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VISITING ENGLAND
VISITING ENGLAND?
We have just been on a short visit to England to visit family. It took us off the usual tourist path, so here are a few things that may be useful to forum members who visit England.
We flew to Manchester airport, we know it well, it's probably the most well run and efficient airport we have ever been through on all our travels. Large, but much smaller than the craziness of Heathrow, it is cheaper to fly there as a stopover to other parts of Europe than Heathrow. For example, it was cheaper for my husband to fly to England, stay 3 days, go on to Spain for business and then return to the U.S. Than it was for his colleagues to fly directly from the U.S. Of course I was tagging along, first time I've done this for a while, so I was in coach and Mr. B in business class. Believe me, it does not matter what class you fly, jet lag remains the same. Over the years, I am convinced that the five hours difference between the East coast and England is one of the toughest body clock adjustments to change, however you try to overcome it, stay up, have a couple of hours nap, or anything else, it still takes us three nights to switch to not having a head full of cotton wool or find yourself asleep when you thought you were awake. This may of course be because we spend a lot of time sitting with two ninety plus of age parents than site seeing on a Tauck tour, but yesterday I had a busy day chatting and shopping with friends and I still could not get to sleep until the early hours.
If you have never flown to Europe before-- although I have never known an Englishman believe that England is part of Europe! Please understand why jet lag is such a pain arriving there. Most planes fly overnight, so for example, I'm talking from the East coast here, it means you arrive at your destination equivalent of about 3am, so right there you have only a couple of hours or so time to sleep on the flight, if at all. Our flight. was 5 3/4 hours and they wake you 1 to 1/12 hours before the flight lands to serve breakfast.
Airport--- Airport personnel are friendly but very professional. Note that at British airports you must remove iPads and tablets from your carry-on to go through security. At Manchester they provide the little plastic bags for your permitted liquids, but it is the first time I have had to put a lipstick in the bag from my handbag. The security machines you walk through are turned up to be very sensitive. I got a very thorough pat -down that was most intrusive and i would say many people would find extremely embarrassing, twice at security wearing one of my usual traveling 'outfits'. I have experienced one to two security pat-downs in the past, but nothing like this. Yep, I always feel safe at Manchester airport! There was no need to remove flat shoes but they were asking women to remove high heel shoes.
There is extensive duty free shopping opportunities. A useful store to visit is Boots, the premier English drugstore/pharmacy where you might find far more travel sized toiletries and drugs-- look for chewable 'Immodium' and the English equivalent of Acetominaphen 'Paracetamol' or 'Panadol' in small travel- friendly packs. Look for Boots own brand make-up called Number 7 it's good quality and price. If you buy any liquids it can now be put into a 'secure' bag and you are able to carry it onto the plane with you.
May really is a lovely time to visit England, all the wild flowers are in full bloom, like bluebells in the wooded areas, we took a walk through the village to a wildlife area, photographed those bluebells and all the other colorful or should I say colourful flowers. The adjoining villages my husband and I grew up in, have histories that go back over a thousand years. The churches and pubs are still there but now in the almost twenty years since we moved to the U.S. There are coffee bars and restaurants and 'carry out' Indian food places. There are beginning to be the re-introduction of smaller versions of supermarket stores, or corner stores, just like the ones everyone was so eager to close down to make way for the big supermarket superstores fifty years ago. The foods you can find now pretty much outdo any variety I can find in my favorite food store Wegmans in the U.S. But you can find the original Cadburys Chocolate that Has been banned from sale in the U.S., I think because Hershey's are supposed to hold the rights to produce and sell it there, but it tastes very different, too sweet and a certain 'after taste.' I had to buy and bring back a chocolate chip flavor box of Weetabix with me, but anything else, Mr B put his foot down and anyway, you can buy Marmite in Wegmans in the British section but oh do I miss British bacon, there's Nothing like a British Bacon Butty (sandwich) forget your BLT! But don't try to bring any back to the U S, that's the number one thing the sniffer dogs are looking for off a British flight.
