Travel on Nick Wang

Amex Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 10:19:20 +0000

I posted this on flyertalk’s forum but didn’t get an answer. However, from what I’ve read so far, seems like this American Express card is still pretty damn good. Right now, I’m just using my 1% coupon back Amazon.com Visa, a possible 5% cash back Discover… if the restaurant is nice enough to take Discover, and the Costco Amex with its incredibly convenient Costco rebates. Just for my own records, I’m copying my post here. Also, here’s another great resource on Bonus Points Opportunities.

Noob here. I’m doing research on which mileage card to get… so, sounds like SPG was da bomb, but not as good anymore… however… it’s still pretty good ~~ and there’s no one King of the Hill anymore. Right? Here’s a link to the “Starpoints for Rooms” comparison. Here’s a link to its partners. As far as I can tell, most of the airlines are still doing 1:1 transfer of Starpoints to miles. For example:

American Airlines AAdvantage With American Airlines, you can transfer up to 99,999 Starpoints® into AAdvantage® Miles at a 1-to-1 ratio. And for every 20,000 Starpoints transferred you’ll earn 5,000 bonus Starpoints, which will be automatically added to your transfer. For complete details about the AAdvantage program, visit www.aa.com. There is no minimum point transfer requirement for Platinum members. Gold members have a minimum point transfer of 1,500 Starpoints and Preferred members have a minimum point transfer of 2,500. Isn’t this still a good deal? Besides UA and CO, where else has SPG decreased in value? For a noob, should I still get this card?? Thanks!!!

Travel Blog - 2006/03/28 - Hakone, Japan

Mon, 01 May 2006 18:03:55 +0000

P1000618 Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

Woke up 5:30, check out 6:15, (phone charge ¥90), Oedo-sen opens at 6:30, we had to wait for gate to open. To Shinjuku (¥170 x 2), found Odakyu-sen (at South Gate) but needed lockers for our luggages. Asked Odakyu’s staff and he said their lockers are inside but couldn’t fit our luggages, told us to go to JR next door. Asked JR dude if I can go in to use the lockers, got in, bought milk (¥110) at conbini to get ¥1000 change for lockers (¥500 x 2). 7:00am, we still have time for breakfast, went out Southwest exit to Yoshinoya 吉野家, got 2 納豆定食 (natto ¥340 x 2), surprisingly, it was pretty good! Perhaps I’ve finally gotten used to the taste. (Compare this to the packaged natto we get from Family Mart in NYC, this was pretty good!)

Rode 7:30 Romance car to Hakone, a Taiwanese family sat behind us, Taiwanese are so much better than tourists from mainland China… they didn’t talk loud or make a scene. Arrived at 9:02, switched to Gora tozan densha 強羅登山電車 platform 4, up to Miyanoshita 宮ノ下, out and took a small walk (早川(堂ヶ島)遊歩道) down to the river. Nice and quiet, no one else came down here, strange thing about the traffic on the main street though, nobody would stop to let u cross the street! Took the next train up to gora 強羅, soooo many people! It’s a lot different from the last time we came… (5 pm in mid Feb., dark and foggy, it was like Silent Hill!) I saw Onsen Manjuu at the shop right outside the gates and I bought 1 for ¥105, turns out if we had walked outside first, other shops were selling them at ¥105 for 2!! That bitch! Queenie wanted to go to the Little Prince museum (Museum of SaintｰExupery and The Little Prince), so we took a really cramped #2 Hakone tozan bus toward Sengokuhara 仙石原. The curves were wild and I don’t know what the fuck the old lady behind me was thinking, but she really stuck herself to my ass! (She was like about 4'8"). Cute place, this Little Prince Museum… (Lockers ¥100, entrance ¥1350 x 2), miniature European buildings, like a fake Disneyland,except this is Japan and they have full copyrights! (The merchandise stated you can only sell these in Japan.) Afterwards, took bus toward kowakidani 小涌谷 back to Gora. Hakone tozan cablecar up to Sounzan 早雲山, nothing to see or do here except for the stamp. Hakone ropeway to Owakudani 大涌谷, famous for their ﾞBlack eggs" 黒たまご, it was about 3pm and we were hungry, bought sweet bun, こんにゃく, milk (¥640) and 6 black eggs (¥500). We were lucky enough to run into 5 tourbus of mainland Chinese tours, what a plague! I doubt any of my pictures came out good b’coz there were so many of them. I asked a Japanese Dad to take a picture of Queenie and me in broken Japanese, and he was clearly annoyed at it! This was the first time I had encountered such a reaction, normally they are really friendly and curtious, they would take your picture and then ask you if the picture was OK! Sigh… that’s why I hate those mainland Chinese, I’m proud of my Hong Kong Chinese culture, but I hate to be associated with those Chinese from the mainland. Rode ropeway gondola down to Togendai 桃源台, then pirate ship to Hakone machi. One weird thing about today, I saw at least 3 pairs of Japanese men with white girls… normally it’s the other way around. Is Hakone a center for “reverse inter-racial couples”? Walked left and saw the sign for our ryokan - Yugiriso, walked in and was slightly surprised by the extremely curtious service! The old lady explained everything from onsen time and family bath to Karaoke room and food. She took 6 yukata for Queenie to choose from, then helped her dress up. Dinner was at 6 but she had to come in 1/2 hr early to prepare. We had an hour before dinner time so we went for a quick onsen as we were both very tired. Fell asleep afterwards, woke up at 9:30, the TV was playing a scary program, which reminded me of that kid from Juon, I was expecting to see some dead white faced kid to come out and scare me. More onsen at 11pm, then write diary and sleep. (Just saw a Suica commercial with penguin and cell phone, really cute, reminding myself to try to find it online when I get back.)\

