Traveling Across England by Car and Bike as Americans

When you hear, as an American, about travel in England, most people from outside the country paint pictures in their minds of bright red, double-decker tourist buses and very efficient yet very crowded underground systems. While those are certainly forms of transportation found in the United Kingdom, they’re mostly confined to the city of London. Outside the city, cars are still used in high numbers, and to get to remote places in the English countryside, tourists will likely have to use a car or other form of road transportation at one point.

Other than driving on the other side of the road, though, there’s really nothing to worry about when driving on the other side of the Atlantic.

To get the most out of road travel in the UK, using a combination of bicycling and driving the car can serve you best. That way, you make the best time possible between two points in your travels, but can also efficiently tour the places you stop without having to spend the entire time in the car. Using a bike carrier, you can store quite a few bikes outside the rear hatch of your vehicle, making it more comfortable inside the car without bike handles and spokes taking up any leftover space.

Plan your route to do as much driving as possible during off-peak travel times, when the roads will be most clear and easy to navigate. If you’re not used to driving on the left side of the road, this will give you time to adjust to the changing dynamics of driving in the UK. Plus, it will be much faster than dealing with roadways during times of heavy traffic, when patience wears thin and road trips stop being fun and start becoming painful.

Once you reach any new city or other destination, find an easy-to-reach and easy-to-remember parking spot for your car. This is very important, as you want to be able to access your car anytime you may need to, and you don’t want to lose your car in a place with which you are unfamiliar. Then, you can unload those bikes from the bicycle carrier, and take off around town or anywhere to do some exploring and sightseeing.

England Travel and UK Nationality Information on this page is from my Stay in England UK from 2002 till 2010.

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