If you find yourself away from cosmopolitan London where it's hard to here anyone speaking English these days, listen carefully to all the different English accents you will hear. Pretty much any Englishman can hear another speak a few words and know exactly which area of the country they grew up in or even the town or village. It really is a fun way to people watch, I mean people hear!
Sometime in the middle of May in London is Chelsea Flower Show, I've been, it's wonderful, if you find you are going to be visiting at that time of year get yourself tickets in advance, spot the celebs, enjoy the fantastic garden displays, forget the Philly Flower Show, it knocks spots off it and the gardens are OUTSIDE, a huge tented pavilion too. We watched a couple of TV shows from this year's event, one featured Jim Carter (Carson from Downton Abbey) and his actress wife Imelda Staunton being interviewed about the show, they particularly enjoy working in the front garden of their home, because during the winter they obviously have to walk through it to access their home whereas the back garden tends to be under utilized or viewed. Imagine your surprise to see Jim Cater on his knees tending flowers on a walk through an English street!
If you are on a Tauck tour and tired after a day of touring, take the time to relax and watch some English TV, just imagine whether your average American could tolerate the delights of programs I saw this visit, Countryfile, about places and walks and history and nature in the English countryside. The latest news from the Chelsea Flower show. A program interviewing ninety plus year olds about their experiences in the second world wartimes. A program about the Royal Variety Show over the years, Bob Hope hosted it one time! Who knew! New Tricks-- a drama about a group of retired detectives brought back into service to solve cold cases and featuring famous veteran actors, wonderful! I miss British TV but on the other hand I hope my VCR recorded the final episode of Mad Men while I was away. And without the original British House of Cards, there would have been no Kevin Spacey doing his Francis Underwood.
Last time I visited the area of the country where I grew up, two years ago, we took the train down to London and spent several days at the Savoy Hotel where Tauck now stays, lovely hotel. If you arrive a few days early for the tour and you find its the time of year that Buckingham Palace is open to the public, book a tour in advance and have a wonderful day there like we did and avail yourself of the extensive Souvenir shop!
Credit cards-- I had just received a replacement Amex card before we left home, the one with the chip in it for chip and signature transactions, not the chip and pin type that you get in England. I used it in the supermarket in the same machine at the checkout. No problem! You place the card into the end of the machine, the end that has the Chip logo on it, or if no chip you swipe it at the side of the machine like in the U.S. . It's good to mention that it is a U.S. Card you are using, especially me with an English accent even though I am American, most of you reading this it probably will be obvious you aren't from England.
Other random observations--- we had Sunday lunch in a local hotel restaurant, not busy. I forget how quiet the atmosphere is in an English restaurant, no-one talks loudly, the waiters are quiet too, polite and efficient and don't keep coming up to you and disturbing your conversation asking you how your food is, every few minutes. They come and hover a little, anticipate a need like filling your water glass, do the deed, hover again a little to give you time to ask for anything else you might want, then leave you to your conversation. On the plane I watched a Rick Steve's travel episode, he was in France, he said the same thing, people in restaurants in Europe have the courtesy to respect the quiet or privacy of everyone else in the restaurant and Noise levels are much lower. I have pretty much given up trying to have a romantic dinner in the U.S. Whereas, on Tauck tours, we quite often decide to forgo an invitation or two to join others at evening dinners at their table and have a quiet meal on our own, No offense anyone!
Buying clothes in England---- almost everything you see will seem expensive but there are a few exceptions. Swimwear--- much cheaper than in the U.S. And much easier to find a large variety of sizes in the same patterns snd styles.
Men's neckties, much cheaper
Socks, much easier to find specific sizes rather than one size fits all because that's not true, they don't.
