An American family planning a holiday to Britain has left Brits amazed with their incredibly ambitious itinerary over the course of seven days.
Take to Reddita midwestern woman in her 50s shared her extended travel plans with her husband and two children for what will be their first time traveling abroad.
The week-long ‘crazy’ trip starts with the group flying into Newcastle airport before embarking on a very hectic week through Glasgow, Edinburgh, the Lake District, Cornwall and London, to name just a few stops.
The family plan to rent a car and travel to the highest and lowest points of the country, despite planning to drive back to their timeshare property in Cumbria most evenings.
Reddit users were baffled by ambitious adventures, but countless people have urged the family to reconsider their plans, fearing they will spend the entire trip in the car.
Brits are shocked after reading an American family’s itinerary for a week-long holiday to Britain, including one-day trips to Cornwall from Cumbria
On a British travel forum, the Reddit user explained that she and her husband are taking their children, who are 23 and 18 years old, on vacation for a week.
The family will fly to Newcastle Airport, where they will rent a Hyundai Tucon. Their journey begins with a 70-mile drive to Penrith, which takes approximately 90 minutes.
Sharing the plan for their first day, she wrote, “Saturday – arrival, drive to timeshare, shopping for incidentals, rest.”
On Sunday they plan to explore the Lake District, which shouldn’t be too taxing, although some parts are an hour’s drive away.
‘Sunday – drive around the Lake District, learn to drive comfortably on the other side of the road, seeing some sights but not a strict agenda,’ she said.
On Monday she plans to drive 186 miles to Glasgow, which will take just under two hours, and then possibly drive another hour and 15 minutes to reach Edinburgh, which is 74 miles away, before returning to Penrith .
That would mean another two and a half hours in the car and 199 kilometers on the road.
‘Monday – Drive to Scotland, try to visit Glasgow and Edinburgh…Maybe just Glasgow. Maybe take a train? What do you think?’ she said.
Despite potentially spending almost six hours in the car on Monday, the family have planned an equally hectic trip for the next day, driving almost 400 miles to Cornwall – a journey that takes more than six hours and thirty minutes.
‘Tuesday/Wednesday – Husband and I drive to Polperro Cornwall for hotel stay. Train to Bodmin Parkway/taxi to Polperro? Kids make their own plans,” she said.
They will have at least one night in a hotel to recover, as another grueling itinerary follows on Thursday: a day trip to London.
‘Thursday – Take a train to and from London. I have tickets for the GoldenTours 1-day hop-on hop-off bus tour. See what we can do and try to hit the most iconic stops,” she said.
However, it is unclear how to view the sights as it is a half-hour drive to the train station from Polperro, followed by a 4 hour 26 minute journey from Liskeard to London.
The anonymous man revealed that this trip would be the first time the family of four has traveled abroad
The day ends with a four-hour train journey back to Penrith. But at least they left Friday off to see how they feel.
‘Friday – open. Rest if you’re exhausted or try to see Stonehenge or a castle if you’re feeling ambitious,” the woman wrote. “Saturday – Day of departure,” the tourist wrote.
Finally, she asked others what they thought of the program: ‘What do you think of the itinerary? Enough? Not enough? Too many?’
Hundreds of Brits took to the comments section to share their thoughts on the travel plans, with many calling them ridiculous.
One said: ‘The only thing you’ll see with this route is the inside of your rental car.
‘The most egregious is the drive from Penrith to Cornwall for one night, and the attempt to make much of the same journey as a day trip on Friday.
‘There’s enough to do in the Lake District for a week without the rest.’
A second person agreed, writing: ‘Dear God, no! That amount of travel is simply not feasible. The Lake District is beautiful, but not a base to see London or Cornwall.
“I mean, just use Google Maps and see how long it takes to drive to these places. You only see our highways. And traffic jams. Many of them.’
A third sarcastically joked: ‘A quick trip to Paris from London could definitely be in the cards.’
A fourth added: ‘I actually laughed out loud. You’re not planning on seeing anything when you arrive at these places, are you?’
Another wrote: ‘This is one of the most amazing routes I have ever seen.’
A sixth added: ‘I’m going to leave another comment hoping you see it and think about it.
‘Please listen to us. We don’t want you to have a bad time and ruin a trip that you are clearly very excited about.
“You can have an idyllic experience and do all the things you mentioned if you scale things back. If you don’t do that, you won’t have that experience.’
However, the woman took things in stride and returned with an update to her post.
“Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their thoughts,” she said. “There are so many warnings about driving conditions that I definitely see that as a bigger obstacle. Weather will play the biggest role in some of these decisions.
‘Polperro hotel and bus tour in London can be refunded up to a week before the visit so I will keep an eye on the weather. Be sure to reserve Sunday, Monday and Friday as open for anything, and make a list of possible destinations.
‘Jet lag, weather, etc. will be decisive. When we arrive at our destination, we ask some locals for advice.
‘Time will tell: the plan will work or it won’t. We remain flexible and try to maintain a sense of humor and wonder. I look forward to the adventure, hope for the best, but accept the reality that it will not go to plan and we will have to adapt.”