Expert: Alun Hill MCIJ - 4/30/2009

Question
QUESTION: I would like to  plan my honeymoon for September 2009 in Great Britain and Ireland. My fiance and I are from the U.S. and have never been to the UK or Ireland and would like to cram as much into the trip as possible. We will only have between 2 to 3 weeks for travel. I have found various coach tours online that do the whirlwind Great Britain and Ireland tour but they are very pricey and we are not sure if the group tour is what we are looking for on our honeymoon. Also we do not want to stress over a self-drive tour so rail seems like the best option. Do you know of any guide books for people wanting to plan a rail tour with example itinerary etc. We would still like to hit many of the spots the coach torus hit but have the flexibility to stay in any given place longer. Also if you do not know of any guide books on rail travel could you give me some general advice on planning a rail trip.

ANSWER: I'd be delighted to help!

Can you give me some details of your interests, though, please?

For example you may love football - but your husband to be prefers history (or even vice versa!). Let me know your approx ages, interests and any other detail - photography, collecting etc - and I'll do all I can.

And, yes, the coach tours tend to be lots of travelling and relatively limited time at the sights.

Rail is easy - and can be very cheap for you, with a pass. I'll get you the details in my next reply.

I'm away filming in London this Friday, incidentally, so it may be the weekend before I can come back to you.

Alun Hill, MCIJ


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I am 31 and Brian is 39. We would like to do the standard sightseeing in London such as Tower of London, Big Ben, Windsor Castle etc. Not sure whether we should explore on our own or take a guided tour of London. We would also like to see Stonehenge and Bath and the Cotswolds. Generally we would like to visit a few old churches and castles and various other popular landmarks while on our trip. If there are still places to see out of a Jane Austin or Bronte novel I would like to go there. We also want to go to Ireland as Brian’s ancestors were from Limerick. In Ireland we would want to spend time in Dublin, Limerick Blarney and any other recommended place so we can get the full emerald isles experience. If we can cram Scotland and Wales in that would be great but we are not particularly interested in going to Northern Ireland.

We both like history and cultural experiences. We plan on spending a lot of time in pubs and interacting with locals etc. We do want to see some of the major tourist attractions but would also greatly enjoy staying at a b&b in the countryside. I particularly would enjoy spending at least one night in a haunted castle or manor. Shopping and/or attending sporting events are of low interest to us. We would like to include some guided tours into our travel but also would like to have the flexibility to go at our own pace and pick and chose attractions to see. How does rail travel work? Do we buy our tickets in advance or as we go along? Can we see all these places without having to rent a car as we would prefer not to have to do any driving? What about accommodations, do we book in advance or as we go along? Could you give me an example itinerary of what we could squeeze into a two week trip? Thank you for all your help


Answer
Thanks - I'm going to suggest, at least initially, that perhaps this will be easier, mostly, than you think.

For London, there are great tour buses (approx £25, for a 24 hour pass, which also includes a cruise on the River Thames) - these give a great starting point for London as you can then spend time visiting the various sites or going back to places which spark your interest, which you might otherwise miss.

Windsor Castle is a half or full day tour from London and the best way is to take an inclusive coach tour - there's plenty every day and they can be booked the day before  often by your hotel.

(Hotel: I stay at http://www.base2stay.com when I'm in London, so happy to recommend it).

For Stonehenge, the Cotswolds (beautiful!) and Bath, you'd be best advised, again, to take a coach trip for the day - much easier than the train (there's no railway reasonably close to Stonehenge, for example).

http://www.evanevanstours.co.uk/ will give you some examples.

Aside: I happened to be near Stonehenge when we had a massive snowfall in February - you can see my (short!) film here, which was widely broadcast on CNN:
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-205818

So, that covers England from London - for Bronte and such like you're still going to  need the train - but I must say that train travel outside London is largely "large towns" only - so to get to Haworth - a gorgeous little place, home of the Bronte's" is quite long, but can be fun - fast mainline train to Leeds, little local train to Keighley (pronounced Keithly), then a steam train (really!) into Haworth.

I'm going to suggest you get a book on train travel and look at what appeals to you - then come back to me for more details, please.

"Britain by Britrail 2008 - Touring Britain by Train" by LaVerne Ferguson-Kosinski is good and is available on Amazon US. The Britrail pass is only available to buy before you leave home, but is relatively cheap and gives you freedom to travel throughout the UK (but not Ireland) system. (Ireland is not part of the UK).  

Now, Ireland.

Really, unless you are willing to take a coach tour, you would probably be best advised to hire a car. It's a large country, with largely slow roads, so I would advise you to plan your time there carefully in advance. You can get there for a few pounds if you book now, by air - look at Ryanair.com or Easyjet.com, but be aware each airline has hefty charges if you have a lot of luggage - do check all their "extras" - again, I'm here to help!


Does this help so far, please?

Alun Hill, MCIJ