2. PLAN YOUR TRIP

Decide when you want to go

We're going to tell you what you probably already know: the weather in England is continually awful. It rains almost every day (though most of it is drizzle-y), so there's no sense avoiding the rain season. Nonetheless, before committing to a travel date, you should check the forecast to see if there are any impending storms.

Our advice is that you plan your trip to England in early- to mid-October or in mid- to late-March. This is because:

  1. That's when flights are the cheapest.

  2. During the winter, the days grow very short; sunlight is sometimes limited to less than eight hours per day.

  3. The summer (especially July and August) brings in record-breaking numbers of tourists. If you want to get any sense of the "authentic" English experience, it will be very hard to do so with camcorders continuously whirring in your face.

Fly there

How else are you going to get to Enland? Canoe? The good news is that a flight to England is not as much of a financial strain as you might think. If you book a flight far enough in advance, you should be able to snag a roundtrip flight for about $400 (from the east coast, that is… bump that price up a little for a west coast departure).

Be sure to check the travel sections in major newspapers for any special deals or featured advertisements that might just want to send you an extra-cheap ticket. Organizations like STA Travel offers relatively inexpensive bookings for students, moochers, and other young people.

Our best advice, though, is in our article "SYW buy cheap airline tickets?," so we suggest you check that out. Some other sites to consider:

Virgin Atlantic
British Airways
If you are really close to broke (like "eating Spaghetti-Os out of an old shoe" broke), we're sorry to tell you that you probably shouldn't go to England quite yet. Stuff in England is crazy expensive, and even just backpacking through Europe - the cheapest way to go - can cost thousands of dollars. But if you're determined, you might consider flying as an air courier. That'll knock a couple hundred dollars off your ticket price.

Prepare your money

You might as well prepare your cash before you go, because you won't have any when you come home. Anyway, banks generally boast better exchange rates that airport traders, so you'll be doing yourself a favor. Rates may fluctuate slightly and are actually more favorable now than they were in 1999. Still, $1 US is currently equivalent to approximately .64 pounds. So do the math, and you'll figure out that a McDonald's lunch that costs $5 at home will cost about $8 in England.

As for getting cash while on the island, ATM machines are usually prepared for Cirrus, Maestro and Plus cards. If you're lucky enough to bank at a chain with branches in London (like Citibank), your ATM balance will let you know how broke you are in dollars AND in pounds. Then you'll have the cultural experience of being poor in TWO monetary systems!