Travel in the UK Tips?

[Donna]

We have traveled to Ireland every summer for the past seven years so I know where to go and how to do things. The first year or two was a learning experience. In November two kids and I will be traveling to Scotland and possibly England for a couple weeks and I was wondering if anyone out there had some tips for making the trip go smoothly like places it would be better to take public transportation than drive or neighborhoods to avoid when booking places to stay or tips for finding the least expensive places to stay or things we must see while there, etc....

 

Thank you in advance!

[Laura Corin]

I wouldn't try to drive in Edinburgh (or London if you go there) - parking is horrendous and it's very confusing.  There are trams and buses in Edinburgh; buses and Tubes in London, and the centres of both cities are walkable.

 

What places are you already thinking of, and what kind of things do you like: historic, scenery, cultural.....?

 

One thing to consider: you won't get that many hours of daylight in November, so you will have to maximise outdoor things in the middle of the day.

Edited May 20, 2016 by Laura Corin

[lailasmum]

Yeah I agree with Laura about day length in November. You might want to travel between cities by train and hire a car from those cities since public transport outside bigger places can be very hit and miss and I agree about not driving in London. Youth Hostels do family rooms and they can be very affordable and in really unusual places sometimes like St Briavels.

[Donna]

We love historic, cultural, and scenery. Also love to find traditional music venues…sessions. I have been working hard the past two weeks to put together enough gigs for the kids to pay our travel expenses so haven't gotten to tourist-y things yet. Won't finalize our itinerary until all the people get back to me. All I know is that we will be in Edinburgh for one weekend. Thinking of flying in and out of London.

 

We wouldn't usually travel in November but kids were invited to perform at the Scots Fiddle Festival in Edinburgh. 

 

We will be traveling for music so many nights people will put us up but hostels are a good idea for those nights we will be traveling. I hadn't even thought about the train…was looking at short flights but will have to think about train travel.

[lailasmum]

You can save money using split ticketing on the trains, especially on longer journeys. There are a few sites that book these kinds of tickets like http://www.raileasy.co.uk/home/split-ticketing. It's just basically working out the cheapest train fairs  by joining tickets for shorter journeys together but you don't have to get off the train. You just have to check your train stops at the places on the tickets.

 

I had a look at your kids' website in your signature, they are so talented. Where I live in Devon there is a thriving folk scene. Not many bigger events on in November but for future years if you are in the UK your family might enjoy the local scene. It's really mixed from very traditional to people like Seth Lakeman who have got very popular. 

Edited May 21, 2016 by lailasmum

[Laura Corin]

If you book a long time in advance, flying can be very affordable, often cheaper than trains.  I like trains a lot, but if your time is limited, then a flight down to London might be a good idea.  A few low-cost airlines are EasyJet, Ryanair and Flybe, but there may be others.  Don't forget to add in travel time from airports though - the train stations are in central London.