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Three weeks in the British Isles

If you're planning on driving most of it rather than cycling, you can cover a lot of ground in three weeks. Easily possible. The only question is how much you want to see in each place.

Stonehenge is the sort of place that's fairly underwhelming for many people - it's not quite as impressive as you might think (what with it only being 18 inches high).

For scenery, and good walking (and cycling), I'd recommend the western highlands of Scotland. Good beaches too, although the weather may not let you enjoy them.

Nice Tap reference ;)
 
For scenery, and good walking (and cycling), I'd recommend the western highlands of Scotland. Good beaches too, although the weather may not let you enjoy them.

In May, you just never know.

This year it was pretty bleak and there was some snow and sleet. Last year it went over 25 ºC degrees (over 80 ºF)!

Never know, Slo might be lucky enough to have four seasons in a day :D
 
My advice would be to drop Paris from the itinerary. Otherwise, you're just skimming each place and missing out on a whole lot. Furthermore, you could spend a lifetime discovering Paris. Paris is a fabulous town and merits more than a few days, unless all you want to see are the major tourist attractions.
 
My advice would be to drop Paris from the itinerary. Otherwise, you're just skimming each place and missing out on a whole lot. Furthermore, you could spend a lifetime discovering Paris. Paris is a fabulous town and merits more than a few days, unless all you want to see are the major tourist attractions.

We had a friend visiting from the States back in January, and we took a single-day Paris trip on Eurostar that actually worked out rather well - we got the Eurostar from St. Pancras at about 6am, arrived in Paris a few hours later, had breakfast, went around the Louvre, had lunch, went to the Eiffel Tower and down the Champs Elysée, grabbed a small dinner, then got on the Eurostar again at about 7pm and was back in London before 11, in time to get a train home. :) So it's possible, but it'll be a very long day, and you will only get to skim the surface, as Paris has just as much cool stuff to see as London.
 
You pays your money and takes your choice, but I'd say it was very possible to see Ireland, Scotland, England (including London) and Paris in three weeks. Sure, it's a lot to pack in and will take some planning, but it's doable, and even if you only get a glimpse of some aspects, that would be better than mssing them out.
 
We had a friend visiting from the States back in January, and we took a single-day Paris trip on Eurostar that actually worked out rather well - we got the Eurostar from St. Pancras at about 6am, arrived in Paris a few hours later, had breakfast, went around the Louvre, had lunch, went to the Eiffel Tower and down the Champs Elysée, grabbed a small dinner, then got on the Eurostar again at about 7pm and was back in London before 11, in time to get a train home. :) So it's possible, but it'll be a very long day, and you will only get to skim the surface, as Paris has just as much cool stuff to see as London.

We have a farm in France that is 20 minutes from a TGV station. The train ride is 1:10. We do day trips as well. But to someone coming from abroad, I would never suggest travelling a great distance to a great city to spend a couple of days. That would be like suggesting that London could be done in a day. I would never recommend that, unless the person just wanted to be able to say they had been to London.

It is clear this trip is a marathon and about quantity and not so much quality. It depends if the OP is a tourist or a traveler. A tourist wants to see the tourist attractions and leave. Travelers want to get a real sense of what a place is about, what the people are about and explore off the beaten track. Cutting back on the list of places and taking the excellent advice put here by fellow TBrs will give them a good dose of what the Isles are like.

Just my EUR 0.02 :)
 
Thank everynone for the advice about Paris, this is the kind of info I was hoping for here. My wife and I will take all this into consideration as we work out our itinerary.

Factor in a day to adjust to the time zone. If you can sleep on an airplane, less critical. I can sleep 5-6 hours easily. If you are unable to sleep, you will be whacked out on the arrival day. Given the marathon you have planned, go easy on yourself at the start.
 
Factor in a day to adjust to the time zone. If you can sleep on an airplane, less critical. I can sleep 5-6 hours easily. If you are unable to sleep, you will be whacked out on the arrival day. Given the marathon you have planned, go easy on yourself at the start.

I am not sure yet about the "marathon" that is what I am trying to figure out. Last time I took an oversees flight I took some Exederin PM and slept for most of the 11 hour trip. I will probably do that again.
 
I am not sure yet about the "marathon" that is what I am trying to figure out. Last time I took an oversees flight I took some Exederin PM and slept for most of the 11 hour trip. I will probably do that again.

Good plan. Try to book an evening departure out of SFO as your body will be more able to sleep than if you took an afternoon flight. The flight is probably around 10 hours, I guess.
 
Oh, and slobake, if you want Tolkien, come and look me up. I was born just about a mile from where Tolkien grew up and there's a lot of local stuff to see around here in that regard.

In fact, make sure you look both Titus and me up while you're here. You'll be travelling close to both of us on your way south. It would be fun to hang out, just as long as we don't have to talk about your faith or our lack of it. :D
 
Oh, and slobake, if you want Tolkien, come and look me up. I was born just about a mile from where Tolkien grew up and there's a lot of local stuff to see around here in that regard.

In fact, make sure you look both Titus and me up while you're here. You'll be travelling close to both of us on your way south. It would be fun to hang out, just as long as we don't have to talk about your faith or our lack of it. :D

Thanks bassybill I really appreciate it. I promise not to bring up a certian subject unless you want to talk about it. :hiding: :p
 
The British Isles are geographical, it isn't about who rules who.

I'm you're going to get mad at something, at least know what you're talking about :rolleyes:

I forgot about this thread, and I definitely don't want to derail it or get political, so I apologize for any inflammatory comment.

I didn't think about it geographically, which was my mistake, but I do know enough of the history to be against any form of imperialism.

I don't agree with it when it is the British over Ireland or the US over Puerto Rico. Or anywhere else.

With respect to slobake, and TB in general, I don't intend to go further with this conversation, but I felt I should respond to mohawk for having taken the time to respond to my initial post - which I probably shouldn't have posted in the first place.

I am not posing as an expert on political science (and clearly not in geography :p ), I just was expressing frustration with what I perceive as an injustice.

Once again, I won't respond to any posts in this thread about any political subject with respect to the OP. If you must respond, do it via private message.

Have fun on your trip slobake!
 
I forgot about this thread, and I definitely don't want to derail it or get political, so I apologize for any inflammatory comment.

I didn't think about it geographically, which was my mistake, but I do know enough of the history to be against any form of imperialism.

I don't agree with it when it is the British over Ireland or the US over Puerto Rico. Or anywhere else.

With respect to slobake, and TB in general, I don't intend to go further with this conversation, but I felt I should respond to mohawk for having taken the time to respond to my initial post - which I probably shouldn't have posted in the first place.

I am not posing as an expert on political science (and clearly not in geography :p ), I just was expressing frustration with what I perceive as an injustice.

Once again, I won't respond to any posts in this thread about any political subject with respect to the OP. If you must respond, do it via private message.

Have fun on your trip slobake!

Thanks , no harm done my friend. At least not any that some serious therapy for me won't help. Why is my eyeball twitching? :p:p