My wife and I just returned from 10 great days in England. We experience Virgin Atlantic's A350-1000 and WHAT A PLANE! Perhaps one of the most comfortable planes we've ever flown on. 5 hours and 15 minutes to Heathrow from JFK in New York cruising at 41,000 feet and well over 600 miles per hour.

This was a huge WALKING trip. We visited Stonehenge, and little known Avebury Henge & Stone Circles. These surpass Stonehenge in weight and size, but it's out there off the beaten path compared to Stonehenge. Loved our trip to Salisbury and we especially enjoyed visiting Plymouth (Pilgrims and Mayflower history). Especially loved the GIN at Plymouth Gin Distillery (Oldest still operating Gin distillery in England). We really enjoyed our stay in Bristol. Trekked up to the castle ruins of (supposedly) King Arthur...Tintagel Castle. We loved the quaint town of Glastonbury. Another enjoyable stop was at SHEPPY's CIDER, in Taunton, Somerset. They've been making cider for a few hundred years there and it was delicious and could be quite intoxicating if you know what I mean. A real highlight was BATH, and the Roman Baths where the warm water is still flowing after countless centuries! Finally, we finished our tour in London. Visiting the FIRST, ORIGINAL Hard Rock Cafe where it all started in 1971 was a thrill beyond belief. Seeing many pieces of memorabilia of England's Rock stars and having their unbelievable Hard Rock Burger highlighted my day there.

Lots of walking but well worth it. Now I'm going to some of these great places in MSFS and P3d. That's always a fun thing to do when I return from travel.

Missed talking to you guys in the last week or so.

Stan

Edited August 3Aug 3 by spilok

Welcome back to the forums Stan!

Glad to hear you had a great time in the UK and had time to sample some traditional delights. I haven't drunk cider for a long time now but back in my youth I preferred drinking this over the lager. After 3 pints though, I was not in a fit state to either walk or drive home! Somerset is a great place for sampling the ciders.

What other British delights did you partake in? Anything of interest that we should know about? Maybe you tried some Spotted Dick or a Treacle Tart for desert or perhaps the odd banger for breakfast?

How did you get on with driving on the wrong side of the road or did you not chance it?

Cheers,
Mark

I want to know if he nipped into a fish and chip shop and ordered cod and chips.

2 hours ago, martin-w said:

I want to know if he nipped into a fish and chip shop and ordered cod and chips.

Ahhh, man, I remember indulging in that many times.

I really miss the white paper cone filled with chips. There was nothing better after having a few pints, and they tasted far better than our fast food fries.

Dave

Edited August 4Aug 4 by dave2013

Fish, chips and garlic mayonnaise. Proper garlic mayonnaise. Not that rubbish in a bottle from the supermarket.

2 hours ago, martin-w said:

I want to know if he nipped into a fish and chip shop and ordered cod and chips.

I know Cod is considered really tasty but my fave is Plaice and Chips whenever i am over. Mmm..tasty....

I saw a sign for Spotted Dick,but chose not to investigate it (not into steamed pudding). Had fish and chips several times over 10 days. I believe the fish was Haddock and in other places, Cod. Found a few great pubs and took delight in having the Perfect Guiness. In America, the Guiness is ready in about 20-30 seconds...in one pub, the Guiness arrived in about 4 minutes, and it was great.

We went with a travel group, so I didn't drive. All the tours in Wales and Cornwall were arranged so we traveled at least 1100 miles over the 10 days there. London was on our own, so we walked a lot in Hyde Park, and we did a tour of Buckingham Palace. King Charles was in Balmoral Castle so we were able to see Buckingham inside. I've been to London before, so we've gone to Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's, the Tower, Royal Albert Hall, and my wife's favorite, Harrod's.

England is so desperate for RAIN, and everything is so dry. Crops had to be harvested far too early and it's pretty frustrating for so many people. Hopefully, the rain will come soon.

Several years ago, I rented a car in Ireland and drove from Shannon to Jameson and Guiness and Dublin. Then packed up and drive clear across the country to Galway, and I adapted fairly well to driving on the left. The first few days are the worst, but it does get easier, but still challenging.

1 hour ago, spilok said:

and my wife's favorite, Harrod's.

My wife always goes on about Liberty of London, when she went to England several times many years ago.

4 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

Fish, chips and garlic mayonnaise. Proper garlic mayonnaise.

Blimey! The North is changing.

So I went and looked up Avebury Henge on Google:

1. Cost: The stone circles and henge are completely free to access 365 days a year during daylight hours.

2. Management: The landscape is jointly preserved by English Heritage and the National Trust.

3. Amenities: Paid parking is available at the main National Trust lot. On-site facilities include the Alexander Keiller Museum, Avebury Manor, and The Red Lion pub.

4. Footwear: Sturdy, waterproof boots are highly recommended, as the paths wind through uneven grass fields actively grazed by sheep.

Glad you enjoyed your visit here, Stan.

I really did enjoy it. Besides Avebury, every visit was somewhat challenging. The trek to the Tintagel Castle was especially rough. Lots of hills that are so unbelievable steep, that, had I known, I would have probably not have made that particular walk.

Other than that, it was good to see places outside London, where we enjoyed the people as much as the sights.

On 8/4/2026 at 5:27 PM, dave2013 said:

and they tasted far better than our fast food fries.

We get your American style "fries" served to us a lot in restaurants. I'm always a bit disappointed when I ask for chips and I get skinny little crispy things, rather than big fat greasy chips.

On 8/4/2026 at 5:41 PM, 787flyer said:

I know Cod is considered really tasty but my fave is Plaice and Chips whenever i am over. Mmm..tasty....

With or without curry sauce? I prefer just vinegar and tomato sauce. Yum!

Edited August 7Aug 7 by martin-w