Merry Old England Was Merry Indeed

The most memorable moments of this first trip to England come from family experiences at the many historical sights. Visiting Shakespeare's Stratford-on-Avon of course was a fulfilling to a couple of Shakespeare enthusiasts, but little did we expect to so thoroughly enjoy attending a stage play at the Royal Shakespearean Theater. Stratford also brought us face to face with the world of the then new and run-away hits in England, the Tele Tubby store. My husband and son waited outside while my daughter and I explored the hundreds of items you could purchase with the four primary colored stars pictured on it. An older group of women came along the street and, according to the guys' descriptions, were blown away that they had found the Tele Tubby store - not that they were in Shakespeare's town. Of course, all the usual historic sights in London were fantastic, the most favorite and awesome of all being Westminster Abbey and Towers of London. The Sony Play Center in London was great if you have kids 8-16 in your group. Seeing Robin Hood's Sherwood Forest first hand was enjoyable as well.

Quick Tips:

Research a preliminary game plan of how to attack your visit to avoid disappointment in not getting to everything you wanted to. There is SO much to see and do. Stay about an hour or so outside London and ride the local train directly into the heart of London. You can spend one night in a hotel in the city and return to your timeshare, via train the next night. With two full day and no car hassles in London, you'll be more relaxed. Get a "tube" visitor pass when you first arrive in the train station and you can ride all over the city getting on and off at your will. If you need to make phone calls home while in England, purchase a prepaid minute calling card sold at many snack and convenience stores and at almost every souvenir shop in the subway stations. Check around because they can vary greatly in cost per minute, from as low as .04 to .20 per minute to U.S. It's much less expensive than calling from your hotel or condo.

Best Way To Get Around:

If at all possible, don't drive into London. Trains are inexpensive and on time throughout the British Isles and are the way to travel around the country. Within the city of London, ride the "tube". Not only is it fun, easy, and quick, but you get to rub shoulders with the everyday Brits. And what a fashion show it is too on the tube. A visitor pass runs about /day.

Best Things Nearby:
You can get to London by train. Open countryside, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Sherwood Forest.

Best Things About the Resort:
Located within 1.5 hours of London via local train for convenience, yet out in the country. A large three-bedroom house across the path from the rec center, pool, and restaurants. Quality furnishings, leather sofa, single-unit washer and dryer, and two sets of dishes and flatware. NICE!!

Resort Experience:
The ground level of the house was the entry, two bathrooms, and two bedrooms. Upstairs was a living area with TV and leather sofas, large wooden quality table and six chairs and hutch. There''s a small balcony off the dining area. The kitchen was U-shaped and had ample counter and cabinets with a single unit that both washed and dryed clothes -- though one cycle through this was about 2.5 hours long. For more in-depth description of this timeshare, please visit my journal entry listed under English Countryside with the Bard and the Thief.

• Unit Type: 3 Bedroom
• Activities: Very Good
• Amenities: Excellent
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Excellent

What's it like - awesome!! I hadn't really given much thought to Westminster Abbey other than I'd heard about it and seen it on TV many times and it was just one of the many historic sights that must be seen on a trip to London. If you want British history, Westminster Abbey holds centuries of stories, tales, and lives that all make up what the British Isles are today. If you stopped and read every word of every passage on every grave and every description, it would take a very long time to see all of it. We arrived at the Abbey shortly before noon and the line was quite long and we were informed that it was about a 1 1/2 hour wait from that point. The line moved quickly and we were inside out of the heat in a little over an hour. You can just walk through with a condensed pamphlet guiding your route or you can rent an audio cassette program to verbally walk you through. I recommend the audio tour or if time and budget permits, pay for a guided tour.

It's mind blowing to see articles that are hundreds of years old and realize the signficance that article or tomb had on our lives today. You wind your way through various periods of English history and end up in the large central cathedral hall where parisheners still worship daily. If you watch British world events this room will be familiar as the site for many a royal affair, such as the crowning of the Queen and Princess Diana's funeral. You walk where monarches, nobles, lords,and ladies for centuries before you walked. Off to the side of the main abbey is a large connecting portico where a museum slowing the ascencion and progression of the throne to modern day and also an area where you can do brass rubbings. Of course there is also the obligatory gift shop to purchase souvenirs.

