yay Jasmyn gave birth to an idea :) check out skyauction.com for flights to/from London or other parts of England. If u end up goin to Ireland... Deffinately check out Dublin, and since u mite be going south.. it just gets gorgeous from there, try hitting western coast, ur budget will love u for it :) Belfast in N. Ireland is worth checking out too... and since u gone be there summer time.. sunlite goes on forever hehe. 1 thing about London. its really really pricey ( was there last sept ) so if u wanna enjoy ur getaway try not converting British pound prices into euros or $ its not a pretty sight in ur head. Also Dover.. its a port city in south England, ferries can take you to the main continent ( 90mins each way ), but Dover cliffs are worth checking out and lastly Scotland is in the backyard so thats worth a look.. have fun .
Favourite places in the UK? Where to start?
The coast of SW Wales.
The mountains and Castles of NW Wales.
Bath & Cotswolds.
London (obviously!)
The Lakes.
Norwich.
Liverpool.
The Highlands - Glencoe & Skye
Brighton is seriously cool.
Hay on Wye - if you like books you have to go there (although it is a pain to get to on public transport.)
Of course Bristol is the greatest city on the planet, not that I am biased or anything!
I'll stop now before I overload you!
Tryfan: Lol! That's ok, I asked for the overload! So you can keep the ideas coming! ;) Liverpool and London are for sure on my agenda. I'm a huge Beatles fan, so it's on my bucket list to go see Abbey Road and Liverpool :) The highlands would be amazing to see also.
Eurofun: Dublin and Belfast are also on my bucket list :) I may have to spend a few hard earned euros to get to see the Guinness factory..lol! The Dover cliffs I'd love to see too. So many places, so little time (and money)!
A flight in to London and out of Dublin makes sense, if you can fix your dates then should be a pretty good price.
Your main issue is that rail transport, which is most efficient, is very expensive in the UK unless you can plan in advance. The cheapest option is usually by coach with National Express or Megabus, although their services are mostly focused on London to other cities and vice versa.
I am sure you know that you will not be able to do everything and with your budget it makes sense to prioritise a smaller area. I am afraid to say that on this trip you may need to skip Scotland and N Ireland as the travel costs and or times will really dent your budget.
Something like London with a day trip down to the Kent coast for the white cliffs. Bath and the Cotswolds. LLangollen and Chester. Liverpool. NW Wales Castles and Snowdonia. Holyhead to Dublin Ferry.
Somehow I have never been to Ireland so don't have any suggestions.
If you have to get to Scotland maybe: London - Liverpool - Glasgow - Glencoe - Edinburgh flight to Belfast or Dublin. I just feel this may be out of your budget and time scale.
Of course there are loads of other options. Maybe think about a possible itinerary and post it on the UK and Ireland forum and see what feedback you get.
eastern europe is, generally, cheaper than western europe. You can also kayak there (we spent a few hours kayaking down the Vltava River in Cesky Krumlov, Czech republic) for cheap. A lot of those eastern european countries also have really interesting history - not just the normal castles-and-medieval-history that you get all over europe, but also the communist history. The Czech Republic is the only eastern european country I've had any experience in though. Food and transport is cheap (our taxi from the historical centre of Cesky Krumlov to the train station cost the equivalent of AU$6, and one night my husband and I had two courses each, a side of garlic bread, and a drink or two each for under AU$30). Accommodation is also cheap - we had a private double room with ensuite in a self-catering pension which cost something like AU$30/night for the two of us. A bed in a dorm would probably be half that, or less. I can't wait to go back and discover more of eastern europe.
Edited by: LeahMaria
Tryfan: Unfortunately I know that I won't be able to do it all. And I don't want to make the mistake of trying to do it all, and then strech myself too thin. What would think about this course of travel? Dublin (or which ever city my relatives are in, hopefully northern Ireland so its not too far to travel.) to Liverpool, Liverpool to London, and London to Amsterdam. Then fly back from Amsterdam. Is that possible with my budget? Or am I being to over ambitious? I know those are expensive cities to travel in, but if I'm staying with relatives in both Ireland and London that should save me quite a bit of money.Then I woud only have Liverpool and Amsterdam that I'd have to pay for lodging. I'll work on a better itinerary this week, and then post my travel plans, expensives for travel, lodging, etc.
Hi Jasmyn.
Whilst not commenting too much on your route, I would like to suggest that you buy any trains/bus travel in advance.
In the UK you can book trains 12 weeks in advance. This could mean that a train from Liverpool to London could cost under £15. I tend to use Eastcoast.co.uk as I have a loyalty scheme with them. If you plan to take more than a few trips on English trains it may be worth buying a 16-25 railcard (£28) which gets you a 1/3 off on all journeys.
Similarly you can book cheap travel on many bus lines in advance. The cheapest is probably megabus, who often have £1 fares. Realistically though you can expect to pay £5 for a long distance journey in the UK if booked more than a few weeks in advance.
The same could be said about ferry lines leaving from the UK - however I don't know quite as much about this.
