April 23, 1999
Vacations while abroad were made for travel. But travel around your country of choice, and simply going to school there are very different kettles of fish. They have their similarities (pack for all weathers, try to be flexible, etc), of course, but a two-week jaunt around the countryside involves some very different kinds of planning from spending a few months in classes! When my mom came out visit me, she let me plan it all - and while it was fun (see last week's column), boy, was it a learning experience.
My biggest lesson was about itineraries: our tour around England and part of Wales (drafted by yours truly) originally included eleven cities in a mere fourteen days, and half a dozen sights in each one. Madness! But I didn't know that at the time I was planning. Fortunately, my mom was very kind, and managed not to laugh at me too much.
We ended up hitting just over half that many (with a few forays into other towns for an hour or two), and seeing an average of two things a day. I swung through one more on my way back up to school after seeing mom off in London. It was an utter blast, and I learned an amazing amount about planning and executing trips of this kind. I think I can sum up most of this incredible wisdom in a few quasi-cryptic statements:
- It's all about BritRail
- Patience and flexibility required
- Go in the off-season
- Take time both to travel and to stay "home"
- Your luggage is your best friend
They might be of more use to potential travelers if I explain them, so here I go:
1) It's all about BritRail. The British rail system connects just about every major city with every other one, and most of the small ones in between as well. Even if you can't catch a direct train to where you want to go, you can probably get there with only one or two changes. And, if you're a tourist, you can get a BritRail pass, which allows unlimited travel over a certain period (Mom got us 15-day passes). They're not cheap, but they're worth it (the London Underground has a similar pass, which is also well worth getting). We used ours mercilessly - according to my records, we took fourteen rail journeys, most of which involved at least one change. When you consider that the two-hour journey between London and York costs about 35 pounds (that's about $60), you can imagine how much we saved.
2) Patience and flexibility required. I can't count how many times we had to wait for a Tourist Information Centre to find us a place to stay, or had to put up with late trains, or anyone of a million other problems. On our trip to Hadrian's Wall, we discovered upon reaching our base town of Hexam that the buses to the wall weren't running because it wasn't summer yet! After the rail journey up, we couldn't go see what we'd come for. But with a bit of flexibility and the aid of our trusty guidebook (Let's Go! 1998), we had a good day anyway. If every little thing stresses you out, this kind of trip can be ulcer-forming.
3) Go in the off-season. We took our trip at the perfect time. April is when most places start their "summer" hours, but most people don't actually go on vacation until later. So most places were quite happy to see us! And, more importantly, the bed-and-breakfast places weren't all full (well, except in London, but London's always busy). Best of all, Spring has sprung, and everything was blooming and gorgeous. The weather alternated between typically gray and dismal, and absolutely gorgeous, and the gorgeous days were beautiful.
4) Take time both to travel and to stay home. One thing I forgot to allow time for in my itinerary was travel. In general, between getting to the station and taking the right trains, it took an entire morning, afternoon, or evening to get somewhere. Fortunately, taking trains is a great way to just look around without having the stress of driving yourself. But equally important is taking the odd afternoon to not do anything at all. We had two "collapse" days, which was just about enough.. Of course, kicking back keeps you from seeing everything, but after all, it's not possible to see everything in one trip (and you have to save some stuff for next time, right?) Vacations are no fun if you're utterly exhausted!
5) Your luggage is your best friend. If there is one thing you should take the most exquisite care in choosing for a trip, it's your luggage (followed closely by who you go with). I used an absolutely fantastic internal-frame backpacker's pack from REI, which could be converted into a duffel for train rides (the straps could be covered with a zippered panel) and hand handles all over the place. My mom, on the other hand, had a large wheeled duffel with an internal frame and a handle for pulling. It had several definite pluses, starting with its large wheels (larger wheels make for much greater stability). But it was also immense, and weighed a ton - getting it up or down stairs was a major pain. Overall, it wasn't a bad piece of equipment, but the thing's faults were magnified a thousand-fold by constant use. Any tiny imperfection in a piece of luggage will have you (and possibly your companions) a raving lunatic by the end of your trip.
Having learned all this myself, I'm sure I'll have an even better time on my next big trip. And I hope that it'll help my faithful readers when you all go abroad!
