Jeni,thank you for the great tour tale. Like rita I'm on the Britain & Ireland Explorer in August and am gathering as much info before hand as I can. So thank you for all the details, particularly in regard to the face washers I'll pack my own now

What were the gardens like at this time of the year? I would love to tour England in the spring and see all the gardens in full bloom.

Do you mind me asking how much one of the boxes cost to send home. I know it would depend on the weight but am curious as to the general cost.

Jen

Hi

Sorry I have taken a while to reply to this... life has been crazy!

Re Mailboxes INC

We sent home two boxes
The first was 20 Kilos and that cost us 135 GBP including the purchase of the box, and collection by courier from the Thistle Marble Arch
The second box was 30 kilos and that cost us around 185 GBP including the box.
You could also purchase a 10 kilo box for around 80 GBP.

You could take all your items to the office at the Strand and they would package for you, or you could buy the empty flat box take it to the hotel and fill it and have the courier come collect it. This was the option we chose. That way I could package the items to my satisfaction and ensure that it was securely taped up.

We admit that the cost seems outrageous at first glance (or at least it shocked us and that was before we converted to Aussie money!) until we started to add up how much it cost us to post packages home. We sent 6 kilos home by parcelforce the day before our tour started, it cost 70 GBP!!! and has yet to arrive here! Parcelforce takes a minimum of 28 working days!

So we felt that the box option was much better, especially for books and brocheres which were our most purchased souvenirs.

I hope that helps

Hugs
Jeni

And the gardens!

Ohh my gosh they were beautiful! All the flowers were in bloom and it all looked so pretty! They really were a treat. I was not really interested in gardens before this tour, but we have come home with some amazing ideas and will be attacking the garden soon!

Although the weather was cool, and some days downright cold, the gardens were in excellent condition. The plants were lovely. The ground wasn't too soggy to walk on either so that was a real bonus. Wandering the gardens was a pleasure and it definitely did not need welly boots! So different from my childhood memories of soggy English gardens! LOL

I think you will have a wonderful time.

If you get hayfever or are sensitive to smells or pollen I recommend that you take an antihistamine with you - I took the generic version of Zyrtec (sp???) fexotabs and took one a day. I had absolutely no problems at all. My GP recommended I took them for a week before I left to go on holiday and then took them daily til a week after I came home. It worked.

Last trip my nose ran all day every day - it worked harder than the Tour Director!! I joked my nose was allergic to Europe! LOL
This time - no problems at all.

I bet you are looking forward to your trip! Enjoy
Hugs
jeni

Jeni
Thanks for the information. The gardens sound great, while my trip this time is in summer/autumn I hope one day to return in the spring.

I think the boxes sound like a great idea and I know how expensive it is to send parcels overseas from Australia so what you paid for the weight sent seems reasonable.

Where was the office you got the boxes from? I've never been to London and am not sure if the Strand is a street or a centre/mall. Is Parcelforce like the Post Office? I was thinking of taking some padded bags to send things home in via the post.

If anyone else has some thoughts on posting items home I'd be happy to hear them.

Jen

Hi Jen

We used the office just off Trafalgar Square but if you go to

http://www.mbe.co.uk/

you will be able to take a look at their prices and find an office near to which ever hotel you are staying at.

The website also has all the prices etc for you

We took some padded bags with us from Australia and posted them home - try to keep the package under 2 kilos if you can as it is cheaper. If you are sending books and pamphlets home make up packages that only have these items in them and mark them printed matter only and they are cheaper too! Neat trick!

We brought 5 large padded bags with us and they covered us for an 8 day tour. We sent everything home from London in the days between our two tours.

Parcelforce is very similar to the post office. In fact we sent items by parcelforce from a post office outlet at Oxford Street Plaza (near Oxford Circus - avoid them as they charge like raging bulls.

Go to a real post office if you can as they will help you send stuff the cheapest possible methods.

Parcelforce is expensive and slow and if you are offered this option say no and run! LOL

Try to keep all packages under 5 kilos as they go as small packages rather than by parcelpost and that is cheaper too.

The Strand is a major shopping street off Trafalgar Square and is full of rather unusual shops.

You will love London, and once you have seen the layout of the place it isn't too hard to get around.

Feel free to ask any questions you have as Mum is a Londoner and is always happy to help someone get the most out of her city

Hugs
jeni

Parcelforce is part of the Royal Mail group and you are likely to find that if you go into a Post Office you will actually be sending your package via Parcelforce. I suggest you do some Googling before you go or use the MBE website as suggested to compare prices. Whatever method you use it is not cheap.

Jeni -
You and your mum are so lucky to have each other and be able to share wonderful time travelling!!!

I took my mum (in my heart) to stand on Monets Garden bridge and I was so happy, thought I would cry but didnt, such a beautiful place, she would have loved it, but think she did!!

I have downloaded your tale, and have had a quick read, but definitely definitely will go over this time and again. Don and I know we will do London Scotland and some Ireland in 2 years time (how is that for positive thought!!) and have to work out if a fly-drive would be better than a tour. Strangely Don likes the idea of the tour and wants our Brendan !! he who didnt want to do a coach tour! So we are in the early stages, but love all the wonderful detail you have here. THANK YOU.

You are off somewhere else later ??
DebraJ

Jeni, By any chance did you notice the availability of internet access on the trip? I am not carrying a laptop, so I am interested in knowing if the hotels (and/or restaurants/shops nearby) offered a chance to "rent" time on a computer to send emails home ...

Hi

Oh yes - most of the hotels offered internet access - at a price!

We decided that we were on holiday and any crises could wait til we got home, but others made use of the hotel internet access.

Be careful when buying this to read the fine print. You pay a small fortune for internet access and you want to be sure you get your moneys worth. In Paris one of our group on the Breakaway tour bought 3 hours of internet access only to discover that she had to use the 3 hours immediately. She could not use 3 hours over her entire stay it had to be 3 consecutive hours from purchase. She was not able to switch (after purchasing the 3 hours) to a 24 hour internet pass which would have allowed her to use the internet as she needed it. She was up all night on the internet (bought it at 11pm) and was exhausted the next morning. Please check the fine print before you pay for access. I don't want anyone else to get this nasty surprise. I don't know if the same applied in hotels in England, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Hope that helps
Hugs
jeni

Thanks Jeni for the info regarding the post. I've gone online to check out the prices of posting things home and it is expensive. I'll try to keep them under 5 kg though if possible.

I can't wait to see London as I have a few days there to myself before the 1st tour starts. I've already got lots planned that I'd like to see, hopefully I'll have enough time.

I would like to have a look a Kew Gardens and Hampton Court Palace, any idea how much time I'd need at each of these places? I was thinking that I'd need at least 2 - 3 hours at each?

Jen