I'm going to England near Mildenhall AFB to visit my brother in a few days, and I'm looking for ideas on what to do while I'm there.  I told my brother he's in charge of coming up with an itinerary, but I doubt he's done it and I don't want to spend the whole ten days watching TV at his house.  He may not be able to get all the time off he asked for while I'm there, so I may have to take guided tours from the base.  I'm told that Mildenhall is about an hour away form London and 20 minutes from the Cambridge area.  I've never been to England, and I really don't know what my options are aside from the obvious stuff in London (Big Ben, etc.)  I'd love it if I could go see at least one castle.  Does anyone have any suggestions? 

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God's favorite joke since 1984.

"If you don't think, you shouldn't talk!" - The March Hare, Alice In Wonderland

What I really think is that you need me to go with you to play tour guide.  I love London and the parts of Englad that I've visited.

Check out National Express for bus transportation to various cities.  I used National Express a few years ago and it was much cheaper than rail and travel times were comparable.  Public transit within London is fairly easy to nagivate.  Check out Transport for London for information.

Some neat things to check out in London are Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral.  I took a tour of the Abbey many years ago and my last visit, I attended an EvenSong service which was far better and impacting than a tour.  I also attended an EvenSong at St. Paul's.  Take a ride on the London Eye, which is near Westminster/Big Ben.  Walk across the Tower Bridge as well as take the tour which is the elevator to the top and walk across the top as well as see below.  Pretty neat and not too expensive.  The Tower Bridge is right by the Tower of London and if you have a few hours to spare, the tour is amazing (but somewhat more costly).

Ghost walks are fun.  I went on one and it was entertaining and educating.  I love history so to hear about people from previous generations and past events was neat.  I also did a Jack The Ripper walk on my first visit.

Lunch cruises on the Thames are nice.

If you love theatre, London is the place to be.  You can get same day rush tickets at a discount in Leicester Square.

Overall, just enjoy walking about and taking in centuries of history.
 

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Live ♥ Love ♫ Rock

"I finally found my way, Say goodbye to yesterday
Hit the gas there ain't no brakes on the lost highway"
"She spends all her cash on letting go"

Hey! You might want to check out www.viator.com.  You can go on there and search by city (any city in the world really), and it will tell you what to see, where to go, what's happening, etc., etc., etc.  It might be good for ideas! 

Have a great time! 

Rebekah, Mildenhall (aka "Moldyhole") is not far from RAF Lakenheath and Feltwell - I was just there a couple of weeks ago visiting where my hubby was stationed 20 something years ago.  I visited him there when I was just about your age when I was in college.  Cambridge and Bury St. Edmunds are not far, and they're great places to visit....also, Ely Cathedral is beautiful.  Your bro will know how to get to these places...

Have a great time!

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Jo

Oh yeh, and as far as castles go, the coolest of the unrestored castles we saw was Conwy Castle in Conwy, Wales.  It's not at all close to Mildenhall, but it's not a bad train trip, and the town of Conwy is as cool as the castle!  It has a website that you can find easily by entering "'Conwy Castle" into your favorite search engine.

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Jo

Thanks for all the great tips, ladies!  I feel much better having a few ideas, so that if I get there and my brother says, "So, what do you want to do?"  I can give him a list. 

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God's favorite joke since 1984.

"If you don't think, you shouldn't talk!" - The March Hare, Alice In Wonderland

Hey!  When are you going to be here in England?  My friends and I from the Smart Car club are going to be in Cambridge on a mad camping trip from the 18th to 24th August and you could come and meet us!  We will be visiting Cambridge (one of my favourite places) and Ely while we're there.  Trust me, you won't get tired of things to do!!!

Aw, that would be great, but I'm only going to be there from July 2nd through the 11th.    Thank you very much for the invitation, though!

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God's favorite joke since 1984.

"If you don't think, you shouldn't talk!" - The March Hare, Alice In Wonderland

one other thing that may or may not be helpful...there are rail passes you canget that are cheaper than buying train tickets individually but you have to buy them here before you go because they're only for tourists.  Check BritRail, you can buy the tickets online I believe.  Depending on how far from your base you want to go, this could be an option.  The bus (coach) is still cheaper but slower so you won't be able to go as far.  I lived in London for a year as an au pair but that was over ten years ago.  I never did much in the east.

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And if the car broke down
You’d start blaming me

Hi Rebekah

Only just seen your post, but just wanted to say hope you have a wonderful time over here! There is loads to do in London and if you're into castles I would definitely check out the Tower of London.

Cambridge and London are both really good cities for just wandering around, if you stay in the centres you won't have to walk too far and there's something new to see around every corner! Go and have a look round some of the colleges in Cambridge, you have to pay to go in but I don't think it's very much. St Johns college is very pretty, I had a friend who studied there. Oh and you really should go for a punt on the Cam, you can either hire a punt (which is great fun if you're in a group) or you can take a guided tour and let someone else do all the work.

If you do end up spending much time in London and need to use public transport, you should get yourself an oystercard, it costs £3 (I think) to start with but then you save a LOT over the cost of paying cash fares, as Cathie said check out the transport for london website.

If you want any more info, give me a shout- I don't claim to be an expert but I have lived in London most of my life so I might be able to point you in the right direction

Rebekah-Just saw your post -have a wonderful time!! I agree with Poz and Cathie- Westminster Abbey and especially The Tower Of London-if you go there though, have a good block of time-you could get wander around in it following history for hours. Another thing in London is the Thames boat trips-if you just have a short time,you can see alot from the boat and on a hot summer day it's nice and relaxing as well. Outside of London there are some neat castles, catherdrals,little towns, and gardens-if you don't mind traveling a bit . The best way is by train-you can get just about anywhere-(the oystercard is the best for London). Wish I had seen this earlier-I would have hauled out my journal-we were just there in April!! Can't wait to hear about your adventures!!

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Summer Mis


"For those who know,no explaination is necessary-For those who don't,no explaination is possible"

Quick (if belated) thanks from another traveler set to cross the pond. I'm only starting to cement plans but a number of the suggestions in this thread pointed me to research I had not yet considered, if at all. It's been very helpful reading up on the links and locales suggested. This thread wasn't meant for me, but I'm very happy of the chance to benefit, too. Thank you :)

I'm back, and I had a wonderful time!  We spent one day in London, on and off the tube and walking all over, and another day in Ely.  I've posted my pictures on my myspace, click here if you'd like to see them.

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God's favorite joke since 1984.

"If you don't think, you shouldn't talk!" - The March Hare, Alice In Wonderland

I haven't logged into MySpace in quite some time but I did it just for you.  Looks like you had a great time.  The captions of "Some old building in London" and "Some park in London" made me chuckle since that really narrows it down.

I really think that I need to join you next time. 

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Live ♥ Love ♫ Rock

"I finally found my way, Say goodbye to yesterday
Hit the gas there ain't no brakes on the lost highway"
"She spends all her cash on letting go"

Thanks, Cathie!  I'm glad you liked the captions, always happy to be amusing.   We were walking (and walking and walking) and I thought that park was lovely and I asked my brother if it was Hyde Park and he said, "No, it's just some park." 

And yes, you definitely need to go with me next time!  You could help me find some keep me out of trouble. 

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God's favorite joke since 1984.

"If you don't think, you shouldn't talk!" - The March Hare, Alice In Wonderland