Go Back  Fodor's Travel Talk Forums > Destinations > Europe
Reload this Page >

Scotland/England Itinerary - Finishing touches requested.

Scotland/England Itinerary - Finishing touches requested.

Old Jul 12th, 2007, 08:54 AM
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 167
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Scotland/England Itinerary - Finishing touches requested.

Thanks to the incredibly helpful Fodorites, our itinerary is (almost) final and we have made most of the bookings. Couple of gaps left – would be grateful for your advice/suggestions.

(We are a family of four, 2 adults + 2 kids)

July 25 – Arrive London Heathrow at 1:30 PM, flight to Edinburgh at 4:30 PM. Check-in at the Sheraton Edinburgh (kids have a room with castle view) and crash out for a long time.

July 26 – Explore Edinburgh

July 27 – Explore Edinburgh some more. Pick up car from Airport, drive to Inverness, check in at Tigh-Na-Ceard (http://www.king-of-clubs.co.uk). This will be Base Camp.

July 28 to 31 – Eat, drive, eat, walk, eat, drink, eat, sleep. The good life.

August 1 – Long drive to Manchester. Have to watch a football game. Please forgive me.

August 2 – Drive to Alton Towers. Have booked a great suite (Teddy Tatty) for 2 nights, VIP passes and all (these things actually allow you to bypass queues!). Have to make it up to my daughter for the football game excursion.

August 3 – Drive to Ambleside. Check in at the Wateredge Inn (http://www.wateredgeinn.co.uk/). Eat, drive, eat, walk, eat, drink, eat, sleep. The good life.

August 7 to 16 – Drive to London. Dump the rented car. Tube to apartment. Have beer. Look at wife and daughter and declare “Go forth, my beloveds and spend our savings”. Do lot’s of sightseeing. Catch a cricket game and (another) football game with son, while the Credit Card Brigade is walking up and down Oxford Street.
(Our London apartment isn’t finalized yet, but we’re close. I have booked us a family room at the Radisson Edwardian Vanderbilt Hotel. The family doesn’t know about this. I only did it to remove the panic of booking the apartment that comes my way, because I can cancel the hotel upto one day before. God, I’m smart. Now I negotiate to death with them and feel free to ask any question that come to mind! But, really – I have managed to find a couple of very helpful people at the agencies recommended by Fodorites).

August 17 – Hop on a plane. Go home. Wait for credit card bills.

Now, happy readers, a couple of questions:

1) There is a possibility that we may be able to get a flight to Manchester on the 23rd, hence leave 2 days earlier and avoid coming in via London Heathrow. If that works, we’ll arrive late evening in Manchester and crash out at an airport hotel. We could either drive to Edinburgh a day earlier, but that is dependent on Sheraton being kind – so far they are being pretty cold about it. An alternative is to chill and stop for a night in between. This cannot be Lake District, because we’ll be coming down to it later anyway. Any suggestions? Newcastle seems interesting, but given that we will have plenty of time, we don’t need to drive a straight line and am happy to swing sideways to a more interesting location. Fodorite suggestions would be particularly appreciated here.

2) What’s the best place to drop off the car in London? It seems to me that Heathrow might be that spot – that way I can achieve my ambition of sitting on a tube for a long time, handling luggage and trying to prevent the kids from killing each other. Could be fun, but are there safer options that I should consider?

As always, I look forward to your suggestions, critique and advice.
ahmedhaff is offline  
Old Jul 12th, 2007, 09:10 AM
  #2  
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 72,629
Likes: 0
Received 50 Likes on 7 Posts
The Manchester option would work great. Sleep off the jetlag and get an early start the next morning. The two main touring regions between MAN and Edinburgh would be Hadrian's Wall and the Scottish Borders.

The Wall is worth at least a day. And the Borders anything from a day to a month (but I'd guess a month isn't an option)

Hadrian's Wall is simply awe inspiring.

The Borders have amazing ruined Abbeys, castles, Traquair House and a hundred other things to see/do.

Your only problem is picking which - and what tiny part(s) to tour.

You didn't ask - but I'd maybe rethink the Aug 1 drive. It would cost more, but I might consider taking the train from I'ness to Manchester and picking up another rental car there. If you were taking a few days for the drive a car makes sense. But a train would be much faster and a lot less tiring. But two short rental will cost more than one longer one plus the cost of teh train tix. Just something to think about.
janisj is online now  
Old Jul 12th, 2007, 09:14 AM
  #3  
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 3,397
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Love your itinerary ahmedhaff! Too often they look like a military campaign but yours looks like you're actually going to have the time and flexibility to enjoy the places you visit.

Hope you and your family have a wonderful time whilst you're here and I look forward to seeing your trip report.
wellididntknowthat is offline  
Old Jul 12th, 2007, 09:28 AM
  #4  
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 19,881
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Your route from Edinburgh to London doesn't make sense as you have to pass Ambleside in order to reach Manchester

1) Lose a day from Edinburgh and use it to go to Ambleside first then Manchester & Alton Towers

2) Forget about Ambleside and go to the Peak District instead

3) Stay 2 nights in Ambleside and taking the train to Manchester for the match

Alton Towers to Ambleside is a 3 hour drive & Ambleside to London is a 5 hours drive.

Alton Towers to London is 3 hours (yup Alton Towers is half way to London from the Lakes) so you'd save most of a day's drive by changing your plans
alanRow is offline  
Old Jul 12th, 2007, 09:49 AM
  #5  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 167
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
wellididntknowthat - thanks. We are a close family and generally, can keep each other entertained. Watch this space for the Trip Report!

janisj - you are my absolute favorite Fodorite. Always there and always helpful. I value your observations/suggestions greatly. Will research your suggestions right away and report back.
ahmedhaff is offline  
Old Jul 12th, 2007, 09:55 AM
  #6  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 167
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
alanRow - thanks. Your advice does make a lot of sense, but mid-forties and print-smart don't mix well. That pretty much describes me. A fair number of my bookings are not modification friendly, so options are limited as we approach our travel dates. In any event, I enjoy driving (it's a mid-forties thing), so I'm pretty OK with the re-tracing aspects of our plan. I am very grateful for your thoughts.
ahmedhaff is offline  
Old Jul 16th, 2007, 04:32 AM
  #7  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 167
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Got the flight into Manchester!

We now leave on the 23rd and have booked for 2 nights at the Old Trafford Lodge (we love cricket). And then on to Edinburgh early morning 25th.

Thank you so much for your suggestions.
ahmedhaff is offline  
Old Jul 16th, 2007, 05:03 AM
  #8  
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 2,637
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
ahmedhaff: Well done. Looking forward to your trip report.

Sandy
SandyBrit is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Dealdude750
Europe
5
Sep 8th, 2008 08:22 AM
psyclist
Europe
9
Jun 14th, 2008 06:33 PM
twk
Europe
22
Jul 22nd, 2006 05:08 PM
petal
Europe
11
Apr 13th, 2004 05:55 PM
James
Europe
10
May 30th, 2003 05:25 PM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are On


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -