Activities for UK Trip

I have finally reached the next milestone on my trip to the UK, I purchased all of our prepaid items. While these items do not encompass all of the activities we have planned, they are the ones that are 1) in high demand and require reservations/advanced purchase, 2) provide a distinct cost savings by purchasing out of country, or 3) provide significant time savings by eliminating the need to stand in a queue (aka line to us Yanks).

The remaining activities, while already placed in the itinerary, allow an increased flexibility since they have not yet been reserved or paid for. If for some reason we find we cannot catch a train, we will be able to skip one of these unpaid for activities. That however, does not mean they are any more or less important in the end.

For our trip we have already purchased:
-City sight seeing bus tour of Bath Spa
-Paid a deposit for a walking tour in Scotland
-Cruise of Loch Ness
-Tour of the vaults below Edinburgh
-Tour of the secrets of Edinburgh
-City sight seeing bus tour of Edinburgh
-Edinburgh Castle admission
-Nighttime city sight seeing bus tour of London
-Watch a Shakespeare play at the Globe Theatre
-London Tower admission
-Hampton Court admission

The following represent the activities we plan to pay for or attend (i.e. free) when we get there:
-Bath Roman Bath and Spa
-Tea at the Royal Pumphouse
-Inverness Museum (free)
-Culloden Battlefield
-Clava Cairns (free)
-Edinburgh Camera Obscura
-The Scotch Whisky Experience
-Edinburgh Museum (free)
-Edinburgh Writer's Museum (free)
-Brass Rubbing Center (free)
-Arbeia Roman Fort
-Bede's World
-South Shield Museum
-Segedunum Roman Fort, Baths, and Museum
-Greenwich Royal Observatory
-Victoria & Albert Musuem (free)
-British Museum (free)

Since we have some flexibility, if we find we are too tired or there is not enough time we will have the option of cutting some of these activities since they haven't been paid for or reserved.



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Preparing for UK Trip - Part 3

After Scotland we will be returning to merry 'ole England. Since my wife's grandfather is from the Newcastle area we figured that would be a great area to visit. So we are planning on staying two nights in the neighborhood he grew up in, South Shields. We will be staying in another B&B right on the main ocean access street. While in the area we hope to visit Bede's World, an open air museum based on the life and times of the Venerable Bede, a Catholic saint who documented early life in Britain. In addition we would like to see Arbeia, a recreation of a Roman fort, and the local history museum.

After Newcastle we will be jumping back on a train and returning to London. For the first three nights we've decided to splurge on our accommodations and will be staying in a 4 star hotel within visual range of Buckingham Palace. During our stay in our royal accommodations we plan on taking in Henry VIII at the Shakespeare Globe Theatre, riding a London at night tour bus, seeing the prime meridian in Greenwich, and exploring the Tower London, Hampton Court, the Victoria & Albert, and the British Museum. Our final night will be spent at a hotel at the airport that will afford us time to sleep in before our flight home.


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Preparing for UK Trip - Part 2

As I previously blogged, my wife and I started our work on a travel plan. The first thing we had to do was figure out where we wanted to go, then how we would get around, the level of lodgings we wanted, and where did we want to fly into, would it be better to fly open jaw or round trip into the same city. Eventually we settled on flying into and out of London Gatwick, since we could get direct flights on Virgin Atlantic or British Airways out of our home town. This gave us our first stepping stone. Now how to get around, this one was easy. Since neither of us wanted to drive we would plan to use the extensive train and public transportation systems.

Now we needed to figure out our destinations. This step took some time, in fact it was somewhat fluid up until yesterday when we decided to eliminate one of our cities and allocate the time to focus on Inverness instead. Always plan to go back if you missed it the first time. Since we've purchased all our prepaid items (see Budgeting for Travel: Creating a Travel Budget post), our rail pass, and made seat reservations for our longest trip, our plan has solidified.

As for our list of cities, we then took Rick Steves recommendation to try to spend two days in each stop when possible and to recover from the first couple days of jet lag in historic Bath. There seem to be a number of things to do in Bath that shouldn't be too overwhelming for us, especially considering we will be traveling with a 10 year old. We will be trying to keep it relaxed. Yet it will be important to see some of the major sites, roman spa, Royal Circle/Crescent, and nearby Stonehenge. While in Bath we will be staying in our first B&B, where we will get to try an authentic English breakfast.

