<p>For the best advice on doing it right…Rick Steves. He has a book just on England. His advice on hostles, restaurants, etc. is good. We just spent 2 weeks in Italy using his books only and did not have a single problem with his rec’ds. If you book directly with his rec’d hotels, you can often get a better rate. Definitely read his advice on how to get around, what to take, how to protect yourself and most of all, how NOT to look like an “ugly American” tourist. I will use his guide books again. Have fun and be careful.</p>
<p>By the way, we did not use the rail systems, but you can book your rail passes thru him and get a good price and good advice.</p>
<p>Before booking any rail, check into student rates since it coud save you a lot of money.</p>
<p>Much as I’d love to plug Let’s Go - I do have a small caveat. If you want to use their hotel recommendations - you’ll need to book in advance - they were always full - and when I lived in Europe I did most of my travelling in the off seasons.</p>
<p>I lived in Europe for about 6 years total. My suggestion is to hit all the touristy stuff in London in two days, then hit the countryside. Every big city in the world is fairly similar. You have to get out to smaller cities and towns where people don’t have their guard up to get a real feel for the country. Think of a European coming to the USA…2 days in NYC and one in DC, and then hit the road…Bangor, Maine; Troy, NY; Odessa, Texas; Flagstaff, AZ; Fairbanks, Alaska; Port Huron, Michigan…these are the sorts of places you’ll get a real feel for the country. You can’t do much better than Puerto de Santa Maria in Spain and Tarbert, Scotland.</p>
<p>Loved our stay in Bath–we stayed at a Bed & Breakfast & visited both Stonehenge & a smaller, lesser known site that was similar to Stonehenge but you could actually touch the rocks & there was no barrier between the visitors & the rocks. We loved the gardens at Versailles & picnicked while enjoying the fountains. Seeing only the big city & touristy stuff isn’t as fun as seeing a bit beyond all of that. We also liked being able to take in a show or two (saw “Mousetrap” in London & a theater production in Bath as well).</p>
<p>mathmom: I agree. I find that if you use the tour books for either hotels or restaurants you will be simply inundated with tourists. Rick Steves’ suggestions have, unfortunately, gotten especially overcrowded. So many people use his books now! I think his book is good for self-guided tours of important sites or museums, and his travel dictionaries are good, but I’d steer clear of his accomodations or restaurants, or even whole entire neighborhoods. </p>
<p>The best place for info is really the internet, assuming you get to “know” the various posters and figure out which ones you would have most in common with. (Everybody has different expectations when traveling.) It also helps to find a forum that is the right “flavor” for your type of travel. A very high end traveler will probably not be thrilled with slowtrav.com, a young person might relate best to thorntree. </p>
<p>Also I really like tripadvisor.com for accomodation suggestions. If you scroll way down and choose a lesser known, or unknown, hotel that still has good reviews, you will find yourself staying in a place with a much bigger mix of people.</p>
<p>I’m still of the old-fashioned idea that young peope traveling should just rent a car and hit the road willy-nilly. When else would you ever be willing to do that?!</p>
<p>I can’t wait to get back to Europe. Damn this college tuition!!!</p>
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<p>Bear in mind that a hire car in Europe will be an manual (stick shift)in 99.9% of cases, in the UK driving is on the other side of the road and in France the drivers are crazy. For a group of 18 year olds on their first trip abroad, I think this would be insane! Lots of places won’t rent to under 21s in the first place. (not to mention there is no parking in most of the UK places mentioned anyway. In both Oxford and Bath you have to park at “park and ride” and get a bus into the centre. In London there is a “congestion charge” of £8 a day to drive in the centre and it’s so crowded walking is qucker. Plus petrol is £5 a gallon.).</p>