Vacation: Let's go to London and Tour Windsor Castle!

This is part of a new series of blog posts about travelling
on vacation....starting with places I have actually visited before...and looking into fun things to do, places to stay, and, of course, souvenirs!

A quick note before we begin:

Please remember to come back and click through the advertising banners and links you see in my blog posts when you choose to make a purchase. That's how I get credit or money to help support my blog. You will also find banner links of my affiliate advertising partners at the right side bar for your convenience. (scroll down) The shops and services I select to partner with generally have good to excellent online reviews. Although I haven't made personal purchases with all of my partners yet, when I do I'll share my honest opinions with you.

If you have an experience you'd like to share or a suggestion to make, post a comment below, and come back to my website often. I'll be posting more material soon!

Now...back to vacation!

If you missed my previous posts in this series, here are the links:
Part I Ocean Liner to the UK: Pet Friendly
Part II Cruises: Pets and MOOCs
Part III Cross Country: Cars and Crystals
Part IV Port of Southampton UK: Cars and Tours
Part V Southampton UK: Vegan and Pet Friendly

As you know if you read my previous articles, my dream vacation has been to take my dogs for a walk at Stonehenge. Because I live in California, this scenario has taken quite a bit of strategy on my part to find a way to get to the destination. The strategies were covered in my previous blog posts, in which I virtually arrived at the Port of Southampton, did some sightseeing and found a place to stay.

I have recently started a new job, so I don't have quite as much time to write extensive blog posts as I've have in the past. What I've chosen to do, instead, is to share cool, vacation and travel-related stuff I notice on my partners' websites.

Because I haven't necessarily purchased everything I write about, this blog post is not always going to be about my personal experiences.

What I will do for you, is share the things I feel may be particularly interesting, helpful or fun for a vacation, based on what I am most attracted to at the time I write.

This post is about leaving Southampton and moving to London, in the next phase of my virtual journey around the UK with my dogs. Finding pet-friendly accommodations is not too difficult, and several good websites provide excellent information.

For example, the Agoda website brings up plenty of dog-friendly accommodations in London, which is also a high energy, central location in the UK. I can type London in the search box, enter the dates I may plan to visit, and press the search button. I'm taken to a page full of a bunch of different accommodations available for the location and dates I entered. From there, I gaze down along the left side bar, where I may select from a nice choice of options.

I want pet friendly accommodations, so I scroll down to Property facilities and click the Show more button with a downward facing arrowhead. From there I check the box for Pets allowed. The screen refreshes to reflect my selection. In my example search, there are over 100 pet friendly properties in London. There is also a section called Property types where I can select apartments or hotels. In today's search, I also see several hostels and one bed and breakfast.

In my youth, when I traveled throughout the UK with my parents, my family enjoyed staying at castles, and also at bed and breakfasts, both of which were much friendlier than hotels. Guests from different parties would often sit together for the morning meal, family-style, around a big dining room table.

Often the bed and breakfasts, back in those days anyway, were run by a family and breakfast menus were not as extensive as restaurant menus. But times have changed, and as Veganism becomes more and more popular, I expect menus will be adjusted to include Vegan meals.

After booking the lodgings we'll be staying at in our virtual vacation extension to London, I'll be packing up to leave Vegan- and dog-friendly Southampton. I'll see about getting a rental car that I can drop off in London, after I check into new place where I would enjoy staying with my two small dogs.

According to online search, small dogs may be taken around town on The Tube, London's underground rail transit, so I may not need a car once I get in town. Travel rules, reportedly, require pets to be carried on train escalators, which is pretty easy because they are both small and get along well with each other in a shared carrier. After settling in, I can explore any dog-friendly parks, pubs and restaurants that are easily accessible via the underground.

One of the first places I want to visit in London will be Windsor castle, which I believe is the official residence of the Queen. Windsor has been in the news lately and is reported to be open for tours daily.

I've experienced travelling on the Tube before, and visited castles in the past, but at the time Windsor was not on the itinerary for whatever reason. Windsor Castle would be a most exciting place to visit for a few hours, although I certainly wouldn't want to live there. The idea of having strangers show up where I live, snooping around my stuff every day kind of gives me the creeps. Good thing I'm not royalty, I guess...

As anyone following recent media may know, royalty do own dogs. As a castle guest, however, I would expect this may be one excursion where my dogs will have to stay at the hotel or apartment for the day. I'll be meeting and mingling with everyone else on the tour, gawking at the sights like a typical tourist.

Comments, please?




To be continued...



Resources

Historic UK: Heritage accommodation in castles, cottages and historic hotels
www . historic-uk . com

The rules about taking your dog on public transport - Saga
www.saga . co . uk/magazine/motoring/cars/using/2016/taking-dog-on-public-transport