After Bath we plan to head into London to catch our longest train ride, 8 hours to the gateway of the Scottish highlands, Inverness. I'm really looking forward to our time in Scotland as it is the land of my maternal forebearers (Carlisle, sept clan of Bruce Clan). On a side note, this will be one of the few opportunities I will have to wear my kilt (Black Watch tartan) outside of the Highland Games setting. While in Inverness we plan to see Culloden Battlefield (where the Jacobite rebellion was brutally put down), the Highland Museum, Loch Ness, and Urquart Castle. I also plan on trying locally distilled whisky (no "e"). Our lodgings will be another B&B, but this one will serve a traditional Scottish breakfast.

After two nights in Inverness we will be heading back down into the lowlands of Scotland to the crown jewel, Edinburgh. We will be staying in Edinburgh for 3 nights before returning to England. While in Edinburgh we plan on seeing most of the major sites (Castle, monuments, Parliament, etc...), some of the creepier tours (the Real Mary King's Close), and architectural features (old towne/new town). We will be staying right on the Royal Mile, however, this time it will be a four-star hotel. That means breakfast will be on our own since I wasn't willing to spring 15GBP extra per person. This shouldn't be a problem since there plenty of cafe's and pubs in the immediate area.

Next up, the return to England.



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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.

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Natural Disasters and Flight Delays

So I'm just over two months from my departure for the big UK trip and now I find myself glued to the television and scouring the Internet for the latest news on this "ash cloud" situation over Europe. For now it appears the situation has been downgraded as more and more airports reopen. However, the volcano is still active and has the potential to disrupt even the best designed plans. I shall be keeping a close eye on the situation and holding off paying for as many of my "prepaid" items until the last minute. Luckily BritRail passes can be rushed out within two nights, so there is one expense I can definitely put on hold.


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Budgeting for Travel: Creating the Budget

Now here is the fun topic, money! How much do you need and how do you plan for changes in conversion rates. There are many different strategies for dealing with all of the money issues associated with traveling so I will stick to what works for me.

The first thing is to decide where you are going. Then you need to determine how many days you will be staying in each location, how you prefer to travel (i.e., buses vs. train) between locations, and what specific activities you want to include. Once you have all this done you can proceed with your budgeting.

I like to break my budget into several categories:
1) Items prepaid in USD, such as airfare, train passes, animal care deposits (boarding), and travel insurance. Since these items are prepaid in USD they will not directly influence your travel budget when conversion rates fluctuate.

2) Items prepaid in local currency (non-USD), such as individual train tickets, bus tickets, metro cards (public transportation), theatre/theater shows, tickets for sights sold online (allow you to skip the queue), tour deposits, and hotel/lodging deposits. This category encompasses anything you buy or pay for in non-USD currency before you actually start your trip. I recommend using a credit card that does not charge a foreign conversion fee (such as Capital One) to pay for these items. Until these items are paid for, the fluctuation of conversion rates will influence your budget. However, once you pay for each item, the rate is locked and will no longer be a factor.

3) Items paid while traveling in local currency (non-USD), such as meals (food/drink), hotel/lodging, attractions/tours, and miscellaneous spending. In my budget I prefer to further subdivide each of these items into cash and credit categories so that I am able to determine how much cash I will need on hand or in my account. There are several methods you can use to estimate costs of meals, some use a basic amount for specific countries/ areas (see Rick Steves), while I like to research restaurants in the area online and estimate on the high side the cost of my meals per day. I figure it is better to have left over money, than not enough. I would recommend a similar policy for lodgings, but to be honest I always have my lodgings and price pre-reserved before leaving (I am am an obsessive planner after all).

4) Items paid after traveling (in USD), such as animal care (boarding), cell phone usage (worldwide roaming), and airport parking. Like items prepaid in USD, the items in this category will not directly influence your travel budget when conversion rates fluctuate.

