Having spent a little over 3 months travelling the UK I think I am qualified enough to make a few observations of our time here. We have travelled to the top of Scotland and from the Isle of Skye on one side to Aberdeen on the other; right through Wales, from Cardiff to St David’s to Snowdonia and up to Holyhead; to the Norfolk Broads and Farne Island on the east coast of England; and down to Dover on the south coast and as far as Land’s End right at the bottom of Cornwall; and so much in between. In all we have covered 6,057 miles or 9,691 kms. I would suggest we have seen more of the UK than 95% of the people living here. We didn’t go to Ireland as we spent two weeks there in 2016.
Weather
For those of you that live in the UK or have travelled here, you will know that weather is the main topic of conversation, although Brexit is a popular subject at the moment. We have been lucky enough to have been here for one of the best summers on record. Everywhere we go the locals tell us ‘it’s not normally like this’. In Glasgow we were there on the hottest day on record and many parts of the country are having their driest season on record. The countryside is very brown, and one farmer told me he has real problems ahead, as he is already feeding his winter feed out which means he won’t have enough to last winter.
Costs and Budgets
While here we have kept tabs on our spending but always knew it would cost us more than the continent. But, for the record, using the same NZ$1,050 per week we budgeted in Europe, we are NZ$2,000 under budget for the 14 weeks, so our spending has been around NZ$907 pw, very similar to Europe. This includes everything except car rental. Everything means petrol, food, accommodation and tourist sites. As for the car rental, we were going to buy a vehicle and resell it, but when we worked out the insurance, the road tax, the loss on sale and of course the hassle of having to sell it quickly at the end, it didn’t stack up, so we hired a car. Louise did a lot of homework on car rental as most car companies didn’t do a long-term rental rate, which did make it a bit expensive. But, Europcar do have what they call a three-month rate, albeit that meant 84 days, or three months of 28 days. We needed 102 days, so we took the first car for 28 days to qualify for the long-term rate then another car for the remaining 76 days. In all the 102 days cost us NZ$28 a day. If you take the rental car into account, we will be something like NZ$1,000 over for the 14 weeks. Not bad, and once again we have never said we can’t afford to do or see anything. We have done everything we wanted and eaten out numerous times. Look out though for traffic infringement fines. We have had two and they’re worth explaining. When we drove into Cambridge we were following Google maps and road signs, when the road went down to one lane and it said bus lane. I couldn’t turn around as it was one-way, but the sign did say ‘bus lane except for exit to Smith Street” so I turned in Smith Street. Not good enough – we received a $120 fine plus a $80 charge from Europcar for administration. We thought about appealing it but decided not to bother and pay up. We received a $60 prompt payment discount, but it still cost us $140 all up. We thought it was a bit tough!!! The second was a parking fine. For the record you do pay for parking everywhere in the UK. There are very few free parking areas like in NZ. This time though we were in Cumbria and stopped to look at a National Trust site. The sign said; “parking one hour but no return for two hours”. Seemed fine except after 10 minutes, sitting having coffee, we saw a warden writing us a ticket and went to investigate. He explained it was ‘disc parking’. “What?” I said. It turned out to be this: you can get a cardboard disc from any of the shops and it has a clock on it and you set the time to when you parked the vehicle and place it on the dashboard, so the warden can see how long you have been there. To be fair the warden was very helpful, but he had already written out the ticket, so it was “in the system”. I decided to email them my thoughts and try and save NZ$50. As it happened they let me off. Disc parking – one of the dumbest ideas I have ever seen, and we have not seen it anywhere else in our travels. In the UK you see very few ‘traffic cops’. Most of their law enforcement is now done with speed cameras, and they are everywhere. It definitely makes you slow down and take heed – parking and speeding fines are expensive compared to New Zealand.
Touring the UK
I know most people come to the UK and see a couple of places, like London, Edinburgh and maybe a couple of smaller places, but the country is wide and diverse and steeped in so much interesting history (Louise is more in-depth about that in her blogs). Sufficed to say we have never been short of something to do and the time has gone super quick. The entrance fees to historic places – Cathedrals, Museums etc. – is significantly more expensive than Europe. Most of these places have an entrance fee of between $20 and $30 per person so we decided to join the National Trust. After the initial outlay of around $240 we have enjoyed free entrance to many places of interest, and again Louise has explained more in her blogs. At this time of year, the country is “festivals on steroids”. There are just so many different types of festivals, from music festivals, beer festivals, jazz festivals, antique festivals, country fair festivals and so on. The cost to get into these events vary a lot. We paid NZ$6 each to go to a craft beer festival, but NZ$55 each to go to the Royal Three Counties Show, a massive country fair.
Accommodation
We have varied our accommodation from bed and breakfast/hotels, to house-sitting and camping. We decided back in France to buy a four-person tent, one you can stand up in, from Decathlon, a huge sports store chain. It cost us NZ$150 and was a great investment seeing the English are having a fantastic summer. We had all our bedding from the motorhome along with a small gas BBQ, pots, pans cutlery and two outdoor chairs, so we only needed an air bed. All up we have done 49 days house-sitting, 20 days in B&B and hotels, 20 nights camping and 13 nights with family. I must say the B&B costs can be a bit high for what you get. Its hard to find much for under NZ$150 but again Louise was a star using Booking.com. You can often find last minute specials and as we had no fixed plans we were happy to drive a little further and stay in a small village, which was often so much better than the tourist hot-spots. The camp site costs are a bit high. In comparison at the same time of year in Europe, for a motorhome site with power, we were paying around NZ$40 a night. Here in the UK we are paying the same or even a little more for a tent site with no power. As an aside I must say Decathlon is a great brand. They are superb with after sales service and carry such a great product range. I hope they decide to expand to New Zealand.
