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?