This is my first post, and I have not traveled out of the country (except Canada) for 13 years! My DS came along. He is now 15. I am almost 61. I decided early June 2026 is the time to go. He is very laid back, and he could ride in the car forever. He is not getting on a plane. We road trip a lot, and we did a seven week road trip last summer. We definitely like small, quaint towns (not tourist traps) and are not big city people. I did learn at Christmas that food tours are a hit with him after going to NOLA for NYE. This summer is a short drive back to Maine and then to check out Old Town Quebec (food tour booked). He loves animals like Lamar Valley but is not going to get on a horse. I have seen some tours involving animals we may do. He is also not going to want to hike beyond a walk. I have literally planned everything this past week based solely on reading on the Internet (scary I know).. I already have the hotel selected for each location when nights open in a couple of months and I have a packing list pretty well done. I have all the Type A tendencies in the house. However, I need someone to say this is not a crazy, nuts plan given I have never taken a train or a ferry (both which he will love) for public transportation. After the first time figuring it out, I am sure it gets easier. I plan to book those far ahead of the 14 week mark, and will do flexible tickets when we can. I LOVE to drive any roads --including The Million Dollar Highway in CO but I only drive on the right hand side of the road so hope to rely on public transport and tours... Hoping I don't get eaten alive on social media with this post- and my ideas aren't totally crazy. Beginning and ending in Southampton is nonnegotiable. The rest could change if this is not doable. I condensed this for the basic plan without details I have for each day.

Day 1 and 2-Arrive Southampton early in the day. Stay two nights in Brockenhurst/New Forest This is just the type of place he will love, and they have wild horses and pretty walks. We may never want to leave.....
Day 3 Take a train from Brockenhurst to London and then go across the city to take the Caledonia Sleeper to Edinburgh / Waverly train station. Yes. I realize we are missing the big city of London.
Day 4 Arrive early in the day Edinburgh. Stay Old Town. Stay there Day 5, 6, 7 I am planning maybe a food tour and a day tour along with just enjoying the area. Stockbridge looked so adorable..but OT seems to be the better option.
Day 8 Take a train from Edinburgh to Cairnryan Then ferry to Larne: Operated by P&O Ferries, Spend night in Larne at a hotel I found convenient to the ferry and train. We are spending the night so there is no fear of missing the next train and to make this part more relaxing.
Day 9 - Take a train to Belfast and then on to Dublin. Stay the rest of the day and spend the night
Day 10, 11, Stay in Dublin Maybe a food tour.
Day 12- Take train to Galway Stay Day 13, 14, 15. We can do a couple of tours.
Day 16- Take a train from Galway to Dublin, then a ferry from Dublin to Holyhead (Wales), and finally a train from Holyhead to Amsterdam.
Day 17 – Arrive in Amsterdam in the morning. Stay in Haarlem, for Day 18, 19, 20 Canal ride, Anne Franke house, maybe go to Broek in Waterland (30 min.)etc.
Day 21- Take a train to London and then to Southampton. Spend the night.
Day 22 – Depart for home that evening.

Is this doable? Did I make a major mistake? Should I replace a city? I realize we aren't seeing every country or even a lot of any one. I just want to see if this is crazy. Edinburgh does seem like a big city, but I researched it, and it is best to base there I think and explore. He really is a self professed "homebody" but I know he will be excited about the trains and ferry.. and he is up to my crazy trip ideas, Typically he loads up books in the back seat and is ready to go. He just doesn't like to run, run, run.. and is not into long tours about history (learned that in NOLA). He always says surprise me where we are going, and he is expecting another road trip.

Welcome to Fodors. Your thread was caught up in the spam filter. Sorry for the delay releasing it.

Yes, welcome to the forums. OK -- I know the type-A inclinations . . . pre-planning and all that. But you are talking 15 months from now so IMO it is far too early to get your heart set an any particular itinerary/hotel/train schedule/ etc. Soooooo many things can change including timetables.

To be honest I think you are over complicating things by including the Netherlands. Taking into account your son's interests and preferences IMO you would have an easier time of things and drive yourselves a lot less crazy limiting the trip to the UK and Ireland. 22 day (plus the close to 2 weeks transatlantic) is a long trip but with only 3 weeks on the ground you could have a GREAT trip with a bit of England, a bit of Scotland, and a bit of Ireland. Even that would be rushed but throwing Amsterdam into the mix makes it much more so.

