Stitching up UK itinerary
 

I have simplified my itinerary to 5 days in London (with 1 day train trip to Bath) + 5 days in Scotland.

Now to the hard part - how to get to/from Scotland without losing too much time. I was not able to get bargain tickets to Caledonia Sleeper, and non-bargain ones seem to be $300-400 per person one way. Day trains seem to take too long, at least half a day. The only remaining option is flying. So here are my questions.

1. Is there a way to get Caledonia Sleeper tickets at more reasonable prices (like around $100 per person one way) ?

2. Ok, let's say I am flying. Most likely it will be Gatwick. How long a transfer between London center and Gatwick usually take ?

3. I will be leaving UK also from Gatwick, in the morning. I could save on 2 transfers by flying back from Scotland and waiting in the airport. But because of possible flight delays, I probably have to return from Scotland a night before, so I'll need a hotel near Gatwick. Is there an inexpensive one (yeah, right...) ?

I know nothing about the sleeper service to Scotland, but the fact that you are being quoted prices in dollars suggests to me you are paying too much. You should be trying to book through Scotrail. If you are already doing that and are converting the currency for our convenience, then you will not find cheaper fares elsewhere.

City centre to city centre, I think you will find train as quick as air, with a lot less hassle.

There are budget hotels, e.g. Travelodge, and numerous B&Bs in Crawley, a town a couple of miles from Gatwick.

If rail and air are so expensive look into renting a small car. the trip doesn;t take that long (driving will be as fast as flying) and you're on your own schedule.

Looks like I cannot book from Scotrail website, so I went to

directrail.raileasy.co.uk

and found L64 per person both ways, from King Cross station. Sounds like a real bargain compared to what I was finding before... All trains take about 4.5 - 5 hours (are all of them Flying Scotsmen ? :) )

If I take train, there is another problem: I'll need to find a car rental in Edinburgh somewhere on the outskirts of the city (originally I was planning to rent from the Edinburgh airport)...

Don't worry about WHERE the rental agency is in Edinburgh. Use autoeurope.com to get a good rate and it will tell you which agency and where it is.

If it ends up being at EDI - there is an express/cheap airport bus that leaves from Waverly station and drops you right at the terminals/rental agencies.

Or - the rental agency might be in central Edinburgh - and a short cab ride from the station.

Or - it could be walking distance from the station . . . .

So no problem where it is.

Plus - if you want to stay over at least one night in Edinburgh, you won't want to have a car until the day you leave the city.

Meant to add - not quite sure what nytraveler means by &quot;<i>driving will be as fast as flying</i>&quot;.

There is no way driving to Edinburgh will be as fast as flying or taking the train.

Driving - 9 -10 hours

train - 4.5 hrs during the day (longer for the sleeper overnight - but you'd be sleeping, not driving :) )

flying - 1 hr plus getting to/from the airport so call it 4.5 hours.

&gt; the rental agency might be in central Edinburgh

It has to be outside of the city because none of us can drive on the, ehm, wrong side of the road in a city.

Then - pick it up at the airport like you originally planned.

&quot;<i> I'll need to find a car rental in Edinburgh somewhere on the outskirts of the city (originally I was planning to rent from the Edinburgh airport)...</i>&quot;

EDI airport <b>IS</b> on the outskirts of the city.