Preparing for UK Trip - Part 1

So now that I have shared some of my travel planning philosophy, it would be an appropriate time to explain my own travel plan for an upcoming family trip to the UK. To be honest this trip was not my idea, it was another family member's and I hijacked it. I was surprised that I had never really had any ambition to travel overseas until starting to research this trip, which wasn't even my idea. So it all started when my wife and I decided we would plan to accompany family members on a pilgrimage to the Northcountry area of England. Then my Scottish roots started screaming, if your going all that way it would be a shame to be so close without stopping by.

We decided to take the first step and begin our journey through a purchase at Barnes and Nobles, the National Geographic Traveler: Great Britain. This first travel book, with it's adventuresome looking pictures of rugged highlands and it's descriptions of traditional fare that caused saliva to flow, started it all. From there I moved onto the DK series, Lonely Planet, and then I discovered Rick Steves' books.

When I first found Rick's guidebooks I had a vague notion of him as the nerdy guy from PBS. After reading his books, I now know he is the nerdy guy from PBS. But he makes great points. I found his books provide a good introduction on how to travel for and by yourself. Not necessarily meaning as an independent traveler, but as a traveler who can do what they want and see what they want without being part of an off the shelf pack mule group (i.e., follow the leader). I have made sure that in my own planning, I make every effort to involve my fellow travel partners, my wife and daughter. This trip is not just about what I want, but about what we want. Even if I do a lot of the research and presentation to them.

Back to the trip history, after fumbling with some preliminary ideas My wife suggested we start doing some of our research at the local library, where I discovered multiple travel videos and additional books. Armed with this new medium and the resources from the multiple forums I have recommended (see Travel Forums, a Wealth of Knowledge posting) we began our first attempt at our plan.

-- Post From My iPad