UK Vacation 2025

The Inspiration

Mark got the hair brained idea that the UK is warmer than Minnesota in January and thought it might be nice to visit when the tourist season was at a low point.  We could see London, Cardiff, and Plymouth.  London is always fun.  The new Dr. Who series are produced out of Cardiff.  And a co-worker of Mark's lives near Plymouth, UK.  We figured the stars had aligned to beckon us.  Finally, Great Britain is an island and was always a month ahead of us in warming up, so we needed to head off to Europe quick before the farmers markets overtook our lives.
 

The Planning

We used a local travel agent here in town to set up the critical plans.  Airline tickets and hotels.  Laurel did a great job of checking on the internet for options, but may times you are at the mercy of the website "selling" their wares.  We seemed to find a nice balance of the travel agent's knowledge and the vast options provided on the internet.  And the nominal fee paid for the travel agent aid was lost in the overall price tag. 

We arranged for flight from Minneapolis, Minnesota to London, England (Heathrow) and then, take a cab to London.  Then use British Rail to travel to get to Cardiff and Plymouth and eventually back to Heathrow for the flight back.  With the help of the travel agent and the help from a friend in Plymouth we found lovely hotels in all three cities. We even booked a hotel close to Heathrow so we could comfortably make the early morning flight.  Sounded like a plan.  No driving this time.

Total duration - 10 days.  Should be fun!

One last decision.  We decided to travel minimalist when it came to electronic devices.  Laurel brought along here smart phone augmented with Verizon's international support.  Then we could connect with Keef in Plymouth when we arrived.  Otherwise, we would need to depend on our own wits and the kindness of the locals. 
 

Arrival

The flight left in the afternoon and arrived early morning.  We had been advised that a taking a cab into London was cheaper than taking the rail.  I can't say how much the rail would cost, but the cab cost well over £100.  Yikes!!  Laurel started feeling ill when we arrived and the cab ride did not help.  She actually had the cab stop at one point so she could vomit along the streets of London.  I guess that did not improve the American image in the UK.  We even pulled over to a clinic who gave her a vomit bag just in case she needed it. 

In the end, we arrived at the Riu Plaza London Victoria Hotel a bit early, but they took pity on us and got us a room.  The service and accommodations were very nice at the Riu.  I would strongly advise a stay there.  I ran off to look for some medicine for Laurel and when I returned she was already in a room and tucked into bed.  Unfortunately, the illness kind of afflicted her all through the trip and she was unable to get to nearly as much as she hoped to see.  I, on the other hand, had much more time to wander about by myself.  

 

London

The Riu Plaza London Victoria Hotel was just across the street from Victoria station.  That worked great to travel by tube to wherever we wanted to go.  Also just down the block was the Apollo Victoria Theatre showing Wicked.  And down the street another block was Hamilton.  We were definitely in the west end theatre district.  We booked tickets for Wicked and decided to skip Hamilton.  Laurel really wanted to get down to Parliament and explore Winston Churchill's War Room - an underground bunker where Britain's involvement in WWII was planned, especially when London was being bombed.  Wicked was a spectacular show.  The War Room was very interesting for history buffs.  Oh, and breakfast every morning was a complementary buffet for hotel guests - it was fabulous. 

One thing I learned quickly is that the UK is heavily into a cashless society and loving the touchless cards for paying for everything.  Of course I don't have a touchless credit card so I bucked the trend by trying to pay cash but I also learned that they have a new currency.  The cash I brought along was now outdated.  I was told I needed to go to the post office to exchange the old bills for new ones.  Once I found a post office that actually could exchange the bills, it went pretty easy.  The coins are still the same, but the bills are now made of some sort of vinyl material.  The smallest bill is a £5 note.  And coins are for everything up to and including £2 - which makes for a lot of coins and weight in your pocket. 

While Laurel spent most of the rest of the time convalescing in the hotel, Mark had more time to explore.  Walking or taking the tube was easy (though, you never know how much stuff costs or how much is on your tube payment card), but Mark did not go too far or for too long just in case Laurel needed something more than sleep.  He checked our several pubs, including the Hung, Drawn & Quartered pub near the Tower of London.   BTW, the HDQ was interesting but probably not as interesting as the actual Tower of London.   Speaking of taking the tube, lots of things have changed.  There are so many different types of tickets now.  Luckily the folks at Victoria station were extremely helpful when it came to purchasing passes that best fit our stay.  Personally, I think I liked the old method more but that is the price of "progress".


Cardiff

We booked the train to Cardiff.  Again, the Victoria station staff were extremely helpful.  They even suggested a means to save money if we traveled together (though, we never really figured that out).  I always heard that traveling by train was cheaper than getting a car.  From my experience, it is not cheap but it is much more relaxing.

