We spent six weeks in Great Britain in 2025, in England and Scotland. The following are the highlights of the trip for us, listed in the order we visited them.
Portsmouth, England – Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
As many of you know, we are big fans of Maritime Museums and visit them worldwide. The Portsmouth Historic Dockyard was by far the best maritime museum we have been to anywhere. To visit the entire museum would take days. We took one day and visited several of the attractions. They were all good on their own and would be a star in any maritime museum. But, by far the most spectacular and amazing was the Mary Rose Museum, housing the wreck of Henry VIII’s flagship, the Mary Rose, which had sunk off of the coast of Portsmouth in 1545. Because the starboard side was submerged in mud and silt, that side of the ship and its contents were mostly intact and well preserved when it was raised from the seafloor in 1982.
The remains of the ship itself are in a humidity-controlled chamber – the scale is hard to convey in a picture, and the condition of the vessel is mind-blowing.
There were many displays of the contents of the ship, also in amazing condition. The ship and its contents are some of the best-preserved and one of the largest collections of items from the Tudor era that still survive.
London, England – Pekham Neighborhood
I do not plan to move to London, but if I did, this is where I would live.
We had a terrible Airbnb in London, thankfully for only a few nights. But fortunately, it was in an awesome neighborhood, with a micro neighborhood a few blocks away with many shops and restaurants. The pizza we had in one of them was the best we have had since we were in Naples (the birthplace of pizza) – the owner/chef is from Naples, so that explains it.
We also took our first opportunity to try a “Sunday Roast” in a local pub. This is a meal with all of the “fixings” that I associated most closely with Thanksgiving. We both had the ham since they were out of many of the other meat/vegetarian choices. Most local pubs have “Sunday Roast” every Sunday until they run out. In general we enjoy pubs in Britain – they seem to be an extension of people’s homes in the neighborhood, and you are welcome to stay as long as you want with absolutely no rush or expectation that you leave in any particular timeframe. They also generally have reasonably priced food, although the quality does vary.
Manchester, England – Grainger Market
One of the joys of our travels in 2025 in the European Union (Italy and France specifically) was the wonderful food markets. There are fewer in the United Kingdom, but Manchester has one – the Grainger Market. The market has not only produce, but any kind of food or seasoning you could want, along with clothes and probably just about anything else you need or want to buy. You could probably shop only in this one place if necessary.
We purchased a lot of good things in the market, but the highlight was some amazing seafood, mostly from Scotland, providing a preview of our next destination.
Edinburgh, Scotland – Royal Botanic Garden
We often seek out green spaces when travelling, particularly in cities. The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh was one of the best we have been to. We spent around four hours there, including lunch. We particularly enjoyed all of the different species of trees; we met several nice ones. Many of the various plant collections are the largest outside of their native country.
Oban, Scotland – small seaside town with a fun distillery
Oban is Gaelic for “little bay.” The population is just over 8000 people, although it is much busier in the summer due to tourism. Although the area has been used by humans since at least Mesolithic times (15,000 – 5000 BC), the town itself was not founded until after growth around the Oban Distillery. The distillery was founded in 1794.
We enjoyed waterfront and other walks around the town. We did a tour of the distillery, still in the same building and location. The whisky (known as scotch outside of Scotland) is very good, and being a small-batch distillery, very expensive. We enjoyed the tour, and I would recommend it to anyone who visits the area.
Loch Lomond National Park, Scotland – cabin time
We felt very fortunate to be able to visit a national park and stay in a cabin while travelling by train! There is a train stop for the resort of Ardlui within Loch Lomond National Park, and we were able to stay a few nights in a cabin there. Loch Lomond is the largest lake in Great Britain by surface area.
We had to bring in our own food and beverages (other than water) since there are no stores in the area, so our suitcases and backpacks were a bit heavier than normal. There was a nice restaurant in the hotel, and it was open for dinner (and lunch) to non-guests. We ate dinner there two of the three nights we stayed, something we had planned in order to reduce the amount of food we needed to bring with us. We finally tried haggis the first night! To me it tasted similar to bread stuffing served on Thanksgiving, the type that has ground organ meat in the recipe.
On our one full day in the park, we took a small ferry over to the other side of the lake in order to hike a small section of the “West Highland Way,” Scotland’s first and most well-known long-distance trail.
Glasgow, Scotland – side trip to Troon
For us, Glasgow is just a large city; we did not find anything special or unique about it. I did find it interesting learning that the population is very partial to either being British/Protestant or being Scottish/Celtic/Catholic, and their loyalty to one of the two local football (soccer) teams reflects that.
We did enjoy a nice day trip from Glasgow to the seaside town of Troon. Troon’s population is around 15,000. We had a nice beach walk, walked around the town, and had lunch in a restaurant near the marina. It was a nice day and escape from the city.
Southampton, England – Ocean Village neighborhood
Our last stop in Great Britain was in Southampton. We stayed in a condo overlooking the marina in the Ocean Village neighborhood. We always love marinas and enjoyed walking along the waterfront from our condo. There were a few small grocery stores and some restaurants in the neighborhood, and it was reasonably close to other shopping (within our walking distance) as needed. We were within a long walk to the cruise ship terminal, convenient for our next adventure, a transatlantic cruise back to the US.
