h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Further to the post I just made, it occurs to me that in addition to going places and looking at stuff, coming to the UK offers the opportunity to sample a different kind of cuisine than one may be used to. So... what should Amy P eat?

My own suggestions of UK culinary experiences not to be missed:
- McDonalds, for comparison with McD's you're used to (if you're used to them?)
- a Gregg's pasty, eaten out of the bag while walking down the street
- proper battered fish (cod or haddock) and chips with lashings of salt and vinegar, eaten with the fingers or a small wooden or plastic fork out of the paper while sitting on a bench looking out at a body of water. Ideally, if you throw a chip up into the air it should be intercepted by a seagull before it hits the ground.
- the aforementioned proper Sunday dinner with all the trimmings
- some form of unbelievably heavy stodgy pudding (e.g. sticky toffee pudding). Bonus points for needlessly double entendre name (i.e. spotted dick).
- bright, bright red chicken tikka masala, with chapatis, not rice. Yes, in England.
- a full English breakfast, to include AS A MINIMUM bacon, fried egg(s), sausages, baked beans, fried white bread and HP sauce and plenty of hot tea. Optional extras to include fried mushrooms, grilled tomato, hash browns, black pudding. Ideally served in a roadside caff. Breakfast of champions.
- Cadbury's Dairy Milk and a Cadbury's Creme Egg (may not be available when you're here, get someone to save you one)
- Uncle Joe's Mint Balls (keep you all aglow)

I doubt you'll get out of Edinburgh without having consumed some shortbread. This is not, for me, a good thing, but I'm told some people like it.

Any other suggestions?

Melton Mowbray pork pie
Stilton cheese on a Jacob's cream cracker
Fray Bentos steak and kidney pie (you won't find this in a restaurant - buy in supermarket and bake in an oven).
Bird's custard on the aforementioned heavy stodgy pudding.
Crisps. I like the Kettle Chips brand, personally, but others are available.
Cream tea (pot of tea served with scones, clotted cream and jam) - to die for.

I think you're pudding Amy on the spot.

A cheeseboard for the full range of British cheeses.
Pimms
My Pimms trifle
Apple crumble
Bread pudding (can buy from Greggs with the pasty, that's what I usually do)
With the roast dinner, stuffing wrapped in bacon
Plus all the stuff already mentioned. I'd also add a pineapple fritter to the fish and chips.

I'm getting a weird urge to throw a h2g2 dinner party now. I don't even DO dinner parties.

But I did once have to provide a British 3 course meal to a group of European delegates. The starter was Stilton and pear tart but I'm blessed if I can recall the rest of it.

Mol

Monty Python once staged a tennis match with a blancmange.

I was actually going to start a thread about food, but this works too. Even if it means that there will never be

What should Amy P eat?
A small matchbox sized lump of cheese

in the Surreal Connections thread

Actually, 'tis just as well--I can see someone going and reviving "A small piece of Blu-Tac" (or whatever the title was) just for the juxtaposition

I'm definitely picking up some marmite while I'm over there--Pastey brought me some when he visited over here a few years ago and, while I found that I don't like it on toast, I love it as a seasoning. I was already planning on a full english breakfast, though I don't like baked beans--beans should not be sweet! It's just wrong!

And real life distracted me... I was also going to say that I have plenty of opportunities to get mobbed by seagulls here--mostly herring gulls--so I'd likely be greedy with my chips

Where is it that does mushy peas?

Fish and chip shops sell mushy peas. They're served in a dainty styrofoam cup.

Fish and chip shops in Edinborough also sell battered/deep fried Mars bars.
Unmissable I would think.

http://www.greatbase.co.uk/deep-fried-mars-bars-in-edinburgh/

Do plan some respite in between the hectic tourist visits of London, Manchester, Edinburgh etc. The most idyllic part of the country is the Lake District, but the New Forest or Dartmoor, the Downs or even the Yorkshire Dales will be more accessible from the places you will be seeing.

Or plan a day on the beach if you go to a coastal town.

Food to try in England, and no-one's mentioned Doner Kebabs!?!?!

I've a friend who's currently dying of cancer who'd never had a kebab, I made sure he tried one and he's now wondering why he put it off!

Okay, they're kinda a drunk food, but hey I had bacon/maple ice-cream when I met up with Amy

Not sure where fish and chips started, but the seaside towns do it better than the cities.


As for traditional English food, I'd stay away from pubs for it. It's all bought in frozen and microwaved.

