Share a Trip Report

[VickiM68]

Have you been someplace you really enjoyed that you'd like to tell others about? Share the details here to help other users plan their travels.

• Destination: What is the destination?
• Duration: How long was your trip?
• Transportation: How did you get there and how did you get around?
• Accomodation: What type of place did you stay in? Would you recommend it? Any tips for choosing a place to stay there?
• Sights: What sights did you see? What did you think about them? 
• Activities: What did you do? What did you think about these activities?
• Recommendations: What do you recommend that other travelers see/do there?
• Things to Avoid: Anything other travelers should avoid and/or that wasn't worth it?
• Final Tips & Comments: Any other tips or comments you have for other travelers going to this destination?
• Photos: Share your favorite photos of the highlights of your trip

[pc57101005]

We traveled to Dollywood in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.  The Mountains are beautiful, the park is amazing - good food, music around every corner, clean and valet parking which we loved! Gaitlinburg is charming and there is so much to do besides Dollywood - the dinner theatre, great aquarium, tram rides to the top of the mountains. Loved this trip.

[LydiaN586309]

Reading about your trip to Dollywood just now brought back memories of my Dollywood trip many years ago.  I had an equally wonderful time there.   Glad it's still as nice as it was when I went.  Maybe I might get to go there again some day. 

[rv82313064]

I like to say now adays there are many working families that can only take trips that are only in the state they live so I want to write about two different places we would go to every year and never got bored with so many different shops from fudge and candy shop to where you can have a personal license plate made we always travel by car it was such beautiful ride thru the Adirondack to Lake George I would always book my room ahead of time at a motel but you don’t have to stay at motel because you can camp at one camp grounds or even rent a cabin on the lake this town has so many different events going on all year from old car show even motorcycle 🏍 event they have a water park for the young and old if that’s something you enjoy doing you can many different price restaurants with many different food varieties one of the best thing we do every time is go on one of the 3 different boats ride which has a band and dinner to a fireworks tour before going abroad on the boat they will take your picture of your party with the life saver and name of the boat which at the end of the boat ride you can buy your pictures if you want to have a great reminder of the tour so now you done everything that you wanted to do at Lake George.There another great place to go to which is approximately 25 minuets from Lake George is Natural Stone Bridge and Caves this place will be a great experience for the whole family but keep your motel or where you are staying at Lake George because to my knowledge there are no places to stay plus as I said it’s really not that far from Lake George you really will want to wear comfortable clothes and shoes because you can go on walk thru underground cave where you will see the largest marble entrance in the east where you can see waterfalls to all different rocks then they have a huge gift shop but that’s not best part they have rock shop where you can buy a rock and they will cut it opened which you never know what will be inside plus you can buy bag of the dirt come from mine where you can used a metal pan like a miner and keep all the different gems that are in the bag they have a snack shop but we always brought food with us  oh the town is Pottersville,New York  Have Fun!

[retiredtraveler]

I'll give some very generalized comments. But I don't believe many people travel as I do.

Destination: I take an annual trip to the UK, going to a different part of the country every year.