Comments

nahikari — 2007-03-07 11:41:16

Hi! we are a spanish couple travelling to japan and we would like to stay 2 days on a tipical ryokan…we have been looking a lot and we finally decided about yugiriso but we dont know how to book the room :( can u please help us telling how did u reserve ? tx a lot

cloneofsnake — 2007-03-09 11:47:21

Hi Nahikari, I actually booked from the Japanese website jalan.net ~ http://www.jalan.net/jalan/jweb/yado/YADS_331833.HTML Details of Yugiriso here. The reservation was done in Japanese, it includes choices of rooms and dinners! There’s an English site that can do reservation for you, I’ve heard that they’re really friendly, so may be you can ask them about those choices ~ http://japaneseguesthouses.com/db/hakone/yugiriso.htm You can see my planned itinerary here. When are you going? Japan is have a warm winter this year, so their cherry blossoms are blooming early. In Tokyo, the predicted full bloom date is Mar.18th!! Hope you guys can make it. http://gojapan.about.com/cs/cherryblossoms/a/sakurafestival.htm

Donna — 2007-12-19 16:08:43

hello. I will be going to Hakone March 26-27th. I am trying to find a good Ryokan to stay in that is good for exploring Hakone. Did you go to the open air museum? How did you like your stay at Yugiriso, how were the baths and food. Thank you so much for your help. There are so many Ryokans to choose from hard to know which one would be best. Thanks heaps. Donna

cloneofsnake — 2007-12-19 21:00:12

No, I didn’t get to go to the Open Air museum because we girlfriend wanted to go to “The Little Prince Museum” instead. :P Yugiriso was nice, it was priced reasonably, easy to get to, had a small outdoor onsen / hotspring but at least it looked pretty natural unlike one of those big indoor pool. The food was good, albeit the portion is a little small, but that’s the case with most Japanese food. You might want to bring some extra snacks for the night. We were about 3 blocks away from the shore of the lake and the view was blocked by a hotel right at the shore… OK, I just looked up Google maps, it’s called the Hakone Hotel - http://www.hakonehotel.jp/en/index.html. If you would consider hotels instead of ryokans, this would be a great choice!! Remember to get the lakeview suite room, you’ll wake up to the glorious view of Mt. Fuji!!! Hope you’ll have a great time in Hakone.

Travel Blog - 2006/03/27 - Tokyo, Japan

Fri, 28 Apr 2006 13:59:00 +0000

P1000592 Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

Woke at 8, that sleeping pill was so strong! Called Jackie at 9, will meet in Akiba at 10. Out and bought bread and yogurt at ampm [¥252]. Ginza sen to Suehirocho [末広町] [¥190 x 2]. Wait for Jackie into front Sega world. Called him to confirm location [¥20]. Ate at 松屋 ¥390, walked behind Sega world to try to find the 2nd hand PDA store that Danny Choo talked about. Failed. Checked out the Softmap 2nd hand PDA store, which I had been last year (2005) Feb. They only have 2 SL-c3100 and they cost ¥54800!! Good thing I continue to search, went to e-trend and then PC-Bomber. Bought at PC-Bomber for ¥59800.

P1000596 Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

銀座線 to 渋谷 [¥570], 東横線 2 stations to Nakameguro (中目黒), I originally thought we’d be shopping there, but instead of shops, we found beautiful Cherry Blossoms along meguro river.

P1000607 Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

Took out my new Zaurus and used its Tokyo map software, walked up North through 代官山 to 渋谷. Walked to Bic Camera. Jackie left for work, we went to Citibank to get cash [¥35000], sat down at Segafredo to rest our legs. . Went to ドン。キホーテ, bought DS cover film [¥649], Book 1st, couldnt find good illustration books. QQ bought Animal Crossing stickers. Walked thru Center Gai to Loft. Bought 温泉たまご　maker [¥1029]. Decided to go home early. Stopped by Sakuraya on the way, bought sreen cover for my Zaurus [¥367].

