First Trip to England--My Life-Long Dream

It would help to know more info. A travel agent may charge a fee. I went to England the first time on my own with a friend. We didn't use an agent and we took care of everything ourselves. The internet and this website will make it easier for you. Flying from the east coast is a breeze either to Gatwick or Heathrow. You might tell us what you want to see, legnth of trip, your age group, etc and we can help you more. England is lovely and London is the most fabulous city in the world! You'll have a great experience!

I would suggest you doing it yourself. Go online and research hotels, B&B's, etc., purchase or go to the library and get a couple different travel books. I always book all my trips myself. You can PM me and I'll help in any way I can. You will fall in love with England.

The whole UK is easy to "do" on your own- from planning, booking all the way to "doing it"! We have done more than 40 trips and my hubby does it all himself! Feel free to PM me for ideas. What parts of the UK interest you? What you are intersted in- castles, history, gardens, etc. will help you narrow down when, what to do, etc.

Go for it yourself. As people have said, get some good guidebooks, come here with questions, and what' good about England is that just about everyone there speaks some form of English. No language barrier.

England is the easiest country in Europe for Americans to self-plan a trip. All the information out there is in English!

Using a travel agent for European travel is basically paying someone else to do your research for you. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that if you don't have the time.

Star,

I have organised 3 overseas holidays for my husband and I and our son and daughter. All done via the internet. Flights, B & B's, transport (ie trains, buses etc.).
First thing you need to do, is list the places you would like to see and things you would like to do.
Once you have worked out towns to visit, then everything else falls into place.

There is nothing the good old 'Google" seach engine can't find.
I can still remember the amazing feelings which came over me when I boarded the hop on hop off bus in London on my first trip overseas.

I would organise it yourself if I were you. You can spend the money you save on cream teas and souvenirs! Have a look on the official tourist site. There are lots of ideas on there.

http://www.visitbritain.com/

I went on My lifelong dream trip to London for a week last December. I had booked and paid my hotel (Easyhotel) before my trip. The rest I just did day by day. The tube is easy to understand within a day or so. After I got that under my belt, I was off and running, with a simple London foldout map my British husband had brought me before he moved out to the states. I was on the tube, and decided to get off at Notting Hill, then walked to Paddington and took a double decker city bus to Camden, had lunch while keeping an eye out for Gwyneth Paltrow, then walked to Covent Garden to the Seven Dials then the British Museum, then walked down Oxford street and looked at the Louis Vuitton bags I couldnt afford. lol.
Its not always fun to have a tight schedule when maybe you want to relax and have a picnic in Hyde Park once you get there and not have to worry about making a 4:00 reservation somewhere when maybe you arent in the mood for that right then. Then again, maybe I am just flighty. :) I did go solo, which really helps in the spontaneous department!

Do it yourself, it's very easy with the internet. I've planned our trips to the UK twice, getting ready to go for a third and our trip to Germany last year. I get a lot of enjoyment in planning it, you will too.

Half the fun is in the planning, but get busy! Feel free to PM.

My wife and I spent 9 nights in London last September and we planned it all by ourselves. I bought the Rick Steves London 2008 book which was a godsend, and carried it with me every day. I also bought the Eyewitness Travel London book which was also worth its weight in gold for information. I would just plan to wing it yourselves and follow Rick's advice from his book. His England 2009 book should be out by now.

i have found a site which allows a person to make hotel reservations, purchase attraction tickets, buy tube tickets and provides a wealth of other information in a very well organized form. it is called: londontown.com this site is fantastic.

It's easy to do it yourself -- just requires some research. We've been to London 3 times and each time I've planned everything for us.

Check out as many travel forums as you can -- they will provide a wealth of information!

Can't answer your travel agent question as hubby and I have never used one ...

Have a wonderful trip.

I used tripadvisor to research hotels. You are able to look based on your budget and star level of hotel or B & B you want. Plus I love to see travelers candid photos instead of hotel photos to get a good idea what the rooms will be like. I booked my room directly with the hotel. No travel agent and so far no problems. My trip is not until May. Like the previous poster stated, planning is half the fun. I am already planning my next trip!

