Sadly, our trip was over, but we have some ideas to share with you.   Hopefully,  they will help you to make the most of your trip.  You've decided you're going to take a Rick Steves tour, right?

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First, we strongly recommend you do a little research on the areas you'll be visiting.  Ok, you've been spared all of the research on hotels, car rentals, etc., but it is REALLY helpful to know a little about where you'll be.  You have a nice amount of free time that you'll want to put to good use.  Maybe you have a special interest like architecture, or trains, or gardens, or fashion, or ...   Wouldn't it be a good idea if you knew ahead of time that there is a train museum in York, or a fashion museum in Bath, etc.?  

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Next, notify your bank when and where you'll be traveling.  It wouldn't be fun to have your debit or credit cards denied.

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The right attitude is important!  Decide that you're going to be willing to open your mind to new experiences and to trying new things.  What if we had never tried mushy peas simply because they sound, quite frankly, disgusting?  I had visions of strained baby food but, WOW, they're really good!  Or if we had decided that eating dinner with dogs wasn't something we wanted to experience?  We would have missed out on a truly special experience in Keswick.  Or if we had chosen not to participate in the Evensong service in York simply because we were not members of the Church of England?  We would have missed one of the highlights of the trip.

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We found it really useful to go at least one day early.  It helps ease the jet lag and hotel reservations can be accomplished totally via e-mail.  We also wanted to spend extra time at the end, and our final group hotel was very accommodating, again through e-mail.

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Then there's packing for the trip.  This can be challenging, but it really IS entirely possible to pack everything you will need into a carry-on bag and a backpack, and our packs are small enough to use as a day-pack.  This is what we took:

   - 3 pairs of slacks, including the pair we had on

   - 5 or 6 shirts.  Wrinkle resistant work best for us

   - Pajamas

   - 5 or 6 sets of underwear

   - 5 or 6 pair of socks

   - An extra pair of shoes (stuffed with rolled up socks and underwear)

   - Umbrella

   - Rain jacket

   - Sweater or sweatshirt

   - An extra bag that can fold up flat inside your suitcase.  Very helpful for using on the flight home if you buy souvenirs

   - Toiletries

   - Any medications and vitamins

   - Sundries - passport (obviously, but also a photocopy of the picture page), electrical adapters and chargers, moneybelt (don't leave home without it!), first aid supplies (a few band-aids, aspirin, cold remedies), a small sewing kit, a pocket pack of tissues (public restrooms, even in Great Britain, are not always well stocked with toilet paper), a small notebook and pen, debit and credit cards (plus photocopies of the front and back of each card, to be stored somewhere other than where the originals are)

   - A plastic bag in case something is damp when you need to pack your bag and move on

   - Camera, or cell phone, whatever works best for you

   - The appropriate guidebook.  Yes, the tour will get you to the included sites, but you'll need it for your free time

   - Some books to read.  We use e-readers because we both love to read and would rather not carry multiple books.  We can't        imagine the long flights without something to read

 

Doing light laundry in the bathroom sink is easy.  We use shampoo for this and it seems to work just fine.  Things can be hung in the shower to dry, especially if you are staying somewhere for 2 or 3 nights.  It's always possible to do a laundry stop somewhere along the way to handle items that don't do well in the sink, like jeans.

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I had also taken along a pair of waterproof pants, thinking it was going to rain.  I never used those, or the umbrella or the extra pair of shoes because we had such lovely weather, but I'd take them all again, just in case.

 

I became a believer in packing cubes on this trip.  I had always resisted the idea, thinking it was just extra "stuff" but we bought some with our voucher that we received when we booked the trip.  I used a larger one for my shirts, a smaller one for underwear and used a small one to hold everything I would need for our 1 night stay in London before the tour.  Everything stayed nice and organized throughout the trip.  They are truly a wonderful invention!