{"id":784,"date":"2014-01-18T13:52:40","date_gmt":"2014-01-18T19:52:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rickneal.ca\/travelblog\/?page_id=784"},"modified":"2015-04-18T16:27:53","modified_gmt":"2015-04-18T21:27:53","slug":"englandscotland-itinerary-2015","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.rickneal.ca\/travelblog\/?page_id=784","title":{"rendered":"England\/Scotland Itinerary 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"
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So, I’ve got some of the itinerary roughed out. Most importantly, I’ve decided where I’m staying for each of the days on the trip. Here’s how things look:<\/p>\n

Friday, May 1, 2015<\/h3>\n

This is my departure day. Flight to Toronto at 12:20, about a 5-hour layover, then on to Heathrow on British Air at 21:40. Arrive at 9:35 the next morning.<\/p>\n

Saturday, May 2, 2015<\/h3>\n

Arrive in London. Travel from Heathrow to my hotel: ibis budget London Whitechapel<\/a>1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Should get there in early afternoon, so then I have a chance to do a little wandering, find some food, and stock up on water and snacks for the touring and walking I’m going to be doing the next few days. There’s also a 3 store<\/a> near the hotel, so I can get my phone and ipad set up for the UK network.<\/p>\n

Sunday, May 3, 2015<\/h3>\n

Taking the City Sightseeing<\/a> bus tour today, mainly because I figure I’m going to have a bit of a slow start today.Especially see the Tower of London<\/a>. I’ve got my paperwork done for the Ceremony of the Keys<\/a> there at 21:30 today.<\/p>\n

Monday, May 4, 2015<\/h3>\n

Another day on the City Sightseeing bus tour. London’s a big enough, full enough place that another day of touring is probably a good way to get an overview and some time at the most interesting place.\u00a0In the evening, I’ve booked a Jack the Ripper Tour<\/a> of Whitechapel at 19:00.<\/p>\n

Tuesday, May 5, 2015<\/h3>\n

Spend the day seeing the things in London that I didn’t get to see, yet. Museums, palaces, etc. I’ve got\u00a0a ticket to see Romeo and Juliet<\/i> at Shakespeare’s Globe<\/a> theatre in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

Wednesday, May 6, 2015<\/h3>\n

Today, I think I will take the train to Swindon and a bus from there to Avebury to see the Avebury stone circle and the other interesting stuff around there. This archaeology walk<\/a> may be the way to do it.<\/p>\n

Thursday, May 7, 2015<\/h3>\n

Today, I have the Stonhenge Private Viewing Sunrise<\/a> tour booked. It leaves around 5:00 from London in order to be at Stonehenge as the sun comes up. It includes a tour of Bath<\/a>, site of the Roman baths2<\/a><\/sup>,\u00a0 and Lacock<\/a>, where they filmed some of Harry Potter<\/em>. It’s about a 10-hour tour, so that means getting back into London around 15:00-16:00.<\/p>\n

Friday, May 8, 2015<\/h3>\n

Travel to Oxford. Staying at The Buttery<\/a>. I’ve booked a Ghost Walk Tour this evening, starting at 19:30, with these folks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Saturday, May 9, 2015<\/h3>\n

11:00 – Oxford walking tour with these folks<\/a>. Spend the rest of the day wandering Oxford spending time at the cool things I didn’t get enough time at on the tour.<\/p>\n

Sunday, May 10, 2015<\/h3>\n

Take the train out to Milton Keynes and visit Bletchley Park<\/a>. It’s about a two-hour train trip each way, so that’ll eat most of the day.<\/p>\n

Monday, May 11, 2015<\/h3>\n

I think today I will take the train up to Stratford-Upon-Avon<\/a>, and see if I can find a local tour there.<\/p>\n