I always like to do it all myself=but that is because planning is 1/2 the fun for me. How do you travel when you travel in the states? Do you use a travel agent, or make all the arrangements yourself? Use that as a guide to decide what would work best for you. If you do all the research and planning on your own for travel in the states, you can do it for England. At the very least, I would save some of the planning to do yourself. I think it adds to the trip. My sister and her husband asked me to plan a trip for the four of us last September (almost 4 weeks in Europe) because they felt they didn't have the time. I "forced" them to be partly involved making them look at the web sites for hotels I was choosing and researching some of what we could see if we wanted to. They would get my e-mails and "joke" that they had "homework" from me. But I think, in retrospect, they felt they got a lot more out of the trip by being a little involved in the planning. I am very happy you and your sister are fulfilling this life-long dream. I fulfilled my dream of seeing England and Ireland in 2002- and it was wonderful!! Have a great trip.

Star, How will you and your sister be traveling? Also tell us where you plan to visit. My sister and I rely on TIs (Tourist Information offices) for finding accomodation for us. They will not only find a place in their town but can usually book something for you where you will be spending the next night. We always book our own flights as well. Please feel free to ask us anything.

Star,

It would help to have a bit more information on the details of your trip. How long do you have to travel, and which places in the U.K. are you interested in seeing?

You could certainly plan a trip like this on your own, using Rick's England Guidebook for reference. England is generally quite "user friendly" for North Americans to travel (although as the saying goes, "we are two peoples separated by a common language" :-)

However, to "travel smartly" some research is definitely a good idea, as there are subtle differences.

I normally use a Travel Agent to book the flights, but often work out the lodgings and other details on my own.

The other option of course would be to take the Best of England tour, as the only thing you'd have to arrange would be flights.

As this is your first trip, I'd suggest booking your inbound flight to Gatwick rather than Heathrow. It's a smaller airport so might be a bit easier for you. From the airport, you would take the Gatwick Express to London Victoria station.

Happy travels!

Gatwick would be non problem, but if cost is a concern, do not take the Victoria Express. It costs way more than the regular train and only saves about 5 minutes.

I've lived and toured in England. I would make a list of things you want to do and then plan myself. Of course, to each her own. You can use email for bookings. Use Rick's book! Or go to your airlines site or British Air and check for hotels. Make sure to go to Tower of London, a pub, the theatre (get tix at Leicester Square), Harrods, Windsor. For starters, take the hop-on hop-off bus to get your bearings. Get a hotel near the tube and you should be all set. Getting to London from either airport is not hard. Have a great time.

You do not NEED a travel agent, but you may want to use one. I have taken two trips with the help of a travel agent. They have much to recommend them. In both cases, I was really busy with work, so I didn't have the time to plan as much as I would like. I figured out where I wanted to go and how much time I wanted to spend and turned it over to my travel agent from there. I gave her some guidelines regarding my lodging preferences and she booked everything. It was great. She also had some good suggestions, which I appreciated. A good travel agent is very valuable -- he/she has a lot of experience you probably don't have. And if you are lacking in time or don't enjoy planning, of it you have little experience traveling to Europe, you should defintely consider one.

I planned my four most recent trips to Europe myself using guidebooks and the intranet. All four turned out great, and I totally loved doing the planning.

As for cost of a travel agent, mine charged us $150 for booking the airline tickets. Also, she gets paid by the hotels, etc. that she uses. That may sway her recommendations, something you should keep in mind. For all I got from my agent, I thought it was a bargain. But I probably won't use an agent again because the intranet makes it much easier, and I am on a tighter budget these days. And I just love to plan vacations.

Star , I haven't used a travel agent or a traveller check in at least 15 years,, no need to anymore. I find the best deals myself, I have the patience and I enjoy the online research, there are so many excellant travel forums out there now,, this being only one of them.

I also highly recommend you read and use the tripadvisor London forums, as well as their hotel reveiw sites. I have booked hotels based on reveiws and tip on that site in serveral countries, and many times now. Read as many reveiws as you an and average them out,, plus, once you have narrowed hotel choices down a bit you can just google search for hotel reviews ie google " reviews of Hotel Smith in London" for example, and read reviews posted on serveral other sites.

No one really "needs" a ta for such a simple trip anymore. If you choose to use one fine, but you will likely do much better on your own, plus you won't get stuck at some yucky chain hotel!