I could see an itinerary including the New Forest, York, Hadrian's Wall, Edinburgh, maybe a short 2 or 3 day small group tour into the Highlands, Northern Ireland, Dublin, a couple of days in North Wales, and back down to Southampton.

While the Caledonian Sleeper is an experience -- not always a good experience, how it will be next year is anyone's guess. The UK government has plans for changes in all train management. I'd consider a day time train to York, a night or 2 there, then a 2+ hour daytime train to Edinburgh.

This company is terrific and does a variety of day trips to multi-night small group tours (never more than 16 passengers but very often fewer). They made their well earned reputation in Scotland but also offer wonderful itineraries in Ireland.

Maybe look over some of their itineraries and consider something(s) in both countries.

https://www.rabbies.com/en?gad_sourc...xoCbpkQAvD_BwE

Sounds like a nice trip. You need A-type qualities to plan a trip and take charge of it so don't worry. That day going from Galway to Amsterdam is a doozy. If you still want to do Amsterdam then I would think about a flight from Ireland to Schiphol (Ryanair?). I know you said no planes but it will cut your travelling time and less run, run, run.

Lavandula

One of the main reasons I suggested dropping Amsterdam was the emphatic no planes criteria. To make this trip work they are sailing round trip Transatlantic. The extra time/$$$ that entails I assumed no flying means no flying.

I missed that there were no planes.at.all, I just assumed they were flying into Southhampton - there is an international airport there also. In that case I second janisj in dropping Amsterdam. You would chew up so much extra time in getting from A to B that a jaunt through the British Isles would be enough. Amsterdam is fabulous but save it for another trip, there will be another time.

Lavandula

There is no single train to Amsterdam from Holyhead, and it will be a very long day, with the chance for all sorts of hassle with delays etc. You miss many days by taking the train across the UK to get to Amsterdam and then back again to get the ship home.
Much as I would like you to visit the Netherlands (thought maybe somewhere other than Amsterdam) I think you should drop it in this case and spend longer in the UK and Ireland.
As janis suggested add the days to explore York, or Northumberland, or North Wales or more of Ireland.
If Amsterdam is a must then start with it, then get the overnight ferry to Hull and bus to York and then carry on from there. Yes you miss out on the sleeper but you do get to see more of the country still.

Firstly, Brockenhurst is lovely, Lyndhurst (just across the forest is sort of a home town for me).

Have a look at directferries.co.uk or rome2rio.com you might prefer ferry Hull to Rotterdam, then train to Amsterdam

I do love Amsterdam, but y’all recommended places I never considered or looked at in Ireland. I’ll look. I just really wanted Amsterdam but I’ll look at everything mentioned. Some “cute” towns may convince me.

That’s good info on the Caledonian sleeper train. It does sound like it may not be the “experience” I hoped for. I’ll cut that. I had alternatives but thought it sounded neat. That’s why I asked. I also wondered if any of it sounded like a doozy of a day. That’s important for me to know.

As far as hotels, I always book the day they open and plan trips this far ahead. I basically pick a day and check all hotels and reviews and threads because many people compare ones I see. Then I narrow it to two and check those before booking. I do watch reviews and have changed closer to trips if reviews make a huge shift south. It’s not life and death to stick to them but the planning is half the fun.

I’m SO excited people replied and I’m not “way off” in the gist of my plans!

OK I have made notes of all the places mentioned. Since he is not the outdoorsy type, I think we will more than likely not do the Highlands or the Cliffs. Yes, I realize those places are very gorgeous. I am going to look at all the other places mentioned. I made a list. I had another place that looked wonderful, but I have no idea geographically where it is and it may be similar to some of the places mentioned. It is Dingle.

We can skip Amsterdam. I was there years ago. My son would be content to stay home and watch the dogs, but he will be excited for the cruise I think. If we have 21 days with rain and overcast skies, we may be both be glad to get back, but a friend has been to Ireland, and they had a lot of dry days. Fingers crossed He is an old soul everyone says, and they have a book club an other activities (plus he likes food a lot) on the cruise. When he was 2-3 years old it was easy to take him on a plane. After that he was not a good flyer. Between a couple of rough flights and the news, there is no way he said he would get on one. I did tell him I have had much smoother flights to other countries because of the size of the plane, but he is not interested. The cruise honestly was not a lot more than a plane ticket. I did get a good deal, and I took the least expensive room as I always used to do.

I just saw you can go to a hairy coo farm with a Highlands tour. It doesn't have to be a day of hiking.

