Tag: Travel

This article caught my eye:

A Cotswolds village dubbed ‘the most beautiful in the world’ has seen a 2,000 per cent rise in parking fines – as locals complain the area has become overrun by tourists.

Residents in Bibury, famous for its 14th-century honey-coloured stone cottages, are reporting ‘major problems’, with figures showing parking wardens dished out 651 notices in the village last year – up from 28 in 2019.  This compares to the 28 fines given in 2019 generating £1,900.

Community representative Craig Chapman said many visitors showed ‘very little regard for villagers’ – parking wherever they can, even if this meant blocking pavements or stopping on double yellow lines.

I can see why.  I’ve been to Bibury, and it’s as beautiful as it’s painted:

However, if you turn around and face in the other direction:

I had a similar experience when I went to Cheddar, in Somerset:

And that’s just the approach to the village.  Inside Cheddar itself, it was pandemonium — no parking anywhere to be found, the sidewalks dense with people, and I left very quickly.

Here’s the dirty little secret about touring the U.K.

Most of the places you find in the tourist guides are exactly like the above:  overcrowded, and worst of all, no parking.  The average commuter train station on Chicago’s Northwest Line has twice as much parking as an entire town in Britishland.

Even Marlborough — one of my favorite towns Over There — barely manages to get by, and that only by creating a car park in the town square during the week.

If there’s a market taking place, the center parking lot is taken up by stalls, and you end up parking at least two miles away, having to risk your life along one of those notorious “two-lane” (actually, one and a half lanes) with no room for pedestrians.  (A narrow grassy verge, often sloped, with a dense hedge on one side and cars whizzing by on the other, is the rule.)

My advice is to skip any of the so-called scenic places you might find advertised, and just drive along random country roads until you happen upon somewhere like Burton:

(not Burton-On-Trent, which while beautiful, is best accessed by parachute).

And if it’s at all possible, try to avoid visiting Britishland during summer, because the entire country’s population (and millions of furriners) choose that period to tour the tiny country, with results as at the top.

I’ve been Over There on many occasions, during every season, and take it from me, autumn — chilly, rainy and kinda bleak in late October through early December — is the best time to go.

Here’s Thirsk, up in t’north during October:

Mostly, it’s just locals and not too many of those.

I can’t wait to get back.

Wiltshire, UK

…I think, or maybe Gloucestershire, I’m not sure.

I’ve stayed at Claridges before, but it was on a client’s tab.  Two of the best nights of my life, they were.

Now here’s my story.  I went back about eighteen months later — not to stay, but just for a teatime meeting with someone.

The concierge remembered my name.  And was absolutely distraught that I wasn’t staying with them this time.  (I didn’t dare tell him that I was staying at some flophouse in Earl’s Court, since demolished thank gawd.)

Per night cost in an ordinary room nowadays:  about $4,800.  It was a hell of a lot less back in the late 1990s.  I very much doubt if a client would put me up there now.

And before anyone gets all sniffy about the price (having spent most of their traveling nights in Ramada or Red Roof Inn), just remember that most stays at places like Claridges are done on expense accounts, and/or written off against taxes as a “business” expense.

It’s the world we live in — or rather, the world we mortals just look at through the bubble of their privilege and wealth.  And no, I’m neither envious or jealous.  If I were some kind of crypto- or Silicon Valley nouveau riche guy, I’d probably  do exactly the same… because I’ve stayed at Claridges, and honestly?  the experience is kinda worth it.

Mayfair, London (2000)

Mount Rushmore (2004)