Past Trip: England 1993

On our first trip abroad, we spent 15 days traveling around England by train, on our itinerary were;
London, Canterbury, Brighton, Bath, Cambridge and York.

We paid 159 GBP for a 15 day British Rail FlexiPass, the airfare was $1382 for 2 adults and one child and 1 US Dollar bought 62 pence. Today, a FlexiPass is $329, $1382 will pay for 1 Economy airline ticket to London(June 2012) and now you get 60 pence for 1 US Dollar.

We visited and saw
London (6 days)

• London Zoo
• Sherlock Holmes Museum (bogus)
• Harrods
• Piccadilly Circus (saw no punks)
• Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap (someone had to lie claim to be 7 years old)
• Hop-on Hop-off bus tour and saw the major sights (sitting and wathing the sights go by helps to get over your jet lag and to get your bearings)
• Buckingham Palace and changing of the guards
• The Horse Guards
• Kew Gardens
• Fortnum and Masons
• Camden Market
• Tower of London and the Crown Jewels(fantastic)
• St. Paul's Cathedral (a bit glum)

A member of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, A Life Guard(Red Tunic).

Canterbury (2 days)

• The Cathedral (they were putting down a new floor)
• city walls
• Leeds Castle (day trip)

Leeds Castle

Brighton (1 day)

• rocky beach
• pier with sickening ride
• The Royal Pavilion

Bath (2 days)

Pulteney Bridge, Bath

• Roman Baths
• Avebury Stone Circle (day trip) Excellent, better than Stonehenge even though I've never been.
• Red Lion Pub inside Avebury's stone circle
• Watched some Cricket from our room in Bath

One quadrant of the Stone Circle

Cambridge (2 days)

• Guide Friday Cambridge bus tour (the eldest child got to ride the tour bus for free by claiming to be 5)
• Kings College Chapel
• flea market
• hired a punt and a punter for 15 squid

Kings College Chapel, stunning inside and out

York (2 days)

• Jorvik Viking Centre
• Cliffords Tower - remains of York castle
• York Minister
• Walked the walls (very complete, saw into some nice back gardens)
• Model train museum 

Some of the highlights/surprises of the trip.

• A Menu for the food on the flight
• subways with upholstered seats
• buildings are really old and no one is thinking of tearing them down
• pineapple on pizza
• English pubs and pints
• real castles
• no two Toilets flushed alike
• lots of book shoppes
• ice cream during intermission at a play
• old navy rum is horrible

Our Hotels (any opinions are almost 20 years old)

We booked our rooms as we went using the Tourist Information centers, we mainly had good luck, but now we pre-book our rooms.

Leicester Court, London is now Grange Strathmore Hotel.

  The wash basin in the room backed up one night.

Kings Bridge Villa, Canterbury
  So clean the bedspreads were actually touchable.

Marina West Hotel, Brighton (now closed for the season?)
  Mushy beds and many flights of stairs to the room.

The Edgar Hotel, Bath
  Good location, just over the Pulteney Bridge.

The Milton Guest House in Cambridge
  Too much like living in someone's home, plus the air freshener smelled awful.

Cavalier Private Hotel, York
  Very nice.

Windermere Hotel, London (near Victoria Station)

  We had a basement room, but it was clean.

We used to be very fastidious about photographing the pubs we ate at, but we haven't kept that up, we still keep a travel journal. Some of the pubs still seem to be in business.

London

•  The Gloucester Arms Tavern
• Royal Court Tavern
• Hawley Arms
• Ye Olde London
• Marquis of Westminister 
• The Clarence
• St. Georges Tavern

Canterbury

• Tudor Tavern (rabbit and bacon pie)
• Shakespeare Inn

Brighton

• The Regency Tavern

Bath

• The Rummer
• The Huntsman
• The Red Lion, Avebury

The Red Lion Pub inside the Stone Circle at Avebury

Cambridge

• The Bun Shop
• Fountain Inn

 York

• Royal Oak
• Cross Keys

Cross Keys Pub in York, circa 1993

1993 Basic Trip Expenses - 2 adults, one child

$1382 - air fare

$  672 - rail pass

$2300 - cash and travelers checks

$4400 - Total omitting any charges