What to eat.
Hotel Boats pride themselves on their food, both quality and quantity. But if you're still hungry, or on a hire boat, canal side pubs usually do meals, though many only serve lunches noon till two or three p.m. and dinners from seven to nine p.m., and some don’t do any food on Mondays. Well, this is England! Most meals will come with chips, that is 'french fries', and everywhere seems to do scampi, which are much smaller than shrimps that Americans are used to, and home cooked steak pie which doesn’t mean home made! Most canal side shops sell basic foodstuffs like bread and tins of baked beans and canal bridges often have hand painted directions to the nearest store or fish and chip shop, which sometimes closed down fifteen years ago.

Facilities on board.
Most canal boats have flush toilets and hot and cold running water. Many have central heating, fridges and microwave cookers. Some hotel boats have en-suite facilities. Boat cabins are normally compact but cosy. Most boats are powered by diesel engines and are steered from the stern on an exposed rear deck amidst the rain and noise. Many hotel boats have a covered seating area at the bows where passengers can avoid the rain, but not the wind! Hire boats often have televisions, though getting a strong signal can be a problem.

Fellow passengers.
If you are on a hotel boat holiday you will find that your fellow passengers may be couples or singles, some will be first timers, others will be working their way towards travelling every canal in England. Some will be tourists, fitting a cruise into a larger UK holiday, others will be British. They will often be middle aged or senior citizens, families tending to hire (rent) boats. So people come from a wide variety of backgrounds and lasting friendships are frequently made.

How much work.
On a hotel boat you can do as much or as little as you like. You can help the crew with locks and lift bridges, or leave them to it. You can walk the towpaths all day rather than ride on the boat. If you hire a boat then normally, with the exception of a few rivers and wide canals, you have to work the locks yourself. This is quite hard work, winding up paddles to fill and empty locks and pushing on heavy lock gates.

And the weather.
English weather is changeable but rarely extreme. Rain and winds are fairly common, even in high summer, so come prepared for a bit of everything!