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Trip Planning

Our son will be an exchange student at a university in Birmingham, England next semester (January - April). We would like travel with him for a week during his spring break. Where would you suggest? My husband would really like to see Normandy, but other than that we have no ideas at all. Do any of you have wonderful suggestions to make the most of our trip?

Posted by
23330 posts

While not let your son plan it. He will be semi native by that time. The space here is too limited to lay a whole trip for you. Check out guide books and travel DVDs from the library.

Posted by
12 posts

Spring break is end of April until mid-May, but we will only go for a week.

Posted by
3049 posts

Brittany is lovely and might be worth a trip. A week isn't an incredibly long time, so seeing London, and then ferrying over to Brittany and seeing Normandy will still be a pretty "whirlwind" trip. Normandy than Paris (or vice-versa) is a good suggestion as well.

Posted by
32905 posts

An alternative (Normandy is good but my my can it be cold there in April and if you are coming straight from the deep south you may find it even colder - but you may luck out) you could think of is Holland and Amsterdam, Haarlem, Delft - and Keukenhof. Have a look at the link. It is the world famous tulip, hyacinth, daffodil and other bulb gardens, unlike anything else. I highly recommend it. It may be cool in North Holland that time of year too, but it won't have the biting wind. Every time we go to Keukenhof a windbreaker and a layer is all we need.

Posted by
12 posts

This looks beautiful! Thanks so much for this info! It's great to get advice on planning from those who know!

Posted by
8956 posts

I think a trip to Normandy for a couple of days to visit the important D-Day sites sounds great. Of all the places and things I have seen and done in Europe the past 25 years, our visit to Normandy has been the most meaningful. We stayed in Bayeux and did a 2 day tour with Battlebus, which is no longer in existence, but many of the guides from this company have their own tours now. Highly recommend going on a tour in this area. Other than that, either Paris or London, whichever city sounds like more fun to all of you.