P1000623 Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

半蔵門線 to 青山一丁目 ¥160 x 2. Ampm bought instant noodle for dinner [¥295]. Back to hotel, eat, rest, watch TV (though not the paid channel even though “it sticks in 1 night, and it is ¥1,000 yen.) :D\

Travel Blog - 2006/03/26 - Tokyo, Japan

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 11:27:00 +0000

P1000581 Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

Arrived 16:15, watched a JPN movie - Always 三丁目の夕日 (Sunset on 3rd Street), about life in post war Tokyo in the 50’s or 60’s, during which time the Tokyo tower was built. It’s typical Japanese - slow paced, funny, sweet and touching. Got ¥80,000 from Citibank ATM, Queenie had motion sickness (乗物酔い), bought vitamin drink at conbini ¥147 for her to take medicine. Keisei Skyliner 17:14 to 上野 (18:15) ¥3960.

P1000580 Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

銀座線 to 青山一丁目 ¥190 x 2, The area was really quiet, it was hard to imagine seeing such a quiet area in the midst of Tokyo… the only thing was the exits of this station were quite confusing. Once we found a point of reference, we followed the map and walked to Hotel Asia Center. Lots of gaijin staying here, the staffs all spoke good English. Checked in and called Jackie, 銀座線 to 渋谷 ¥160 x 2, met Jackie in front of Hachiko at 8:30.

P1000591 Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

Shibuya has so many gaijins now, 50 million of them standing right in front of Hachiko! Jackie doesn’t look like a gaijin ABC no more, he was full on Japanese!! :) He was too camera shy though… Dude! U need to take mo pics of yourself! Your sisters would love to see you in Jap mode. LOL. Ate at にんにく屋, afterwards went to buy motion sickness medicine and cosmetics at マツモトキヨミ薬 ¥6257. Walked around in Center Gai, bought drink at ドン。キホーテ (Don Quijote, or Don Quixote) ¥92, then stood in Excelsior cafe to chat (no seats, everywhere was full!), left at 11:00, 半蔵門線 home ¥160 x 2. Took sleeping pills and Zzzzzz.

6 Days 5 Nights Tokyo Hakone Detailed Itinerary ^_^

Thu, 02 Mar 2006 11:34:00 +0000

0218_03_Ghibli Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

Copied from: (also listed on my Yahoo! Trip Planner - http://travel.yahoo.com/trip?pid=479780&action=view ) (TripAdvisor.com Japan forum - http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g298156-i860-k488783-6_Days_5_Nights_Tokyo_Hakone_Detailed_Itinerary_-Kanto.html ) OK folks, thank you so much for all the info by everybody, especailly edokko and Route246! Here’s my detailed itinerary: Mar. 26th, arrive Narita at 6pm, Keisei Skyliner to Ueno, Ginza-sen to Aoyama Icchome, check in at Asia Center Hotel. ( http://www.asiacenter.or.jp/ ) Meet up with Jackie, Oedo-sen to Roppongi for food and drinks. ( http://www.roppongihills.com/en/access/ )

Mar. 27th, morning - rush to Akihabara to get DS Lite (if they’re in stock, but most likely they won’t) and a Sharp Zaurus C3100 PDA. Eat lunch at a maid cafe? :P (Which one is good/famous?) Afternoon, Shopping in Shimokitazawa / Daikanyama / Nakameguro. ( http://metropolis.japantoday.com/tokyo/421/feature.asp , http://www.shimokitazawa.org/ ) Dinner w/ friend(s) in Shibuya? ( http://www.bento.com/ra-shib.html ) Mar. 28th, Odakyu railway from Shinjuku to Hakone. (Need to buy tickets earlier to reserve seats, also may need to store luggages in lockers at Shinjuku) Odakyu Hakone Free Pass ( http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_008.html ) Hakone classic round course ( http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5210.html ) Check in at Yugiriso Ryokan (夕霧荘) at 3 pm. Relax, Onsen, Eat, Relax, Onsen, Sleep… Onsen ( http://www.jalan.net/jalan/jweb/yado/YADS_331833.HTML ) Mar. 29th, Check out at 10 am. Visit Ancient Cedar Avenue (major checkpoint along Tokaido, the highway which connects Edo and Kyoto during the Edo period.) ( http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5205.html ) Odakyu train back to Shinjuku. Option to walk around Shinjuku, else can go to Harajuku. (Meet with Ariko, Tina and Kaori?) Check in at Yoyogi Youth Hostel at 5 pm ( http://www.jyh.or.jp/english/kanto/yoyogi/index.html ) Meet up with Ariko, Tina and Kaori for dinner in… anywhere. Mar. 30th, Hanami (Cherry Blossom viewing) at Shinjuku Gyoen, then shopping again (Harajuku, Aoyama, Shibuya? Queenie’s choice.) Mar. 31st, Check out early, Hanami at Ueno Park. Then visit the Ameyoko market. ( http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3012.html) Keisei Skyliner to Narita at err… 2 pm? Whatever. Done! Shopping related links: http://www.japanesestreets.com/jsnews/article/49/ - Great Tokyo shops for used clothing http://www.tokyoessentials.com/shopping.html http://www.tokyoessentials.com/ - This site has good maps for most popular areas like Shibuya & Shinjuku.

