Edinburgh to Glasgow: 1st day w/ jet lag
 

We are arriving in Edinburgh early in the morning, need to pick up our car there, and are spending our first night in Glasgow (but can't check in until late afternoon). Don't want to drive with jet lag, but can't avoid it. a) is there a good place to stop midway for a lunch break? and b) is there a place to park outside of downtown Glasgow and take public transportation in so we don't have to deal with city driving the first day? c) just discovered the Willow Tea Room website with the booking option--will we not get in without a reservation, and how long do you need to get a reservation (leaving in a week) thanks! first time posting.

OK - I'd re-think this. Why do you need to pick up the car in Edinburgh?? Most any agency w/ a location at EDI will also have locations in/near Glasgow.

One does not need/want a car in Edinburgh. One does not need/want a car in Glasgow. And - one does not want to drive in either place when jet lagged. I'd take the train to Glasgow and pick up a car when you are leaving the city . . . . .

We don't need a car in Edinburgh or Glasgow, but our package deal has our car pick-up in Edinburgh -- no choice. Also because of our package, it just doesn't work for us to stay our first day in Edinburgh; we've got to get moving right away.

Sorry - but in that case, IMHO you picked the wrong package . . . . .

That being said -- what is the rest of your itinerary like??? Maybe we can give you some ideas how to arrange things so you don't have to drive in Glasgow.

Driving into Glasgow is a nightmare all one way system, and this is from a person that lives in the UK. You really do not want to be doing this if you can avoid. If you can not avoid it you do not wnat to be driving when jet lagged it wil drive you mad.. I do not know how many times the hubby ending up back on the outsirkts of Glasgow. We could see the street we were staying in on the map very plain, but we just could not seem to drive into the road,or one near to it. Every way we went sent us on a one way system that lead us back out of the center. My hubby has refused to drive their again In fact when we went back again we did not take a car. Too much trouble.

I was going to say: if you do have to drive it, the distance between Edinburgh and Glasgow is not all that great, and the roads are highways, so it would not be all that difficult to manage while jet lagged. But crazychick's experience shows that the roads can be confusing in the city. One time when we were navigating with great difficulty in Glasgow we realized that the map we had was just plain wrong about an interchange (after we drove past the area in question several times).

Where ever you are headed the first day, I'd say drive right to the place where the car will be for the night and leave it. That way the driving is pretty much behind you before the jet lag really catches up to you. Park the car and then worry about killing time until check in.

Our first trip to Scotland, we landed at Aberdeen, toured Crathes and then stayed the night at Ballater. It really wasn't far from Aberdeen to Ballater, but the jet lag hit us all about half way through Crathes. That drive to Ballater was REALLY tough. I think it would have been better had we driven to Ballater, parked the car, and then explored the town. The walking around and the fresh air/sunlight really help with jet lag.

I definitely don't want to drive in Glasgow; that's why I want to know if there is anyplace outside the city to park and take public transportation in. All of the online sites I found about public transportation just talked about inside the city.

as I mentioned - tell us a bit about the rest of your itinerary. Is there a reason you must be in Glasgow on night 1?? Using a park and ride in Glasgow will not be much easier. Plus - do you want to leave your car overnight at a Park and Ride (if that is even allowed)?

Give us more info and we can help you . . . .

Do you have to pick up the car? Can you just skip it?

Which Glasgow hotel ?

What about stopping at Linlithgow. Not far from Edinburgh Airport, is on the main Edinburgh - Glasgow railway, the M9 motorway and is a nice place to wander around (Linlithgow Palace-Mary Queen of Scots birthplace etc.)

I was going to suggest Linlithgow too -that would be a very short drive, but libby seems set on being in Glasgow.

It sounds like the package includes picking up the car in Edinburgh + first night's hotel in Glasgow. But which hotel ?

P.S. Crazychick, in case you visit Glasgow again - our experiences of driving in Glasgow have been transformed by realising that the A-Z shows which way the one-way streets go, at least in the centre !

I am staying in a b&b just outside Glasgow, on the west side. I'd like to try, as noe847 suggested, to get as close as possible to that area before we get too tired, so it is a short drive to our b&b at the end of the day. Maybe we could stop in Linlithgow for lunch, but we need to spend several hours doing something near Glasgow before we can check in to our b&b. I'd like to go into Glasgow, but do not want to drive into the city.

libbync, I think there are two suggestions about Linlithgow: stop there on the way to Glasgow, OR change your first night's lodging and stay there overnight. If you post your full itinerary there might be other ways that your plan could be changed so that your arrival and route could be easier.

