My mom and I are planning to travel to England the first part of September for about 2 weeks. What days are the best for travel? We want to see London but want to see other parts of England also like Canterbury. Where are some good places to visit, especially if traveling by rail? Any suggestions would be great. Also, when should we expect to catch good prices on airfare? We are traveling from Kansas City and right now on Priceline it is around $750.
There are a lot of day trips you can take from Victoria Coach Station in London that will take you to Bath and Stonehenge to name a couple.
The entrance to Canterbury Cathedral is a short walk from the train station and you can take the train from Victoria Train Station in London. The entrance to the cathedral, like a lot of the historical sights in Great Britain it is close to a Starbucks. Any time of the week in September is a good time to visit London and try to fly during the middle of the week and fly into Gatwick. You can take the train from the airport to Victoria station in London. We stay at the Winchester hotel close to Victoria station so we can jump on the Underground.
First- I think you may have found a great price- book now if you can. Second- basing yourself in London and doing day trips is a great idea. I wrote an article about that a few years ago and will put the link to it at the end of this post. We love traveling by rail in the UK- it is very easy. We usually got BritRail passes, but they aren't quite the bargin they used to be. If you don't mind commiting to a specific date and time, you can get your tickets on line about 12 weeks in advance for much cheaper fares than walk-up fares on the day of travel. Still, I would check out the passes, just to see. Feel free to private message me, we have been to London/UK more than 40 times.
http://www.aaacarolinas.com/Magazine/2008/Jan-Feb/britain.htm?zip=28208
What a wonderful time to be in England. I, too, agree that day trips out of London are a great way to go. Frommers has a book specifically about this called "Best Day Trips from London." I think it gives 25 options with train information and detail about what to see.
I've used and really like that Frommer book about day trips from London. And a brand new updated edition has just been published.
Rick Steves' London 2010 also has some good suggestions and information for day trips.
Boy, I'd snag those tickets. I just paid $825 for Dublin next month and was proud of it.