Tuesday, May 12, 2015<\/h3>\n

Travel to York. I’ll be staying at Abbeyfields B&B<\/a>. Haven’t booked any activities, yet, but there’s a lot of cool history in and around York, so there’ll be lots to occupy me. York Minster<\/a> and the city walls<\/a>, at least, are definitely on the list to see.<\/p>\n

Also, York Castle<\/a> – at least, the Castle Museums and Clifford’s Tower.<\/p>\n

Wednesday, May 13, 2015<\/h3>\n

Taking the City Sightseeing<\/a> bus tour or York today. That’ll give me a good idea of where I want to spend more time.<\/p>\n

In the evening, I think I’ll check out this ghost tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thursday, May 14, 2015<\/h3>\n

Bus out to Ripon, and then to Fountains Abbey<\/a>. Nice, leisurely day trip.<\/p>\n

Friday, May 15, 2015<\/h3>\n

Museums and such. Jorvik Viking Centre<\/a>\u00a0for sure. I also found out that York is hosting an international Shakespeare festival<\/a> while I’m there, so I got tickets for King Lear tonight at 19:30.<\/p>\n

Saturday, May 16, 2015<\/h3>\n

Travel to Oban. Staying at the Old Manse Guesthouse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sunday, May 17, 2015<\/h3>\n

Boat tour to see Fingal’s Cave<\/a>.\u00a0Booked this tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Monday, May 18, 2015<\/h3>\n

Travel to Edinburgh, where I am staying at Hotel 20<\/a>. I only have one thing booked so far, but Edinburgh is a city full of neat things to see and do. Besides that, I really want to take a bus or a tour out to Rosslyn Chapel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tuesday, May 19, 2015<\/h3>\n

Taking the City Sightseeing<\/a> bus tour of Edinburgh. That’ll give me a good idea of where I want to spend more time.<\/p>\n

Wednesday, May 20, 2015<\/h3>\n

I have booked a day trip<\/a> up into the highlands, including Glencoe and Loch Ness. There’s even an optional boat cruise on Loch Ness, at an extra charge. Hell, yes, I’m paying for that!<\/p>\n

Thursday, May 21, 2015<\/h3>\n

Edinburgh. Tonight, I have a ticket right down front to see Derren Brown’s new show, Miracle<\/a>, at 19:30. During the day, I will do some walking around, maybe try to hike up to Arthur’s Seat<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Friday, May 22, 2015<\/h3>\n

Booked this Quest for the Holy Grail<\/a> tour. I imagine it will be full of Dan Brown twaddle, but it will also get me to Rosslyn Chapel and Stirling Castle, both of which I want to see.<\/p>\n

Saturday, May 23, 2015<\/h3>\n

Travel back to London. Stay at the Travelodge Terminal 5 Hotel<\/a> for my last night before heading back home.<\/p>\n

Sunday, May 24, 2015<\/h3>\n

Fly home. Leave T5 at Heathrow on British Air at 13:20, arrive in Toronto at 15:55. A little over three hours layover, then leave at 18:55 for Winnipeg, arriving at 20:35.<\/p>\n

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  1. I swear, that’s how they capitalize it. I dunno – budget means you can’t afford two more capital letters? [↩<\/a>]<\/li>
  2. Go figure. [↩<\/a>]<\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    So, I’ve got some of the itinerary roughed out. Most importantly, I’ve decided where I’m staying for each of the days on the trip. Here’s how things look: Friday, May 1, 2015 This is my departure day. Flight to Toronto at 12:20, about a 5-hour layover, then on to Heathrow on British Air at 21:40. … Continue reading “England\/Scotland Itinerary 2015”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-784","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P8tF5A-cE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rickneal.ca\/travelblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rickneal.ca\/travelblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rickneal.ca\/travelblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rickneal.ca\/travelblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rickneal.ca\/travelblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=784"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.rickneal.ca\/travelblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":864,"href":"http:\/\/www.rickneal.ca\/travelblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/784\/revisions\/864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rickneal.ca\/travelblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}