If you stick with your original plan, Pollok Country Park might fit the bill as a good stopping place. It is located 3 miles southwest of Glasgow, and has the wonderful Burrell Collection museum and Pollok House, as well as being a lovely park. We ate lunch at the restaurant in the Burrell Collection, and it is quite nice cafeteria style food with a wall of windows overlooking the park. You could drive there yourself, but I'd go to the B&B, drop luggage, leave car, and get a taxi. There are phones where you can call a taxi for your return. The park and museums are serviced by buses as well, but I certainly wouldn't be up for negotiating that my first day.

WHERE is the B&B? Just outside Glasgow on the west side could mean just about anywhere.

But in general, you do not want to drive to some park and ride on the east side of Glasgow, leave the car, go into the city, return to the car, and then drive around Glasgow to the west side - especially on the first, jet lagged day. Neither do you want to drive around (or worse, through) Glasgow right off the plane.

I still don't understand a package that would have one picking up a car at Edinburgh and then staying west of Glasgow. Were these your own choices from other options, OR was it dictated by the package?? If your choices - is there a way to modify your itinerary?

We really ARE trying to help but we need more to go on -- what is your itinerary? Where is the B&B? And so on . . . .

I was posting the same time as noe847. We had the same basic advice - tell us more and we can help more . . . .

Good idea - I was going to suggest that you just leave your hire car at the B&B then get a bus/train/taxi into the city centre. Where exactly is this B&B - do you know anything about its access to public transport, or can we look it up for you ?

BTW do you know that you can use the B&B's postcode (or indeed any other postcode, street name, etc) to get a driving route from www.theaa.com ? You can just type in "Edinburgh airport" as your starting point.

Why not drive straight to the B&B, drop the car off and take a bus into Glasgow? (but again, where is the B&B?). Then you can forget about driving. And if the B&B is not in the city centre then maybe it is not that difficult to drive to from Edinburgh.

Also, how far of a drive is it from EDI to Glasgow? I thought it was only around 30-45 min?

Depends on the time of day - outwith the rush hour it shouldn't take more than 45-60 mins.

Caroline: thanks for the info about the driving route from www.theaa.com; I'll look into that. All of you: Thank you all for your suggestions--I really do appreciate the enthusiasm with which you are all responding. I'd be happy to share my whole itinerary, but we are not interested in changing it. We gave a lot of thought to the places we really want to see, and this schedule works for us. The majority of our trip is going to be spent touring the countryside (so we definitely need the car) west and then north, winding up back in Edinburgh for a final night in a castle and then fly home. If we change it, we will have to skip something we really want to see. My only concerns are basically 1) getting as close as possible to our b&b before we get too tired and 2) killing time until we can actually check in. We will look into getting a cab or bus from there; I will email b&b owner for suggestions. Or maybe there is something we could just do around there, though I would like to spend a few hours in Glasgow. Maybe we could just go into town for dinner after we check in. Re: our package: we have a package that includes airfare, b&b vouchers, and car rental. We don't *have* to stay in Glasgow the first night. The stopover in Glasgow is only because 1) we don't want to drive too far the first day and 2) we want to be able to head right to the coast the next day to take the ferry to Arran. Then we will stay in the same b&b that night, and leave the next day for Loch Lomond. There are no b&bs in our voucher program between Edinburgh and Glasgow--our choices are Edinburgh, Glasgow, or drive all the way to the coast. Stopping near Glasgow works for us. I'm not worried about the length of that drive, just what to do with ourselves for a few hours before check-in that does not require a lot of driving. The b&b is Pannell Farm, Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire PA11 3RN; from Glasgow airport A737 to Kilbarchan exit, so we do need to get to the west side of Glasgow, even if that may be a little trying. Better to do it earlier in the day than when the jet lag is really kicking in. I will check www.theaa.com to see if we can avoid the city entirely to get there. So if anyone is familiar with this area -- is there anything to do around here where we can waste a few hours? I will ask b&b owner about getting into the city from there. Thanks a bunch.

looks like we can take M8 all the way to A737 and avoid the city--is that true?

