Kent! :) - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

Kjeldahl · 02-03-2007, 10:50 AM

Hello everybody,

This is my first message on this board and I hope you can help me a little bit; I was planning a little trip to England from April 27th to May 1st.
I went to London and Canterbury a few years ago and I was amazed by the little I saw of Kent. Having finished my studies, I now have a little time for a short trip.
After some research on the internet, I decided to stay at the youth hostel in Canterbury, it will cost me about a 100 Euros for these 4 days.
Now I wonder which is cheaper, to travel by train or by plane. By plane it would cost me also about a 100 Euros to London, then I should get to Canterbury somehow by train.
I simply wonder if any of you has made any experience of the kind, is another city in England worth being seen, easy and simple to reach? I really want to know if there is a possibility to travel a little bit without spending a lot of money (I'm just a poor little student, or rather have been a student - I'm still poor :D ), starting here from the south-west of Germany.
Thank you so much in advance!

**LiveFreeorDie** · 02-03-2007, 11:03 AM

Hi and welcome to Travelpunk! I cannot really answer your question myself, but I am sure others will have some advice for you.

**freespiritz** · 02-03-2007, 10:21 PM

Hey! Sorry I don't have any advice to give, but I just wanted to say hello and welcome to tpunk! :D

**lauren313** · 02-04-2007, 04:26 AM

Well, I went to university in Canterbury, so lived there for three years, any questions, ask away!

If you get into London by plane, it's pretty easy to reach Canterbury by train. If you can get to Charing Cross in London, it's then an hour and a half direct into Canterbury. There are two train stations in Canterbury (you might know that though, having already been) but they're both close to the city. Whereabouts is the hostel you're thinking of staying at?

The good thing about Canterbury is that it's nice and close to lots of nice places in Kent. You can take the bus for about £4 to Herne Bay or Whitstable, which are nice little seaside towns, they're very quaint. Also, being close to London, it means you can head there one day as well.

If you can spare a couple of hours travelling somewhere, you can always get the train to Brighton, you go from Canterbury to Ashford International, then Ashford to Brighton, and that takes two hours. Brighton is a pretty funky place, might be worth checking out.

Anyway, as I said, any questions about Canterbury itself, let me know!

Kjeldahl · 02-04-2007, 06:19 AM

Thank you all so very much!

Wow, Lauren, thank you, that's absolutely fantastic! I hope you will not regret having posted, you can be sure I will ask you a lot of questions :D

The youth hostel I was planning to stay has the following contact address:
Canterbury youth hostel :D
Ellerslie
54 New Dover Road
Canterbury
CT1 3DT

Looks nice, judging from the pictures.

Concerning everything else, the trips to Kent and the whereabaouts of Canterbury, I am really grateful for your advice. I wrote down the names of the towns you mentioned and I suppose I will spend at least a day to go there. London is a great city I really love, but I'd simply like to explore the smaller towns this time.
I had the idea in mind to get a bicycle from somewhere, I hope there are any possibilities for me to borrow one, maybe even at the youth hostel.

Do you know which rail passport is the best one for a short trip like mine? Just in order to travel a little bit around for these few days?

So, that's the plan so far:

27th: Arrival and sightseeing in Canterbury
28th: Sightseeing in Canterbury and ?
29th: Herne Bay, Whitstable
30th: Maybe Brighton
1st: ? and departure

**lauren313** · 02-04-2007, 07:40 AM

The bicycle is a good idea. I found this website: http://www.downlandcycles.co.uk/bikeHire.htm which tells you where you can hire a bike from (it's actually at Canterbury West train station), and on the page is a list of local bike rides. If you're thinking of going to Whitstable, there is the "Crab and Winkle" route: http://www.downlandcycles.co.uk/bike...d%20Winkle.pdf which is about 6 miles one way. My friends and I used to cycle around the city sometimes, and there are loads of cycle paths to follow.

New Dover Road is very close to the city centre, so it's very easy to walk in, you won't need to worry about buses or anything for that.

As for rail passports, I don't really have a clue about those, as I only ever really bought return tickets to get from Canterbury back home for a weekend etc. I[m sure other members will know more about rail passes for Englad though!

Kjeldahl · 02-05-2007, 01:17 AM

Thank you very much

I think I'll even come a day earlier, I hope it will be ok for my boss :D
Anyway, I'll let you know when i have further plans... you really helped me!

Kjeldahl · 06-09-2007, 11:01 AM

Hi there,

it was a wonderful trip, I had such a good time and I've seen so many great things. The very day I left I already knew I'd come back - there's no country like the UK.

Which is pretty much the reason why I plan to come back as soon as I can (i.e. July :D). This time I'll take of friend of mine with me and we wanted to move westwards, Hastings and Brighton to be precise. We want to spend 3 days in London before. We're still looking for a nice and cheap place to stay there, I'll have a look what other people already recommended in other threads... anyway, thanks a lot for the information you gave above, it helped a great deal.

**worldwidemike** · 06-11-2007, 03:47 AM

Pics, we want pics!

worldwidemike

**lauren313** · 06-11-2007, 08:27 AM

I'm so glad you had a nice time. What did you end up doling in the end?

I've not been back to Canterbury since I finished uni a year ago. I really rather liked living there though!