If you only see one thing of historic value in London, Westminster Abbey should be that place. Children may find this adventure boring, especially since they need to maintain a quiet voice level since it is still a functioning church. If you plan to digest it in depth, it's best to go on a day when only adults are in attendance. With children along, I recommend a faster paced tour, but don't hesitate to take the kids along if that's the only way you can see it. Little ones will need to be held by the hand or kept in strollers at all times however. It's so British, yet so international.

Planning our first trip to England involved arranging the rental car for pick up at the airport. The British women at the rental agency I spoke with gave all the needed information such as type, size, price, and type of transmission. The cost of renting an automatic transmission was almost 1/2 again more than a manual transmission. This was apparently due to the minimum number of automatic transmissions available. Since the drivers in our group all drive manual transmission cars every day at home, I figured this was one place we could save money on an otherwise costly 2 week adventure for our family. This was mistake number one.

We knew about driving on the opposite side of the road from in the U.S. and we felt prepared to meet the challenge. What we did not know, however,and what the rental agent failed to mention to us, was that the driver was on the right side of the car, the gear shift knob was on the left and required left hand operation. The auto we were assigned was a compact but roomy station wagon. It also happened to have a tightly wound spring loaded shifting knob that required Herculean efforts to move it into any gear and keep it from popping out of gear. Mistake number two was not asking for a replacement car with an easier shifting knob.

So how hard could it be!! Mistake number 3, underestimating the challenge. The four of us set off to find the timeshare, our home away from home for the week. Mistake number 4, arriving at dusk into a rural area, with narrow, sometimes only one car wide, roads, in a strange car with strange shifting. Maps in hand we were on our way, when only a short distance out of the airport we hit our first big hurdle -- THE ROUND-A-BOUT.

Normally a circle occasionally on the road doesn't present much trouble. It was at this moment we realized that we had to go the opposite direction, clockwise, to what we normally do in the U.S. The down-shifting with left hand on spring loaded shift knob driving on opposite side of car and road presented quite the juggling act.

Okay, we managed that one round-a-bout so we're out of the woods. Mistake 5 was not knowing that there are few intersections in the British Isles and that instead they have round-a-bouts so no one needs stop. Oh, my gosh, it was one round-a-bout after another and it was now getting dark. Map reading became a challenge of its own. As the road narrowed and we got farther and farther into the countryside, the frustration of the driver got worse and worse. Each intersection became a major feat of acrobatics in the down and up shifting dance. We managed to make it to our timeshare in one piece that night despite clipping off many a roadside bushes to allow passing cars - passing on the passenger, left side of the car while driver is on the right side - to squeeze past. Nerves were rattled, blood pressure was elevated, and kind thoughts to the navigator were absent.

As the week wore on, the thrill of victory continued to escape us and it was a relief to take the train into London instead of having to drive anywhere for 2 days. Outings in the car grew into a task for all four of us. The driver handled the mechanics of driving the car, the navigator in the left front seat read the map and stated the upcoming road hazards, i.e. round-a-bouts, the backseat left passenger became the person looking for which of the many lines on the sign for the round-a-bout showing roads coming off it was the one the navigator said we needed, and the 4th person, right back seat, became the person to help tell the driver when we got to that particular number of roads and we should take that one to the right or left. Many times there were as many as 10 different roads coming off one round-a-bout needing our expert skills to safely maneuvor through. By the end of the week, we were a well oiled, though grumpy, machine with all four cringing at the thought of another adventure into round-a-bout land.

Mistake 6: Not taking a Greyhound Tour and leave the driving to someone else. Moral of story: If your desire is to have a relaxing vacation with relationships still intact in Great Britain, pay the extra money for an automatic transmission, send scouts out early so they know where to go beforehand, and then hired someone else to do the driving.

This is all tongue in cheek - we had a great vacation and all laugh about the FUN on the road.