TRIP---A Guide to travel in the Beatles' world

Introduction...The preliminaries

Over time, England changes very little. There are still some bargains to be had, and anyone contemplating a visit to the Beatles' homeland will find some substantial treats. The current exchange rate is one--- not among the best I've seen, but certainly (at $1.49 = 1 pound UK) a worthy conversion (better than the $2.05/pound I recall from a previous trip!)

Transportation remains expensive, but there are ways to get around this. The tube (London Underground...the subway, that is) is best used on a one-day (L2.60..."L" for "pound", pardon the lack of cross strokes) or five-day pass. In Liverpool, ignore the underground and hire a car or take buses; foot travel is recommended for close-in areas like central Liverpool but for suburban delights like Penny Lane and the Fabs' birthplaces, you must go by car or tourbus. Note: If you're landing at Heathrow, you can take the Tube straight
from the terminal into the city. If you land at Gatwick, you can take a train (about an hour). If you have a lot of luggage, you might want to take a bus instead.

If you're flying to London and want to get to Liverpool, Britrail is still the way to go; one-way standard (second) class is $65 US, $95 r.t. from Euston Station in London. If you want to do a subtantial amount of train travel, before you leave the U.S. buy a 1-week or 2-week Britrail pass; 2-week is $339, but after a few trips you'll easily pay for it in saved actual fares.

For those planning or hoping for future travel to England, to see anything Fab, don't forget a few essentials:

• Maslov and Bacon's "The Beatles England", a picture-and-word travelbook of estimable eloquence, guiding you to all the hot spots in Liverpool (birthsites, childhood homes, essential pilgrimages, etc.) and London (Abbey Road, Cavendish Ave., Wimpole Street, etc.) Ron Jones of Liverpool has also written a detailed guide for visitors on foot or by wheel to that magic town. Both books are available from Beatlefest, I believe, and certainly from the Tourist Information Centre at Albert Dock in Liverpool. Regular UK guidebooks are fine too but they won't have the details of Beatles-related guides.
• Stay in bed-and-breakfast establishments, rather than hotels. The rates are far better in the UK (don't compare to the pale, overpriced imitations you may known from the States), and you'll need that hearty early meal to keep up your strength. Book ahead in London, in case things are busy. Liverpool should have accommodations a-plenty, unless there's a Beatles convention.
• Take an umbrella and sweater, even in summer. Weather is taken *very* seriously in the UK and the weather obliges by making itself a constant subject of discussion. If you're one of those rare individuals traveling with a child in a stroller (British English "pushchair"), procure a rain cover for it before you leave the States. UK pram and pushchair covers do not normally fit non-UK devices...and you don't want to be forced to stay in just because of a little (or a lot) of rain.
• Food prices are lower than I've ever seen them, and much better quality as well; don't believe what you hear about British food being indigestible. In private homes and in public eateries, I found it all to be superb. For money-saving, buy bits and pieces in small markets and make your own sandwiches, or buy prepackaged ones (much cheaper than buying food on the train or in museums!) Pubs still offer good deals on food as well as drink. A British pint is bigger than the American version and British beer is heavenly; have what's on tap. The Sun Public House in Lambs Conduit, near Russell Square in London, and the Liverpool Philharmonic (a pub, not an orchestra) in Liddypool, are highly recommended, but almost any pub will do. Note: drinking-water is not available on trains except at high cost from the buffet car; bring your own.
• Bargain entertainment in London can include the British Museum (which is free, though you *are* encouraged to leave a few pounds in the offering box at the door), where in the manuscript room you can still see some of the Hunter Davies collection, to wit, actual lyrics penned by Lennon and McCartney for some of their most famous songs (the Boys gave them to Davies when he was working on their "official" biography in 1968). Also check out the half-price ticket booth in Leicester Square, where theatrical entertainment can be purchased (prices can be anywhere from $15-$45, much lower than ticket prices in U.S. major cities). There's a "re-creation" show about Buddy Holly that might be worth seeing, especially if you plan to walk over to Soho Square and MPL later on to confront Macca about his song-publishing holdings.
• Another source of bargain entertainment: for the minimal cost of 30p (about 45 cents), you can buy one of the daily tabloid newspapers, which have minimal "real" news and a plethora of hysterical articles about scandals of the day. You will never hear "Paperback Writer" ("His son is working for the 'Daily Mail'") or "Polythene Pam" ("She's the kind of a girl that makes the 'News of the World'") in quite the same way!

Books and records/CDs are not a bargain, alas, unless you find things in the UK you can't get over here. I've found Lonnie Donegan, Helen Shapiro, and Joe Brown anthologies that American stores would *never* carry (blast it, I forgot to look for a Ken Colyer CD. :-) Record stores (especially used ones) are pretty well picked over for unusual issues and rarities. I found a plethora of reasonably priced red-label Parlophone 45s of "Love Me Do" and "Please Please Me" for about $20 US at a record fair in Brighton (thanks to the esteemed Mr. Stephen Carter for arranging this outing), and was even privileged to hold a "gold label" Parlophone "Please Please Me" LP (holding as a substitute for owning, because it cost around $600 US!) Although standard prices for CDs in stores like HMV and Virgin Megastore are about $20 (vs. $9-13 dollars for the same item in U.S. shops), I was amazed to see a full complement of "rarities", "collectibles", (dare we say it?) "bootlegs" at this record fair for about L15 UK ($20 US), a price lower than standard U.S. prices for same; I imagine these were private sellers who had no fixed address and could risk such sales.

On the Beatles bookshelf, there was, surprisingly, nothing of note which is not already available in the U.S., excepting Bill Harry's flawed "The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia" (1992), which should have been proofread a little better. But check the music section anyway. The Virgin Megastore in Oxford Street near Charing Cross has lots of rock-related books; so do chains like Waterstones, and larger concerns like the famous Foyles.

Radio and television always provide surprises. Buy a copy of "Radio Times" (for the trivia-conscious, this was the publication technically responsible for Paul and Jane Asher's first meeting), which lists extensive (and excellent) radio fare as well as several channels of TV (bring a small portable radio if you can; your B&B will either have a telly in the room or in the communal lounge). Several exceptional TV compilations of British pop shows from the sixties occasionally air; my kind host in Brighton introduced me to some of these, which included appearances by the Fabs, Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, and others too numerous to mention. Utterly astonishing (and a tad unsettling) was stumbling upon a TV show broadcast in Scotland called "Surprise, Surprise" (one can only compare it to the Stones' song!), with NEMS' own erstwhile sweetheart of song, Cilla Black, as hostess. For American reference, it's a cross between "Candid Camera" and "Queen For A Day", with Cilla (now---hard to imagine---a spry grandmotherly type) selecting people from the audience to fulfill some sort of dream or another. You never know what you'll find on the airwaves.

And for all the things you'll inevitably buy, make sure you can carry it all; pack empty record sacks and folded baggage for the inevitable treasures you'll find in the land that gave birth to the Fabs!

Now, on to the sights themselves....

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