can find also the photos that Deb took and the photos that Domi took of Deb and Brittany as well in London.
• 28:34
  Tracy Collins: You'll find all of those on the website.
• 28:37
  Tracy Collins: But that just leaves me to say until next week, happy UK travel planning.