Travel Blog: 2005 Nov UK - First Day - London

Thu, 29 Dec 2005 12:46:00 +0000

1119_02_London Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

(First, let me say that this is more for my own nostalgic benefit than for you reading pleasure. It’s basically a copy from my travel diary, which means it’s going to be looooong… Pictures are up, they have been for a while now. I’ve been too lazy to do this blogging shit after I came back but at least I uploaded 335 pictures to flickr!) 11/18 Friday, 7:30pm Virgin Atlantic flight out of JFK airport. I must say, the food and service on VA is excellent! The best airline food I’ve had in years! We flew JAL last Feb to Tokyo and its food was great too, but Virgin was extravagant! Lavish!! Too bad I didn’t actually eat it! :D I was way too sleepy from the sleeping pills I got from my doctor, man that stuff is great, they really knock you out cold! Arrived London Heathrow at 7 am, 11/19 Saturday. (Had 6 hrs of sleep thanks to the pills.) London was cold! Took the “Tube” (London Subway) out to London. Needed to change to the District / Circle line but the thing about travelling in low season is, things are often not open or in repair! There was no service on those 2 lines that day! We got back on the Piccadilly line and changed to the Central line for St. Paul. Took the long way for a 270 degree view of St. Paul, and our hotel, Club Quarters, was right in front of St. Paul on Ludgate Hill Rd. We got to the hotel at about 10 (Damn! Why did it take so long?!) There were 2 receptionists working, one of them kinda pretty. She has one of those bitchy looking face that reminds you of Posh Spice, cold and un-smiling, which makes you want to bitch slap her across the face! (But I must say, she’s still prettier than Posh Spice!) LOL.

1119_01_London Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

It was too early, they don’t check in until 11 am, we were going to leave our luggages at the counter but since we had no locks for them (thanks to airport security), it seemed kinda risky. So, we took them with us across the street to the only open store, Benjy’s, for breakfast. Full English Breakfast! God I miss that stuff… baked beans man!! They are the best!! I don’t understand why U.S. doesn’t have it, instead we have porky beans(?), which tastes like shit. Double decker buses had passed by a few hundred times, and 99.9% of them had Harry Potter ads on them! The street was slowly getting busy with tourists taking pictures of St. Paul. After we finished our food, we walked to the tourist info center on the South side of St. Paul. Got some maps and info on the bus tour. Went back to the hotel to check in. Wash up a bit and head back out for the “Original London Bus Tour”. Passed by places where we could see the Swiss Re building, but couldn’t take any picture of it coz the bus was going too fast!

1119_05_London Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

Cross the King William Bridge(?) and arrived at the London Dungeon. This was something we planned to go, but not as one of the first thing, u know? But since we were already there, and could get half price and skip the line b’coz we were bus tour customer, we went anyway. London Dungeon stinks! Literally. I think they used some fake urine spray or something. Plus, they probably don’t clean their toilets, which added some authenticity to the smell! :D I think the greatest value to the place was the actors and actresses. The people who worked there were all young and they put on quite a show, which leads me to think that they’re all actors getting part time jobs there. Just like in NYC, you see a lot of beautiful people working as waiters / waitresses. The interior designer for London Dungeon must’ve done a pretty good job, b’coz I constantly felt uncomfortable inside and couldn’t wait to get out! Once out, we waited for and got back on the tour bus, it continued East on Tooley Street toward Tower Bridge. Now, at the corner of Tooley Street and Tower Bridge Road, was an excellent place to take picture of the Tower Bridge + Tower of London + Swiss Re Building. Unfortunately, the tour bus was driving too fast again and we didn’t have the chance to take any pictures. Now people, a little advice, DO NOT go on bus tours on your first day in London. You’ll just end up sleeping on the bus while listening to the headphones plugged into your ears. (The boring commentaries + jet lag will put you right to sleep, and you’ll only be awaken by the pain in your ears caused by the poorly manufactured headphones.) We fell asleep and when we woke up, we were already on the far West side of London, around Buckingham Palace. 16GBP bus ticket went down the drains. (OMG! Even I am tired of reading this… I should probably set up some “highlights” so I don’t have to read through the whole thing. :P) We finally got off at Oxford St., which is a major shopping area that was so crowded, it reminded me of Mong Kok (Hong Kong)! Queenie wasted 1GBP to make a phone call to her friend. 2 minutes later, we walked into “The Link” and got ourselves a Vodafone pre-paid SIM card. (The little bugger cost a whopping 10GBP, 9 being the cost of the card and 1GBP credit, I added 5GBP more credit to bring the total up to 15GBP!) London is too expensive. Walked East along Oxford St toward Oxford Circus, had a late lunch / early dinner (it was 4:30 pm) at an Italian place, when we got to Oxford Circus, we finally found “Top Shop”. Queenie had been raving about this place since the beginning of our trip! She disappeared into the crowds and I went upstairs to the mens department. It’s not that special, really… I spent like 5 minutes, then went back down and sat at the stools across from the escalator and wait for her. Queenie took her sweet time, (she said the check out line was long… Sure… ;). Afterwards, we called her friend Penny and asked her to meet us at the London Eye, and then we took the Tubes back to the hotel to drop off Queenie’s new luggages. From the hotel, we walked across the Millenium Bridge to the South side of Thames. Penny already arrived at the London Eye!! So now we were in a hurry! When you’re in a hurry, you get lost! We wandered into the Tate Modern, then we were like, trapped in some small streets and couldn’t get out, my knee was hurting and I was tired and Queenie was mad because we were late. Finally, we got out on to Southwark Street, there were no bus or bus stop in sight! We finally just took a cab and ride the rest of the way there (we were very close).