Regular, petite, tall? All these sizes will be in the same area, not separated and there will be a much better selection of length in women's pants and skirts/dresses. For example, you may find Jean lengths 27' 29' 31' 33 inches to chose from. Or you may like a dress, but you don't want it at knee length, there maybe an option to get it mid- calf too.
Be aware that sizes are different but will be way more consistent between brands.
Arm length --- I never had a problem with arm length in England, but in the U S I always find my sleeves are too long
Shoes, I never had wide feet in England but in the U.S. My feet are classed as wide, again, sizes are different but more consistent between brands.
Buying alcohol and driving? I'm told by friends that stricter laws were recently enforced and you only need to drink less than a measure of wine to be over the limit.
Buying a pint of beer? An English pint of beer is 20 ounces, a U.S. Pint of beer is 16 ounces.
That's all for now folks, happy travels!
We have just been on a short visit to England to visit family. It took us off the usual tourist path, so here are a few things that may be useful to forum members who visit England.
We flew to Manchester airport, we know it well, it's probably the most well run and efficient airport we have ever been through on all our travels. Large, but much smaller than the craziness of Heathrow, it is cheaper to fly there as a stopover to other parts of Europe than Heathrow. For example, it was cheaper for my husband to fly to England, stay 3 days, go on to Spain for business and then return to the U.S. Than it was for his colleagues to fly directly from the U.S. Of course I was tagging along, first time I've done this for a while, so I was in coach and Mr. B in business class. Believe me, it does not matter what class you fly, jet lag remains the same. Over the years, I am convinced that the five hours difference between the East coast and England is one of the toughest body clock adjustments to change, however you try to overcome it, stay up, have a couple of hours nap, or anything else, it still takes us three nights to switch to not having a head full of cotton wool or find yourself asleep when you thought you were awake. This may of course be because we spend a lot of time sitting with two ninety plus of age parents than site seeing on a Tauck tour, but yesterday I had a busy day chatting and shopping with friends and I still could not get to sleep until the early hours.
If you have never flown to Europe before-- although I have never known an Englishman believe that England is part of Europe! Please understand why jet lag is such a pain arriving there. Most planes fly overnight, so for example, I'm talking from the East coast here, it means you arrive at your destination equivalent of about 3am, so right there you have only a couple of hours or so time to sleep on the flight, if at all. Our flight. was 5 3/4 hours and they wake you 1 to 1/12 hours before the flight lands to serve breakfast.
Airport--- Airport personnel are friendly but very professional. Note that at British airports you must remove iPads and tablets from your carry-on to go through security. At Manchester they provide the little plastic bags for your permitted liquids, but it is the first time I have had to put a lipstick in the bag from my handbag. The security machines you walk through are turned up to be very sensitive. I got a very thorough pat -down that was most intrusive and i would say many people would find extremely embarrassing, twice at security wearing one of my usual traveling 'outfits'. I have experienced one to two security pat-downs in the past, but nothing like this. Yep, I always feel safe at Manchester airport! There was no need to remove flat shoes but they were asking women to remove high heel shoes.
There is extensive duty free shopping opportunities. A useful store to visit is Boots, the premier English drugstore/pharmacy where you might find far more travel sized toiletries and drugs-- look for chewable 'Immodium' and the English equivalent of Acetominaphen 'Paracetamol' or 'Panadol' in small travel- friendly packs. Look for Boots own brand make-up called Number 7 it's good quality and price. If you buy any liquids it can now be put into a 'secure' bag and you are able to carry it onto the plane with you.
