In most of England’s hotels and inns, the "teapot" in each room is a plastic electric water heater. On my recent trip through northern England, the water reservoir in these pots seldom had been cleaned properly when I checked into my room, and some pots still contained water from the previous guest. Maybe the folks…
The nation’s roadside motel business is a grab bag. When you pull off the Interstate, you never know exactly what you’re going to find, how much you’re going to pay and whether you’ll get your money’s worth. Most chain names don’t hold a promise of consistency. Sometimes, the cheaper the place, the better the deal.…
Your rail journey from London through the Chunnel to Paris and Brussels just got easier and quicker. Finally, after years of projects that cost billions of dollars, the speedy Eurostar train now departs London from spacious St. Pancras station instead of its cramped and crowded quarters at Waterloo. The change in stations will speed the…
Thousands of lodgings in Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales cost less than $100 a night, including breakfast. That’s what they say at Visit Britain, the useful and efficient tourism office for the United Kingdom. Anyone who has tried to book a room in London may find that hard to believe, as everything in the UK…
In Edinburgh, Scotland, I bought my first $80 tank of gasoline. Or almost a tank. I only pumped about 10 gallons, but when the meter on the pump ticked 40 English pounds (about $80), my fingers instinctively let loose of the trigger. At about 1 pound (or $2) per liter, I paid almost $8 a…
The route from the United States to St. Andrews, Scotland’s ancient home of the game of golf, is a long but simple path east across the Atlantic and a dogleg north at London. A few planes, a train, and you’re lined up for a vigorous round on one of the dozens of courses that draw…
For veteran travelers who face delays and difficulties on the road and in the air, one of the primary rules for fixing problems and easing journeys is: Never accept a "no" from a person who isn’t authorized to say "yes." You seldom see veteran travelers arguing with clerks who are just doing their jobs. Clerks…
If your airplane ticket says Row 13 on a US Airways flight between Philadelphia and Cleveland, I recommend that you investigate who’s flying the plane. By who, I mean which airline. In this world where airlines share codes, you may not know who your actual carrier is, unless you pay attention. Delta can be Continental,…