The nearest station to Hay-on-Wye is Hereford, a couple of hours from Bath and three from Bangor. Buses from Hereford to Hay-on-Wye are here.
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[li]BritRail FlexiPass, purchased.[/li][li]London Hotel, booked.[/li][li]Stonehenge Tour, signed up for (I hope).[/li][li]Spending orgy, in progress![/li][li]Nerves, strung tight![/li][/ul]
Note: Hay-on-Wye has a book festival which this year runs from May 28th through June 6th. If your proposed schedule puts you there at that time, you may have to stay in Hereford (or elsewhere), because lodging in Hay is probably booked solid by now.
We’re spending two days there in June, a week after the festival is over. We’re staying at The Old Black Lion, which seems to have good reviews. But having never been there before, I can make no guarantees (other than that Mrs. King was very nice on the telephone).
If you’ve ever read the book Kilvert’s Diary (unlikely, as it’s neither well-known nor popular in the US anymore), the “Clyro years” of the diary take place one mile from Hay-on-Wye in the village of Clyro (natch). The area is near the Brecon Beacons, which should make for some nice hiking if you’re into that sort of thing. (At least that’s on my list of stuff to do there.)
Sure. I’ll drop you an email.
I’m desperately trying to think of a no smoking pub now…
I’m in Peverell. Heh, I feel less alone now!
Morgyn , a day in Exeter is plenty, it’s not that big. Don’t know about Tintagel, I’ve never been.
Sure, if you can let me know the day (otherwise, if it’s a weekday, I’ll be at work.) Email’s in my profile.
HM Tower of London
British Museum
British Library
Tower Bridge
Changing of the Guard
many s/h book shops (I’m actually looking for a particular book of nursery rhymes I had when I was little. It was purchased while we were in England. My Mom gave it away, and I want a replacement.)
ah, I see in my absence pubcrawls are being mentioned with my name attached 
. I would certainly like to meet up when you’re in London. either give me or garius an e-mail (addys in my profile) and we can arrange something, plus other regular dopers. some pubs will have no smoking areas, but as for an entirely non smoking pubs i’m afraid you’ll be out of luck there.
As for the list above, the british museum is an all day look around job, not been to the tower of London since I was a kid but i’d imagine thats at least half a day. For the old school book shops, you want Charing Cross road or Angel on a saturday. both have many antiquey bookstores/markets. Let me know, we’ll sort out a pub crawl whichever day your free.
Cheers!
Since no one’s chimed in about the desirability (or otherwise) of visiting Cambridge, I will. If you like old buildings and the like, it is beautiful, and well worth a visit. However, considering the dates when you’re visiting (and I think this applies equally to Oxford as well), it will be towards the end of exam season. Getting into colleges to have a look around might be tricky, but with any luck, if you plan it right, you might just be able to do it.
Trinity College is well worth a look, as is Kings, particularly the Chapel. They are both rather grand, and I think some of the colleges do charge an entrance fee. Going on a punt tour is a wonderful, if slightly silly way to see the city, particularly the Backs, and quite a few of the older colleges.
Dublin has only completely no smoking pubs, for better or worse.
The best way to see the colleges in both Oxford and Cambridge is to go on a walking tour organised by the local tourist office. You will be accompanied by a very knowledgeable guide who will take you to parts of the university usually out of bounds to the ordinary tourist . These run every hour and last a good two hours . Just present yourself at the tourist office and away you go.
You’ve got a great plan for England, Morgyn. I highly recommend going on the pub crawl with garius and paulbeserker. They’re great fellows and know their stuff. Ask them about pub conversation #103. The pubs they took me to weren’t too smoky, as far as I can remember.
You can click on my profile, and follow my home page link to my Live Journal, where I talk all about my tour of England last April. I’ve got pictures of the folks who took part in the pub crawl, so you can use those to identify garius and paulbeserker.
Customs will ask you your business in while in England, so it’s probably best to take along some brochures showing your intentions to tour. Also, when you come back, you’ll have to declare customs in the US, and if you bring back over $800 worth of stuff, you’ll have to pay duties.
If you wear hiking boots to the airport, they’ll probably ask you to take them off and send them through the X-ray machine. Thick soles, shoe bombs.
I liked Bath and Edinburgh best, and would liked to have spent more time in Llangollyn Wales, and the Lake District. Both of those looked like great hiking. I hear Cornwall is also good for hiking.
Be aware the shops all close at 6, and the pubs at 11. You might find some drug stores that stay open later than 6, but don’t plan on it. You WILL need an adapter.
London is ex-pen-sive. The hotels are £120 a night, and that’s off-peak. Cab rides can fall in the £10-15 range easily, and they raise their rates at night. The cheapest way to travel is use either the tube or the buses, but they can be a challenge to figure out, especially when you’ve had a few pints. Be aware, the tubes close at midnight. Also, don’t ask for directions to the subway. They’ll send you to a pedestrian underpass. 
ATMS take into account the exchange rate, but your bank will probably be pricks and charge you another $4. It’s probably better to withdraw lots of cash. £1 and £2 coins are commonly used, so your pocket change will be a small fortune.
Also, the people of the UK are friendly and love to tell you about the place where you’re currently standing. You do get a feeling of being in an international community, because you will hear other languages maybe a third of the time. You won’t be the only outsider by any stretch.
I’m sorry to say, Stonehenge won’t be that mystifying. There will be buttloads of tourists there, and that kinds of detracts from the mystical aspects of it.
