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Scotland for a week


redzin

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Thinking of renting a car on England after or cruise and driving to Scotland, Edinburg, the highlands, etc. Is it difficult driving on the other side and what are must sees. Anyone that can map out a route? Also, should we do a round trip and fly home from England, which would be lowest airfare. Or maybe take a short flight to Edinburg, rent the car, return it there and shuttle back to England for trip home. Any ideas on this? Rona

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While I can't really give you an internary; I would consider this:

 

Driving from London (say you flying from Heathrow) to Scotland is a long and fairly tedious job. Yes you could stop places enroute and visit England as you go (there would be thousands of historic places to see) most of it would be motorway driving; and driving on "the wrong side" on busy multi lane roads for hours on end, wouldn't be my idea of a relaxing holiday!!

 

I would consider flying to a more regional airport (or direct to Scotland) or taking an internal flight with one of the low cost carriers (they all charge for checked luggage) from England to scotland.

 

Contiental Airlines and some other smaller US carriers fly to different airports in the UK and you can often get a good deal flying to somewhere other than london.

 

Ofcourse if you really wanted to "see" more of England, then a train from London to Scotland would be a relaxing way to do it. Bought in advance first class fairs are very reasonable and you might be able to find a ticket to break jouney along the way.

 

I would, however, rent a car when you get to your destination rather than drive long distances. When you consider that a mid sized car would take about £60 for one tank of fuel, it can be quite expensive over long distances.

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I would consider flying to a more regional airport (or direct to Scotland) or taking an internal flight with one of the low cost carriers (they all charge for checked luggage) from England to scotland.

Watch for airlines that are in trouble financially or make sure you book through a 'protected' method and carry travel insurance that covers your type of travel. While we have now had 2 airlines collapse there are apparently others in trouble.

 

Ofcourse if you really wanted to "see" more of England, then a train from London to Scotland would be a relaxing way to do it. Bought in advance first class fairs are very reasonable and you might be able to find a ticket to break jouney along the way.

Alternatively, if you're not wanting to see the scenery from the train... consider an overnight sleeper from London to Scotland. If you watch carefully you can sometimes get single tickets for under 20GBP/person.

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With all due respect to the (very good) advice already given regarding the distance to travel to Scotland from London, if the OP is from North America, the trip will be a doddle. Our attitude to driving long distances is very different from that found in Europe. Google maps gives the time to drive London-Edinburgh at 71/4 hours-ish. That's New York-Cleveland. Most travelling North-East Coasters will have driven down to Florida in their lifetime, and that's double that distance. I agree that you should use the journey to see some of England - you could drive thru either Yorkshire or the Lake District, which is gorgeous. We actually did Edinburgh-Lake District (staying a week in a self-catering cottage)- London by car one year, and really enjoyed the trip. We flew into Glascow (via London) and flew home from LHR - I would price each option, and only drive back if flying home from Scotland is a lot more expensive.

I will also go against the grain, and recommend that you get onto the Motorway as soon as possible after you pick up your car. For someone ajusting to the whole left side of road-right side drive thing, you have a lot less to think about on the motorway; you don't have to focus as much to remember to stay in the left lane (it's a divided highway;) ), you don't have to negociate roudabouts (well, not until you have to get off, but then it's usually the big ones with traffic lights), you can just concentrate on getting a feel for the right-drive of the car.

Honestly, the most challenging thing to ajust to for North Americans is all the roundabouts. But, once you get the nack, they're really quite user-friendly.:)

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Thoughts on driving in the U.K. versus North America.

 

1. Signage is much more helpful in the U.K. both on Motorways and country roads.

2. Driving on the left side of the road does not represent a major learning curve.

3. If you do go the car rental route consider purchasing the large formate A-Z road atlas before you go. It's a great reference tool as a trip planner,

 

http://www.a-zmaps.co.uk/index.aspx?nid=60&iid=3411

 

I don't know where you live, but driving from London up to Scotland and back would be similar in spirit to Los Angeles to San Francisco and back. I would consider doing it one direction, but not both if you only have one week. If you do rent a car at the London end, I would drive up to York on the first day and stay there for two nights. York is fantastic! Then you could drive on to Scotland. Arranging a return flight out of Glasgow or Edinburgh would preserve an extra day for sight-seeing in Scotland. If you have specific leanings toward spending the entire time in Scotland, then I agree with other posters about considering flying or taking the train up to Edinburgh from London and then renting a car there.

 

There is so much to see. You are going to have a great time no matter how you decide to go.

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I will also go against the grain, and recommend that you get onto the Motorway as soon as possible after you pick up your car. For someone ajusting to the whole left side of road-right side drive thing, you have a lot less to think about on the motorway

I would probably agree with this. The most challenging type of road for forgetting which side to drive is likely to be the rural single track (one car width with passing places) that alternates with normal road (one car width each direction).

