Alice0812

My husband and I plus another couple are planning a trip to London, Scotland and Ireland. We are unsure if we want to use Tripmaster.com or to just plan it ourselves. I have did research on flights from Orlando to London and found some reasonable priced flights (also we would fly London to Dublin and then Dublin to Edinburgh but fly home from Glasgow. We have 12 days to do all three but could extend it if we need to. Our plan is only to spend 2 days in London and split the rest between Scotland and Ireland. Is it better to rent a car in both places or do tours? Can anyone recommend a tour company that has small groups? I'm looking for any input on what would be the best itinerary not to be in the car too much . Our dates would be March 19th thru March 31. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

jent103

You say "all three" but I already see four cities in your post - so my first tip would be to think in terms of hotel stays, not countries. What do you want to see most in Ireland? If it's beautiful coastline and green hills, you probably don't want to spend so much time around Dublin. If you're only planning on two days in London (is that two full days, or the day you arrive + one more?), I'm guessing you're more interested in countryside than cities?

For example, it might make more sense to fly into London, take the train to Edinburgh, and fly from there to Shannon (on the west coast of Ireland, or possibly Cork or Kerry), rent a car there and see the west coast, avoiding Dublin altogether. Shannon has flights back to the US. But it depends on what you're hoping to see.

BigRuss

Ditch the plan and start again.

First, what's "12 days"? Is day 1 when you arrive and day 12 when you leave? That means you have 10 days.

Second, you don't measure in days, you measure in nights. That will indicate how much time you really have because "days" get cut to pieces by travel.

Third, London is the largest city in Western Europe, you can't do only two days in London and expect to do it any justice. If you don't want to see London, don't. If you do, stay longer.

Fourth, which is a corollary of the third point - cities are NOT equal. London is huge, Dublin has the population of San Antonio, Edinburgh has half the pop of Dublin and about five times the charm and 400x the hills.

Fifth, there is a LOT of Scotland for a small country - this is because its shape, interior mountains (oversized foothills) and immense coastline (mainland Scotland's coastline is nearly the size of England's and Eire's combined). Due to the internal geography and twisty roads, Ireland is also deceptively "large" because it takes a lot of time to go from point A to B - there are no equivalents of an I-5 shot from LA to San Diego.

Small group tour companies have been repeatedly mentioned on this board. Search by country tag. Rabbies is one that comes up a lot.

It's relatively easy to plan yourself. Most Scots, Irish and Brits speak some variant of what they consider "English."

janisj

With that little time there is no place renting a car makes sense.

Is the entire trip 12 days (home to home) or 14 days (12 days on the ground) ?

If it is 12 days total you will only have 9.5 days on the ground. Then you lose half a day London to Dublin, half a day Dublin to Edinburgh. So that leaves very little time free in each place.

Do London, Dublin (w/ one day tour if you want to see some countryside) and Edinburgh (again w/ one day tour).

BTW, 2 days in London will essentially gibe you one day to see/do anything since day 1 will mostly be eaten up w/ arrival formalities, transport, checking in, and jet lag. There are 20X more things to see/do in London than in Dublin.

If it actually is 14 days total (11.5 days on the ground, I'd do 4 or 5 nights in London, 2 nights in Dublin, and 5 nights in Scotland divided maybe 2 nights in Edinburgh and 3 nights w/ a rental car exploring one area (Fife, the Borders, the Trossachs, wherever)

janisj

we were all posting at the same time.

Dogeared

As above, on what day would you arrive in London and on what day would you depart from Glasgow? That is the only way for anyone to know how many days you actually have to work with.

The 19th through 31st of March is actually 13 days. But if you leave Orlando on the 19th, you will arrive in London on the 20th. You will not have the full day of the 20th in London and you will be jet-lagged. Most people do not count that first day for that reason.

If you leave Glasgow on the 31st, chances are it is an early morning flight and so that day can't be counted either. The previous day may also be mostly a write-off as you will have to get to Glasgow and stay in a hotel overnight.

So starting with a full day on the 20th and ending with a full day on the 30th (if you planned to have that full day spent in Glasgow, having actually arrived in Glasgow on the 29th), you would in fact have 11 days to work with. Trying to visit England, Ireland and Scotland in 11 days is in my opinion, ridiculous. You have enough time for ONE of the 3 countries. Unless of course, the objective is simply to tick some names off a list.

janisj

oh -- I just skimmed and didn't read to the bottom of your post w/ the dates (but there was more than enough info in the first half)

With your dates 19-31 you will have 10.5 days 'on the ground'.

All the issues have been listed . . . I'd go back to the drawing board and start over.

Tony2phones

https://www.rabbies.com/en

Alice0812

Thank you all for your advice. I plan on getting with the other couple and work out more details. As far as the dates it would be arriving Monday the 19th and leave on the 31st. Thanks again.

janisj

One thing to consider when talking it over . . . there will be 4 of you so things won't be as quick as 1 or 2 people traveling. It may not sound like a big difference. But different 'body clocks', interests, stamina will affect most days. Don't try to squeeze a 4 week trip into 10-12 days