1119_13_London Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

1119_20_London Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

1119_21_London Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

It was like, 7:50 already and London Eye actually closes at 8! Can you believe it?! 8!! We hurried to get our tickets, and went for the 30 minutes ride. A lot of people could fit into one pod, and our pod had like… 15 ppl, which sucked. We were lucky with the weather though, the night was clear and we had a great view of London. The 360 degrees windows were intelligently designed so that you can take pictures with flash without the flash getting reflected!

1119_22_London Originally uploaded by cloneofsnake.

After the ride, we walked North along the water front, had (2nd) dinner at Giraffe. Then we walked across the foot/train bridge over to Embankment Station. The tubes that Penny needs were closed, so we walked up a bit more to Strand (Street). Penny took a bus home and we took a bus on the opposite side going West back to our hotel. FINALLY!!! END!!!

Some cool site links for travellers to the UK

Thu, 17 Nov 2005 17:17:00 +0000

Some cool site links for travellers to the UK (note that this is in the order of my itinerary - starting from York, travel West through Yorkshire, South to Chester, West to Caernarfon Castle and Snowdonia in Wales, then South to Bath and Wye Valley, then one of Stonehenge / Salisbury / Wincester, finally Oxford and then back to London. General info - http://www.visitengland.com/

http://www.visitscotland.com/ York - http://www.locationyork.co.uk/
Walking tours (Ghost Walk)
Mont Clare Guest House (where we’ll be staying) Fountains Abbey (Ripon) - http://www.fountainsabbey.org.uk/
Yahoo Harrogate & the Yorkshire Dales - http://www.harrogate.gov.uk/harrogate-266
Yahoo Bolton Abbey - Yahoo
http://www.boltonabbey.com/

Skipton - http://www.skiptonweb.co.uk/ Clitheroe - Yahoo Blackburn - Yahoo Preston - Yahoo Chester - http://www.visitchester.co.uk/

Bawn Lodge
Devonia Lodge (where we’ll be staying)
Yahoo Caernarfon - Yahoo Llanberis - Yahoo Snowdonia - Yahoo Wye Valley - Yahoo Bath - Yahoo Oxford - Yahoo London - Yahoo
http://www.londontown.com/

My Great Britain Trip, Helpful Suggestions, part 2

Sun, 13 Nov 2005 10:35:00 +0000

My Great Britain Trip, Helpful Suggestions, part 2 (My schedule) Thanks, slight changes and more detailed

11/19 Arrive London, tubes to South Ealing, stays at Ealing Guest House.
11/20 7 am train departs from King’s Cross to York, arrive 8:55. York all day. stays in York.
11/21 Pick up hired car at York train station, drives A59 west, Harrogate, Clitheroe, Blackburn or Preston. Stay at Chester.
11/22 West to Caernarfon Castle, South to Snowdonia. (Stay at Pen y Gwydd, Snowdonia?)
11/23 drive through Snowdonia, Llanberis pass next to Snowdon IIRC (A4086 rather than A5) then to Betws y Coed and out. South to Bath. Stays at Bath.
11/24 Bath, Stonehenge (Cotswolds or the Wylie valley?) Stays at Bath again.
11/25 Winchester, Oxford (or ditch Oxford and check back at hotel in Ealing. More time for London.)
11/26 London, stays in Ealing.
11/27 Heathrow, early morning.

–

inglian says:

If you go to Stonehenge it would make sense to carry on to Winchester, rather than going back, since Winchester is a two-hour drive from Bath, whereas ‘henge to Winch is about 40 minutes. I hope you like my home town. :) www.flickr.com/photos/inglian/sets/1286585/

Dont miss Bolton Abbey which is just off the A-59 between Harrogate and Skipton, its one of the most beautiful spots in Britain IMHO.

Be aware that between Preston and Chester you can expect heavy traffic.

11/22 West to Caernarfon Castle, South to Snowdonia. (Stay at Pen y Gwydd, Snowdonia?)

