Student Travel in the UK
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Student travel in the UK Team members: Lin Liao, Jesse Chen, Chuck Wang, Neil Liu Facebook link: ‘Student travel in the UK’ https://www.facebook.com/Student-Travel-in-the- UK-1283576954992622/?fref=ts1 Contents Introduction- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -3 Food- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -4 How to get food information- - - - - 5 Accommodation- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 6 Transportation- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7-10 Bus- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -7 Car- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 8 Train- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -9 Plane- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -10 Recommended travel plan- - - - - - -11 2 Introduction The UK has a very long history and has made a great contribution to human civilization. There are a lot of famous tourist attractions in the UK, like Stonehenge, Big Ben, British Museum, etc. These tourist attractions do not only attract tourists to come to the UK, but also international students would like to study in these beautiful islands. This guide book will give internation- al students information and advice to help them plan their trips in the UK. Stonehenge Stonehenge was built in about 4000- 2000 BC. It is located in Wiltshire, Salisbury Plain, which is the famous prehistoric cultural stone circle in Europe. Source from: Google maps Big Ben Big Ben is located in London on the Thames, one of the landmarks of London. The Clock tower is 95 me- ters high, 7 meters in diameter. The bell weighs 13.5 tons, and rings every 15 minutes. The Brish Museum Source from: Google maps The British Museum is located in new Oxford street to the north of Russell square, which was founded in 1753. The British Museum is the oldest and most magnificent com- 3 prehensive museum in the world. Source from: Google maps Food As we all know, food plays an important part in our travel. No matter what transportation you choose to reach your destination or what landscape you really want to appreciate, you must be definitely exhausted and starved after a hectic traveling schedule. This article will recommend various kinds of food and methods of finding these foods you are looking forward to. Fish & Chips The culture of food in Britain is known for Fish & Chips. Even though there are so many shops sell- ing it, different districts still have dif- ferent tastes. More importantly, the tourists can realize local conditions through tasting the local specialty. Chain food Chain food can be easier for the tour- ists to accept, because this type of food is less greasy and has more choices than fish & chips. In addi- tion, the travelers can find them any- where at anytime. Fast food Wherever you travel, fast food al- ways can be one choice. Fast food has lots of advantages, such as less time for waiting, lower price and so on. Thus, it is particularly suitable for people who don’t have much time. 4 How to get food information? Google maps is a very good method to get food information even if you travel alone. Recommend order Website name Website link 1 Take-Away Website hp://www.waimai.co.uk 2 Ziferblat hp://ziferblat.net 3 BBC Good Food hp://bbcgoodfood.com 4 Friday Canteen hp://www.tgifridays.co.uk/ 5 HelloFresh hp://www.hellofresh.com/ 6 Spoontrip hp://spoontrip.com/ Above are some useful links for you to find your favorite food online. You can also find out some ranking list in these websites, which can help you to make the choice because you have limited money and time to enjoy the food. 5 Accommodation The following graph illustrates what type of accommodation international students would like to stay in while travelling in the UK. For this particular survey, we gathered 42 responses and the options included hostel, hotel, rented flat, resort and others. The choice of hotel was by far the largest, which had 76% of the votes. This can be compared to the choice of resort which was approximately one seventh of the choice of the hotel. The choice of hostel gathered 35% of the vote, followed by rented flat with 23% of the vote. All of these 4 types of accommodation far outweighed the choice of others. We also noticed that some students would have chosen Airbnb instead of all the given options. We believe that apps like Airbnb will be sig- nificantly beneficial to internation- al students because they are intui- tive and user friendly. In conclu- sion, we recommend hotels as the best type of accommodation for international students and Airbnb for students who are willing to find their choices via new technology. Major accommodaon booking websites: Google maps is also a great tool to help stu- -hotelscombined.com (Search for the low- dents get around