A Question For You Guys.

[Nickwolf]

Gawga Girl, English Rose is the expert on the Southampton area and I am sure she will post some suggestions for you.

 

You are right to think about Salisbury and the Isle of Wight as good places to visit and both very easily accessible from Southampton. If you count some looking around Southampton itself and a day trip to London you already have a full programme.

 

The New Forest is a beautiful place and might be a good contrast to the hustle and bustle of London and Southampton. More info HERE.

 

Nick.

[English Rose]

Thanks Nick - Gawga Girl, look down to number 12 of this thread and there are some suggestions for the Southampton area there. You could also try the Navel Docks at Portsmouth, this is where Nelson's Flag ship is based, HMS Victory. Very historical. All the places you mention are very nice. The Isle Of Wight is very easy to get to and worth a trip. The boat goes very frequently from Southampton. You can go on the car ferrry or on the high speed cats. Very reasonable prices too.

[Nickwolf]

You could also try the Navel Docks at Portsmouth, this is where Nelson's Flag ship is based, HMS Victory.

 

Good call I hadn't thought of that and of course The Mary Rose is located there also. I haven't been there since about 1991 but I remember it being very interesting.

 

Much more HERE .

 

Nick.

[English Rose]

You're right there Nick. Did you see the Mary Rose? She's amazing, a must see if you are going to Portsmouth. The other ship there is HMS Warrier. Last time I was near Portsmouth we saw her being taken into dry dock for the first time in years. It was a very delicate operation that had to go 100% perfectly - and it did. Don't know if she is back in her berth yet.

[Gawga Girl]

Thank you Enlish Rose and Nickwolf, for the suggestions. I must say the New Forest is breath taking.

[Nickwolf]

You're right there Nick. Did you see the Mary Rose? She's amazing, a must see if you are going to Portsmouth. The other ship there is HMS Warrier. Last time I was near Portsmouth we saw her being taken into dry dock for the first time in years. It was a very delicate operation that had to go 100% perfectly - and it did. Don't know if she is back in her berth yet.

 

Yes, The Mary Rose was on show by 1991 but I seem to remember it was quite a new exhibition at the time (being 9 years after the raising). I have put it on the "must do" list for this summer or autumn. I don't know the current situation with HMS Warrior.

 

Gawga Girl I am glad you found the information useful. The New Forest is a great area which I visit fairly often as I have some relatives in the area (for English Rose: they are in the Hythe/Dibden area.) It always makes me smile that us Brits can refer to a 900 year old forest as the NEW Forest. I wonder what a forest has to do in these parts to be considered established.

 

Nick.

[English Rose]

Relatives in Hythe and Dibden is very useful for a New Forest trip - right near the coast too. We are more the other way in Ringwood. Which neck of the woods are you from Nick?

[KenC]

Here's another suggestion - try Brighton (it's on the south coast just below London). Why?

 

Well, it's less than an hour from London and less than two from Southampton by train.

 

You will find a unique seaside city dating back to the Regency period and before (more fun than Bath). One of the best piers in the UK and the grandest royal palace outside London (The Royal Pavilion - George IV's fabulous seaside 'home' designed by Nash amongst others). There are great little antique and jewellry shops in The Lanes (think Medieval street plan), lots of major UK chain stores and plenty of quirky independent shops (such as the Vegetarian Shoe Shop).

 

If you need more information on the city where Londoners go at weekends to get away from the tourists - visit http://www.visitbrighton.com

 

Happy times wherever you visit

 

KenC

[Nickwolf]

English Rose, I am from Shrewsbury.

 

KenC, you are right about Brighton, I go there often as my sister lives in Saltdean.

 

This thread is turning into a "where are Nick's relatives" treasure hunt. ;)

 

Nick.

[rrobbins]

English Rose:

 

We are taking the QE2 and QM2 on a back-to-back cruise in April. We have reservations at a hotel in Bournemouth for four nights. What is your recommedation on the best way to get there and back from Southampton ? A cab seems to be expensive compared to the trains but we will have serveral bags with us. Your input would be appreciated.

[Sequim88]

Very interesting thread. I 100% agree seeing one large city does not do any country justice. Best thing a co-worker and I did on a weekend while on a business tript to Sydney, Australia was to take a company car out into the countryside and drive to Wollongong.

 

BUT...there's the heart of the matter...he was comforatable driving on left side, despite almost killing us by spacing out and left turning from a car park into the right lane...with an oncoming truck:eek: :eek: :eek: . Even before this incident it made my head hurt to mentally reverse all my driving conceptions.