Our next step is to get an estimate for conversion rates. This is one of the most difficult areas to estimate (it is how most people in the financial sector make their money). The strategy I use is to find a tool (such as Yahoo! Finance Currency Convertor), that will show me the high value of the conversion rate over a 1 to 5 year period. I then convert 1 of whatever local currency I will be using (€, £, ¥, etc.) to $ (USD). In Yahoo! Finance Currency Convertor, convert the currency, click "View 5 Day Trend," and then click whatever date range you prefer under "Range" (i.e., 3m, 1y, 2y, 5y). If the rates look to be somewhat stable or predictable (repeating within a common range) I use the highest conversion rate historically within the last 5 years to plan my budget (this will not work well if the rate is trending higher that it has historically).

Keep in mind, this is merely what I do, but it is not the end all all be all solution (if that is what you are looking for then I recommend going to school to be a money markets strategist to better understand the market).Please keep in mind I am not responsible if the rates climb higher than you planned for. If this is a legitimate concern of yours, calculate what the highest rate you can afford is, buy travel insurance that will let you cancel for any reason (that will reimburse you 100%), and watch the rates before you leave. If the actual rate approaches your maximum affordable rate, bail out and cancel your trip.

So now that you have an idea of all your costs and an estimated conversion rate it is time to construct the budget. Open a spreadsheet (i.e., Excel) and under the first column enter all your costs in local currency (non-USD), grouping or subdividing as desired. Leave any items that will be paid in USD blank for now. In the second column place the conversion rate you settled upon for your trip. In the third column enter the USD costs (if they are known), otherwise leave all non-USD costs blank for now. I like to add two more columns to use for descriptions of each item and to place a hyperlink, when applicable.

Now we begin the calculations portion, we need to be able to observe all categories from equal points of reference. To accomplish this we need to put together conversions between the two different types of money.

Let's start with all the items you do not have USD values for. In the corresponding USD column (3rd column cell that is empty), enter a formula that multiplies the non-USD cost (1st column cell) by the conversion rate (2nd column cell). An example formula for items in row 2 using Excel would be "= a2 * b2". Copy into each applicable cell.

Now let's move onto the USD items that have empty local currency costs (1st column cells that empty). In the empty cell enter a formula that divides the USD cost by the conversion rate. An example formula for items in row 5 using Excel would be "= c5 / b5". Copy into each applicable cell.

Now all costs are equally expressed in both USD and local currency. In the bottom of each column we can add a total function for both currencies ("= sum(a1:a24)", where row 24 is the last row of costs) and an average function function for the conversion rate ("= Average(b1:b24)"). If you are fairly knowledgeable about spreadsheet functions you can add graphs/charts or some more complex calculations, such as actual miscellaneous spending per day amounts that are dynamically updated based on the actual costs previously spent per day.

Remember when you calculate costs to do so for your entire party, not just one person (unless your the only one traveling). Also remember to update the conversion rate to match the actual conversion rate for items as you pay for them. Of course there is always the option of ball parking this whole effort and determining the actual damage, I mean cost, when you get home.


-- Post From My iPhone

Mapping Out Your Travel Plan

You've decided which cities/countries/sites you want to see on your trip. Now it is time to map them out to provide a visual reference and a rough understanding of the time differential between them (either in local time or in travel time).

I like to Google Maps to create my travel itinerary map. I find the application looks good and provides accurate travel distances and times (for walking or driving). It sometimes even provides a great Public Transportation option for some regions (see Berner Oberland region of Switzerland).

To use Google Maps for mapping out your trip, enter your starting point (after arriving via air), make sure to check either Hybrid or Satellite on the view options or you will be presented with a fairly plain map (some may prefer this). Then click the Get Directions option on the left, this opens the Directions page on the side of the map. Enter your starting location and then add your next location. For each subsequent location you need to add after the second, click the Add Destination option, then enter the name in the newly opened text box. When you are finished, select your transportation method (walking, cycling, automobile, or public transportation), then click the Get Directions button.

Grab a screen capture and save using your preferred image manipulation tool (Paint, PowerPoint, Paint Shop Pro, etc.). You are now ready to start showing off your travel plans to your friends, family, or any random people you meet.


-- Post From My iPad