The Environmental Policy Act, Part 19:

Getting There

Main -- House -- History -- Cornwall -- Getting There -- On the Road -- The Roads -- London -- The Far West -- Boring Details -- Updates

Well, admittedly, when you're invited to a house party thousands of miles away, it's not quite so convenient as when it's down the block. Sorry 'bout that. Here are some travel notes for the trip.

Getting to England:

Getting to England is obviously an airplane trip, and there are a lot of carriers who fly to the UK from major gateway cities. Most flights go into Heathrow (west of London) or Gatwick (south of London), but international flights also go to Manchester and Birmingham. Birmingham's the closest to Cornwall and Manchester's the farthest, but any of these would work. London is generally the likeliest just because you're likely to want to see London on the same trip and because it has so many more flights available.

What carrier to use? Well, first, a direct flight is strongly recommended. If you can sleep on the plane that's your best bet for sleep, and if you can't it's your shortest bout with the difficulty of sitting still for many hours. Whatever carriers are available from your departure city, the schedules for direct flights are all going to be about the same, with most flights leaving sometime in the afternoon/evening and arriving in the morning/midday. When choosing an airline, take a look at what amenities are available on long-haul flights. Some, such as British Airways, now put televisions in every seatback with access to a large library of movies and video games, which can really ease the long, long ride if, like us, you're among the people who can't really sleep sitting upright. An increasing number of carriers do this sort of thing, but some still don't--check SeatGuru or your airline's website to be sure--it can make a HUGE difference to your enjoyment/suffering. British Airways also has a "premium economy" class which is sometimes on sale for only about $100 above the standard economy seat--this is a wider seat with more leg room and recline, and well worth it when it can be had for not too much money. All airlines stink; BA, in our opinion, somewhat less so.

Order Indian food. It may be the worst Indian meal you've ever eaten, but it'll probably be the best airline meal you've ever eaten.

Oh, and...probably needless to say, but...make sure your passport is current!

Getting to Godolphin House:

It's about a five-hour drive from Heathrow if you take the biggest roads and do it in one shot. Here's a Google Maps picture to give you the idea:

Yes, that says five hours. This is one reason why we do not recommend emerging from a sleepless night on an airplane, groggily wandering to the rental car kiosk, and setting out to battle your sleep-demons in the strange mirror-image world where drivers sit on the right and cars go down the left of the road. Get some sleep first. Every human being needs a few days in London anyhow, so you might as well get 'em now.

And, for goodness' sake: bring a map. And, for even-gooder-ness' sake, bring a nav unit, even if you HATE nav units and would never, never, never use one. Trust us on this.

Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Disregard This Advice:

We raise these warnings because on our previous West-Country trip one party was mis-advised by the rental car people to take the M3 and A303 ("the scenic route," those monsters called it...), resulting in what can only be described as an eleven-hour phantasmagorical, dystopian, mapless stomp back and forth across southern England, punctuated by emergency restroom breaks in the weeds and enough adrenalin and shouting to destroy a person's calm for days. On vacation in a strange (well, odd, anyway) land, predictability is your ally.

Yikes! Do I hafta drive?

It's a reasonable, but long, drive from London. If you don't want such a long drive, there are other practical possibilities. You can take a train to Penryn or Camborne, leaving from Paddington Station (yes, the bear's station) in London, and we can pick you up at the station. Or, if you want to rent a car when you get off the train, that may be doable, too -- we don't know where the best places to get off the train to a rental car are, so you might need to do a bit of research on that, and might need to take the train to a larger station in order to do it. Once you are here, you will probably find that you want a car; however, it is also possible to do this sans car by hitching rides with us or with other guests on day-trips from the house.

If you drive, see our page on Roads. Here are a few general notes on driving in the UK.

The British, of course, drive on the left side of the road and have the driver's seat on the right side of the car. People seem to vary quite a bit in their response to having to flip the whole driving experience around mirror-image-wise. It can just sort of "click" once you recognize how it's like driving in the mirror, or it can really freak you out and give you trouble. One problem is that you can wind up trying to accommodate a "phantom car" in the same way that an amputee feels a phantom limb: even though the right side of the car ends a few inches from your right shoulder, you feel as though you've got to make room for the phantom right side of the car, and wind up riding hard over to the left of your lane. On the motorway (similar to US Interstate highways) this isn't much of a problem, but on narrow roads it becomes difficult. Be careful and stay safe.

Regarding car rentals, a British friend offers the following advice: car rental places near but not at Heathrow may be considerably cheaper than the same outfit at the airport itself. Not as convenient to get to, and more limited hours, but worth a check when you're booking a car. Another thought: if you take a National Express bus to Swindon and rent a car there, you can bypass the whole outskirts-of-London thing altogether, making for an easier start to your driving experience.

To minimize problems, a few recommendations: