[Princesa's Mama]

One trip that we took, which we loved, was renting a canal boat in England and seeing a portion of England that way. You skipper your own boat and it is a beautiful way to see England. We did the same thing in France and loved it too but liked doing it in England a little bit better. We took a route which took us to Birmingham which has a lot to see (i.e. Cadbury Chocolate Factory!). You live on your boat and can cook or stop at a pub for meals. We always ate breakfast and lunch on the barge and would eat dinner out, if we felt like it. It was a very restful vacation. You travel at about 4 mi. an hour, max, and can even get out and walk along the tow path. It is very economical too. We had 6 people on board and DH figured that it cost $200/person/week (1998 prices) Because commerce was done on the canals, years ago, a lot of cities have canals going through them and it is super easy to pull up to a town and park near a grocery store, or explore the sites in that town. We saw the Royal Worchestershire China factory and had fun shopping in their "seconds" shop. We toured an old mine and mining town near Birmingham. We were near enough to Worchestershire Castle to get transportation and see it. We took our 15 year old foster son and he loved it--especially Cadbury World.
BTW, the boats are not difficult to learn how to handle and they are made of iron so they are practically indestructable! LOL
You said new and exciting--it's different at least!!