Author Topic: Frugal tips for traveling to England/Scotland  (Read 3707 times)

Gone Fishing

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Frugal tips for traveling to England/Scotland
« on: September 20, 2016, 03:24:16 PM »
We'd like to do a three week trip to to England and Scotland next summer (from the US).  We have two pre-teen children.  What would your itinerary/ budget look like for such a trip?

tonysemail

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Re: Frugal tips for traveling to England/Scotland
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2016, 03:26:31 PM »

TexasRunner

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Re: Frugal tips for traveling to England/Scotland
« Reply #2 on: September 20, 2016, 03:36:42 PM »
Use the train for North/South travel.  Pretty cheap and very fun (at least back in 2009).  If you are careful about city selection, you may not even have to rent a car- but that can be a varied decision based on your kids and moving them around with you.

former player

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Re: Frugal tips for traveling to England/Scotland
« Reply #3 on: September 20, 2016, 03:40:09 PM »
Grey Matter did England/Scotland/France this summer with 3 kids including 2 pre-teens, so you might try a shout-out to her.

seattlecyclone

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Re: Frugal tips for traveling to England/Scotland
« Reply #4 on: September 20, 2016, 04:40:39 PM »
My wife and I visited the UK a few years ago.

In the London area, lodging seems to get significantly more expensive the closer you get to the city center. We found a hotel a short walk from the end of one of the Tube lines (Walthamstow Central station, to be precise) that was quite reasonable in price and still allowed us to get to tourist attractions pretty quickly.

There are lots of really nice museums throughout the country that have no admission charges.

We didn't need to rent a car while we were there because we stuck to cities. We spent four days in London, a day in Leeds, a day or two in York, two days in Edinburgh, and a day in Liverpool, where we then caught a ferry to Ireland. We did some of the intercity trips by bus, some by train, whichever was cheapest.

Playing with Fire UK

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Re: Frugal tips for traveling to England/Scotland
« Reply #5 on: September 20, 2016, 05:19:47 PM »
For the avoidance of doubt, do not drive into Central London.

What are your children interested in and do you have ideas yet?

You could build an England/Scotland trip around Harry Potter style trips, Platform 9 3/4, Oxford colleges, castles, and the Scottish scenery that you see from the Hogwart's Express.

Also very much history, some of it gory if that it their thing (Tower of London and London Dungeons). PM me about Tower tickets if you like.

jade

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Re: Frugal tips for traveling to England/Scotland
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2016, 03:49:09 AM »
There will be other cheap ways to get accommodation but personally we live in the UK and often use travelodge, reasonable prices and clean and you can get family rooms. We've had rooms from £20 a night to £70 (central London). i agree, places like Walthamstow are good, not too far from the centre and better prices.

KCM5

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Re: Frugal tips for traveling to England/Scotland
« Reply #7 on: September 21, 2016, 06:07:26 AM »
There will be other cheap ways to get accommodation but personally we live in the UK and often use travelodge, reasonable prices and clean and you can get family rooms. We've had rooms from £20 a night to £70 (central London). i agree, places like Walthamstow are good, not too far from the centre and better prices.

I was just going to recommend Travelodge. There's one by Euston Station that you can get for 20 pounds a night.

Flying is usually cheaper than taking the train.

If you're going up to the highlands, getting around without a car can be challenging, so I would probably rent one if I were going there again. There are busses, but they often only come once or twice a day in some places.

Restaurants in the UK are generally expensive - shop at Lidl or Aldi for groceries for picnics.

jade

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Re: Frugal tips for traveling to England/Scotland
« Reply #8 on: September 21, 2016, 07:14:02 AM »
Another thought is to check out moneysavingexpert.co.uk, lots of deals for days out, breaks, hotels, shops. We often use the restaurant vouchers listed there too, often 2 for 1 at Italian / pizza places like prezzo, pizza express, ask, zizzi etc.

Gone Fishing

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Re: Frugal tips for traveling to England/Scotland
« Reply #9 on: September 21, 2016, 06:08:11 PM »
Thanks for all the ideas!  We bought tickets today.  Worked out to just shy of $800 per person from DC to London. Going through DC saved hundreds vs flying out locally. It is about a six hour drive, but we'll be able to visit friends and leave our car at their house. There were cheaper tickets available off season, but that didn't work with school schedules, as well as some discount airlines that would have come to about the same once you added baggage fees.  We were also able to add an extended layover in Iceland (3 days) on the way home which should be cool.  So far it looks like it is going to be a few days in London, a week in Scotland, a week in Ireland, and a few days in Iceland on the way home.  Should be fun!

TexasRunner

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Re: Frugal tips for traveling to England/Scotland
« Reply #10 on: September 21, 2016, 06:39:47 PM »
Congrats!  Sounds like an awesome trip!

(Definitely check out Edinburgh and the military tatoo at the castle.  Really cool and free (if I remember correctly))