• Duration: Always in the 16-21 day range
• Transportation: Plane to London. Train to destination out of London. Get around strictly on public transportation (train and bus). I will not drive on the 'wrong side' of the road (lol), so car rental is out. Public trans in UK is very good in most areas.
• Accomodation: Really enjoy B&B's. Stay at a hotel, in London, last night before getting on a morning flight to make sure I get to airport on time. Hotel is always close to public trans.
• Sights: A bit of everything. Windswept ocean views in Cornwall (what you see in Poldark), Mountain/lakes/river views in the Lake District. Stone cottages with thatched roofs in the Cotswolds (think Ms. Marple or Midsomer Murder)). Walking through rolling fields with sheep or cattle (on marked trails). All types of architecture in Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow.
• Recommendations: See the sights by getting out and walking. Recommend walking tours with a docent in the larger cities. But I definitely recommend spending most of the trip in the smaller villages.
• Things to Avoid: Tourist stuff. Tours (other than docent walks). Moving from town-to-town with your luggage.
• Final Tips & Comments: Spend a lot of time researching by going online to travel sites such as TripAdvisor and try to find highly rated B&B's, tips for walks/hikes, train and bus schedules.     I spend a good portion of my winter, on-line time researching next years trip. You need to book early!!!! Booking in Jan-Feb for a summer trip is not too early. Of course, you have to coordinate your plane flight with your accomodations. Look for transportation deals. Many areas have multi-day, unlimited ride passes (bus and train). My main advice is to stay in one area and explore fully rather than constantly moving around. I generally only stay in 2 places on the trip, maybe three (not counting last night), and use public trans to visit towns, get to hiking trails. By staying put, I'm not spending time moving my luggage from place to place, wasting a portion of the day. It's easy to spend a couple of weeks in the Cotswolds, Cornwall, Lake District, Scottish highlands or lowlands.    

[BertyBGone]

---

@retiredtraveler wrote:

I'll give some very generalized comments. But I don't believe many people travel as I do.

Destination: I take an annual trip to the UK, going to a different part of the country every year.

• Duration: Always in the 16-21 day range
• Transportation: Plane to London. Train to destination out of London. Get around strictly on public transportation (train and bus). I will not drive on the 'wrong side' of the road (lol), so car rental is out. Public trans in UK is very good in most areas.
• Accomodation: Really enjoy B&B's. Stay at a hotel, in London, last night before getting on a morning flight to make sure I get to airport on time. Hotel is always close to public trans.
• Sights: A bit of everything. Windswept ocean views in Cornwall (what you see in Poldark), Mountain/lakes/river views in the Lake District. Stone cottages with thatched roofs in the Cotswolds (think Ms. Marple or Midsomer Murder)). Walking through rolling fields with sheep or cattle (on marked trails). All types of architecture in Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow.
• Recommendations: See the sights by getting out and walking. Recommend walking tours with a docent in the larger cities. But I definitely recommend spending most of the trip in the smaller villages.
• Things to Avoid: Tourist stuff. Tours (other than docent walks). Moving from town-to-town with your luggage.
• Final Tips & Comments: Spend a lot of time researching by going online to travel sites such as TripAdvisor and try to find highly rated B&B's, tips for walks/hikes, train and bus schedules.     I spend a good portion of my winter, on-line time researching next years trip. You need to book early!!!! Booking in Jan-Feb for a summer trip is not too early. Of course, you have to coordinate your plane flight with your accomodations. Look for transportation deals. Many areas have multi-day, unlimited ride passes (bus and train). My main advice is to stay in one area and explore fully rather than constantly moving around. I generally only stay in 2 places on the trip, maybe three (not counting last night), and use public trans to visit towns, get to hiking trails. By staying put, I'm not spending time moving my luggage from place to place, wasting a portion of the day. It's easy to spend a couple of weeks in the Cotswolds, Cornwall, Lake District, Scottish highlands or lowlands.    

---

You're a true Anglophile, just like me! My only change would be to not travel during the summer, when all of the UK and Europe in general is crawling with tourists. I prefer spring or especially fall (or even winter) when crowds are thinner, weather is usually beautiful and prices are generally lower.

[retiredtraveler]

---

@BertyBGone wrote:

---

You're a true Anglophile, just like me! My only change would be to not travel during the summer, when all of the UK and Europe in general is crawling with tourists. I prefer spring or especially fall (or even winter) when crowds are thinner, weather is usually beautiful and prices are generally lower.I would agree. My trips have all been Spring trips, in May. Because I hike, I don't do winter (yes, I could hike in the winter but prefer not to). And fall is always good --- but I do domestic travel in the fall for other reasons.

Yes, I'm an Anglophile. Almost all my telly watching is Brit TV and film, rented through Netflix or from library. Once you get hooked on Brit shows, you see how awful American TV is............