May really is a lovely time to visit England, all the wild flowers are in full bloom, like bluebells in the wooded areas, we took a walk through the village to a wildlife area, photographed those bluebells and all the other colorful or should I say colourful flowers. The adjoining villages my husband and I grew up in, have histories that go back over a thousand years. The churches and pubs are still there but now in the almost twenty years since we moved to the U.S. There are coffee bars and restaurants and 'carry out' Indian food places. There are beginning to be the re-introduction of smaller versions of supermarket stores, or corner stores, just like the ones everyone was so eager to close down to make way for the big supermarket superstores fifty years ago. The foods you can find now pretty much outdo any variety I can find in my favorite food store Wegmans in the U.S. But you can find the original Cadburys Chocolate that Has been banned from sale in the U.S., I think because Hershey's are supposed to hold the rights to produce and sell it there, but it tastes very different, too sweet and a certain 'after taste.' I had to buy and bring back a chocolate chip flavor box of Weetabix with me, but anything else, Mr B put his foot down and anyway, you can buy Marmite in Wegmans in the British section but oh do I miss British bacon, there's Nothing like a British Bacon Butty (sandwich) forget your BLT! But don't try to bring any back to the U S, that's the number one thing the sniffer dogs are looking for off a British flight.
If you find yourself away from cosmopolitan London where it's hard to here anyone speaking English these days, listen carefully to all the different English accents you will hear. Pretty much any Englishman can hear another speak a few words and know exactly which area of the country they grew up in or even the town or village. It really is a fun way to people watch, I mean people hear!
Sometime in the middle of May in London is Chelsea Flower Show, I've been, it's wonderful, if you find you are going to be visiting at that time of year get yourself tickets in advance, spot the celebs, enjoy the fantastic garden displays, forget the Philly Flower Show, it knocks spots off it and the gardens are OUTSIDE, a huge tented pavilion too. We watched a couple of TV shows from this year's event, one featured Jim Carter (Carson from Downton Abbey) and his actress wife Imelda Staunton being interviewed about the show, they particularly enjoy working in the front garden of their home, because during the winter they obviously have to walk through it to access their home whereas the back garden tends to be under utilized or viewed. Imagine your surprise to see Jim Cater on his knees tending flowers on a walk through an English street!
If you are on a Tauck tour and tired after a day of touring, take the time to relax and watch some English TV, just imagine whether your average American could tolerate the delights of programs I saw this visit, Countryfile, about places and walks and history and nature in the English countryside. The latest news from the Chelsea Flower show. A program interviewing ninety plus year olds about their experiences in the second world wartimes. A program about the Royal Variety Show over the years, Bob Hope hosted it one time! Who knew! New Tricks-- a drama about a group of retired detectives brought back into service to solve cold cases and featuring famous veteran actors, wonderful! I miss British TV but on the other hand I hope my VCR recorded the final episode of Mad Men while I was away. And without the original British House of Cards, there would have been no Kevin Spacey doing his Francis Underwood.
Last time I visited the area of the country where I grew up, two years ago, we took the train down to London and spent several days at the Savoy Hotel where Tauck now stays, lovely hotel. If you arrive a few days early for the tour and you find its the time of year that Buckingham Palace is open to the public, book a tour in advance and have a wonderful day there like we did and avail yourself of the extensive Souvenir shop!
Credit cards-- I had just received a replacement Amex card before we left home, the one with the chip in it for chip and signature transactions, not the chip and pin type that you get in England. I used it in the supermarket in the same machine at the checkout. No problem! You place the card into the end of the machine, the end that has the Chip logo on it, or if no chip you swipe it at the side of the machine like in the U.S. . It's good to mention that it is a U.S. Card you are using, especially me with an English accent even though I am American, most of you reading this it probably will be obvious you aren't from England.
Other random observations--- we had Sunday lunch in a local hotel restaurant, not busy. I forget how quiet the atmosphere is in an English restaurant, no-one talks loudly, the waiters are quiet too, polite and efficient and don't keep coming up to you and disturbing your conversation asking you how your food is, every few minutes. They come and hover a little, anticipate a need like filling your water glass, do the deed, hover again a little to give you time to ask for anything else you might want, then leave you to your conversation. On the plane I watched a Rick Steve's travel episode, he was in France, he said the same thing, people in restaurants in Europe have the courtesy to respect the quiet or privacy of everyone else in the restaurant and Noise levels are much lower. I have pretty much given up trying to have a romantic dinner in the U.S. Whereas, on Tauck tours, we quite often decide to forgo an invitation or two to join others at evening dinners at their table and have a quiet meal on our own, No offense anyone!
