Our family vacation to England and France during the summer of 2012 was by far, one of the best vacations I have ever been on. It was a ten-day, jam-packed trip, as we attempted to see and do as much as possible, including riding the London Eye, touring the University of Oxford, exploring a number of cathedrals and castles, seeing a production at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, seeing the Mona Lisa, placing a "Love Lock" on the famous Pont de l'Archeveche Bridge, cruising the Seine, climbing to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and of course, visiting Stonehenge. For me, being at Stonehenge was my favorite part of the trip by far and I can still picture being there to this day and how incredible it was to be standing near the mysterious and massive stone attraction.
One entire day of our vacation was dedicated to taking a guided tour on which we went to Windsor, Oxford, and Stonehenge. We traveled in a nice, clean, comfortable charter bus, which had snacks available, was air-conditioned, equipped with a bathroom, and included reclinable seats. I chose the window seat for the entire day's journey so I would not miss a second of the action or a chance to view the beautiful scenery. Once we were at the respected location, the group on the bus tour would have ample time to walk around and explore the area.
We had a lovely female tour guide accompanying us who did a remarkable job throughout the entirety of the day. She was native to England, but was also fluent in Spanish. Whenever she would announce something to the group, she would also repeat everything she said in Spanish for those who only spoke Spanish. I asked our tour guide a lot of questions throughout the day and she was kind enough to answer every single one of them with ease. For example, I asked how long Stonehenge has been in existence. The answer, approximately 3,500 years.
Along with having a very knowledgeable tour guide with us every step of the way, upon arriving at Stonehenge we had the choice to continue exploring with the group, or carry on independently and use the audio-guided tour option in which one receives a handheld listening device and headphones for a small additional fee. The audio recorder is loaded with numerous interesting facts about the attraction, history and surrounding area. My family chose to purchase the audio devices for all three of the stops we made during the day and in my opinion, I preferred it much better than going along with the larger group tour for this facet of our trip. The audio commentary is triggered based on specific location points and as such, we were able to go at our own pace and could listen and learn many additional interesting facts and anecdotes about the destination we were touring.
I feel that the tour taken by us and the other fifty group members had a positive impact on the local areas. We were not limited to only visiting the three destination spots on our tour. Stopping at Stonehenge, if people desired to, could travel a few miles to the towns of Salisbury or Amesbury to do some shopping or get something to eat. We chose not to visit those local towns but we did a lot of additional exploring around the University of Oxford. I bought an Oxford long sleeve tee-shirt from a local vendor and we enjoyed dinner at a local pub. As I stated, there certainly appeared to be a positive impact as a result of tourists' spending money in the local towns, enjoying the local restaurants and purchasing a wide variety of souvenir merchandise.
This one-day trip to Windsor, Oxford and Stonehenge was my favorite day of our vacation for several reasons. Yes it was a long, busy and tiring day, but that's what made it so much fun. We went to three very popular tourist destinations in just one day and learned so much about their history while we were touring. Also, Stonehenge was a place I wanted to visit ever since I was a young child. There is something about the mystery and the unknown backstory of how the large stones came to be standing in a circle which really drew me to this attraction, and I am forever glad I was able to go. read more