Why the United Kingdom
These are four countries under one crown, and they are not alike: England urban and dense, Scotland mountainous and empty, Wales and its castles, Northern Ireland and its basalt coast. You pass from one to another in a few hours by train.
London alone justifies the trip, above all because its great museums — the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Tate, the Victoria and Albert, Natural History — are entirely free. It is a long-standing and maintained public policy, and it has no equivalent in Europe.
Getting around
The train covers the country well but prices vary tenfold depending on when you book: a ticket bought twelve weeks ahead costs a fraction of the same journey taken the day before. Discount cards pay for themselves in two return trips.
Long-distance coaches are much cheaper and much slower. In London, a contactless bank card serves directly as a travel ticket, with an automatic daily cap — there is nothing to buy.
Money
The country is almost entirely cashless: cards work everywhere, including for a coffee, and some businesses refuse cash.
Tipping is expected in restaurants with table service, around ten to twelve per cent, often already added under the heading service charge — check before leaving a second one. At the pub, you order and pay at the bar, and you leave nothing.
Before you go
The ETA is the new development that catches most people out: since 2025, French citizens must obtain it online before travelling, and the passport has replaced the identity card. Without it, boarding is refused.
The great national museums are free, but the temporary exhibitions are not and are booked. Privately run monuments — the Tower of London, St Paul's Cathedral, castles — are on the other hand among the most expensive in Europe.
It rains less than people say but the weather changes several times a day: a light waterproof layer is more use than an umbrella, which the wind turns inside out.