Day 1 and 2-Arrive Southampton early in the day. Stay two nights in Brockenhurst/New Forest
Day 3 Take a day train from Brockenhurst to York. Spend the night. Day 4- spend in York
Day 5 Take a day train from York to Edinburgh. Stay there Day 6, 7, 8, 9 (Extra day was added to do a day tour to The Highlands including hairy coo farm
Day 10- Take a train to Cairnryan Then ferry to Larne: Operated by P&O Ferries, Spend night in Larne at a hotel I found convenient to the ferry and train.
Day 11 - Take a train to Belfast and then on to Dublin. Stay the rest of the day and spend the night
Day 12, 13, Stay in Dublin
Day 14- Take train to Galway Stay Day 15, 16, 17. We can do a couple of tours.
Day 18- ????
Day 19- ????
Day 20- ????
Day 21- Travel back to Southampton
Day 22 – Depart for home that evening.
** It doesn’t appear I can fit Dingle (or a town like it) anywhere. Correct??? I think I would LOVE the town. I added a day on Edinburgh for a tour to Loch Ness/The Highlands. We could spend a couple nights right in The Highlands instead, but then it looks like we would need to go back to Edinburgh to get from The Highlands to Ireland.. which looks like a really long journey which could hit snags. ? I am open to either.

The Hull > Rotterdam ferry takes more than 11 hours -- plus the time to get to Hull (and if that was from Holyhead you are talking 6 to 8 hours) and then another hour ro travel from Rotterdam to Amsterdam so 20 hours give or take. . Then on return Amsterdam to Southampton would be another close to full day. (only about 7 hours on transport but with transfers from train to Underground station to another Underground station to another train - count eating up the day.

Unfortunately -- Amsterdam simply doesn't fit with Scotland and Ireland if flying is not an option. Now IF you were just doing London, southern England and the Netherlands -- could be done quite easily.

Posts 10, 11, 12 and 13 were caught up in the spam filter and just released.

Which is why I suggested they visit Amsterdam first then get the overnight ferry and carry on from there. There is a bus service from the ferry to York. Or they could take the Ijmuiden Newcastle ferry if Northumberland was more appealing.
However they have decided to drop Amsterdam so it is moot.

Oh jeeze -- ignore my last post (#15) because I didn't see you've decided to Drop Amsterdam.

If it was me -- just me -- I'd add another 2 or 3 days to Scotland. Staying in Inverness one or two nights. From Edinburgh you could take a different day tour -- lots of great options and from Inverness you could do a tour of Loch Ness etc which is MUCH closer to Inverness - they are 'next door neighbors'.

I like this a lot. York actually looks amazing.: However, IF this is the logical order, is Day 12 and Day 21 going to be feasible?

Day 1 and 2-Arrive Southampton early in the day. Stay two nights in Brockenhurst/New Forest
Day 3 Take a day train from Brockenhurst to York. Spend the night. Day 4 and 5- spend in York
Day 6 Take a day train from York to Edinburgh. Stay there Day 7, 8, 9,
Day 10 Take a train to Inverness and stay Day 11
Day 12- Take a train to Cairnryan Then ferry to Larne: Operated by P&O Ferries, Spend night in Larne at a hotel I found convenient to the ferry and train.
Day 13 - Take a train to Belfast and then on to Dublin. Stay the rest of the day and spend the night
Day 14, 15, 16, Stay in Dublin
Day 17- Take train to Galway Stay Day 18, 19, 20 We can do a couple of tours.
Day 21- Travel back to Southampton
Day 22 – Depart for home that evening.

The Hull to R ferry is over night. So you don't really lose any real time.

Those days would be difficult and very long. Day 21 is a killer. BUT if you were in Dublin that night instead of Galway it would be at least barely doable. After the ferry from Dublin to Wales you need two trains 1) Holyhead > Stafford then 2) Stafford to Southampton. The trains alone would take about 6 hours so a long day but sort of doable from Dublin.

Day 12 would be complicated -- 3 hour train from Inverness to Stirling, then a 30 minute train from Stirling to Glasgow Queen Street, then either a half mile walk or short bus ride to Buchanan Street bus station and a 2.5 hour bus down to Cairnryan, and finally the 3 hour ferry. A very long day. I'd just plan on spending the night in central Glasgow.



It looks like they have decided to drop Amsterdam -- but even being overnight it would still involve a full day's travel since they wold have started from Dublin . . . plus then they have the hassle of getting back to Southampton. Just waaaaay too much hassle. Thus they have changed plans.