If heading to Paris after London, Eurostar tickets can be bought for as little as £33 one way if booked in advance. This leaves from the centre of London to the centre of Paris, meaning there will be no costs getting in and out of cities from bus depot's, ports or airports.
If travelling to Spain, they have a great online booking system for trains. I believe the train provider is called renfe and you can book from up to £62 days in advance.
Whilst it is a great when travelling around to have the freedom just to make a last second decision on where to go, in the UK espicially and also in Europe, there is often a trade off between money and this luxury. In my experience, a little planning of where to go and when you can save a lot of money on transport (& thus guesthouses etc because you have your dates early) and then travel for longer.
Hope this helps!
The above poster has it right. To get the most days out of this trip you will need to plan in advance. I would suggest your absolute maximum time possible is 20 days. That budgets out at €60/day. Budget €20 per night for accommodation then let's say you have 8 nights at family so you spend €240 on accommodation. You will probably be best flying from Dublin to Liverpool and London to Amsterdam. Currently flights around that time are £19 (€24) and £29 (€36) respectively with Ryanair and Easyjet, hold luggage will be extra. A train from Liverpool to London booked in advance will be £25 (€30), this is better than a £10 coach as it only takes 2-2.5hrs not 5.5hrs.
So if you budget say €150 for you transport (I always add extra on), you have a total budget for intercity transport and accommodation of €400 (rounding up). So now you have €800 left so €40 a day for local travel, food and attractions/activities. This is right on the edge of what is possible, but it just about is. Make the most of the free attractions in London. And book your ticket from central London to the airport early as well.
So let's say you have 5 full days in Ireland, 2 in Liverpool, 4 in London and 3 in Amsterdam. Plus travel days at the start end and in between each destination gives 19 days, that should do ok.
Definitely try to narrow down where you're going. The more the travel, the more your budget will be eaten up. I spent a month trying to do everything, and really regret it. I never really got to "see" anything cause I was trying to keep up with travel companions that wanted to see everything there was to see in Europe in four weeks or less.The places that we went that I will be going back to (by myself, mind you), would be Scotland and Paris. For your purposes Scotland would be the cheaper option.
Scotland was beautiful with lots of outdoor activities, even in the big cities. Edinburgh has a fun hike to the top of Arthur's Seat, and Cragsmiller Park is really beautiful and includes a castle to tour. If going to Scotland, I'd suggest getting the "Explorer Pass." This includes admission to as many historical sights as you want within a certain time period. I think there were one day up to ten day passes. Depending on how many sites you visit you can save a lot of money, I know I did. We used ours for Cragsmiller Castle, Edinburgh Castle, and a couple of other sites and saved a lot of money compared to purchasing each admission separately. The national museum in Edinburgh is great. I could have spent an entire day there and admission is free.
Eating mostly out of supermarkets is your best bet. In Scotland they have pretty good deals that include a sandwich, side, and drink for three pounds at most markets. I also would pick up fruit, bread, hard cheese and salami that would last well in my pack. I ate that a lot. Pubs have good happy hour specials if you can plan ahead. I did well getting soup specials at happy hour for around two pounds. I also carried really good protein bars with me (like Luna bars) and that made up my breakfast a lot of the time. Or lunch if I couldn't find something affordable.
Staying in dorm style hostels is your best bet. Bring your own travel, quick-dry towel to save more money by avoiding towel rental (usually one to three pounds). You'd save a lot more money on accommodation by going during the "off" season, but that doesn't sound like a viable option for you. If you're a light sleeper but still want to save money, book into the highest number bed dorms (cheaper) and take comfortable ear plugs. This is what I did and slept fine, whereas my travel mates were woken up A LOT due to inconsiderate roommates being really loud in the middle of the night. Summer is extremely busy, so you'll want to book accommodation well in advance. August is the busiest month to visit Scotland due to the Festival. You need to book accommodation at least a year in advance to stay anywhere near Edinburgh during August.
Having a ScotRail pass was really handy for us, as we were going everywhere. This also included some buses, but be warned it's really hard to get a listing of exactly what buses are covered. We got around Edinburgh without using public transportation much at all. We stayed close to the Mile so didn't really need it and walked everywhere. Bus passes are super cheap though if you need them (like two pounds for a day pass). Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get to the train/bus. They will not wait and are never delayed. I was very frustrated with my eternally late travel companions as we missed several trains that way because they thought, "We'd only be a couple minutes late."
Going to the Isle of Skye is a must if you can. We were only there one day and I will eternally regret that fact. Tons of beautiful hiking (free) and gorgeous scenery. Public transportation on Skye is limited and only runs on certain days so you need to figure you what you're doing in advance. Also, some of the most beautiful places don't have immediate access to food, so plan accordingly. We ended up at the SkyeWalker Hostel in Portnalong. Great hostel, and such a gorgeous area!! Lots of great walking. However, I was unprepared and didn't have any food and had to beg someone for some of their groceries.
Scotland CAN be done on a budget if you're careful and do lots of planning ahead of time. Stay out of restaurants and away from guided tours. Do your own tours by studying ahead of time. Above all: Don't try to do too much.
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