11/23 drive through Snowdonia, Llanberis pass next to Snowdon IIRC (A4086 rather than A5) then to Betws y Coed and out. South to Bath. Stays at Bath.

11/24 Bath, Stonehenge (Cotswolds or the Wylie valley?) Stays at Bath again.

11/25 Winchester, Oxford (or ditch Oxford and check back at hotel in Ealing. More time for London.)

11/26 London, stays in Ealing.

11/27 Heathrow, early morning.

Have a good trip Keith

York all day. stays in York. Eat a typical pub lunch in the Royal Oak, try some the many real ales, whilst you are there. The bell ringers from York Minster meet there.; http://www.danieljackson.co.uk/pubs/pub/RoyalOak/

11/21 Pick up hired car at York train station, drives A59 west, Harrogate, Clitheroe, Blackburn or Preston. Stay at Chester.

Duh he missed Fountains Abbey!

11/22 West to Caernarfon Castle, South to Snowdonia. (Stay at Pen y Gwydd, Snowdonia?)

all sounds OK to me. I checked spelling its pen y Gwryd, review at “http://www.pyg.co.uk” although I couldnt get it to load when I just tried. Theres also lots of accomodation in Betws y Coed and the Tyn y Coed at Lanberis (thats where I always stay). But the Pen y Gwrydd should have more atmosphere as your half way up the hill, other quests, if any, will probably be hillwalkers waiting for the weather to change! Mike Reid Walk-eat-UK “http://www.fellwalk.co.uk” http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

11/20 7 am train departs from King’s Cross to York, arrive 8:55.

A bit early, especially if you are making your way from South Ealing to Kings +. Alan Harrison

Much better and more manageable. Remember that you’ll get the best fare on your train to York if you book in advance and commit yourself to a particular train. I’d recommend you to be at South Ealing tube at 6am if you want to get the 7am train from Kings Cross. Book through the train operator GNER directly at http://www.gner.co.uk/

11/24 Bath, Stonehenge (Cotswolds or the Wylie valley?) Stays at Bath again.

Wye, not Wylie, valley: the nicest bits are along the road from Chepstow to Monmouth. This is west of Bath while Stonehenge is south and east: the distances aren’t huge but doing both Stonehenge and Wye Valley in a day trip from Bath would make a rather full day

11/25 Winchester, Oxford (or ditch Oxford and check back at hotel in Ealing. More time for London.)

.. or possibly ditch Winchester and stay in Oxford; Oxford and Winchester are both nice places but Oxford has more to see for a visitor Martin

Come to North West Scotland with the highest mountain in the UK and some of the best scenery.

There are cheap flights into the four main Airports, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen and thereafter you will need to hire a car.

Worth the extra distance and expense especially if the weather is favourable.

Lindsay www.caledoniahilltreks.com

Following up to Lindsay Boyd

Worth the extra distance and expense especially if the weather is favourable.

in November, hmmmm. Mike Reid

Comments

sarsen56 — 2008-04-22 09:18:23

Members of the Wordpress community who are interested in Stonehenge or visiting may like to see: http://sarsen56.wordpress.com

My Great Britain trip, Helpful Suggestions on Google Groups

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 14:58:00 +0000

My Great Britain trip, Helpful Suggestions on Google Groups Here’s the thread. Some helpful suggestions: craig_352 Pro User says:

I’ve used this site quite a few times:

http://www.s-h-systems.co.uk/

It gives a wide range of places throughout the UK for a wide range of prices.

– In terms of calculating routes and distances, I find the AA route

planner at http://www.theaa.com/ gives reasonably accurate driving times for the UK outside London, so long as you bear in mind that these are best possible times and don’t include either any times for taking a break along the way, or delays due to traffic.

One other important point for the original poster: plan for short daylight hours in November: it will be dark just after 4pm in London when he is travelling and signficantly earlier in Scotland, which will limit the scope for sightseeing, and mean that he may be doing a lot of driving after dark

For day trips to Windsor, Oxford or Cambridge, for example, don’t drive… it will take you hours to find your way in the Town Centre and then expect problems with parking (in Oxford, maximum 2 hours).

Have look at coach/bus services from London www.gobycoach.com or then go by train, usually more expensive w ww.thetrainline.com

– Why don’t you use one of the mapping programs to check out driving times and distances–like www.multimap.com. But you’re going to spend all your time in the car.

Can anyone name some good discount car hire sites in the UK?

You could try http://www.holidayautos.co.uk/

I was think of this: 11/19 Arrive, London (Ealing stay) 11/20 Drive A1 North to Leeds, York (York stay) 11/21 A59 west, stop at Harrogate, Clitheroe (small unknown Lancashire market town), Blackburn or Preston (for typical Lancashire towns) (Stay at outskirts of Liverpool or Manchester) 11/22 If weather permits, then drive West to Caernarfon Castle, then round south to drive by Snowdonia and come back East to meet M6. If not, then I can stay in Liverpool for a day. (Stay at same outskits of Liverpool.) 11/23 Manchester, then South to Cardiff. 11/24 Cardiff. (2nd night) 11/25 Bath, Stonehenge, Winchester (stay at Winchester) 11/26 Winchester, Oxford, London 11/27 Leave London in the morning.

