First Day Plans for Bath (Originally Published 2/2/08)

If all goes as planned, I plan on catching the train to Bath and getting there by 1:00 p.m. I’ll check into the Elgin Villas and my first inclination after unpacking will be to take a nap, but experience dictates that a nap would not be the best thing to do.

My eyes will be seeing daylight and reading the time on my watch as afternoon time but my body will be saying, “Hey! What the heck is wrong with you waking up at 1:00 a.m. and not going back to bed?!” My job will be to make sure that my mind and my body begin to operate in sync and sleeping would be the worst thing to do. So my plan after unpacking will be to head out on the town and get my bearings. I could take a walking tour. Bath offers free walking tours. The tours are about two hours long and are led by volunteers. It sounds good and it is on my agenda but that might be a bit too much, too soon.

Nope, my plan is to take the bus tour. Hop-on, hop-off tours of Bath run about 4 times an hour and there are several spots all over the city where I can catch the bus. Perfect opportunity to grab a sandwich, get a good view of the sites, and listen to recorded information about what I’m seeing. There are 2 tours, one in-city and one around-city. I’m planning on taking the in-city one first. The ticket is about 10 pounds and is good for a 24 hour period so I could take the around-city tour later or the next day. I think after the tour, I’ll feel better about letting myself take a small nap. No more than an hour. Wake up and have dinner at a good restaurant then head to my room to relax the rest of the evening.