I have posted two items regarding my trip earlier in the month. Since then I have done more research, talked with my 26 year old daughter, and read many of the other posts. We have our first week of the trip planned in Ireland. On July 5th we will end in Dublin and have been looking at options. We fly out of London on July 18th so will end with around 4 days in London. This would mean we want to get there by the 13th. Obviously we are only left with 8 days. As i write this I am already thinking we need to forget one option - flying from Dublin to Liverpool and then up to Scotland. I base this on the idea that we do not want to move everyday. If we fly into Glasgow spend two nights then we have considered Oban or directly to Edinburgh. We do not plan to rent a car and will enjoy the cities we can get to and take a bus tour for a day to see other parts of the country. So I have a couple of questions: Would Oban be better or once we leave Edinburgh for London spend a night or two stop in York? Oban vs. York? Second, in doing this travel are the point to point rail tickets the best option for us and if so is it best to buy now or when we are there? We would be looking at three rail tickets in the scenarios I am looking at. I appreciate any ideas and advice. Granted we are only getting a taste of the countries but we value this opportunity. As I have said previously we want to see what we can, relax and enjoy some culture, take in some events and just have fun. Neither of us have absolute "must do/see" things. Thank you! LJBZ

What about flying into Edinburgh from Dublin? You can easily spend most of your time there, as well as utilizing the day tour operators. If you spend a day or two in York, then you've only two rail sections to purchase to get to London and advance tickets can make the price much lower (now's a good time to start looking at those). Cheers.

If it were me, (and I don't know who much time you are allocating to the UK bit of your trip) I'd fly into Edinburgh from Dublin, and, if you've only got two days, spend them both there. If you have three take a day trip to the north with one of the mini bus people. Then take the train south to London, non-stop

We will have 8 days before we want to arrive in London. Since we had 8 days we were thinking 2 to 3 days in Glasgow, Edinburgh and York. (although we have also considered Oban rather then York) Scotlib mentioned all in Edinburgh and York to lessen our train travel. This could work although we were interested in Glasgow. I appreciate the comments from people as often someone has a viewpoint that helps us in our planning. We would also appreciate ideas on things off the beaten path. Thank you!

W/ 8 days, I'd probably do 2 days/1 night in Glasgow. Since you are only coming across from Ireland you can do 2 full days w/ only one night's stay. Evening of the 2nd day, go to Edinburgh by train and stay 4 nights/3.5 days. Use one of those days for a small coach trip into the countryside or for a day trip by train to either Stirling or St Andrews. In the late afternoon your 4th day in Edinburgh take the train to York arriving around dinner time. Stay 2 nights/2 days. Early evening of your 2nd day in York, take the train into London.

Janis - Thank you for your reply. I have certainly noticed that you have a lot of good advice through strands I have read. Do you have recommendations for anything you considered fun activities in any of these areas that might not be the typical sight seeing tourist event. This could include restaurants, pubs, cultural activities to do and see. Thank you.