 

I think to anyone not used to driving left sided this is a significant barrier to getting out beyond easy public transport. For a trip we plan to Sweden we definitely will be renting a car and seeing most of the country. I would not even consider this in England. Sorry, I'm just plain chicken. My loss I am sure as I know how different it can be out and about. I've been to every state in the USA but a handful and there is a massive difference between NYC and somewhre like Lusk, Wyoming.

 

On the flip side of the driving issue though England (and most of Europe) does have a good rail system for leaving the "driving" to someone else.

[sddsddean]

For a trip we plan to Sweden we definitely will be renting a car and seeing most of the country. I would not even consider this in England. Sorry, I'm just plain chicken.

 

I think it was about 1972 that Sweden changed from driving on the left to the right. The Government decided to do the changeover at 4am on a Sunday morning reasoning that there would be very little traffic on the roads. Unfortunately everybody wanted to be out in their cars and change from one side to the other at the appointed hour. Result ... chaos! The worst traffic jams Sweden has ever had!

 

Simon

[beachpea]

Normally, I just lurk here, but today, I think I’ll put in my 2 cents. Hopefully, I’m not too far off topic.

I understand the fear of driving on the “other” side of the road. That is why, during our visit to London last fall, we decided to spare the people of Great Britain from this hazard. As a true lover of the countryside, I really did want to get out of the city a bit. So we did the best we could. We broke up our London touring with 3 side trips that we took on our own, using public transportation.

On our first “side-trip” we decided to see Stonehenge. To do this, we took a train to Salisbury. The bus to Stonehenge stops immediately outside the Salisbury train station. Once there, we purchased a basic audio tour. We really enjoyed Stonehenge. Afterwards, we returned by bus to Salisbury and spent our afternoon touring the town and the shops, and having a bite to eat. The town is a very easy and short walk from the Train Station, and has a lot of character and history. There were interesting sites to see here as well – if you’re into Cathedrals, the Salisbury Cathedral is definitely worth a look.

On our second trip we went for a visit to the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum and took a Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Club Tour. If you are a tennis fan, this is really a fun thing to do. This trip didn’t really take us into the Countryside, but Wimbledon felt more like a small town. For this, we took the tube to Southfields Station. Just outside the tube station, you can get a bus to Wimbledon. But we chose to walk from here, as it was a nice day.

On our third trip we took a Cruise on the River Thames to Greenwich. Greenwich was a lovely little town with lots of shops and such. We lunched by an open window in a pub, and then just toured around town. If you walk straight through town there is a wonderful and large park that houses the maritime museum and the royal observatory, among other things.

We spent every minute of our remaining time seeing many of the wonderful sites of London. Overall, we felt like we got a little more of the flavor of England with this approach. But on our next trip – I MUST find a way to get out into the REAL country. I’m hoping a future British Isles Cruise will help me do this.

[tobes]

I am making my third trip to England this summer. I am going London, Bath, Cardiff, Chester,Liverpool, Keswick, Edinburgh. We will have a car from Bath to Edinburgh. Would you like to suggest some special sights I should not miss along the way? I understand what you're saying. I live in Southern California and there is much more than Disneyland to see here! Any suggestions are much appreciated. Judy:)

 

 

 

 

I have been posting on this board for a while now and I notice that people, almost without exception, do their pre/post cruise stays in London or occasionally at the port.

 

I fully understand why you wish to visit London but I wonder if you have ever considered stopping elsewhere in the UK.

 

I sometimes think that tourists have the idea that Britain is all like London and yet when I visit London it feels like an alien environment to me (one that I love to visit but would hate to live in)

 

Perhaps you feel the excursions Etc. from the ship are enough and yet on my cruise to Hawaii last year I felt I had hardly had a taster of the islands, I then stopped at Waikiki which I doubt anyone would consider a true reflection of that beautiful state.

 

Anyway it was just a question that sprang to mind. I would be interested in anyones opinion.

 

Nick.

[pcur]

I have been posting on this board for a while now and I notice that people, almost without exception, do their pre/post cruise stays in London or occasionally at the port.

 

I fully understand why you wish to visit London but I wonder if you have ever considered stopping elsewhere in the UK.

 

I sometimes think that tourists have the idea that Britain is all like London and yet when I visit London it feels like an alien environment to me (one that I love to visit but would hate to live in)

 

Perhaps you feel the excursions Etc. from the ship are enough and yet on my cruise to Hawaii last year I felt I had hardly had a taster of the islands, I then stopped at Waikiki which I doubt anyone would consider a true reflection of that beautiful state.

 

Anyway it was just a question that sprang to mind. I would be interested in anyones opinion.

 

Nick.

 

Last April/May 2007 we did two nights in London pre-cruise, and 5 nights in Coventry post-cruise. Car show for DH, Warwick Castle for me, Stratford on Avon for both of us, LOTS of getting lost in roundabouts for both of us in a Smartcar. Priceless trip.