 

It is worthwhile drawing a large arrow and placing it in the driver's vision to remind you to drive on the left- very simple and effective.

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Consider taking a train to Edinburgh. That's what we did. We spent a couple of days in Edinburgh, then picked up a car a bit outside of town. We then toured the eastern highlands and the Lake District for about a week. We dropped the car back at Heathrow, so we drove one way, but meandered out way down a bit.

 

You could easily choose either Edinburgh or Glasgow as your base, do a round-trip train to that city, then do either the eastern or western highlands. In the eastern highlands, we took it easy, stayed in B&B's, went as far as Inverness and did some Nessie hunting (we had a child with us).

 

If Glasgow, then go up by Lock Lomond to Oban, then decide how far you want to go--or pop over to Mull and tour that island and see Iona.

 

Stay away from motorways for the first while, and you'll be fine getting used to driving on the other side. The big deal is roundabouts--think about how they work before you go, and have a navigator handy with a map! You can also end up on single-track roads in Scotland--there are frequent passing spots, and one driver has to back up to one of these, so pass.

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With all due respect to the (very good) advice already given regarding the distance to travel to Scotland from London, if the OP is from North America, the trip will be a doddle. Our attitude to driving long distances is very different from that found in Europe
No, you are quite correct. However, remember we have the population of 66 million people, squeezed into about 2/3rds the size of Florida (and most of them have cars!). Where you can happily drive for hours [i've done it many times] across North America without encourtiring major settlements, you don't go very far on a motorway here without encountering the traffic from a major city.

 

While it's theoretically possible to drive from London to Scotland in about 7 hours; in reality (depending on what time of day you travel), it could take a few hours to drive just a few miles across london. In reality you'd probably head straight for the M25 from Heathrow, but it would not be that out of the ordinary to spend a few hours on there, before you manage to get around to the M1 to head north.

 

We live about 3 hours (110 miles or so) north of London (in decent traffic). Our trip to Ireland from via Stranraer (in Southern Scotland) took 7 hours. You may be lucky and get a clear run; but don't bank on it!

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No, you are quite correct. However, remember we have the population of 66 million people, squeezed into about 2/3rds the size of Florida (and most of them have cars!).

 

Yeah, I hear ya - we just did London-Brighton-London by car last April - on a Friday! *shutters* That's why I think the OP should break up the journey in England, much less stressful. And for me, the M1 is very comparable in traffic to the I-95, hence the travelling-to-Florida comparison.

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Flying into Edinburgh gets my vote. However, if you wish to see Edinburgh, only get the car when you are ready to head out of town. A car in Edinburgh is a pain. Must see? Head up through Perth to Pitlochry, then west to Loch Tummel and Loch Rannoch. Stop at Queen's View. Return via the Schiehallion road. Lovely countryside. Don't worry about driving on the left. All the other traffic keeps you right. (Haha. Sorry!)

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Or maybe take a short flight to Edinburg, rent the car, return it there and shuttle back to England for trip home.
If you are set on seeing Scotland, and Scotland only, for a week, then this is what I would recommend doing. A car is going to be pretty useless in Edinburgh, anyway, so you could even save yourself the cost of renting one for the couple of days or so that you'll probably want to spend there (in the context of a one week trip - Edinburgh actually needs more than a week on its own to see properly).

 

One advantage is that if you plan correctly, you could connect directly from your Edinbugh -> London flight to your London -> US flight to go home, saving you a great deal of time and hassle. All of the airlines flying between London and Edinburgh are pretty stable, financially.

 

The train is a decent alternative. But the journey is long enough that air travel begins to have a real time edge.

 

I really wouldn't advise driving all the way from London to Edinburgh (or back). It will basically take you one full day to do it, and one full day to get back. That's one-third of your week gone, just sitting on roads.

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There is a lot of good advice already posted on this thread but, the amount of times that 'single track roads with passing places' are mentioned concerns me.

You would really have to be in the most remote areas of Scotland to experience these!

I drive about 16000 miles a year in Scotland and have not been on a single track road for the last 10 years.

Please be assured we have an excellent motorway and trunk (main) road system and whilst they can be busy, they are much quieter than most roads in the South.

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Lots of great ideas. We are opened to any suggestions. After our cruise if over in Southhampton we have one week. We've already been to London and did a few day trips out of London. It was quite awhile ago but we thought we'd try something new. At first I thought about Scotland and Ireland but many people wrote that it's way too much to do so decided to concentrate on Scotland. That's what brought us to this point. My husband's eyes are giving him trouble so I'll be doing the driving. Although I drive anywhere, the other side of the road will be a challenge so I'm leaning toward the plane or train idea. Please keep any thoughts coming. I appreciate all of your help.

