Get Exploring!

(More to come!)

Want to start exploring? You don’t need to travel thousands of miles and spend a lot of money doing so! There is lots to discover just outside your front door, too.

Here are some tips to get you started:

General:

If you are flexible about the day you want to travel, check out the weather in that area, that way you can find out what the best day to go is, and the better weather you get the more enjoyable the day will be.

If you are going for a certain event then do some research and find out if there is anything associated with if you want to try, for example we went to the Manchester Christmas Market and found out at the end there were tours of Manchester Town Hall’s clock tower on offer but we were too late in the day to do it and won’t have the opportunity to get back to Manchester before they end.

Make your own mind up about places, don’t listen to ratings about towns and cities until you have visited, you will find lots of reviews on the internet for and against every place, so try the places out for yourself and see what you think.

For The Wider Area:

1. If you want to go somewhere you have never been before, then try having a look at a map of your region, we do that quite a lot and the map reminds us of places we haven’t tried yet and you can tell whether it looks like its within an hour or so.

2. For longer distance public transport trains are the best option, with connections to anywhere you could want to go in the area. If there is no train station in the exact place you want then there will be a bus from the nearest station that will probably go to the right area for you. Check out our tips on rail travel here.

3. Remember if you are going by road to check what time of day you want to go, try to miss the rush hour from around 7 til 9 on the motorway networks especially

4. When you get there head to the Tourist Information office is there is one, as they will have maps of the area including information on things you probably didn’t know where there

5. Do your own little map of the area, it will save you time when you get there and give you an idea of what might be of interest to you, Google maps is a simple way to do it, create a new map and add points on things you find interesting

6. If you are going to a smaller place then see if there is somewhere else not too far away that you could do as well, especially if your going a far distance to get there, then its easier to do more of the area together

For Your Local Area

1. Do some research.

• Find out what there is to see and do in your local area; you might be surprised at what hidden gems you discover.
• Look through your local train and bus timetables to see where they can take you
• Check the news periodically for your area, as recently something came up on the news for us in Lancashire about an old reservoir being opened to the public for tours and we went along and it was very interesting

2. Make an itinerary.

• Decide what you want to do and see. You can plan transport times around your activities.
• Print off a map of the area so you can find your way around. You might want to mark points to show where each activity is.
• Get an idea of how frequent the local transport is so you can get ready for the right times

Remember, you don’t have to plan each trip exactly. Take your time and get to know the place; you might just find something unexpected around the corner!

Happy travelling!