Dulles - Heathrow; Manchester - Dulles?
Hello! Just beginning to lay out the details for a trip to England next year with my wife, her parents (80+ yrs. old), and my mother (79). Trying to make this as easy on the elders as possible. Does anyone have experience with the above flight arrangements? I was thinking 4 nights in London, train to Bath and pick up car, on to the Cotswolds for a few nights, then on to York, with a flight out of Manchester to avoid backtracking. Any thoughts (or alternative suggestions)? I'm hoping someone from the D.C. area has made a similar trip recently. Thanks!
Roy
Fredericksburg, VA USA 11/18/09
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Suggest you do a roundtrip to Heathrow and just reverse your itinerary. Take a train from London to York, then drive down to the Cotswolds - Bath - Heathrow. No backtracking and you'll find more competitive airfares.
Thanks, Tim - That's just the type of help I was looking for. Sounds like a reasonable plan.
Why not just pick up the car as you finish in London and drive it the whole way. Saves the drop-off fee, keeps transportation simple, and the difference in York to London vice Manchester is only a couple of hours. Plus you could stop at someplace like Coventry on the way back south. Another advantage of a car is that you could stop and Stonhenge and Avebury on the way to Bath.
I agree, this is a circle trip, you can go either way from Heathrow, there is a great bus connection from Heathrow to Bath (either way and better than the train), stay a few nights then get a car and drive the car to Cotswolds (stopping at Stonehenge) and on to York, take the fast train from there back to London. Saves the big city for the grand finale rather than earlier then they are jet-lagged. You'll possibly have a drop charge in York for the car, but better that then driving all the way back to London.
Hi Roy, did the trip in 2006. When researching, I found the train to be very expensive. We used trains all over the continent, but not in England. I found Enterprise to be a great deal from Heathrow. We did not go to Bath, directly to Cheltenham and on to York, and back to Heathrow. The long leg is back from York but the highway is very good and it is a smooth drive. Be sure to get very specific directions back to the rental car agency. Can be difficult to find from the highway. If you are looking for a place to stay at Heathrow the night before returning, I would recomment the Premier Travel Inn.
David - Yes train travel can be expensive in England if you buy tickets the day of your travel. If you know your travel dates, you can get great saving thru the National Express Rail. For example London-York for as low as £13.00 per person. Bath-London for as low as £10.00 per person.
With five people, 3 of them around 80 years old, it seems to me you'll need a fairly large car - which may be a problem on some of the smaller English roads. On the other hand, will the elders be able to manage their luggage, or will you and your wife be wheeling double or triple bags? I've done a couple of trips with my 80 year old mother, and with all her meds and other comforts, she needs a 24" bag as well as a 21" carryon. So I usually find myself wrangling one of her bags as well as my own, which can be challenging in trains especially if you have to change. So perhaps a largish car would be the easiest - just load all the bags in and hit the road. Good luck and have fun!
Joel, could you post the website for National Express Rail? I was booking far in advance, but I was looking on Rail Europe.
David - Here is the website: www.eastcoast.co.uk. You can book up to 90 days in advance.