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Travels with Winston
Rick Steves Best of England in 14 Days Tour
Hello! We are Dennis and Colleen, from Seattle. We are both retired, and love to travel. We think the best retirement is doing something you love doing. For us, that's traveling!
Why take a Rick Steves tour?
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We've done some traveling on our own and have taken one previous Rick Steves tour (Paris and the Heart of France - it was wonderful). While traveling on your own can be rewarding and fun, taking a tour is certainly lots easier and way more fun. You can spend your time and energy actually seeing things instead of stressing out over the logistics of hotel reservations, transportation, etc.
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We've looked at other tours, but decided that we like the promises that Rick Steves makes for his tours, and we've found that he lives up to those promises:
- Small groups. There were 25 of us on this tour and it was a small enough group that we could spread out on the bus and actually get to know our fellow travelers. By the end of the tour, we felt more like a family.
- Great guides. Liz Boardman was our guide, assisted by Asa Danielsson. They were both wonderful, cheerful, helpful, full of in-depth information about the people, the food and the places we visited. They provided tickets for the included sites and suggestions for things we might want to do on our own and good places to eat. We would have been lost without them! Even the local guides were, without fail, terrific. They had a wealth of knowledge about the sites we visited.
- We saw things that we never would have made it to, or even known about, without the tour.
- Centrally located hotels. All of our hotels provided easy access to the sites we went to. They were clean and comfortable, with friendly staff. Sure, some of them had a few stairs, but nothing the average person couldn't handle, even lugging a suitcase!
- Active. We had lots to do and see, but there was a good mixture of planned activities and down time to explore on our own. It was always an option, too, to skip something if we were tired or wanted to see something different.
- No grumps. It's true! We're not sure why Rick Steves tours seem to attract the best people, but they really do.
- "Whisper boxes" - these are a terrific invention. We could hear the guides perfectly, even if we wandered away a little to get that perfect photo.
- Educational - all of our guides had so much insight into customs, places, food, etc. Liz used our bus time to discuss any and all topics that we wanted to hear about: Brexit, the National Health Service, education, differences in viewpoints, the fact that the Brits have a fascination with Americans, etc. It was outstanding!
- No tipping! We've been on cruises before, and tipping is expected. By the time you tip the tour director, all of the local guides and bus drivers, the staff on the ship, etc., etc., etc., it can get really expensive. It's great that Rick Steves makes sure that his people are paid enough that tipping is forbidden.
- The bus drivers will be part of the group. True! Our driver, Paul, became a member of our "family." He joined us for meals and most of our group activities. True story - at one point, one of our group on this tour asked Paul if he has ever driven for other tour companies. He responded that, yes, he has. The logical next question was how Rick Steves tours compared with others. His reply was that he likes the Rick Steves tours best. The guides are better, the people are nicer and we have a lot less luggage. He got a good laugh out of all of us.
Having made the decision to take a trip, we chose the "Best of England in 14 Days" tour. We had both been to London, but hadn't seen much else. The itinerary sounded wonderful - an opportunity to see a wide variety of English cities and countryside, plus even a couple of days in Wales. It is truly a magical trip. Check it out by clicking on the itinerary map!
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We had many magical moments on our trip, ranging from "real" magic (Harry Potter, anyone?) to those magical moments where everything comes together to create near perfection. We'll tell you about them.
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A note about this scrapbook - you can click on every photo on these pages for a different perspective.
"Once a year, go someplace you've never been before."
- Dalai Lama
![england-tour-map-18[1].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/940ea9_ba3443b36e2f4f20bf36e95e705e8932~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_73,h_92,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/england-tour-map-18%5B1%5D.jpg)
Meet Winston
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Did you notice that the title of our scrapbook is "Travels with Winston?" We'd like you to meet Winston. Several years ago, we adopted a rescue cat from the local shelter. When we brought him home, he let us know in short order that he was now in charge and we existed merely to cater to his every whim. Clearly. After several days of indecision about an appropriate name for the newest member of our family, we settled on Winston. It seemed to fit. He clearly was a dignified, take-charge kind of guy, just like Winston Churchill.
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Fast forward to our booking the trip to England, and reviewing the itinerary, etc. It dawned on us that we would actually be touring Winston Churchill's birthplace (Blenheim Palace), we could tour the Churchill War Rooms in London, etc. Gee, Winston, wouldn't you like to go with us? For obvious reasons, this was not going to be possible so we decided to create "Flat Winston" to take along (with acknowledgement to the "Flat Stanley" series of children's books written by Jeff Brown). Flat Winston could visit all the spots that our "real" Winston wouldn't be able to see, he wouldn't take up much room and he would be remarkably well behaved. So, we'd like you to meet Flat Winston, who accompanied us to England, had a good time and helped us have a great time!
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Cats are notoriously curious creatures. Curiosity is a wonderful trait for people who travel. Indulging your curiosity, and finding the answers to your questions, can make you a thoughtful "traveler" instead of a "tourist." We decided to borrow some of Winston's innate curiosity to take along with us on our trip. You'll see evidence throughout this scrapbook of our "curious" findings.
"Time spent with cats is never wasted." -Sigmund Freud
Off we headed to London, via Seattle-Tacoma Airport, rolling our carry-on bags behind us with Flat Winston safely tucked into my backpack (more on packing tips later).
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After landing at Heathrow at 7:30 AM and clearing customs, we visited the airport ATM and then promptly bought tickets for the high speed train to Paddington Station. The tour was to begin the next day in Bath, but we had decided that we probably wouldn't fare well trying to navigate directly to Bath after a 10+ hour flight. We planned a night in London to help ease the jet lag. We had reserved a room near Paddington Station in a Rick Steves recommended hotel, the Tudor Court. It turned out to be a good choice - it was comfortable and a 5 minute walk from the train station! Perfect.
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We stashed our bags at the hotel, and being determined to stay awake all day, we walked back to Paddington, and (with the help of a friendly Tube employee) bought our Oyster cards to get us around London for the day. Winston had his first flight, his first train ride and his first Tube ride all within the first 24 hours of our trip!
First train ride
Paddington Station
First Tube ride
Since we were trying to avoid visiting sites we knew we would be seeing later on in the tour, we decided to start with Covent Garden, an area we had never visited, and simply wander from there. Armed with our trusty Tube Map and the Rick Steves England guide book, we managed to get there in time for Saturday morning brunch. With appetites satisfied, we began our wandering. What a fascinating area! Lots of fun boutiques, street performers, and even an Actors' Church! We then made our way down to walk along the Thames embankment, up to Parliament Square, past the horse guards and No. 10 Downing Street, to Trafalgar Square, and then a visit to St. Martin in the Fields.
By this time, we were pretty tired. After a quick Tube ride back to the hotel, we had dinner in a nearby restaurant recommended by the hotel staff, and collapsed into bed. A well-earned rest! Flat Winston claimed the pillows, still clutching his Union Jack.
Magical Moments (there were lots, so just the highlights):
- The weather - brilliant sunshine!
- Successfully navigating train rides and Tube rides
- Entertainment with our lunch
- Catching a musical rehearsal at St. Martin in the Fields
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We were curious about:
- Why is there an actors' church in Covent Garden? We discovered that it has been there since 1633, designed by Inigo Jones. It is located near the theater district, so has long been associated with the theater.
- In doing pre-trip "flag" research so that Flat Winston could carry the appropriate flag, we discovered that the Union Jack is NOT the flag of England. It's the flag of the United Kingdom. More precisely, it's a combination of the flags of England, Scotland and Ireland. The English flag is the Cross of St. George.
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