Like I've posted about before, I'm going to England for a while this summer (6 weeks) to study at Oxford.

Now, our weekends are our own, and we were considering going to London most weekends and staying there for a few days before the program starts, but there's this one long weekend (4 days) that we get to travel and my friend and I were going to travel together.

The great debate is where to go, My friend travels a lot and she thinks we should just stay in London, so we can get to see all of it, but talking to the people who went last year, they really said that the best part about it was traveling to other places.

I see her point, why go someplace far away for just a few days when we can explore London a bit more fully when it's close, but like I said, after talking to some of the people who went last year, I kind of feel like I would regret not traveling a little more.

So my question is what would you guys do and what are your suggestions? I like the idea of maybe going to scottland for the 4 days or Normandy or Bath or some such, but like I said, I understand her point, since it's not like we'll really be able to explore much in 4 days. thoughts?

Definitely travel. Bath is overrated though, unless you're really into the history of it. It's basically a town.. with some renovated ruins.. and a big pool in the middle of a building. I was not a big fan.

But definitely travel. If weekends are your own, explore london on the normal weekends, and travel farther on your long weekend. It'll be totally worth it.


Trust me.

If I was in the UK, and I had 4 free days... I'd probably go to Scotland.
Scotland is beautiful country. There is much to be seen and had, Like sheep and Whiskey

This makes the most sense, in my opinion.

Wow, reading back over it, I repeat myself a lot, don't I.

Good, I'm glad you guys agree with me. Now any thoughts on where?

My cousin spent a year living in ireland, and he told me that of all the weekends he and his woman travelled, the very best location they visited was Rome.

Airplane tickets once you are in Europe are very cheap so I believe that destination would be accessible. Otherwise Paris may have some interest, the Louvre is a place I would love to see.

But yes. In any case. Take that weekend to travel.

*feels invisible*

such as where in Scotland? any other ides?

<3

Just take a train to scotland, and do what you feel like when you get there. Wikitravel is a good resource

If you're going to Scotland, I've got twenty-five guys named Benjamin who would like you stop in Edinburgh and make a social call on a certain acquaintance of mine. You'll be among friends, so feel free to enter through the backdoor.

It's because I'm in the Army, isn't it? Because I made a bad decision and signed the dotted line, You think my suggestions aren't credible?

Oxford to Civilisation in Scotland by train could set you back quite a bit, but I think there's direct trains between the 2 capitals that may be cheap.

Theres Edinburgh for touristy stuff, Glasgow if you were wanting shopping, but it's not the prettiest of places.

The General Stirling area is pretty for some country, but to get out in the actual landscape, well odds are you'd be hiking and camping in a tent.

Ofcourse theres always moi in Edinburgh unless the long weekend is the one I'm thinking of in the summer, when I'll be pished for 3 days in the middle of a field with about 100,000 others listening to music.

Stay away from Birmingham and you'll do fine.

EDIT: And Milton Keynes too.

Yeah, and Liverpool if you like the ability to hear. They all sound like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNvjPJUEdt0

You're in England, take advantage by getting blind drunk every day, we don't care if you're under 21 (hell, we don't care if you're 15).

I counter your blatant stereotyping with this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSP94P5K0P8
I'm going to go ahead and put a language warning on that, because I honestly have no clue what he's saying. Scotland sucks.

Check out the Imperial War Museum in London. Also, the Tower of London. Leceister Square is a cool place to hang out and go to the movies and see shows, but after a while you realize how much its like going to a mall in the states. Definitely check out the portabello road market while you're there too. Also, take a train into Paris for a weekend, and visit the Louvre, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, L'arc de Triumphe, take a cruise on the Seinne, and visit and the Eiffle Tower... but get to the Eiffle Tower early if you go in the evening, because they close the highest deck earlier then the lower decks.

Rab C Nesbitt sucks.

Also, low blow. I only insulted, a city, possibly Merseyside.

An entire country is too far. Especially when thats only folk from the east end of Glasgow.

Otherwise, PMed.

Fair enough, I retract my statement about Scotland and restrict it to the east end of Glasgow

I've been to Paris and seen all that, I want to see something new. But you're right, it was awesome. Though the Eiffel Tower is cooler at night, when it's all sparkly

you suck, rab c nesbitt is awesome, and I understood it even though i'm not from the barbaric wastelands of scotland.

90% of London is a hole

Come to Guildford!:neckbeard: its only 20% of a hole.

Travelling to all the interesting parts of England requires a fat wallet.

the only places I could approve is.... Camden, Bournemouth/Sandbanks Christchurch (Beach), Guildford, Central Tourist London.

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I always wondered, is Stonehenge overrated? Never been there.

we're thinking Edinburgh for our long weekend

I liked it *shrug*.

In London, the Tower of London's tour is fun, and Camden Market has some crazy-*** stuff shopping-wise. St. Paul's is snifty, too, but that's because the walk to the upper-level areas was all crawling and felt like a secret passageway and I like that sort of stuff.

You should definately do more than just London though. I can't think of what I did in England offhand right now though, so I'll get back to you on specifics.

Absolutely. Unless you've already got a strong interest in the place and others like it, there's nothing there worth bothering with.

Stonehenge is kinda cool... but i wouldn't plan a trip there and back, try to hit it on the way to something.

It's.. a bunch of rocks. And a billion people all around it. And you can't go anywhere near it.. :/

I'd agree with whats already been said about stonehenge, nice place to quickly see if you are passing but don't plan a whole trip about the place.

London can get pretty boring after you've seen certain bits.

I'd certainly spend some time seeing certain things there, like the tower of London, St. Paul's etc... Also you may want to have a quick visit to Canary Wharf and approach it via the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) as it comes into Canary Wharf overground and in between two of the large buildings there. I thought it was a pretty impressive view but in comparison to some of the US skyscrapers it might be rather ordinary...but the whole area around there now is quite nice to walk around, quite a few nice bars/pubs just a 5min walk from the tube station and shopping area across the canal.

As for outside London and what to see a lot depends on what you want to see...Warwick castle is interesting and has quite a bit of history associated with it but has been commercialized, I haven't been there recently so I can't really comment, Det might be able to as he was at Warwick Uni from memory.

Cornwall might be worth a visit as well, especially as you are coming in the summer and the whether *should* be nice down there. There will be a direct train to Penzance from London, but it will take about 5 hrs...still there are a lot of things to see down there like Lands End, The Minack Theater, Cornish Cider Farm ( they give lots of free samples its great cider's not bad too ), plus a bunch of other random stuff and also you can go just lay on the beach.

The other suggestions about scotland and such as also good, might want to think about the lake district also but there isn't much to do there other than climb, walk & sail but the place is gorgeous to look at.

cough*YORK*cough

York's beautiful, £50 open return from London (2 hours from King's Cross to York) and has loads to see and do. Plus we have loads of pubs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York

That doesn't cover half of it, but believe me it's lovely

Out of Curiosity, what month is the long weekend in? Because if it's in August the Edinburgh festival is on.

It's fun for touristy stuff.

Oh, and http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4b/EdinburghFromCastle.jpg

Go hiking into the Scottish highlands. You know this really means something coming from me, as I find it too much a bother getting off the floor to sit on the couch.