in the city. It can give you est price of a specific hotel.) directions and the public transport timeta- ble near your location to help you decide -booking.com (The most popular website where to book your accommodation. for hotel booking. ) -agoda.com (Have more hotels than book- ing.) 6 -tripadvisor.com (Find rankings for differ- ent hotels.) Transportation Bus Bus is a very good way to travel to places near Aberystwyth. From Monday to Saturday, you are able to use the regular buses from Aberystwyth to near- by destinations. These maps show bus routes which operate at least five days a week. Source from: Google maps Source from: Naonal express Online booking websites: 7 hp://www.naonalexpress.com/home.aspx Car Driving is the most relaxing way to travel. Near Aberystwyth, the A44 road climbs through the Cambrian Hills from the east and down to the coast, and the A487 road offers spectacular views over Cardigan Bay from the north to the south. Also, from Aberystwyth, you can drive to the majority of cities in the UK. Distance from Aberystwyth to: If you want to hire a car when you're in Aberystwyth, try Europcar (hp:// www.europcar.co.uk/) or Hertz (hps://www.hertz.co.uk/rentacar/ reservaon/) (both offer Aberystwyth as a pick-up locaon), or browse local car hire companies(hp://www.thephonebook.bt.com/). You can drop your car at any depot of these companies in any city or town. 8 Train According to our survey, train is the most popular transport in the UK. Regular train services are provided from Aberystwyth to north Wales and the Midlands. You are able to get a train every hour at the railway station, which is located in the town centre of Aberystwyth. Traveling by train can save a lot of money compared to car and plane. You can directly buy your tickets at the railway station or book it online through retailers like Virgin Trains (https://www.virgintrains.co.uk/) and the Arriva Trains Wales website, these useful websites can save a lot of money for you. You can also buy your tickets directly on the train. Small Tips i. If you can choose, it is usually easier to change trains at Wolverhampton or Birmingham International than at Birmingham New Street. ii. Trains to Aberystwyth are mostly combined with trains to Pwllheli, where the two halves divide at Machynlleth. The train also reverses its direction at Shrewsbury, so be sure to check the information screens and announce- ments carefully and choose the correct section to go. iii. National Rail cards (http://www.railcard.co.uk/) are also available for people aged over 60, under 26, disabled9 and in full-time education, as well as for people travelling with children. Plane Landscape and castles in Scotland are famous around the world. The best way to travel from Aberystwyth to Scotland is plane. You can fly to Edin- burgh airport from Birmingham. You should first take the train to Birming- ham and transfer to the plane. The plane is as cheap as travel by train to Ed- inburgh, and it will save plenty of time. Birmingham Airport Birmingham International is the most convenient airport for Aberystwyth, because you can take the train from Aberystwyth directly to the airport and do not have to walk. London Heathrow airport is also a good choice because of its wide choice of flights and cheap price. Cardiff's airport is comparative- ly convenient if travelling by your own car. Birmingham International Airport - BHX The airport has its own railway station with regular direct trains from Aber- ystwyth which takes about 3½ hours. Online booking website: hps://www.expedia.co.uk/ 10 Recommended travel plan Travel plan one (Aberystwyth to London) Start from Aberystwyth, use the train from Aberystwyth to Brimingham, then come to London, you can stay in London for 3 or 4 days, to feel the British culture, then go to Cambridge, punting in the river, and feel the serenity of this old university city. Then go to Oxford, you can see the old buildings and go to Bicester Village for shopping. After shopping, go to Bath, to have a spa, to relieve fatigue, Finally, go back to Aberystwyth. Tips You just need to buy off-peak return tickets, form aberystwyth to London, you can use the return ticket to stop at Cambridge, Oxford, Bath, and Birming- ham. Travel plan two (London to Scotland) You will see different culture between Wales and Scotland after taking the plane to Edinburgh. (Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh Old Town, Edinburgh Castle, Calton Hill, and the Royal Mile) Then go to Newcastle Upon Tyne, the bars and casinos are famous. If you have spare money, it can be a good choice. Through the York, the most popular city in the UK, have a afternoon tea, and feel the old wall. After those three places, you have two choices, one is go back to London and take the train to Aberystyth. The second choice is go to Manchester and take the train to Aberystwyth.