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so I'm leaning toward the plane or train idea

You can take the train from Southampton to Edinburgh via either Birmingham (same station) or London (change stations). The same with Southampton to Glasgow.

 

You can also take a sleeper train... Ordinary train from Southampton to London (change stations) and then sleeper from London to Edinburgh.

 

For train services to Scotland you can now pre-buy your tickets online from overseas (I think this is new?)

 

I'd be inclined to take the train, tour the city of arrival and then hire a car to see some of the surrounding areas.

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Thinking of renting a car on England after or cruise and driving to Scotland, Edinburg, the highlands, etc. Is it difficult driving on the other side and what are must sees. Anyone that can map out a route? Also, should we do a round trip and fly home from England, which would be lowest airfare. Or maybe take a short flight to Edinburg, rent the car, return it there and shuttle back to England for trip home. Any ideas on this? Rona

 

Why waste all that petrol driving through beautiful England to visit Scotland? Save your money and stay in England. So much to see and do that you could spend weeks here and still not see more than a fraction.:)

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We have 11 months to ponder this. England is beautiful and we could remain there, however, we don't get to Europe often and will probably never visit Scotland or Ireland so I considered visiting one of these countries. So what would your dream week be if you had an extra 6 days overseas from London. Rona

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So many parts of England are so amazing, I could travel around forever and enjoy myself. But...Scotland is amazing, and worth the travel, however you decide to do it.

 

But for me, right now, if I had 6 days in London, I might do one of the following:

 

- fly to Portugal for a week (which we did, leaving our cruise luggage stored at Heathrow--a lot more cost effective than the UK right now!)

 

- take the National Express bus to Oxford from Heathrow, spend 2 or 3 days there, then train it up to Shrewsbury, or rent a car and just ramble in that direction. Return to Oxford and bus into Heathrow on the day of my flight

 

- rent a car from Heathrow and drive straight out to the West Country, as far as possible, to Cornwall and everything in between

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I do love England, it's just so expensive right now. We flew into Porto, spent a couple of days there (lovely), then picked up a car and drove north into the area they call the Minho. Great, wonderful roads, nice little hotels. Except for a splurge hotel (a Relais hotel), we spent about 60 or 70 euros a night. Wonderful, reasonably-priced food as well.

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Another thing that you could consider is flying direct from Southampton to Glasgow, pick up a hire car at the airport and tour the west coast of Scotland for a few days. If you get the weather there is nowhere finer, however I am probably biased. You could then fly direct from Glasgow to Newark with Continental or Philly with US Air or alternatively return via Heathrow. You have many options to ponder, but good luck anyway.

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A couple of thoughts for you

 

If you're renting a car (called "Car Hire" in UK), remember that all cars, unless specified are a standard transmission, not an automatic. You will pay a premium to rent a car with an automatic

 

Someone else pointed out the fly into one airport, leave from another. This is called OPEN JAW. As long at the unflown portion (London - Edinburgh) is shorter than either of the flown portions, you can generally make an open jaw ticket, for little or no extra versus a standard return ticket. So, fly into London, cruise from Southampton, fly SOU-EDI(or GLA/Glasgow Intl or PIK/Glasgow Prestwick), and fly home from GLA or EDI.

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Look at Manchester airport as well. Great facilities, very under-utilized and train station adjacent. Very convenient to Scotland and Lake District.

Drive on the left; yield to the right.:)

Roundabouts can be challenging. A friend never figured them out. Almost ran out of petrol once. :)

If you like trains, look into the Flying Scotsman.

Cheers

Mark

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Only problem with Open Jaw ticket is that I think it may be more money to fly home from another airport rather than round trip England. What do you think? I am a little nervous about driving on the other side of the road but think I can handle it. I also drive a stick shift, which I haven't done in a while. You guys are the best for helping me decide this trip. Scotland, Ireland, Portugul......convince me on a great week. I love planning trips....Rona

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Only problem with Open Jaw ticket is that I think it may be more money to fly home from another airport rather than round trip England.
A true open jaw routing should normally qualify for the lowest available round-trip fares on both sectors. The ticket is priced by adding half of each of the round-trip fares involved. So it shouldn't cost "more", in the sense that you shouldn't normally be paying a premium to do this, just the fair price of the routing when compared to how much a round-trip ticket to each of the points would cost.

 

Say, for example, you want to fly A-B, then C-A.

 

A-B round-trip is $1,000.

A-C round-trip is $1,200.

 

The open jaw A-B/C-A ticket should cost $1,100.

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