Trafalgar’s Britain and Ireland Highlights Tour
Misconceptions Prior to the Trip
London can’t be THAT expensive, right?
Right. London isn’t that expensive, IF YOU LIVE THERE. However, the US Dollar currently sucks compared to the British Pound. We bought pounds for $1.93 each, but their cost of living basically translates 1:1 for our dollar. Let me give you an example. A bottle of Coke at a gas station here in Arizona will usually run you about $1.39. That same bottle of Coke in London will run you about £1.75, which translates to about $3.38 USD! The people we saw working in London were generally earning about £6-£8 per hour, so to them, it’s about the same cost of living here in Arizona, where most service jobs pay about $6-$8 USD per hour. A typical dinner out cost us approximately £40-£50. This is roughly the same as a dinner out here in Arizona, about $40-$50. However, with a $1.93 exchange rate, that same dinner in London to an American citizen seems to cost double.
Tips/Gratuities are Included
No, most places they are not included. We didn’t eat anywhere that charged the so-called Service fee they talk about, and we left a tip everywhere we went based on the service we were given.
Warm Drinks
Many people told us that in the UK and Ireland, they don’t believe in using ice for their beverages. They said to expect that we will always be served luke-warm drinks. Not a single place we visited gave us a drink without ice.
All Fast Food Chains are the same
This wasn’t my misconception but our folks held to it. They believed that sticking to the usual McDonald’s, KFC, Burger King and Pizza Hut that they would get the same food as here in the states. As it turns out, the fast food industry is very regional-specific. French fries and burgers don’t taste the same over there because their tastes are different (same with pop/soda and snack foods).
Alarm Clocks
Not a single hotel had a clock, let alone an alarm clock, in the room. The wakeup calls were done automatically for those on tours, but many in our tour group said they had no wakeup call or calls at the wrong times. We didn’t have any trouble until the last day.
We’ll Meet the Locals
Hardly a single place we went featured local people. We trotted off the beaten path several times but like any big city, the places we visited seemed overrun with foreigners who have immigrated. Specifically in London, most of the staff were Polish in England speaking broken English. Only our city tour guides were actually from the cities they were guiding us through, and they were very easy to understand. Staff in hotels in places like Glasgow and Dublin were middle eastern or from other parts of Europe.
We can use Credit Cards and Debit Cards everywhere
We found a few places to take our credit cards, but most places it was much easier to use cash. The few times we did try to use our Visa or Mastercard, it seems like their systems were down or it took two or three tries to get the card to go through. Also, they charged our credit cards about 3% extra to use them, plus the currency conversion. For debit cards, we could get cash out of ATMs but they charged us $5 USD plus 3% plus a conversion fee. It just wasn’t worth it. Hardly anyplace we found accepted traveler’s checks, contrary to what many people told us.
Cash is best, but I must warn that we bought British Pounds at $1.93 each and sold them back at $1.71 each. For those with basic math issues, that means we paid $.22 for each dollar we converted to and from British Pounds. Try to come as close as possible to the amount of cash you’ll need there. We called International Services at our bank to find a local branch that sold Foreign Currency. For our 11 day trip, we took $450 USD worth of British Pounds and $250 USD worth of Euros. We cashed in extra Euros on the ferry from Rosslare to Pembroke before heading into Wales, which cost us about $3 USD for $130 Euro transfer. When we got home, I only had $80 USD worth of British Pounds remaining.
We don’t have enough travel adapter or converter kits!
We took 2 travel adapter kits and 2 travel converter kits with us on our trip. We had lots of things to plug in, such as the laptop, Nintendo DS, iPod, camera charger, video camera, shavers, iron, etc. Even if we had wanted to use all four of these kits, we didn’t stay in a hotel that even had 4 available plugs in one room. The most we could ever use at any one time was 3 kits. Be sure to check your plugs to see if they are rated for 220 volts (almost all of ours were) and get the kits that correspond to your plug types (standard 2-prong or grounded 3-prong). I’ll defer you to search other sites for more details because I don’t know much about electricity, however I will say that the best place we found these kits were at Brookstone stores.
We can’t fit everything in a single suitcase!
Yes, you can. Take 6-7 full outfits and as many undergarments as you can muster. Decide whether stuff is really necessary and go shopping at a drugstore for travel bottles. If they don’t have your specific shampoo then buy a small bottle, empty it out, and replace it with your favorite stuff. Make sure to leave room for souvenirs, which really expands your luggage after a few days. Also, pack an extra flat duffle bag in the bottom of your suitcase just in case you acquire too much stuff along the way.
Stuff we brought and didn’t need: video camera and tapes, electronic games, books/magazines, sunscreen, big purse, car keys, cell phone and q-tips
Stuff we were glad we had: Umbrellas, nail clippers, walkie-talkies, extra duffle bag, garbage bags for wet bathing suits, Advil/Tylenol/Tums and maps for each city
Stuff we wish we had brought: Spare batteries, alarm clock
We can just go to the bank/store/Laundromat when we get there…
For the most part, no you can’t. Most places of business close at about 4pm, and all by 6pm most days. On the tour you won’t check into your hotel until about 3pm or 4pm, and then it’s off to dinner or another optional adventure that keeps you out until 9pm or later. We never encountered a bank or Laundromat that was open, and we had to make special trips to grocery stores on our own time for snacks along the way.
