Twenty years ago I was in the UK. It was my first trip abroad and I learned a whole lot from it. Lesson #1: I am not a solo traveler. Lesson #2: Six weeks is a long time for me to be away from home. But I went all over the island with my Britrail Pass, and it was overall very interesting.

One of the surprises I discovered was the Orkney Islands -- they're the ones just off the north coast of Scotland. Nice vibe, no crowds, very bikable. And with a whole lot of prehistoric, uh, history. The above pic is of the Standing Stones of Stenness, A stone circle that's about 5,000 years old - older than Stonehedge. All the stuff like this was pretty much just in someone's back yard. To go into a burial cairn nearby, I had to ring the doorbell of somebody's house to get the key. One of the best parts of the UK for me.