England as You Like It

by Susan Allen Toth

Release Date: 05 March, 1996

Edition: Paperback

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ENCOURAGEMENT TO BE YOUR OWN TRAVEL AGENT

So far, this book is absolutely incredible. The amount of detail is a bit baffling at first, better too much than too little. It gives suggestions for how to find excellent hotels and B&B's, good maps, restaurants, there are even suggestions on packing and keeping a travel journal. We're leaving for the British Isles in a matter of days, and I've been planning for the last 9 months. It would have been so much easier if I'd had this book. I can't wait to start planning our next trip. I don't like to use travel agents because it's been my experience that unless you are paying them to plan your entire vacation, you will be far from the top of their priorities list. Also, it's so much fun to plan your own vacation. This book is invaluable.

the weakest of Ms. Toth's three books about the U.K.

I gave Susan Allen Toth's first travel memoir about Great Britain, My Love Affair with England, five stars. It was what I had hoped Ms. Joan Cornblath's "Beyond the Tower: London for Return Travellers" would be.

This, the second book chronologically in her series of three, was a bit of a letdown after that stellar beginning, though it is still an enjoyable read if you are missing England and would like to read some affectionate reminiscences. There is a bit too much about gardens and fauna for my taste (though in a testament to the principle of "less is more" the anecdotes of the earlier book have inspired me to add some English gardens to my next itinerary). I love forests but don't necessarily want to read about them in such detail.

There is some very good information about various British map series and suggestions for obtaining them. NB: When reading I had thought the suggestions probably out-of-date, i.e. with the opportunity to buy materials at Amazon.com.uk, but when I checked it out I didn't find very many maps available online, on Amazon at least. Perhaps that will change, or maybe they are available from the publisher online. I hope so. The editor and author may want to consider adding this information to a later edition.

There is also good information about various options for accommodation, and the author goes a long way toward demystifying self-catering holiday rentals (reserving a furnished apartment or home).

Her observations on souvenir shopping in British grocery stores is charming, and her suggestions on journal keeping and thumbprint travel are pragmatic.

In the third section of the book, "Special Places", I was not totally pleased with the author's choices of which places to cover. Though I understand that she can only write about where she has actually been, many were very similar to things she had already discussed in the first book.

A lot of useful information and a good index.