Views from the Slow Lane

We are spending January and February in a cottage in the Cotswolds (Eastview Cottage). I found the cottage in September and got a good off-season price. The owner's weekly price for off season is good and she gave us an additional discount because we are booking it for 8 weeks.

Yes, I realize the weather will be wet and damp. I have purchased warm clothing! :) We are both very excited about this trip. We spent the fall and winter in England in 1988/89 and enjoyed a cozy cottage on the wet days and exploring the countryside on the good days.

I booked our flights a couple of weeks ago and got a good price on British Airways for Premium Economy and we used miles to upgrade to Club World (lots of space and the seats turn into flat beds). Our flight goes from Dallas and arrives at 7am (midnight on our body clock).

I found a nice hotel in Bath (Haringtons) that we will go to on arrival. It is right in the historical. And I booked the same car service (Drive-U) that we have used twice before to get from the airport to Bath. Since we should be arriving in Bath at 10am, I booked the previous night for the hotel so that we can check in early. They gave us a discount for that extra night.

Trip planning almost done - still the car rental to book. After two nights in Bath, we will pick up a rental car and drive up to the Nailsworth cottage.

I started looking up rental and leasing prices and WOW! Expensive! I decided to book without insurance since it is about half the price. I have done this before. We charge the car rental to our AMEX card and AMEX provides the coverage. Then Chris started a thread about car rental insurance and someone pointed out that AMEX does not cover you for more than 30 days (or maybe 45). I knew that - but had forgotten.

I did a bunch of searching, looking at car rental agencies and leases and buy-backs. To make a long story short, I found a rate on Enterprise that was almost half the AutoEurope rate. Because I have read on the message board about people getting AutoEurope to meet a competitor's rate, I decided to give it a try. And they did! So, I have booked our car with AutoEurope, with full coverage (and a $1300 deductible). Below I show all the different prices I found and compare renting to leasing.

We leave for our two months in England on Tuesday - New Years Day! I am mostly packed and ready to go. I have to figure out these new restrictions on Lithium batteries (read more on the Slow Travel Forums) and weigh all our suitcases one last time. Since we will be in one house for two months, I am not skimping on luggage (okay, we never skimp on luggage). We are checking two bags each and carrying on a small suitcase plus computer bag. We need a lot of winter and wet weather clothes!

I have started a new blog for this trip - Cotswolder. Please drop by and post a comment to say hello!