We arrived in Cardiff station and took a cab to the Leonardo Hotel which is in the city center.  Apparently the hotel had recently changed names so the cab driver was not entirely clear he knew where we were going - but he still did a much better job than I would have.  The city center is pedestrian only, but he got us right up to the front door.  Kudos to Cardiff cab drivers.  The first thing that strikes you when we arrived was a double-decker carousel near the hotel.  This made for a great landmark for when we wandered around the massive city center area and got lost.  Lots of shops, restaurants, and things to do.  Mark even found a small casino and some gentleman's clubs.  Oh!  And by the rail station is a pastry shop that has cakes to die for.  Over all, we would come back to Cardiff again and even explore more of Wales.

Remember all those coins I was collecting?  I was sorting them at a pub on the edge of the city center (next to the tiny casino) trying to figure out what I had.  The bartender saw me and bought £20 of them from me.  Apparently he was thrilled to see coins coming into his till instead of out.  In fact he was so happy, he gave us a Welsh flag as his gratitude.  This sort of interaction is why we like to travel and meet the locals.  Oh, and the ales and ciders were great too.  Never got to try the food though - the kitchen always seemed to be closed dispite what the sign said.  Yea, Mark went to the pub multiple time. 

While in Cardiff we went to the Cardiff Bay and explored the Welsh Parliament and the shops and restaurants.  We even listened to a lecture in the Parliament on the Holocaust by a survivor.  We also explored the Cardiff Castle on the edge of the city center.  That was very interesting.  Apparently it was built by a very rich merchant that made his money in coal.  He had very good taste in architecture and furnishings. 


Plymouth

After a few days in Cardiff we took the train to Plymouth.  Plymouth is just on the other side of the bay, but it is about 3 hours by train because you have to go around the bay.  And our trip took a bit longer because at one stop they were supposed to change conductors, but he had not shown up.  So we needed to disembark and wait for the next train.  Also there were a few other stops in the the middle of nowhere while we waited for the track to be open.  But as I said earlier, it is much more relaxing than driving.  When we arrived at the train station we were going to take a cab to the Copthorne Hotel.  The cab driver looked a bit perplexed and pointed to the hotel which was essentially just across the road.  He did offer to take us, but we took his advice and just walked over.  Mind you, Laurel was still quite wobbly and the walk was bit more strenuous than it should have been. 

Mark had a co-worker stationed in Plymouth.  He had actually recommended the hotel.  He has kept up some contact with him and he graciously offered to show us around Plymouth and Dartmoor.  We took a walking tour around the Barbican area, including the Plymouth gin factory (which was in the middle of reconstruction), some shops and pubs.  The next day he offered to drive us up to Dartmoor region.  Laurel was concerned that she may not be able to spend a whole day traveling, so Mark went on his own.  But it was a great time.  We saw lots of the park, shopped at Travistock, had cream tea at a quaint little inn, and drove by the prison (now decommissioned, but is now a museum). 

The city center was being remodeled and was experiencing lots of construction, especially up by the hotel.  And the hotel was at the top of the long hill that leads down to the Barbican.  In general, the city center is nice (other than the steep hill and essentially no pubs!.  Luckily, the pubs in the Barbican made up for the dry city center. 

Coming Home

By the end of this trip, Laurel was still not feeling too well and was looking forward to getting home to her own bed and seeing a doctor.  We just needed to take a train back to Heathrow, spend a night in a nearby hotel, and then a long flight home.  Well, the train ride was fairly uneventful.  Actually, riding along the coast was quite nice.  It was a bit windy, so the waves were large and crashing into the shoreline.  But apparently the train took us all the way back to London so we needed to take another train to Heathrow.  Okay.  And then there was confusion about which hotel we were staying at.  Apparently the same hotel chain has multiple hotels and we took a bus to the wrong one.  A £50 cab ride (about 2 miles away) got us to the right hotel.  The next morning (very early in the morning), another £50 cab ride got us to the airport.  

Delta saw Laurel struggling and got her a wheel chair and a great guy got us through checkin and up to the departure gate.  He even tried to get us into the Delta Sky Lounge, but apparently Delta drew the line there about complimentary assistance.  Or maybe they just don't want sick folks mingling in with their wealthy patrons.  But really, Delta was amazing and a great assistance.  And back at MSP airport, they met us at the gate with a another wheel chair and wheeled us down to the airport off-site parking.  
 

Recommendations

London is a great city.  I would go again in a heartbeat.  The Riu hotel was fabulous.  Being so close to Victoria station gave us all the transportation options we needed.  If you are a history buff, the War Museum was very interesting.  It is still hard to believe so many people lived and worked in that small area for such a long time. 

Still, I think I enjoyed Cardiff the most.  Possibly because we had never been there before and it far exceeded my expectations.  I wish we had spent more time there and even explored more of Wales.  But time always has a way of getting in the way. 

My only regret is that January, even though it is warmer than Minnesota, is still a bit cool.  Next time we should wait until February or even March.

 
Cheers!

Mark & Laurel Glewwe of Prior Lake

 

Photos of
UK