To change the subject but stay with your original questions, I had a late lunch at the Willow Tea Rooms in April 2003, and the place was almost empty. It's definitely worth visiting, by the way.

The M8 runs through the middle of Glasgow. If you avoid peak traffic times i.e. 0730 -0930 and 1600-1800 then you should be OK. There are currently roadworks at Glasgow Airport which may also slow you down

I didn't put those icons in - what happened?

Chas: shoot, not good news about the M8. It will be after 9:30 am, so we'll see how it goes. Joe18: thanks for the tip about Willow Tea Rooms. Didn't want to commit to a reservation time, but would really like to go if we get the chance. Got an email back from b&b owner -- she'll let us check in early (even said we could take a nap), and apparently there is easy access to a train into town. So I think we're good to go. Thanks everybody!

If you intend to drive to Ardrossan to catch ths Arran ferry, I would advise against it. There is a train that goes from Central station to Ardrossan and meets the boat. The boat does not leave until the train arrives. The same thing happens in reverse.

almcd: that's good to know -- we didn't know that but it would be so much easier. I'll look at the train schedule and check that out. Thanks!

Not for libbync - but for others who may be following this thread to plan their own trip: As many of us recommend for both Ireland and the UK - B&amp;B vouchers are usually not the best way to go. They do not guarantee you a room and generally don't save money. The vouchers merely pay for the B&amp;B if there is availability. Any B&amp;B that takes vouchers also takes cash, and usually credit cards, plus a majority of B&amp;Bs don't honor them. So instead of &quot;<i>There are no b&amp;bs in our voucher program between Edinburgh and Glasgow--our choices are Edinburgh, Glasgow, or drive all the way to the coast.</i>&quot; travelers w/o vouchers can stay exactly where they want.

actually, we're really happy with the b&amp;bs available to us. certainly if you want to be able to stay *anywhere*, this is not the way to go. we weren't interested in staying somewhere halfway between Edinburgh and Glasgow. I was just trying to let you know that you didn't need to spend any more time trying to suggest an alternate place for us to stay.

I just don't get the voucher part of the package. Why would anyone prepay for a voucher that limits your choice. Can someone please explain the usefulness, need and advantages?

I don't know why I'm biting, but...I know voucher packages are fairly unpopular on this board, but we used one on our trip to Ireland several years ago and were perfectly happy with even the more limited choices. When you are traveling somewhere with a gazillion B&amp;Bs it does not always matter that you can't stay in all of them. (We did not use B&amp;Bs on our more recent trip to Scotland because we chose self-catering instead.) The advantage of the package, for us, was that we basically budgeted our accommodation in advance. Yes, I know you can stick to a budget without doing that. I'm just saying it worked for us, and we enjoyed all of the places we stayed. Some were more quaint and cozy than others, some proprietors more friendly than others, but I really don't think that had anything to do with the vouchers. Have a good trip, libbync!

thanks Barbara! I agree with her, Roger -- I don't need a gazillion choices, and I didn't want to spend all my time researching b&amp;bs. frankly, where I sleep is not something I need to spend an awful lot of time thinking about. our vouchers allow us to go everywhere we want to go, we have a set budget for accommodations, all of the b&amp;bs had availability on the nights we wanted, and we handled all of our reservations very easily by email. the listing also offered a great variety of types of lodging. It's not for everyone -- some people like to be more spontaneous or have more choices. But, for me, it offered everything I needed. If I had been to the country before, I might have more particular ideas about where I wanted to stay, but it was nice to have some guidance. I didn't want to do all the &quot;leg work&quot; myself on this one.

&quot;<i>I didn't want to do all the &quot;leg work&quot; myself on this one.</i>&quot;

not to belabor it (but I guess that's just what I'm doing) - but my final word re the vouchers. They are NOT terrible -- but they do not save <u>any</u> leg work, and they usually don't save any money (they normally cost more)

You still need to contact the B&amp;Bs to see if there is availability. So no difference w/ or w/o vouchers in the &quot;leg work&quot;

The main - and only real - benefit is to have all the accomodations pre-paid in $ and having a firm handle on the spending.

sorry janis I continue to disagree with you. but no matter. i did not have to find a b&amp;b in each town I wanted to stay in; did not have to compare costs and check for availability... please continue to have your own opinion; and allow me to have a different one. can we drop the matter; or please start an &quot;i hate vouchers&quot; thread.