janis

Jim: The crowds - especially in most parts of Scotland and Wales are much less in September. You will need to book early for Edinburgh (that is true year round). You also might want book ahead if you stay IN Bath. But for the rest of your trip you don't really have to book anything ahead of time. Most of Scotland and N Wales has more accomodations than visitors that time of year.<BR><BR>This will give you more flexibility to change your plans as you travel. And you won't need to spend a lot of time searching for rooms. Simply go into the tourist information center in any town, tell them where you are travelling to and your price range. Then while you are sightseeing, they will call ahead to the TIC in that area and get you a B&B. This is a terrific service that only costs &pound;2.50 in most TICs. Stop back to the TIC and they will have the reservation and directions to the B&B. Couldn't be simpler.<BR><BR>

Doug Weller

If you like relatively wild areas, drive through Northumberland. It's lovely. Go up through the borders into Scotland that route.<BR><BR>Doug

Jim

We just found out that if we start our trip in England, and then go to Scotland, we will be in Stratford on Sep. 2. There are no performances at the Royal Shakespeare on that date (or the day after). If we reverse our trip, however, and start in Scotland and work our way down, we will be in Stratford on Sep. 11. The Tempest is playing at the Royal Shakespeare on that date and there are tickets available. Would it be worth it to alter our itinerary so that we could see a performance at the theatre in Stratford? We have no reservations or plane tix yet. It would just be a matter of starting North and going South, instead of vice versa, but I'm not sure whether seeing a performance in Stratford is something that's worthwhile.

janis

Jim: If you are a Shakespears buff there is nothing like attending a performance at the RSC in Stratford. Go early and have dinner at the theater cafe overlooking the river with swans, and narrow boats.<BR><BR>There is not much difference N &gt; S or S &gt; N. I would reverse my route to be in Stratford for a performance.

Jim

Thanks. Do I want to sit in the "stalls A" or in the "circle A"? I'm not familiar with those terms at all. Seating chart shows "stalls" are the lowest, circle is like mezzanine level, then there's balcony, the highest.

janis

The stalls is what we call the orchestra - on the main floor.<BR><BR>Circle A is the dress circle -- the first balcony. It is a large theare but not huge. Both would be good seats. <BR><BR>I personally prefer the stalls if I can get into the first ten rows, if not - the first couple of rows in the circle.

nnn

Jim, I believe you have good, honest intentions, but why not take Advice Yawn's advice and not visit at all. Spend your money where it's more welcome. Sounds to me like Americans aren't welcome in his country. Maybe he/she shares Prince Philips view about banning tourists. Or maybe he/she is just one big loser for feeling the need to answer you in such a smarta** way.

surelyyoujest

Surely, Mr. Advice, you jest. If, in fact, you are a Brit, I suggest you visit the Algarve or the Costa del Sol and take a close look at your countrymen (and women), their dress, and their behaviour.<BR><BR>If you really want an eyefull, visit The Rock.

Bob C

Yes you can, we did it. We had no reservations just did a lot of one night<BR>stays. Did as I remember 2 nights in some areas. We went from Dover to the Highlands, really covered the area you want to cover. On our second trip to England we stayed in two areas and did day trips which is a better way to see things. Like you we were felt we may not be able to get back for a long time and so we saw it all.

Jim

My next question concerns where to start the trip. We will be doing a week in Scotland. Our areas of interest include Edinburgh, Fife, Aberdeenshire, Grampians and Tayside. After Scotland we will be going to N. Wales. We can fly into Edinburgh, Aberdeen or Inverness. If we fly into Edinburgh and then tour the other areas, we will have to do some backtracking in order to go to N. Wales. If we start in Inverness that would be better, except that we didn't see any direct flights from Heathrow to Inverness (and would rather not have to connect from Heathrow to Gatwick). A possible compromise would be to fly into Aberdeen, which would require considerably less backtracking than arriving in Edinburgh. We would go through the other areas and conclude in Edinburgh, which we understand is about a 6 1/2 hour drive from N. Wales. Does flying into Aberdeen sound sensible?

janis

Flying into Edinburgh will give you the most options of flights and fares. You won't have to backtrack.<BR><BR>A sample itinerary would include -- fly into Edinburgh and stay a couple of days. Then pick up the car at Edinburgh airport and head north into Fife. Then up along the coast to Aberdeen. West through Grampian. Down the A9 to Tayside then to the M74 (a couple of ways to get there either via Forth Bridge to the M8 or via Stirling to Glasgow) to the M6 to Wales.