Buying clothes in England---- almost everything you see will seem expensive but there are a few exceptions. Swimwear--- much cheaper than in the U.S. And much easier to find a large variety of sizes in the same patterns snd styles.
Men's neckties, much cheaper
Socks, much easier to find specific sizes rather than one size fits all because that's not true, they don't.
Regular, petite, tall? All these sizes will be in the same area, not separated and there will be a much better selection of length in women's pants and skirts/dresses. For example, you may find Jean lengths 27' 29' 31' 33 inches to chose from. Or you may like a dress, but you don't want it at knee length, there maybe an option to get it mid- calf too.
Be aware that sizes are different but will be way more consistent between brands.
Arm length --- I never had a problem with arm length in England, but in the U S I always find my sleeves are too long
Shoes, I never had wide feet in England but in the U.S. My feet are classed as wide, again, sizes are different but more consistent between brands.
Buying alcohol and driving? I'm told by friends that stricter laws were recently enforced and you only need to drink less than a measure of wine to be over the limit.
Buying a pint of beer? An English pint of beer is 20 ounces, a U.S. Pint of beer is 16 ounces.
That's all for now folks, happy travels!
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Comments
Question, what's a VCR?
Thanks for the info. We'll be passing through Heathrow in Sept, on our way to Shannon.
If you want your British TV fix and PBS or BBC America isn't enough, have you tried streaming TV on Acorn? They also feature Australian, New Zealand and Canadian shows. Well worth the modest $5 a month.
Thank you for the tip about chewable Immodium. I'll be stocking up when I'm in London in a couple of months. If I could only find a legal source of seasickness patches. The ones that have 3 day's worth of medication per patch. They are not available for sale in Australia. I could have spread Stematil on toast like vegemite for all the good it did!
Cheers,
Jan
VCR old habits die hard, that was a video recorder, I should have said DVR
Claudia, driving on the other side of the road as you have experienced is easy. Not driven in England for a long time, rely on others, automatics were not widely available, not sure if they are now, so if people are not good with stick shift, be sure you ask for an automatic when renting. What we find difficult in England is that they are constantly building new roads ( Which I wish they would so in the U.S.in our very congested area) the downside of this is that to just drive the two hours from Manchester which is fairly near where the in- laws live, to the two hour away drive where all our friends tend to live in our old hometown, I would need a map to get there because all new roads have been built over time. England does tend to have much better road directions than the U.S. but the roads are vey busy and of course people drive much faster than in the U.S., legal limit on highways, or motorways I should say, being seventy miles an hour., and we all know that means much faster at times.
Aware of Acorn TV, when I looked into it programs only available for a short time, I'm too busy to keep up with that. I can get a lot of popular UK series, some quite old and obscure by using a grwndfathered Netflix two DVDs a month for $4-99
Jan, I could not believe the efficiency, professionalism, yet seriousness of our safety at Manchester. There was a whole row of security checkpoints that moved really fast, much better than Heathrow. When we went on to Lisbon airport from there, the security was pretty lax.
I'll look out for those patches for you on my travels, I do not need them. My daughter had great success with the travel bands and I noticed they had them at a Boots in the airport. They transformed our ferry crossings over to France from vomiting nightmare to calm bliss.
Ok time to explore Madrid, boy are we a long way out from the city!
Enjoy Madrid. Channel the Prado for me, will you?
Buenas noches, señora.
Jan
-Tim
Glad you like our TV too. When we go with Tauck, our travelling companions from US always comment on our programmes. They seem particularly keen on dramas like Foyles War, Judge John Deed, Doc Martin, not to mention Downton.
We certainly have lots to offer for what ever your taste. Just enjoy - we'll try for good weather but cannot always oblige!
Richard