Day 6: Start of the Trafalgar Tour, to Stratford Upon Avon, York, Harrogate

Here’s the fifth post sharing our adventures in the British Isles and Ireland from September 29 to October 17, 2025, for genealogy, business, and sightseeing. Hope you enjoy it!

Saturday, October 4, 2025

We were instructed by John, our Trafalgar tour director, to leave our bags outside of our rooms at 7:00 a.m. for “porterage” this morning. That’s fancy talk for, “We don’t trust you to be able to bring your own bags downstairs on time.”

Breakfast was also at seven, and we were to show our faces to John, at 7:30 a.m. 

            #1 I don’t like to leave my bag in any hallway unattended. Didn’t we learn that from airport security?

            #2 I didn’t trust them to really pick up my bag and put it on the Trafalgar “coach.” 

Well, sometimes you must trust the people who do this for a living. I’m not good at that. I wondered what would happen if they left our bags behind! Our bus was taking us up north. How would they ever get our bags to us? Thankfully, they did NOT forget our bags.

Once all the travelers were accounted for, we boarded our coach. On the first day, we sat wherever we wanted, but on subsequent days, there was a rotation so no one got stuck in the back or in a less-than-desirable seat for the whole trip. I was excited to see where we were assigned each day. Me, the introvert, who is genuinely curious about people.

John, our travel director, is from west London. He’s been working in this field for 15 years and leads trips all over Europe. Paul, who resembles Scottish singer Nathan Evans, was our driver.

We were told we would have the same bus for the whole trip. On our Australia/New Zealand Collette trip, we had different drivers and buses, but of course, we also took eight flights within Australia and New Zealand. The bus for this trip would even be driving onto the ferry when we crossed over to Ireland. I wondered how that would work. John said the trip to Ireland takes about two hours and we’d have to get out of the bus and walk around or sit on the decks. 

So, off we went! We stopped about two hours out of London for a bathroom break and about twenty minutes after that, we arrived in Stratford upon Avon, the place where Shakespeare was born and died. In between those two points, he went to London to make his fortune as an actor, playwright, and businessman.

On the way, John gave us some information about the tour and the region. Here are some:

1. You don’t need to tip every time you get a drink. If you’re in a pub for a while, you might do so and tell the bartender, “Get one for yourself.” At the end of their shift, they can enjoy one on you.
2. John would take care of tipping for all included meals.
3. We opted to pay John’s and Paul’s tips in advance. On our Australia trip, we ran around looking for an ATM on our last day in Melbourne, so this was less of a headache.
4. For independent meals, John told us restaurants usually add a 10 percent “service charge.” We had already witnessed this on our first day in London.
5. Currency: We used Pound sterling in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland and Euros in the Republic of Ireland. The only cash we needed was for tipping as they are generally cashless. 
6. John said to enjoy spending money on vacation. He said, “That’s what credit cards are for, right?” We only had so much space in our luggage, though!
7. Tap water would be drinkable during our trip. We had to get comfortable with that, because we don’t even drink tap water at home.
8. The accents are very diverse for just a couple of islands.
9. October is a good time of year for doing traveling in the British Isles and Ireland. The trees are changing. It’s not too cold. Still, it is the start of the stormy season, and he advised to always carry a raincoat or umbrella.
10. The Scottish highlands get full-on snow, while London might get snow once a winter. The Gulf Stream makes the climate milder and wetter than you’d think for their latitude. Perhaps that’s why we saw palm trees in London.
11. Fun fact: Swans are protected in Great Britain. They are all owned by the royal family. To kill one is to commit treason!

As we headed toward Shakespeare’s birthplace, John shared interesting facts with us:

1. Stratford Upon Avon is distinguished from other Stratfords in the country, and there are also several Avon rivers, because Avon is a Celtic term for river. 
2. Shakespeare is England’s national playwright.
3. He wrote around two plays per year. Comedies, histories, then tragedies when he was older.
4. The bard retired at age 52 and died a couple of years later. His grave is in Stratford Upon Avon. He died on, what they guess is, his birthday, April 23, which is Britain’s national day. It is also St. George’s Day, England’s patron saint. 
5. There are no direct descendants of Shakespeare. He had two children but no grandchildren.
6. John read the passage “all the world’s a stage,” from Shakespeare’s play As you Like It. It discusses the seven stages of life from infancy to second childhood and eventual oblivion.

In Stratford upon Avon, we toured Shakespeare’s childhood home. It was so cool to think that Shakespeare once spent time in the place where I was standing. We learned about his family and the history of the building. Afterward, we had time to walk around the town and do some shopping. Here are some photos. Note the creative use of a decommissioned phone booth.

Next Stop, York

Here are just a few fun facts:

1.   King George VI said the history of England is the history of York, reflecting the city’s significant role throughout England’s history from Roman times through the Anglo-Saxon and Viking eras.

2.   York was the political center for the War of the Roses (1455-1487), in which the House of Lancaster and the House of York fought for the English throne, with Henry Tudor (House of Lancaster) emerging as king.

3.   York has two rivers, the River Foss and the River Ouse, which offers easy access from the sea, inviting invading forces, including the Vikings.

Along the way to York, John passed out little listening devices with an earphone so we could hear him as he led various tours. They called it a VOX (voice activation exchange), and it really did help us hear the various guides during walking tours. We returned the device at the end of the trip, but the earphone was ours to keep (throw away). I was glad that the earphone was in a package and new.

The city of York was very busy and was mostly foot traffic where we were. Many cute small shops lined the street. John pointed out one street that was formerly a Roman road that led to the River Ouse.

We made our way through the historic Shambles, which is such a quaint name for this medieval street. Timber-framed buildings, dating back to the 14^th century, once housed the city’s butcher shops. The overhanging second floors were designed to keep the display meat in the shade.

We then headed toward the old cathedral, York Minster, which was once Catholic, and is now run by Church of England. The only requirement to be a city in England is to have a cathedral.

John left us at York Minster, and we had about an hour on our own to wander around. During that time, Storm Amy caught up with us. The wind turned my umbrella inside out! Storm Amy originated as Hurricane Humberto in the Caribbean, but once these storms get to England, they became European storms with a different name.

After York, we headed to Harrogate, a spa resort town, for the night. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Harrogate, which treated us to a nice buffet dinner and tasty breakfast the next morning. The room was pleasant, but the mattress and pillows were like concrete. Others said so, too! Maybe two hours’ of sleep?