Unless you have very specific reasons for visiting Leeds I’d suggest heading straight up the A-1 to the A-64 turn off and then go East into York and avoiding the city That said the Royal Armouries in Leeds is well worth a visit http://www.royalarmouries.org/extsite/view.jsp?sectionId=2222 I’d suggest staying in Chester rather than Manchester/Liverpool. Its a much nicer small walled city with a good selection of restaurants and is small enough to walk around. (This isn’t the first comment about skipping Leeds :P What’s up with all the Brits dissing Leeds?)

How about taking a train to York and hiring a car in York, when you have finished seeing York.

11/21 A59 west, stop at Harrogate,

Visit Ripon and Fountains Abbey.

11/20 Drive A1 North to Leeds, York (York stay) 4 hours, why Leeds?

11/21 A59 west, stop at Harrogate,

I understand Harrogate is nice.

Clitheroe (small unknown Lancashire market town), Blackburn or Preston (for typical Lancashire towns) (Stay at outskirts of Liverpool or Manchester)

I don’t know Clitheroe, Blackburn or Preston other than as names. Are you interested in what real everyday England is like, as opposed to the interesting bits? (these places may be interesting, I’ve never been).

From school geography that’s the area of the old water powered wool industry, later other industry.

A tourist site says:- “Preston is on the River Ribble, and developed from a market town to a centre of the textiles industry then into an engineering centre, with large industrial plants. Its growth is reflected in its buildings, including Winckley Square with its large houses built on the profits of the Industrial Revolution. The Guildhall, its arts and events centre, is being restored. Preston North End, one of the oldest football clubs, now has the National Football Museum.”

I don’t know what you are looking for, is that it?

11/22 If weather permits, then drive West to Caernarfon Castle, then

Preston Caernarfon 3 hours max The castle is good, so is the one at Harlech

round south to drive by Snowdonia and come back East to meet M6. If not, then I can stay in Liverpool for a day. (Stay at same outskits of Liverpool.)

In November you should only get snow on the “tops” if at all, (hill summits), its after Christmas most snow falls, but you never know. I have visited Snowdnia in January for 20 years or so and have only known the low roads with snow on once. I’ve seen flooding though on several occasions.

Why not stay in Snowdonia rather than Liverpool suburbs?

I have never visited the Liverpool suburbs, wont it just be housing estates?

After checking the weather forecast you could drive through Snowdonia, Llanberis pass next to Snowdon IIRC (A4086 rather than A5) then to Betws y Coed and out. 3 hours

I would rather stay in the Pen y Gwydd half way up Snowdon than a Liverpool suburb. but that me, not you.

11/23 Manchester, then South to Cardiff. 11/24 Cardiff. (2nd night) 11/25 Bath, Stonehenge, Winchester (stay at Winchester)

I would stay in Bath rather than Cardiff. I would probably cut out Cardiff and have a bit of time around Bath, maybe the Cotswolds or the Wylie valley and meander to Winchester and Oxford on backgroads.

11/26 Winchester, Oxford, London 11/27 Leave London in the morning.

If it was me I would ditch half the big towns/cities and go for some smaller places in scenic areas, but that’s just me.

Mike Reid Walk-eat-UK “http://www.fellwalk.co.uk” Walk-eat-Spain “http://www.fell-walker.co.uk” Photos of both “http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk”

So you don’t intend to see anything of London? Lots to see there. Also lots to see in Bath and environs. I assume day 11/26 is dedicated to Oxford, otherwise again you’re doing too much that day. In general, cities, whether big or small, offer more sight-seeing options in off-season (rainy, dark, cold) weather. Marianne

Like (the other) Martin I’d be inclined to go to Leeds and York by train and then pick up a car. Both have good train services to London and within both cities you don’t need a car. York in particular is best seen on foot. Why not see if you can arrange a one-way car rental to pick up in York on the morning of 21st and to drop off at Heathrow on your departure? A bonus is that you’ll be getting used to driving on the left outside London and (hopefully) once you’ve slept off your jet-lag. I’d second Keith W’s recommendation to stay in Chester rather than outskirts of Liverpool: easy access to Liverpool in one direction and North Wales in the other, plenty of accommodation, and a nice place to visit in its own right. Cardiff is a pleasant enough city but, given how tight your schedule is, seems an unlikely choice for a two-night stay. Bath or Bristol would have more to offer a visitor, or you could explore a rural area in south Wales such as the Brecon Beacons, or the Wye Valley right on the English/Welsh border Winchester is a lovely cathedral city, but so is Salisbury, which is very close to Stonehenge and for that reason alone would be a better choice for a stop. I still think it’s a lot of driving, though much less excessive than your original plan, and I still think that the dark evenings are going to be a bigger constraint on travelling outside cities than severe weather Martin

My Nov'05 Great Britain trip research

Sun, 30 Oct 2005 12:36:33 +0000

domokun-paddington station Originally uploaded by shboom.