Gracious, where to begin?
tpayne, you’ve almost guaranteed that I will actively try to be in Hay-on-Wye for at least one day of the festival. 80,000 book weenies! I’m so there!
Knowed Out, do you think that an itinerary and some e-mailed confirmations would work? I don’t have any brochures, and I have no idea where to get any. Not that I need them, really. I do have a couple of guide books, though, which I intend to bring with.
I’ve actually been to Stonehenge once before, when I was about 7. This was back before they put the rope up, so you can have an idea of how long ago it was. It was one of those pea-soup foggy days, and I got slightly separated from the tour group & my family. All of a sudden, there’s this huge stone right in front of my nose. The tour group sounds faded out, and I could very distinctly hear (although faded and distant) sounds like wood creaking from something, and men calling to each other. It was one of the more interesting experience in my life, and I’m kinda hoping for a repeat. Also, the tour I booked is a special one that does get you into the circle itself, after all the regular tours are gone. Gotta remember to pack a lunch, though!
I actually have a hotel room in Ealing (?) for all 8 nights, and it will only cost me £311, including VAT and English breakfasts. It’s not too far from a couple of Underground stations, so I think I’ll be ok, transportation-wise. I’m thinking of hosteling or B&Bs for the rest of my stay, but I want to set that up AFTER I get there.
Rayne Man, thanks for the info on the walking tours. I expect that’s what I’ll use, at least for the college.
paulbeserker and garius, so far my only “taken” day is Thursday 27, and I expect we can plan around that. I’ll be getting in late Friday night (14), so if a weekend day for touring and pubbing is best, then I am free either that Saturday & Sunday (15 & 16), or the next (22–the day, or rather, evening, I’m planning to leave London). Whichever day it isn’t, I’ll be heading for Oxford to try to hook up with Steve Wright, who Is Not Free on Weekdays Because of this Thing Called Work. pfffff! 
I may just buy about 40 AA and 40 AAA batteries and bring-with. Probably about the same price as a converter & adapter or adapter/transformer, which I won’t be able to use once I come back. No telling if there are any more overseas trips in my future, either . . . Hmmmmm. Obviously, it’s time to go shopping and do some price and size comparisons! And as I said, I’m only planning on 2 or 3 pieces of battery-operated stuff (nothing at all with plugs), these being my Palm, my digital camera, and my CD player.
How long does the train trip from Edinburgh to London take? Obviously, I want to make that pretty much my last day so I can just go straight to Heathrow. I need to be there by 18:00.
Tomorrow I’m off to my credit union to pick up a small amount in travelers checks for emergencies. I’ve already confirmed that they don’t charge an extra fee for use of foreign ATMs, so all I’ll have to worry about is the British ATM fees. Yeah!
And then it’s back to figuring out days for seeing, days for traveling, and a slack day or two for any problems that come up. . . .
Ealing should be fine for transport - indeed, Ealing Broadway is a terminus station, so the advantage is you’ll always be able to get a seat
Edinburgh-London is about 5 hours - the first train leaves at 5.50am(!). But if you’re travelling on the day of your flight, allow several hours of padding - don’t forget to allow plenty of time for the trip through to Heathrow, and the possibility (sod’s law) of major delays on the train.
Almost all ATMs here (btw, called ‘cash machines’) don’t charge you, and in any case have to warn you if they do, so if your bank isn’t charging then you’re OK.
Something you may want to consider, particulary if you’re going to be booking accomodation, travel etc. on the go, is a cheap pre-pay mobile phone - a basic model shouldn’t be more than £40-50, including some talk time. Much easier than fussing with payphones etc, and obvioulsy it means you can leave messages for people to call you back.
Be warned however, doing such things in exam period, will not make you popular with the students whose colleges you will be invading. These are still working places. People still live and work there, and round this time of year, things are particularly stressful. Tourists wandering all over the place, talking loudly (which some tourist groups do), and generally being intrusive will not be appreciated. However, if you’re a kind and considerate tourist, then it’ll be OK.
Oh, and London-Edinburgh - 5 hours? Are you sure? It takes 5 hours from Birmingham to Edinburgh, and I used to do that trip a lot.
15th or 16th is fine with me. i’ll post up about it nearer the time, but between me and garius we got most of London covered for places to go boozing. I think i’ve visited most of them in the last 5 days anyway.
Forgive me for skimming, but whereabouts in London are you staying? Or has that bit not been worked out yet?
Either works for me, I also need to deal with that thing called work also but I’m sure we can work something out.
And Edinburgh London is 4hrs 40mins or so on the fastest trains but there’s quite a variation in times. Also on a really bad day there can be major delays (the worst I think I’ve been on was 9 hours or so in total and it didn’t even make it to London we got turfed out about an hour away from Kings Cross). The trains have been better lately since they finished all the maintance work on the tracks.
Pub conversation #103? I can’t recall was that dead bodies or shark attacks?
On the cash machine/ATM thing: some of them, especially in corner shops, are not operated by the banks and WILL charge you. They tend to be in pubs, and corner shops mainly, and have a yellow surround and be free standing, rather than embedded in the wall. If I can get a pic of one I will post a link to it so you can see which ones not to use. You are best using the ones that are owned by banks (which are pretty much everywhere), not that the charge is that much, but I know I object to being charged for access to my own cash.
It was the one about how to survive an Alligator attack. That nobody believed was possible. But it is…