Rather than fly straight back to London from Amsterdam this weekend, my buddy and I caught a cheaper flight to Birmingham. Before you call me crazy for going to Birmingham, think about all the fun and interesting things between Birmingham and London: Warwick Castle, Stratford-upon-Avon, Oxford, Nottingham, etc.

From Birmingham we hopped a train to Warwick and spent a beautiful afternoon strolling around the castle and feeding the peacocks. We then jumped another train to Oxford, where we made our Tolkien pilgrimage and visited the Eagle and Child for dinner.

If you’ve only got a limited time for a trip, see what airports are close enough to your home or destination to make ground transportation from the airport feasible. In this case we were looking at a couple hours on trains with an added cost of about 35 pounds per person. Then check out what’s between the airport and where you’re going. Never know what cool new thing you might find.

Photo: The afternoon sun from Warwick Castle ramparts.