As an international PhD student in the UK, one of the common experiences we may encounter is to have families visiting us in this foreign land where we are living and studying. In this week’s blog, Ivy shares her experience of showing her families around the UK.
Since living and studying in the UK, I have had the pleasure of having some family over to visit, and I’ve loved showing them round some cities in the UK. I had family with children visiting, and so my advice in this blog is best for people travelling with children under 10.
Travel itinerary
An itinerary of classic sightseeing is always suitable for people visiting the UK for the first time. This means cities like London, Oxford and Cambridge, or Edinburgh are always great places to visit. But for our family, it was best to stick to one or two regions of the UK, so we mainly travelled around the Midlands area including Birmingham, Coventry, and Stratford-upon-Avon, with two days in London. Travelling with young kids, we felt this would result in less fatigue and tiredness. In London, we spent two days visiting the iconic sites, including Big Ben, the British Museum, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace and the Globe Theatre. We also visited Science Museum and Natural History Museum, since my 7-year-old nephew is a science and nature fan.
One important lesson that I have learned from our trip is that for traveling with small children, it is essential to arrange enough time for rest and things to attract their attention. For one thing, places which are fascinating to adults could be extremely boring for a kid under 10. For another, if the kid does not feel intrigued, he/she will get tired very quickly and sometimes may refuse to move, which could not only disrupt our travel plan but sometimes ruin the good feelings of visiting a foreign country. We also ensured there were times of rest and relaxation for us, so some afternoons were spent playing board games and visiting parks.
Travel preparation
For your families to enjoy the convenience of mobility in the UK as well as to save the cost of traveling, some travel preparation could be done in advance before your loved ones arrive at your place.
We know that it costs much to use the public transportation in the UK. Therefore, it would make sense to purchase a Families & Friends railcard if train would be a main transportation for your traveling between different places in the UK. You would need to pay £30 for this card and enjoy one-year-round benefits. Specifically, with this railcard, 4 adults and 4 kids (aged 5-15) could travel together and enjoy 1/3 off train travel for adults and 60% off for kids. For more options of railcard, you could check this website : railcard. co.uk.
If London is on your itinerary, it is advisable to pre-order an Oyster card, either a physical card or on the App for your adult family members if they do not have a UK bank card. This card offers pay as you go and would be cheaper than buying a paper single or return ticket and save you time and trouble when lining up to purchase a ticket. For children aged 0-4, they are free to travel in all types of transportation and there is no need to get any card for them and there is no problem for adults to carry them in their arms. For kids aged 5-10, it is recommended to order a 5-10 Zip Oyster photocard. Although kids of such age enjoy the same free transportation on all buses and tubes in London except for using boat services (50% off adult fee), with this card, they could enjoy the freedom of traveling through the ticket barriers just like an adult with a contactless or an oyster card. Without this card, adults could experience a challenging time carrying them the ticket checking barriers and if they try to walk through the barriers themselves by following adults, there is a danger that they may get stuck by the barriers. This unfortunately happened to my nephew when he tried to pass the barrier himself without a card.
It is worth noting that it takes five working days for a physical card of both cards mentioned above to arrive at your doorstep after you place the order. Therefore, it is necessary to purchase this one week before your loved ones arrived if London is in your plan.
I hope this blog has been helpful for when your family comes to visit in the UK. I had a wonderful time seeing mine alongside some beautiful sites across the country.
Have you shown families and friends round the UK? Where did you visit? Let us know by tweeting us @researchex, messaging us on Instagram @warwicklibrary, or emailing us at libraryblogs@warwick.ac.uk
If you’d like to read more, check out Gunisha’s blog on dealing with homesickness, or have a read of Ellie’s blog on how you’re allowed to take holidays.
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