Quirky things we noticed along the way:
The British and French are not perpetually on their phones (like Americans)
No one wears hats or sunglasses
When at a pub, you order and pay the bartender and then be seated on your own
The speed limits are too high on country roads, but it's easier than we thought to drive on the left
You'll have to pay for most public toilets
Most of the Brits love Trump! haha! We did not expect to discuss Trump on our vacation ;)
There is smoking allowed in restaurants - we knew this, but it still felt strange!
Pick pockets really are a problem
The French are not rude to Americans - we found them to be friendly and helpful!
Parisians really do buy a lot of baguettes and croissants - this isn't a stereotype!
Everyone seemed to be wearing scarves, even children
French girls really are stylish - you better believe I was taking notes :)
Food was so cheap. We couldn't believe how inexpensively we could grab a quick lunch or dinner
No free bags in stores - and no paper towels anywhere
You will be laughed at by the French when you pull out your clear plastic ponchos, lol!
Some other thoughts - we didn't get to see as much as we had planned. With very poor weather slowing things down, public transportation that takes longer to navigate than expected, and lines outside of exhibits that literally take hours, we quickly learned we had to be flexible and let things go. At some point we all had to forgo something that we had hoped to see, but, all in all I think that everyone left pretty happy. (Definitely could've used another day at Disney.)
Thank goodness for Jon and his organization and planning skills. He researched a ton, and highly, highly recommends using Rick Steves if you are planning a trip to Europe. We purchased Rick's books on England and Paris and marked things with our initials that we each wanted to see. Then we complied it all and made a plan. One of the nice things about the R.S. books are he has plans for what to see if you're going to be in your chosen place for 7, 6, 5, 4 days, and so on. You can follow his plans, go in order, and have a very efficient trip. We followed his recommendations for most restaurants , what we saw when, and our adorable hotels in both Stow on the Wold and London. (We did Air BnB for France.) We used his books when we traveled here 20 years ago, and Jon used them when we backpacked through Europe for a summer before we met.
Some highlights:
Jon - seeing the Cotswolds and riding the Double Decker through London, seeing the Queen's Diamond Jubilee area of Westminster
Kristen - walking though the English countryside, trying to catch a lamb, visiting Liberty and having afternoon tea
Havalah - visiting Disneyland Paris, the double decker bus tour, and breakfast at The Pound (our bnb in Stow on the Wold)
Henry - the Paris catacombs and Disneyland
Because we've been planning this trip for so many years, we all (ok, mostly me) had a lists of what we wanted to buy (and what we wanted to eat for that matter). Because I am super nosy and love to see what other people buy on trips, here's a look at what we bought:
1 comment:
I actually still have an Oxford sweatshirt that is identical to that one. My parents bought it for me ages ago on their first trip to England and I just love it. It's probably like 25 years old! So fun to read the details of your trip!! It makes me excited to plan one for us some day.
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