UK Logistics ✔︎

Back in early December, I booked a flight on Sun Express to get us from Turkey to the UK for our European Quest cruise roundtrip out of Southampton. The reason I picked Sun Express was that we can fly non-stop out of Izmir ... any flight that avoids connecting in Istanbul is a good thing IMHO.

The downside — well, not really since it gives us extra sightseeing time — is that Sun Express operates this flight on specific days. In this case, on 22 May. Our cruise departs on 25 May. Thus, our plan to fly in only a day before embarkation was replaced with a multi-day stay prior to the cruise.

The question then became — where to focus our limited time. My first instinct was to use Southampton as a base as that would work out well to visit Highclere Castle ... of Downton Abbey fame. Turns out that the castle is open to the public only on specific days, and the one that worked for us had an event scheduled. No can do ... don't want to deal with extra crowds. So, I shifted gears.

After consulting my Lonely Planet guidebook, I proposed to Mui that we visit the southeast corner of England, including Rye, which is described as "one of England's prettiest towns." It certainly seems like there is plenty of things to keep us occupied for more than two days, but we'll at least get a taste of what the region has to offer.

Today, Mui rented us a car ... at what I think is a reasonable rate considering we'll be picking up at Luton Airport and dropping off at Southampton port.

I wasn't idle either. I booked us into a B&B in Tenterden, which a TripAdvisor forum member suggested as a central location and described as "... a nice little town in the heart of some lovely countryside." Works for us. Ivy Cottage is highly rated by those who have stayed there and the property owners have already been in touch with us ... very welcoming.

Now to come up with some "fluid" sightseeing plans that we can adjust based on weather and other considerations once we arrive in England.Read more