Jim

Thanks. Can we do all that in a week? To get a true Highland experience, do we need to go all the way up to Inverness area?

janis

A week would be fine - of course 4 weeks would be better <BR><BR>No you don't need to go all the way to I'ness. You can cut over to the A9 from Grantown on Spey.<BR><BR>Or you could drive along the Dee and drive down the Spittal of Glenshee. This is a fabulous drive but slower than the A9.<BR><BR>With one week you could do 2 days in Edinburgh, two days in Fife, 1 or two days near Aberdeen (there is a ton to see - Stonehaven, Dunnottar, many castles, Aberdeen itself), and a day or two in Grampian. This is not really rushed at all. <BR><BR>I might set aside the last day in Scotland either near Stirling or somewhere in Ayrshire. then the drive to N Wales wouldn't be bad at all.

Aileen

I am from the Grampian region of Scotland (Elgin) and now live in New Jersey. I know that you are trying to fit a lot into your week, but if you are going up to Inverness (I would not spend time here),it really would be a shame to miss driving to the west coast of Scotland (Ullapool for example) otherwise you will miss the whole beautiful Highlands and Islands region. I would fly into Edinburgh, drive up to Perth, take the A9 to Inverness, drive to the west, and come back down the west coast. Fife, the Grampians and Aberdeen are lovely, with rolling hills and farmlands, but for the more rugged scenic views you need to go west.

Jim

Thanks for the tips. If I were to follow Aileen's route, would I probably be better off starting in Aberdeen, heading west and then back down towards Edinburgh? This would permit us to see the area near Aberdeen (all those castles), the West Highlands, and Edinburgh. We would be sacrificing Fife and time in Grampian. Now I'm hopelessly confused!

aileen

Jim, sorry to confuse you. Starting in Aberdeen would work too. Say hi to my parents as you pass through Elgin (I will be there myself in 2 weeks!) Have a great time!

janis

Jim: Aileen's suggestions are fine - but you are the one who said Fife, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Grampian were your priorities and you want to do it in a week.<BR><BR>There are HUNDREDS of wonderful places in Scotland (the west coast is terrific) but you want to be in N Wales after 7 days so you will not be able to go to all the good places (or even a tiny fraction of them). You need to sit with a map and decide what is REALLY important to you. <BR><BR>The drive over to Ullapool is slow - rewarding - but slow. If you fly into I'ness you will likely want to spend the first night there since you would have flown overnight to the UK and then one or two flights to get to I'ness. You won't want to drive to Ullapool not having slept for 27+ hours. Then a day in Ullapool. A full day to get from Ullapool to Aberdeen. 1 night in A'deenshire. Two nights in Fife and 2 nights in Edinburgh and then south to Wales. This route gets you some amazing scenery - but VERY long driving days and less time for seeing anything in depth.<BR><BR>If you try to do everything/everyplace you won't have time to SEE anything. <BR><BR>Dropping Wales you would have a few more days to play with - I'm not recommending that, but is it something you might think about.<BR><BR>If you ask 10 people what their two favorite parts of Scotland are you will get 17 or 18 different suggestions. Each one sounds better than the the last one - but don't try to bite off too much . . . .<BR><BR><BR><BR>

Jim

Janis, you are absolutely right about me being the one who mentioned Fife, Aberdeen, etc. But Aileen made the other areas sound so nice that I was wondering aloud whether I would prefer them over the areas I originally mentioned. Looking at a map, I see that Ulladon is very much out of the way, and while it would be nice to get up that far, it would be very difficult to do Aberdeenshire and Ulladon in the same week, and still have time left over for Edinburgh. But there may be points on the West coast that aren't as far north that we might be able to visit. I will talk this over with my travel planner, who, unlike you, is actually getting paid to answer questions like these. You've been extremely helpful, however.

xx

Jim that bit about your travel planner getting paid was pretty cold. Implying that her suggestions are worth more than those on Fodors. I believe Janis and others on this board are paid for providing travel information. One of her messages mentioned clients. I think she is a travel planner herself. Someone correct me if I am mistaken. Janis???

Jim

No, I did NOT at all intend to say anything of the sort and I'm sorry if I gave that impression. The help I have gotten from Janis and others has been extremely valuable and VERY much appreciated. What I meant to say was that maybe I should stop pestering everyone here with these constant questions and direct them to someone whose job it is to deal with me. I did not at all mean to imply that the advice I get here is in any way inferior, and in fact I have found it to be much better.