atimmons

First question: Car or Train?
Second: If Train, should I book the trip in advance and where/how.
Third: How many days? I have a 9 day trip for london/scotland.

Thanks
Andy

jamikins

You could also check out www.easyjet.com or www.ryanair.com for cheap flights. We flew for 6 GBP plus tax last year!

wombat7

Would second flying - when pricing factor in time and cost to get to the airport (and check which London airport is being used -"London - Luton" is a bit of a misnomer)but look at flying

m_kingdom2

As a child I remember going in the Rolls on a car train, sadly this fabulous invention is no longer in use so one must either drive or take the train, never a combination of the two. The train is relatively slow, I'd fly - quicker and more modern, no elegance though.

walkinaround

just about everyone here flies.

wombat7

Atimmons - you can always combine flying with the rolls-- just have to decide whether you want ham or ham and cheese

rex

I think that the answer depends on:

1. Are you starting from the airport? (i.e., go direct to Edinburgh upon arrival in London - - and then, as a corollary, arriving from where into which airport?) - - jamikins is mixed up about ryanair; they don't fly to/from Edinburgh with any connection anywhere in England (let alone London). Flights on easyjet originate from Gatwick, Luton or Stansted - - and the transfer may make this a bad idea. Only flybmi.com offers LHR-EDI service, about every two hours, so it might work with a connection arriving in LHR. Fares are as low as 8 GBP (web only) with taxes adding an additional 16-19 GBP (each way).

2. Can you arrange the trip to need one-way travel only? That is, fly into London, fly home from EDI or vice versa? Of course, if you fly home from Edinburgh, then you will want to spend time in London, and not go directly on to Scotland upon arrival. And presumably, you would want to depart the most convenient way, from central London, not from one of its airports - - to get to Scotland.

3. Are there any other destinations along the way that might appeal to you? A car will likely cost you at least $150 (not per person, of course). Train will get you there in about 4 and a half hours, but it is much more expensive than flying or car, at about $160-170 USD <i>per person</i>. So if cost is the most important factor to you, shop easyjet, fybmi or ryanair (into Glasgow Prestwick - - leaving you 90 miles by car or bus to Edinburgh).

I can't think of any correct answer to how many days in each city - - do you have no interest in smaller towns, day trips or the countryside of England and/or Scotland?

Hope this gets you started with your planning. I trust you have (or have made a plan to get) onr or more of the major guidebooks for England (or just London) and/or Scotland (or just Edinburgh) - - from a large public library near you, or big bookstore.

Deciding why you want to go, and what you hope to do there is the first step of planning a trip like this.

Best wishes,

Rex

rex

One last thing I meant to incorporate into my answer - - if you drive, you would surely want to become familiar with www.viamichelin.com or www.mappy.com

While cheaper than the train, viamichelin.com puts the drive time at over 7 and a half hours, so considerably slower - - best only if you are interested in stopping at places like Nottingham, Leeds or Newcastle-upon-Tyne, to name a few examples.