Visiting the UK

Although Liverpool is a very good place to visit, and you can certainly can do a daytrip to Chester (in Cheshire) from there very conveniently -- I did that recently -- you don't have to do it that way. You can just as easily go directly by train between London and Chester, or from other cities (like Manchester), bypassing Liverpool entirely. Chester is a lovely, very historic small city, dating back to Roman times.

The guidebook you have can help answer some of your questions, including what medical coverage you might expect from the National Health Service. I don't know about Tricare, but you could look on its website for this kind of basic information. Travel insurance that includes medical and other risks would be worth exploring, learn about options at insuremytrip.com and/or squaremouth.com.

London is a huge city and "day trips to the country" would take a lot of time, especially by bus. Britain has excellent train service that will usually be faster, but using a big city, including Edinburgh or Glasgow, primarily as a base to visit places outside it, doesn't seem like an efficient way to travel. Decide on an itinerary, which might include some day trips out of cities, but leave plenty of time for what's in the cities themselves -- or, if that doesn't interest you, skip the cities. I haven't been to Perth, but it's about 90 minutes from Edinburgh by train or bus, according to rome2rio.com, a useful planning tool.

Cheshire is near Liverpool but there's no need to "be in Liverpool" to get there. You can go by train between London and Chester, the direct route takes about two hours. Cheshire is the county surrounding Chester.

Here is link to TFL Tricare for Life overseas

We fly non-rev also and I do remember paying a departure tax flying out of Heathrow a few years ago which I seem to remember was about $80 dollars or pounds. That is nothing for getting free first class tickets. Just wanted you to be aware of the fee. Don't ever remember any other place having to do that except Amsterdam which cost less than ten dollars. We just went to Scotland train to London, train to Paris and home from there and did day trips by bus and also trains from each location.. Was fantastic vacation. We are also retired military and we did buy travel insurance as not sure what would be covered by Tri-Care and didn't want to take any chances. The sooner you buy the insurance the cheaper it is. Also to save our back we did use taxis from airports to hotels and back. It was surely well worth if for us. Enjoy.

Where in Cheshire do you want to visit? Is that an ancestral trip as well? Chester is a splendid Roman city to visit anyway.

If you need urgent emergency care that will be provided free of charge. Any more complicated treatment will need to be paid for and should something serious requiring repatriation be necessary that could be a huge expense so you must ensure that you have full medical cover either through some cover you already have or through a purchased insurance policy.

If you want to be in London, Cheshire and Scotland an open-jaw ticket into London and out from either Edinburgh or Glasgow would make sense. Cheshire is halfway in between and can easily be accessed by train.

Here is an informative discussion on health care in Europe and non-residents' eligibility to use "free" health care. It is not free.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/universal-health-care-question

Cheshire is a big county. While Chester may be the County Town, if the visit is for ancestral reasons you need to be clear where you want to be, especially as parts of historical Cheshire have now been subsumed by other counties. As an example I am a Cheshire lad by birth, but also Mancunian as my part of South East Cheshire got taken into Manchester in 1974. That part of the former county would make no sense to visit from Liverpool.

It isn't possible to give a reasoned answer to the bus travel question without more detail on where you want to visit- I appreciate that may be a 'chicken and egg' type of answer.

Gail - I do recall that, so thanks for the heads up. But you’re right, it certainly is cheaper than a first class ticket. We can get guaranteed seats on United through my son’s benefits at employee prices, which are considerably cheaper than full fare tickets, especially if we get them early. That is what we will probably do.

What insurance agency did you use for your health benefits?

Isn31c - Thank you! Right now I’m not sure exactly where we would go, I just know it’s in that area. That’s something he will need to research more. My grandfather was born in Renfrewshire, Scotland and my husband’s grandfather was born in Stockport, Cheshire. At least that is the information we have. We’d love to see if we can find records in either of those towns about them.

As an American who has, unfortunately, made use of UK health care, I can partially answer your question.

Unless a procedure is done, visiting an emergency room or clinic will cost nothing. If you need a prescription, and are over 60, it's free.

Be prepared to wait as unless it's an absolute emergency you're going to wait. The first time for me was at an hospital emergency room in the early evening. I waited about three hours. The second time was at a clinic. I got there before it opened and waited about 15 minutes after it opened. I was told it was a slow day.

Don't expect heavy duty painkillers. They don't do that. Expect them to tell you to take Paracetamol (Tylenol) or Ibuprofen. Naproxen Sodium (Alleve) is by prescription only.

Both Paracetamol and Ibuprofen are much cheaper in the UK compared to the US.

Teri I think it was Allianz insurance and I know I am not spelling it correctly so am sure someone else can help with that. Representative was super helpful and I seem to remember we paid about $500 total for both of us for full coverage bought several months ahead of travel. We also have backup plans in case we get bumped which so far has not happened.

Teri, I'd recommend checking for the family history society or center nearest your ancestral locations. See if they are able to assist in anyway, or at least check their hours. I prepared for my trip to the Dumfries area by making a reservation to meet with staff at the records office nearest my ancestral village. The visit was a bust---did not find anything useful. However, on our way out of town I noticed a family history center down one street. It was late in the day, and we needed to head to the village (1.5 hrs away?) so I just looked online for information. Unfortunately, they were only open a couple of days in the week and our schedule didn't allow for a visit on the next day they were open. I wish I'd thought about a family history center before our trip, as it sounds as if they have some local items that I wouldn't have found at the records office.

Ah well, Stockport is the Manchester side of Cheshire- the 'big town' for my home village.
That's Manchester Central Library for church records of that area.
There are two family history societies for that area- the Family History Society of Cheshire and the Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society- both of whom are pertinent to you and both have websites. Last time I looked the Manchester Society have a help desk in Manchester Central Library one or two days a week.
Both societies were enormously helpful when my Dad did our family genealogy, which stretches across the whole of Cheshire, as far as the Wirral (near Liverpool, North of Chester).
My own genealogy also starts in Scotland, and includes parts of Wales and the USA.
Both societies have a lot of transcripts, MI's and publications, the sort of stuff that isn't on line.
But if you get far enough back you will need Chester Record Office, because you end up in the once massive Diocese of Chester- which stretched in former times way up into Cumbria and far into North Yorkshire.

It might also be worth pointing out that Renfrewshire is a region of Scotland, not a town. The main town is Paisley and there's also Renfrew itself. It's a quite densely populated area north west of the Glasgow suburbs. You may need to work to narrow it down a little when it comes to researching family history.