The kind folks at flickr’s “England” group had responded with many useful tips! See this thread. Also, here’s a reply from my good friend Evan from Issaquah High School. On 10/26/05, Wang, Nicholas wrote:

Not sure yet, I just know Bath, Yorkshire, Edinburgh are musts, I’m still doing research. Hey your wife is from England, ask her to give me some ideas!

Driving… I want to save money by renting a manual, but I’m afraid that’ll be too much for me to handle… manual + wrong side of the road. :D LOL

—–Original Message—– From: Evan Tsang Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2005 10:53 PM To: Wang, Nicholas Subject: Re: Yahoo Travel - Create a share trip itineraries !!!!! what?? i thought you knew how to drive manual…and you’re from HK, so wrong side of the road = no problem! it’s not that hard, actually. The big thing to remember (other than which side of the road you’re supposed to be on) is to LOOK RIGHT…ha ha, i almost got run over by a bus crossing the street because i forgot to look right instead of left. Oh, and don’t bang your hand against the door reaching for the shifter. It kinda hurts (ummm…or so I’ve heard, LOL)… at least when you do it more than once… Yorkshire is where Vicki is from. Hit Manchester–it’s a great city, and their Chinatown is pretty nice. We ate at East, which is a good restaurant. For something a little less “big cosmopolitan city” and more “England” go to York. The old city (near the main Cathedral) is absolutely charming (except for the Starbucks). Also Liverpool is terrific. The docks and their clubs are pretty cool. And don’t go looking for Penny Lane (made famous by a Beatles song). All the street signs are stolen, including the ones they painted onto the bricks of hourses. They just took the bricks too. Haworth is definitely also worth visiting, but I guess only if you read any of the Bronte sisters’ novels (like Wuthering Heights). Hell, read one of them before you go and you’ll have a better appreciation of the novels. You’ll definitely get an appreciation of the English countryside. It’s very pretty, very nice. Oh, you’ll have to try Yorkshire pudding while you’re in Yorkshire. I like it with roast beef best. Doesn’t taste anything like the crap they serve here. And black pudding. I won’t tell you what it is. Just try it and email me, I’ll tell you afterwards. You should have no problem…you’re Chinese, and we eat everything…!! If you want to see where Vicki is from, go to Halifax…not much to see there, I guess, although it’s a small English town. I think it’s real charming, but I’m biased since my other half is from there. Yorkshire isn’t all that small (there’s Yorkshire and West Yorkshire), it really depends on what you want to see while you’re there–the big touristy stuff or the smaller stuff. If you get to go to Wales (which is opposite the way of Scotland), Cardiff is a blast. Great city. Lots of places to walk around, an old castle to see, etc. etc. Nice clubs too. Didn’t get to see much else of Wales, but I’ve heard there’s some other neat stuff too. Never been to Scotland…always wanted to go though. Oh, you’ll also probably see why they wanted to take over the world. All in all, the weather on that little Island is shit… It’s also kinda small, relatively speaking. And definitely not sunny. Find some nice small roads to go on. They are an absolute blast. I bet you can find some resources on the web to tell you where some great drives are. Apparently there are a lot of them in Scotland as well… I think car magazines might be a good resource too. Oh, drink some Guinness while you’re there, as well as McCaffreys. If you like beer at all…well, even if you don’t. You might afterwards. Fish & Chips: get ’em from a fish & chips shop (you won’t be able to sit there and eat ’em). They’ll fry up the fish and the chips….ask them to put salt & vinegar on the chips…and they’ll put ’em in wax paper and newspaper. Take ’em back to the hotel and eat ’em there. The wax/news paper will soak up some of the grease and it’ll taste great with the salt & vinegar. Oh, you’ll be there during Thanksgiving…lots of Christmassy things going on. Roasted chestnuts aren’t bad…mulled wine tastes like shit. Their crepes with lemon (i think it’s like a jam) and cream are great. Gregg’s pastry shops… try the sausage rolls and cream cakes. Fantastic and cheap. Actually all of Gregg’s food seems fantastic and cheap. Hot, too, where appropriate (sausage rolls…hot. cream cakes, cold). They make enough to sell for the day so don’t get there late in the afternoon, or they’ll have nothing left. Apparently there are 1000 shops in the UK, so you should be able to find one. Somehow they’re a chain but still good (and cheap!). If I can think of anything else I’ll let ya know (I’ve been to England quite a few times by now, as you can see). I’ll also ask Vicki for some hints… Hope you have fun, I’ve had fun every time I’ve been there…!!!\