Whoo Hooo! Booked my trip to the UK today ....

[Ed SW Fla]

.... it's the trip I was supposed to go on last year that I had to cancel due to working with the police to arrest my former store manager for stealing. Was able to use frequent flyer / credit card miles for the airline ticket from Fort Myers to Manchester, UK ... so my round trip airfare was $208 for the security / airport fees.

Keith and I will head to the UK in mid August for a 13 day trip ... will give us 10 days of detecting plus travel out and back from the USA to the UK..

Bad news is that the British pound is now about $2 USA and a USA gallon of gas in the UK is just barely under $10 USA per gallon. We rent a manual transmission car just big enough to hold us 2 guys and our stuff. Good news is that when me and Keith die, we can't take any money with us so we'll buy the gas, rent the car, stay at B&B's, consume a pint or so of terrific UK beer ... and plan to have lots of fun and perhaps find some good stuff.

Wish all you forum guys / gals could join us .... although it might get a bit crowded in the tiny car.

 

[Brian(upstateNY)]

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[General Ray]

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[Craig in Alabama]

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[MK_(MO)]

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[Brian(upstateNY)]

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[Bobbie]

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[Brian(upstateNY)]

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[Butch in Colorado]

Congrats, hope you and Keith find some goodies!!! Stay away from the Pints......

 

[Jigflipper]

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[Ed SW Fla]

.... use the hatch back door to barely fit 4 suitcases (2 each) packed with clothing, USA food snacks, and detecting equipment in the back. Imagine a dune buggy with a small trunk and a roof.

 

[Vernon in Virginia~Formerly Alaska]

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[Ed SW Fla]

... we like to stay at B&B's above or within walking distance of the small town (we are talking a town / village population of less than 300 people) pub. As soon as we speak, all the farmers in the pub look over at us since most of these small towns haven't seen or heard a "Yank" since WW2. One will eventually ask, "Where ya from Yank?" When we tell them, the next question is almost always, "What the bloody hell are you doing here?"

We smile, hold up our pint, and say "we were trying to go to Orlando to see Mickey Mouse and made a very fortunate wrong turn because this is about the best beer we ever tasted." Brit's are very proud of their local / regional beers and ale so they appreciate the comment. Then we buy them a pint, they buy us one, we buy them one, they buy us one ..... which is unusual because where we go, the folks are quite frugal and rarely buy someone else a beer.

During this beer exchange process, we tell them we are here to do some metal detecting for a few days if we can find someone to give us permission to detect their land. Since they realize we won't be there to bug them every weekend, we always get permission from at least one or two farmers in the pub that night. Thus, we have have come to the conclusion, beer is a very necessary metal detecting tool!

 

[Ed SW Fla]

.... before we return it. Can you imagine how muddy it can get when detecting fields in rain / after rain. So far we are not allowed to be repeat customers of four car rental dealerships. One guy tried to charge us about $200 USA extra because we didn't bring the car back as clean as it was when we hired it .... and it really wasn't THAT bad .... just needed some vac on the floor mats and a good hose down to get the chunks off the wheel wells.

 

[Ed SW Fla]

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[Ed SW Fla]

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[Ed SW Fla]

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[Ed SW Fla]

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