Do definitely get a Full English while you're here, the reason the brits don't do bbq's as much as the Americans isn't the weather, it's because we can get our meat sweats from breakfast!

I managed to miss the deep fried Mars bars but I did manage to get in a proper drunken kebab my last night in Edinburgh.

For the first week I was in England I refused the beans at breakfast, then one morning I said what the heck, do it like the locals. I am not a big bean eater at any time - but they were good!

One B&B even offered poached eggs, I recommend them

I also enjoyed the 'Ploughman's Lunch', I have had them here in local pubs and even bring the parts home for supper often.

British bacon is not at all like American bacon, but not necessarily in a bad way, more like Southern 'fat back'

I opted for Portsmouth and a day on the Isle of Wight, but there is no way you can see everything in a week or two.

I found out that, for me, Gatwick was far more convenience than Heathrow. Be warned that the 'Black Cabs' at Hethrow charge an outrageous flat fee for their fare, sometimes 3 times more than a local private taxi you have to call to pick you up.

A note on train travel. If you do not load or depart at an end of the line station you may have to carry your bags over a bridge with stairs at both ends. I put several items in the bin just so I would not have to carry them anymore. And then I switched to the inter-city buses with baggage holds.

In London the buses are much more convenient than the tube. They are almost all double deckers, so even if you do not buy a tour you can ride one. Be sure to order an 'Oyster Card' They mail them to you before you leave home and they are ready to use as soon as you land. They only count in London though.

Before I left I purchased a UK cell-phone with a sim card. I found out I could not call my wife at home in the US with it, so I took it to a local Samsung store (it was one of their phones) they sold me a new sim card for 30 pounds. It worked perfectly for the rest of the trip and I never ran out of minutes.

The others on here know far more about the UK, but I thought I would post a few thoughts from a fellow tourist

F S

Actually, FS, I was going to wander over your way here pretty soon--I've already asked BG some things... I'll most likely be flying in/out of Gatwick, as Ag says that it's much simpler to get to/from her place from there--one train vs. transferring things (though I don't know if I'll be staying at hers at both ends of the trip, or just when I arrive--RL is preventing me from spending all my time planning this trip--and I've still got copy to write for about this past summer's trip...)

Like I said earlier, there will definitely be a meet in Manchester. Is there anyone that would not be able to get to Manchester that would be interested in a meet in London and/or Edinburgh? Though there's a good likelihood that I'd be rather jetlagged for a London meet (yay coming from a timezone 8 hours behind yours!) as I'd be arriving on a Friday... But that just means I'd be more likely to actually talk (or babble...)

I recommend looking at all these options, then paring them down brutally.

Don't have a strict itinerary. Feel free to miss a destination or landmark and further explore the one you're currently at. If you find some place you're really enjoying and people you like stick there a day or two longer.

If you try to squeeze too much in you'll get frazzled. Better to enjoy a few places more than many places a bit.

True. The only bits I need to figure out dates for so far are the bits that I need to coordinate with others.

Oh, I updated the map with the airport that I'll most likely be leaving from, and the teeny expensive airport near my house--look for the markers on the west coast of the US, if you're interested

https://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=2044852#

Yes - don't travel with more than you can carry yourself if you are traveling by train.

Remember you will be staying with people who have washing machines, so you can do laundry without any problem!

Dear Amy. Do come and stay with me. I can find you the best fish and c hips in the world (with mushy peas if needed) and a full English breakfast with black pudding in a local café. Both these establishments are the other side of the market square where I live in a house that is between 250 and 300 tears old.I can take you round historic Lincoln and slightly less historic Grimsby and get you on a train to York and further north, Will go to fb to see where you're going

Oh, laundry!

Right AFTER I got back from my two week trip to the UK, I discovered you can buy "travel clothes lines". Just pick up some detergent when you arrive (stupid TSA rules) and you can clean your clothes in the hotel sink and hang them to dry in the bathroom or anywhere convenient if you lay a towel under them.

The one I got is a twisted pair of elastic cords and I can just squeeze bits of the clothes through the twists rather than needing clothespins.

Brilliant. Definitely would have come in handy that night in Edinburgh when I dripped some haggis into my shirt pocket.
I didn't notice it right away and I was finding bits of haggis after I got home.

Well, Wandrin', looks like I'm going to Lincoln (The FB group is mostly links to stuff I have here, for my elvised friends--though if anyone is here and wants to be there, and is my FB friend, poke at me and I'll add you)

Oo, BG, got a link? If you can't find a non-commercial one, you know where you can find me