Post-trip
It's been almost two weeks since our return; I can feel the trip receding into the past. Here's a last reflection on our impressions, learnings, favorite memories.
Impressions of England/the UK
From our first trip, in 1999, I remember being impressed with how much (written) history England has, and also with how international London is, in terms of people, languages, and food. I also remember really liking the sandwiches in England, and being impressed with how many flavors of "crisps" (=potato chips) there were.
This time, I continued to be impressed with the history and with London's diversity and internationality (we heard foreign languages every single day). I wasn't as blown away by the sandwiches, but still find them superior to typical US sandwiches. The bread is generally better, they aren't overstuffed with meat, and sometimes they feature creative combinations. I didn't see quite as many odd flavors of crisps this time, but I did have a nice packet of rosemary thyme crisps in Threlkeld.
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What additionally impressed us this time was:
- Sheep: There really are a LOT of sheep in England. Everywhere. And stone fences everywhere. I don't usually buy much on a trip, in the way of souvenirs, but I couldn't resist a little sheep...
- Lots of small villages: As mentioned in the previous post, there aren't big expanses devoid of humans, as there can be in the US, at least not where we went. Instead, the countryside is dotted with a network of bucolic little country villages, lots of them. The pretty green pastoral landscape is criss-crossed with stone fences and hedges; there's always evidence of human activity.
- Diversity: London and Oxford were very diverse. The rest of the country seemed pretty White, not that many Black people or East Asians or Hispanics.
- Great public transport: There's even buses in the Lake District; we were able to catch one to go back from Threlkeld to Keswick. Bus service in Oxford was very frequent and easy.
- Narrower streets, roundabouts: Most streets are old enough that they weren't really built for cars; they're narrow compared to average US streets. It's nice in a way; makes for a more human scale. Doug says it took him several days to get used to the different scale when driving; he'd miss a street or intersection because it was so much smaller, less noticeable than expected. Having roundabouts felt less intrusive on the landscape than our big expressway interchanges.
- Pedestrianized town centers: Bath, Oxford, Keswick, and York all had parts of their city that were pedestrian-only, at least for most of the day. We really liked having that freedom from traffic.
- Tidiness: Streets seemed cleaner (even in London) than most places of comparable size here. Also just a bit more orderly in general, e.g. fewer weeds or broken/discarded stuff.
- Clouds: There were more clouds, puffier, and more defined. Very pretty at times.
- Weather: There was never any heavy, unrelenting rain, and not even that much light rain. I always thought England was more grey and rainy. Is it climate change or was it a lucky fluke?
- Horse chestnut trees: We saw lots of pretty, flowering horse chestnut trees, especially in Oxford.
- History: In 1999, I was impressed with all the kings and queens history. This time we learned about older stuff—I hadn't realized much of Britain has a Roman and even a Vikings past.
Learnings (what went right, what to improve)
Doug and I each made lists of things that worked, things we would perhaps do differently next time. A lot of the items on our full lists are personal, depending on your travel style, and some are beyond your control. For instance, we'd packed for colder, rainier weather, and in retrospect some of that packing was unnecessary, but how could we have known? The typical weather pattern for May said precipitation about 50% of the time.
- May turned out to be a great time to travel; also the longer daylight was an unexpected plus
- Doug had done careful advance planning, including booking train tickets
- We were prepared to do tap-to-pay
- We packed light
- We could use Google maps for navigation (it even knew what bus to take, what the stops were)
- I brought the COVID testing kits, and some cough drops
Overall we had a really good hit rate, in terms of liking what we did. In retrospect, Doug feels that the trip to the ocean wasn't worth it, but I still liked the experience—there was an interesting pay toilet there and one of the "chatty benches" was there. It was a significant detour time-wise, though. Here are a few of our other thoughts:
- Do a little more advance planning for the longer stays (Oxford, London)
- Book London lodging earlier, to have more options (we booked about 2 weeks before leaving, which was about 4 weeks before the time in London, but some options were gone already)
- Pack even lighter
- Plan a little more about health precautions, maybe bring thermometer. Here's an article I just read about precautions to take: Yahoo news article. FYI, as of this Sunday, 6/12, the US no longer requires a negative COVID test for re-entry.
- Possibly try some bike and/or scooter rentals
- Possibly try apartment style lodging for longer stays
Favorite memories
We each made lists of our favorite memories, but there are far too many to include here. With the good weather we had, and things generally working out, there were many times that were fun, surprising, interesting, memorable. There were a few low points, but remarkably few: I got totally exhausted on the "three meadow" day in Oxford (it was the day with the highest step count), and we got very anxious when our rental car wasn't available on time in Bath. But even on the exhausting Three Meadow Day, at the end there was watching The Cows and Kite, one of my all-time favorite memories of the trip (video is 30 seconds).
The two more general positive experiences were: 1) Most of the places we went to had a river, or a lake; we very much enjoyed walking along the rivers. 2) The driving experience (indirect for me), was challenging but ultimately one of the most interesting parts of the trip. There was a difficult hairpin turn early on, but once Doug got more comfortable with the car and driving stick again, he enjoyed the challenge of it.
Just for fun, here are some photos of me in various places (mostly taken by Doug). Can you tell where I was? The main places we visited were: Bath - Oxford - Stonehenge/Avery - Lake District - York - London
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Where we would go on a return visit
We've already started thinking a little about what a return visit might be like. Although we enjoyed all the places we went this time and would enjoy seeing them again, given limited time/money, the top places we'd revisit would be Keswick and London. We'd be curious to explore Wales and Scotland, on a return visit, and to go somewhere along the coast.
We'll have to see how our own lives go, how COVID goes, etc. The UK is an easy destination to contemplate because there isn't a language problem, and it's relatively more similar culturally, though different enough to be interesting. Its current COVID status is very good. But we may want to consider other possibilities, too, if COVID becomes less of an issue.
Until we meet again...
If you've enjoyed the blog, it would be lovely to hear a brief word or two from you. Many have already written or commented; those people don't need to do so again. In any case, thanks for following along; it was especially fun to get feedback from others who've been to England.
Happy travels, one and all!