Food & Drink
Overall food and drink costs more than most of Europe but cheaper than NZ. I have been known to enjoy a pint of Guinness or two, and outside the major cities I have paid around NZ$7 to NZ$8 a pint. I know back home its more like $11 to $12.The range of places to eat out is vast. If you take an Indian Restaurant for example: twice lately we have enjoyed an Indian meal and a bottle of wine for around NZ$85, and I know it would be more like NZ$110 – $120 at home. Pub meals are well known and pretty much everywhere, but the Weatherspoon chain of pubs take a lot of beating. They have many beers around NZ$5 a pint and their meal deals are superb. They have ‘special’ nights – fish, curry, chicken, steak etc. – and they are a great deal. Buy one of these meals for around NZ$14 -NZ$16 and you get a free drink. A pint of beer (and yes, that includes Guinness), a glass of wine, or a spirit. Hard to beat a meal and a drink for that price and we can assure you the meals are good.
Supermarket prices, whilst being more expensive than Spain et al., are still cheaper, in most cases, than back home and the range of fresh fruit and vegetables is great. They also do so many ready-to-eat meals and these are of good quality. The range of fresh pasta for example is superb, cheap and very tasty. They have a great range of pottles of quick fresh snacks, and many do great meal-deal lunches, where NZ$6 can get you a small starter (fruit/melon in a small pot), a good filled sandwich or roll or sushi and a drink. The drink can be coke, sparkling water etc.
The big named supermarkets like Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsburys are under a lot of pressure from the two German cut-price supermarket chains, Lidl and Aldi, who have moved here in a big way.
I know back home supermarkets are moving away from single-use plastic bags, but here in the UK they already have. Most people take their reusable shopping bags. There are in-store bags available, but they are multi-use bags and there is a charge for them. However, they may have encouraged people to bring their own bags BUT, and a big but, just about everything instore comes in a plastic container. You buy 5 nectarines in a plastic container with a cellophane top, same with a lot of other fruit and vegetables whilst in the meat cabinet all chicken, meats and everything else you can think of is packed the same way. They may have cut down on plastic bags but definitely not on packaging.
Final Comments
With the weather on our side the UK has had so much to offer. But, there are downsides. I do get sick of everything coming with “chips”. Every Indian restaurant we have been to offers a side of chips. When I asked why, the owner rolled his eyes and said because people want it. It also has a roll-on effect. I have never professed to be the smallest person on the planet, a little overweight (currently 94kg), but England has an obesity problem BIG TIME. There are just so many very overweight people walking round, or rather waddling around, and when you walk past the eating houses it’s obvious why. They eat far too much, and too many chips. This is not just the older population. So many in the late teens, early 20’s, are huge. As against the 30 other countries we have visited the UK obesity problem stands out.
Getting to see a doctor is very difficult. I am on a low medication of blood pressure pills and have been for many years. In NZ I see my doctor every 6 months for a check-up and prescription. Here they only give you a 28 day of prescription, so in England I would need 13 visits a year. In NZ I need two, and the odd thing is, in NZ they always take my blood pressure and listen to my heart. Of the 5 visits I have made in the UK I have only had my blood pressure taken once, and they never have they listened to my heart beat. It begs the question, why does one need to go to the Doctor every 28 days if all they do is write out a prescription. The problem is the NHS (National Health Service) is clogged up and getting to see a doctor is not easy. I was forced to phone at a given time to get an appointment and it was ‘first call, first seen’. You could not just walk in and get an appointment you had to ring at either 8.30 or 3.30. I overheard a lady saying she had tried 4 doctors over 2 days before getting an appointment. And from what I have been told from friends and family it is hard to see the same doctor. You get given an appointment to see “any doctor at the practice” each time you go, yet recent research shows that having the same GP halves the chance of an early death. Getting a dentist appointment is no different.
Mobile phone coverage is shocking. Even close to main centres and with no hills around you can be out of range. It really is bad and when compared to the other countries we visited in Europe, it is the worst. This view is shared by many English people we have talked to.
We have thoroughly enjoyed our three months travelling the UK. We have both been here many times before, and for the record I was born here but emigrated to NZ with my parents as a 3-year-old, but I have never spent three months just touring the country. The people are so helpful and friendly and the volunteers at the Heritage sites are so passionate and go beyond the call of duty to tell you about the place and show you around and everyone we have met has been great. They know how to greet and treat tourists.
In summary, we loved our 3 months here, there’s so much more to it than you imagine, and it does take time to explore properly. Britain is far better than we expected. It is so very picturesque, and each county is different from the next.
All I can say is good luck with Brexit ……. Perhaps we timed this trip perfectly.
Costs & Mileage
For the record we spent 102 nights in the UK, made up of 13 with family, 20 in B&B/Hotels, 20 in campsites and 49 house-sitting
B&B/Hotel costs: $2,297 at an average of $115 per night
Camping costs: $868 at an average of $43.40 per night
We travelled 6,057 miles or 9,691 kms in a bit over three months spending NZ$1,423 on petrol. Average petrol prices in UK at present are around NZ$2.53 a litre, but again you can find cheaper especially at supermarket sights and NOT on the motorway.
Rental car hire for just under 15 weeks: NZ$3,000, or NZ$28 per day
Nice summary Andrew…GD