Driving from England to Scotland, first family trip.
Oct 18th, 2016, 05:49 PM
#21
>>Seems like Google makes small work of what is a much longer drive. <<
You <u>cannot</u> use google for calculating drive times (repeat - <u>cannot</u
You need to add between 25% and 50% to every journey -- and sometimes more. That 8 hours is getting straight on the motorway in north London and driving straight through w/ no scenery or stops . . . and without hitting any traffic or road works.
If you want to see anything in between it will take 3 full days -- since the scenery, parks, hiking, gardens, stately homes, etc are not on or next to the motorways.
You <u>cannot</u> use google for calculating drive times (repeat - <u>cannot</u
You need to add between 25% and 50% to every journey -- and sometimes more. That 8 hours is getting straight on the motorway in north London and driving straight through w/ no scenery or stops . . . and without hitting any traffic or road works.
If you want to see anything in between it will take 3 full days -- since the scenery, parks, hiking, gardens, stately homes, etc are not on or next to the motorways.
Oct 18th, 2016, 05:53 PM
#22
. . . and IF you don't want any diversions, detours, fun en route -- it will take 10+ hours w/ just meal/rest breaks.
So you should NOT drive it unless you want to take several days. Take the train -- 4.5 hours city centre to city centre. Or fly.
So you should NOT drive it unless you want to take several days. Take the train -- 4.5 hours city centre to city centre. Or fly.
Oct 18th, 2016, 06:40 PM
#23
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A couple of comments/ suggestions:
Where are you flying from at what airline? If coming from the west coast it may make for too long of a trip to connect to Edinburgh. It's only a 90 minute flight but if you need to change terminals and have already spent 9/10 hours on a plane it may be too much traveling for a 1 year old.
So I suggest you also consider spending your first night or two in London just to recover from any jet lag. It is 4 1/2 hour train ride from London to Edinburgh. York is half way between. Do a little research and see if a night or two in York sounds good. Then you could travel to Edinburgh spend a couple of days there and rent a car for the Highlands. London, York and Edinburgh will give you plenty of museums, historical visits, breweries etc.but you'll need to get to the Highlands for rafting, hiking, mountain biking and geocaching.
Go to the website I mentioned in prior post and find a place that offers easy access to those activities you want to do. I believe they offer rafting on the River Tay and the Tummel probably other spots too. Aberfeldy comes to mind but there will be other places you could stay for a few days that will put you close to your choice of activities.You just need to do the research.
Either train or fly back to London. You could give York a miss although I think everyone would agree it's a great place for a short stay. I mentioned it primarily as an easy stop between London and Edinburgh thinking you need to consider what's the best options when traveling with a 1 year old. If not for the young lad, I'd opt to fly to Edinburgh from LHR ( or Gatwick ) and might give York a miss too and extend stay in Scotland but, IMO, you do need to make the adjustments that will make trip easiest for your child.
Where are you flying from at what airline? If coming from the west coast it may make for too long of a trip to connect to Edinburgh. It's only a 90 minute flight but if you need to change terminals and have already spent 9/10 hours on a plane it may be too much traveling for a 1 year old.
So I suggest you also consider spending your first night or two in London just to recover from any jet lag. It is 4 1/2 hour train ride from London to Edinburgh. York is half way between. Do a little research and see if a night or two in York sounds good. Then you could travel to Edinburgh spend a couple of days there and rent a car for the Highlands. London, York and Edinburgh will give you plenty of museums, historical visits, breweries etc.but you'll need to get to the Highlands for rafting, hiking, mountain biking and geocaching.
Go to the website I mentioned in prior post and find a place that offers easy access to those activities you want to do. I believe they offer rafting on the River Tay and the Tummel probably other spots too. Aberfeldy comes to mind but there will be other places you could stay for a few days that will put you close to your choice of activities.You just need to do the research.
Either train or fly back to London. You could give York a miss although I think everyone would agree it's a great place for a short stay. I mentioned it primarily as an easy stop between London and Edinburgh thinking you need to consider what's the best options when traveling with a 1 year old. If not for the young lad, I'd opt to fly to Edinburgh from LHR ( or Gatwick ) and might give York a miss too and extend stay in Scotland but, IMO, you do need to make the adjustments that will make trip easiest for your child.
Oct 19th, 2016, 08:32 AM
#24
Great points above, not having kids (shock) I can only suggest the following from my nieces and nephews.
1) Little steps, the atlantic is a big step so don't bolt another flight on
2) Try to fly directly into Scotland, if not fly into England but mixing the two sounds like hard work
3) Hub and spoke worked for my nieces
4) I'd try for appartments rather than hotel rooms, you speak the language and the internet is everywhere so you will fit right in, but I've found having somewhere warm that you can just spark out in, make breakfast, have play time etc is better than an hotel room. I understand even baby sitters can be arranged.
In England I'd do London and York.
In Scotland I'd just do Edinburgh or possibly somewhere in the countryside.
Stuff goes wrong, the NHS is great and costs will either be waved away, minimal or have insurance so who cares.
this gives you an idea of options
http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNH...s/NHS-111.aspx
nhs 111 is the phone number where you can discuss a problem without panicing.
1) Little steps, the atlantic is a big step so don't bolt another flight on
2) Try to fly directly into Scotland, if not fly into England but mixing the two sounds like hard work
3) Hub and spoke worked for my nieces
4) I'd try for appartments rather than hotel rooms, you speak the language and the internet is everywhere so you will fit right in, but I've found having somewhere warm that you can just spark out in, make breakfast, have play time etc is better than an hotel room. I understand even baby sitters can be arranged.
In England I'd do London and York.
In Scotland I'd just do Edinburgh or possibly somewhere in the countryside.
Stuff goes wrong, the NHS is great and costs will either be waved away, minimal or have insurance so who cares.
this gives you an idea of options
http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNH...s/NHS-111.aspx
nhs 111 is the phone number where you can discuss a problem without panicing.
Oct 19th, 2016, 05:20 PM
#25
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Hub and spoke it is! Think we will shorten our duration to 7 days and use London as our Hub. Choose a few day trips that the whole family can enjoy, and not add any stress for the sake of quantity. From there as we learn from our experience I suppose we can make adjustments. Thanks for the suggestions and putting the scope of my plans into perspective.
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