An American's travel itinerary to the UK has been heavily criticised by Brits for one key reason. Photo / 123rf
An American's travel itinerary to the UK has been heavily criticised by Brits for one key reason. Photo / 123rf
An American woman received widespread ridicule after sharing her family’s UK trip itinerary with a social media group.
On October 1, the Midwestern woman shared her family’s itinerary for a seven-day trip on a Reddit page dedicated to travel in the UK. She asked for “advice and pointers” on the trip, which she planned to take with her husband and two children, aged 18 and 23, who had never travelled internationally.
Brits were astonished at the ambitious itinerary and not in a good way.
The family planned to fly to Newcastle upon Tyne on Saturday, collect a rental car and start a jam-packed trip, which, as Brits quickly pointed out, would involve driving for essentially the entire time.
A key issue was the plan to stay at a timeshare in Penrith, a town on the edge of the Lake District hours away from most of their intended destinations, including Edinburgh and Cornwall.
More than 570 Reddit users commented on the post, pointing out the hours of driving they would have to do each day and urging them to reconsider.
A map of some spots the family intended to visit over just seven days, often returning at night to their accommodation in Penrith.
On Sunday the family wanted to explore the Lake District, England’s largest national park, which can take hours to drive around.
On Monday, they planned to drive almost 200 kilometres to Glasgow, look around the city, then drive a further 80km to Edinburgh before returning to Penrith.
“Monday – Drive to Scotland, attempt to visit Glasgow and Edinburgh ... Maybe just Glasgow. Maybe take a train instead? What do you think?” she wrote.
The next day, they wanted to drive almost 1000km to Cornwall, which would take almost seven hours by car. Thankfully, they didn’t intend to drive back to Penrith that day.
Equally gruelling days followed, many of which didn’t seem to account at all for travel time. At the end of the post, the woman asked for people’s opinions.
“What do you think of the itinerary? Enough? Not enough? Too much?”
Hundreds weren’t shy about sharing what they thought; the plan was “absolutely ridiculous”.
“The only thing you’re going to see with that itinerary is the inside of your hire car,” one person wrote, adding that they should just spend the week in Lake District as there was plenty to do.
Many others had the same opinion.
“Dear God no! That amount of travel is just not doable. The Lake District is lovely but not a base to see London or Cornwall,” a second wrote.
“I mean just use Google Maps and see how long it will take you to drive these places. You’ll only see our motorways. And traffic jams. Lots of them.”
Another said they audibly laughed when they read the itinerary, asking whether the woman wanted to see anything at the destinations they drove to, as they’d have no time.
“This is one of the most mad itineraries I have ever seen,” one person said.
Making light of the ambitious plan, one person joked they should try to add more destinations. “Quick trip to Paris from London could definitely be squeezed in.”
Fortunately, the woman received the criticism well and thanked people for their advice.
“Thank you for everyone who took the time to share their thoughts,” she wrote, adding that certain activities were refundable so they might miss them, such as the hop-on hop-off bus in London.
However, she refused to change the family’s plan.
“Time will tell, the plan will work or it won’t. We’re going to stay flexible and try to maintain a sense of humor and sense of wonder,” she wrote.
