Need help with planning for London/Scotland trip
 

Hi everybody. I need some help from the experts. I have planned a 7 day trip to London and Scotland (limited vacation time) for myself and my 17 year old daughter. Have never traveled on our own outside of the United States. Need suggestions on how to get the best travel deals and if the plans I have mapped out are possible. Also I am very confused by the rail pass website. Also nervous about driving but don't want to go on 7 day tour. Any help and suggestions would be appreciated.

1st day.
Arrive London around 11:00am. Plan to stay at The Claverly on Beaufort Gardens. I understand it is within walking distance to Harrods and other shops. Plan to take the subway from the airport. Taxi would be easier but I understand it is very expensive around 40 pounds. Also plan to take a Jack the Ripper Tour that evening. Daughter's idea.
Day2
Take a tour of Stonehenge through Astral Tours. Understand from this forum it is the only one that allows you to walk in among the stones. Also they pick up at hotel. (No driving. They have not poseted '05 dates yet.
Day 3
Tower of London Tour. Again allows us to see the most with limited time. They also pick up at the hotel. Tour ends at 6:00pm. Am hoping hotel will hold our luggage after check out. (if not I will have to change plans) Catch evening train to Iverness. Would like to get a sleeper for us but this is where the confusion comes in with the railpass.com website.
Day 4
Arrive in Iverness. Get rental car. We would like to stay at Glengarry Castle. Drive from Iverness to Castle exploring along the way. From maps I looked at seems car rental is the only way to get around, unless we stayed directly in Iverness and took day tours.
Day 5
Visit Loch Ness (again Daughter's idea). Take tour boat out to find Nessie. See Cawdor Castle, Castle Urghart and the Battlefield of Culloden.
Day 6
Drive to Isle of Skye. Explore
Day7
Fly home. Would like to fly from Iverness and drop car off. Have not checked with airlines if this is possible since we flew into London.

Trip is planned for June'05 or July'05 so nothing is set in stone. Also when is the best time to start looking for flight info?

Book flights i feb or at least start really looking. Every once in a while check flight prices to see if they have come down. You may be pleasantly suprised. I would maybe re-think the boat tour on Loch Ness. Because you have a car you may want to go see ellen donan (sp) castle. The road along the Lochs are right next to the water. We stayed in Ft. William at a B&B and had a great time. You can emial me with any questions.

Jay, don't you worry about YOUR spelling after travelmom's:)


Travelmom

For optimum use of your time, I would suggest you do your Loch Ness tour the day you get to Inverness, then move on to Glen Garry, then

come back north the next day to do Cawdor and Culloden (and Brodie if another Castle wouldn't bore you. If it would I'd suggest you have alook round the Black Isle instead.

Take in Eilean Donan on the way to Skye. Also have a look at Plockton.


You can't fly straight back from Inverness; you will have to link somewhere, but it should be an option for you to do so. Please let me know if I can help more.

Thanks for reponses so far. Also please over look my spelling it is not the best under normal circumstances and add to it the computer.Ugh. Good to see I have come up with a suitable plan. Shelia I plan on taking your advice on doing Loch Ness on the day we arrive. Couple of other questions. Is there a car rental agency at the train station? If there is can I return it at the airport? Also is there a website that will list any festivals or highland games in this area and their dates? I've been looking but so far no luck.

I'm pretty sure you can hire from the station. Yup- just looked it up- Hertz and Avis. Either, I'm sure, would have no problem with a return to the airport.

This web site should help you with events.

http://www.inverness-scotland.com/wh...-inverness.asp

Do you know when you're doing this? There's a central site for Highland Games, I can check if you have the dates.

Thanks again Sheila. So far I haven't decided on the dates. But it will probally be the first week or the second week of June.

Several companies offer inner circle visits at Stonehenge. They take place in early morning or evening. A given company does not do them every day of the week.

Keith

You can also arrange Stonehenge Special Access (Inner Circle) off-hours tours directly through English Heritage, which runs the site. We took the Astral Treavels tour and were very pleased with it; it covers a lot more than just Stonehenge.

You do NOT need a tour to see the Tower of London. Grab a cab and just go straight from the hotel. Once there, your admission fees cover a tour by the Beefeaters guards, who are probably the most gifted tour guides in London. Buy tickets to the Tower itself in advance thru your concierge, or at a Tube station, or plan to get there a bit before they open, to avoid lines.

Games in the first two weeks of June include

CORNHILL HIGHLAND GAMES

MARKINCH HIGHLAND GAMES

HAWICK BORDER GAMES

KILMORE & KILBRIDE HIGHLAND GAMES

BEARSDEN & MILNGAVIE HIGHLAND GAMES

FORFAR HIGHLAND GAMES

Realistically the only one you could reach readily from Inverness would be Cornhill and that would be a struggle.