Zax1108

Hello all! I'm wanting to plan a trip to Scotland to meet up with a good friend. I'll be doing this spring of next year and need to see how much I need to put away for said trip. I'm 19 so I'm not loaded by any means haha. but I am putting an est around 2500-2600 dollars. to cover flight round trip. and meals I suppose. I'm going to be staying with a friend so I'll want to buy some food. but car is not needed. and motel room is not needed (Thankfully)

So if I'm not mistaken I'll have to cover the flight, and I'm sure a taxi to go to the friends house. and some meals. I'm planning a 5 week trip all in all. Which brings a thought to mind. would it be cheaper to buy two tickets one there and then one when I'm ready to come back or a packaged round trip ticket?

I'm not too sure if I'll be doing sight seeing while I'm there and if so then just local stuff. so I'm going to put a ideal price on spending amount around 500 usd. about 350BPS give or take a few. and I'd like to see flight cost around 1,683-2K flat. I looked up prices today and that's what I'm getting on a booking sight. but I'm sure they're not the best way to do it. I've also got a few friends at a few air ports that said to let them know when I'm ready and they can help me get the best price.

So Am I asking too much for too little. or should I be able to make something work. I really need to take this trip but I also don't want to use a lot of money doing so. so I'm looking for the best way of doing so.

Best regards~Zachary.

Havana128

I imagine you will need to show a return ticket to get through immigration.

sparkchaser

You don't say where you are flying from but your English is pretty good and you are using dollars so I'll assume you're USAian or Canadian.

When flying from north America to Europe, a round-trip ticket will almost always be cheaper than two one-ways. Regarding Havana's comment, I've flown back and forth maybe a dozen times if not more and nobody has ever asked for proof of a return ticket. Still, but a round-trip ticket.

Regarding the actual flights, Spring is the low season but you don't mention your home airport(s) so it's hard to give you any kind of guidance. I am a fan of using kayak to hunt fares. It's not the best but it's better than the majority plus it's easy to use.


Figure your flight will cost $1200-ish. That leaves $1300-1400 for expenses there. That's 850-900GBP, which comes out to be around 25 GBP per day. It helps that you're staying with a friend and presumably will be eating in most of the time. If you're going to be hitting the pubs up regularly and dining out often, you might want to have more money.

adrienne

If you're 19 and try to enter GB with no return or onward ticket there's a good chance that they won't let you into the country. Plus two one-way tickets are more expensive than a round trip ticket.

<< I'm not too sure if I'll be doing sight seeing while I'm there >>

What will you do for 5 weeks if you don't go sightseeing? That's a long time to stay with someone and not go out and see things. And why would you take a trip to Scotland and not want to explore. You can do things on your own if your friend has to work or go to school.

Since you have only a little bit of money I would not take taxis. Ask your friend how to take the local buses to get where you need to go.

I think your budget is a bit light. You'll need to help with food money; you can't expect someone to feed you for 5 weeks. Figure out what it would cost you at home to eat and bring at least that much to give your friend for your share of the groceries. Your friend may not be in a financial position to double the grocery bill. You'll also need going out money (movies, pubs, etc).

It would be nice to treat your friend to a few pub meals as a thank you for hosting you.

jane1144

Also remember to count on paying entrance fees at some sites.

janisj

Where are you flying from? That will make a huge difference re the airfare. Yes, you'll want a round trip ticket. Despite what sparkchaser says, a young traveler visiting a friend will definitely be better off being able to show the immigration officer the return ticket. Do you want to spend the whole time in Scotland, or maybe add a few days in London? You'll probably be doing a fair amount of sightseeing so you will need to budget for admission charges, meals out, maybe help with the petrol. . .

Also - where does your friend live? Scotland is a big place and where your friend is based could male a difference where you'd want to fly in/out of.