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Not a Scot or nor do I live over there... but I watched a travel video by a guy that does a lot of travel. He and his family basically rented a car and just drove around in Scotland. There's TONS to see all over the place. Castles you can just drive up to and lot of them do tours. Lots of scenery and things to see. Someday I want to get over there and rent a car, then do that 500 mile loop around the country. I do kinda wish summa y'all going on trips would get a real, nice camera... potato pics must really leave you disappointed! :P View Quote |
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I did and Ireland/Scotland trip a few years back. I preferred Ireland, but I spent more time there so that may be why. St Andrews Cathedral in Scotland is cool https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/260726/20161014_150951-1279746.jpg Right next to it is St Andrews Castle (You can see it in the first photo, right on the water) https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/260726/20161014_135656-1279747.jpg While it's kind of touristy, Edinburgh is worth spending a day in. The buildings are amazing. Edinburgh Castle https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/260726/20161013_140707-1279751.jpg Building inside castle https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/260726/20161013_150247-1279752.jpg View Quote |
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My daughter goes to the University of Edinburgh and I find any excuse to visit and tool around. Lovely city.
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I was only in Glasgow for a few hours so I can't help you much there. We didn't have time, but I wish I would have seen the Scottish Highlands. Hopefully someone can give you some suggestions for that. We only spent 4 days in Scotland, and about 2 weeks in Ireland. Getting out into the countryside was the best part. We did rent a room in Dollarbeg Castle just North of Edinburgh. That was pretty cool. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/260726/20161013_093738-1279770.jpg View Quote Told the wife I wanted to go see Loch Ness and see the highlands & country side. Don’t want to stay in big city’s every day. Think I’m more interested and seeing how the people there live. Idk I may be weird. |
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Quoted: That’s pretty cool. We are planning on staying a week to 10 days and spending 3 of those days in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Told the wife I wanted to go see Loch Ness and see the highlands & country side. Don’t want to stay in big city’s every day. Think I’m more interested and seeing how the people there live. Idk I may be weird. View Quote |
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If it happening while you are there, don't miss the Military Tatoo at Edinburgh Castle.
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My wife and I are heading there in April. First to Islay and then just random driving. That's how we prefer to explore new places. We just let whatever unfolds happen. View Quote We, of course, saw all the important stuff in Amsterdam too. |
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I did and Ireland/Scotland trip a few years back. I preferred Ireland, but I spent more time there so that may be why. St Andrews Cathedral in Scotland is cool https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/260726/20161014_150951-1279746.jpg Right next to it is St Andrews Castle (You can see it in the first photo, right on the water) https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/260726/20161014_135656-1279747.jpg While it's kind of touristy, Edinburgh is worth spending a day in. The buildings are amazing. Edinburgh Castle https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/260726/20161013_140707-1279751.jpg Building inside castle https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/260726/20161013_150247-1279752.jpg https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/260726/DSCN0375_JPG-1279762.jpg Downtown Edinburgh right outside of the castle https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/260726/20161013_140204-1279754.jpg View Quote |
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Another word of advice. The flight and arrival is going to be a bitch. The first day you need to plan on getting to lodging fairly soon and crashing for a few hours. The jet lag is very real and couple that with the driving and you have the recipe for disaster. By noon or one you need to be out of that car. View Quote When driving, use your turn signals in roundabouts and trust the signals you see from other drivers. It's what makes the roundabouts work efficiently and you piss off other drivers or worse (accident) if you don't. Left hand stick shift isn't hard, but it takes a while each trip to get used to looking up and left for your inside rearview mirror. If you venture onto single tracks, learn to watch for upcoming laybys so you can anticipate if you see oncoming cars. |
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Quoted: Now some WW1-2 museums I'd be interested in. The wife has informed me that castles tours will be in the docket. So guess I will check some out. Don't really get into the whole castles and medieval thing. View Quote Edinburgh and Stirling Castles are probably two of the most popular, especially for the tourists. But they're really worth seeing. Not far from Stirling, is Doune Castle. It's worth seeing, especially if you're Monty Python fan. It's the location where most of the castle scenes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail were filmed. The recently late Terry Jones narrates the audio tour, and it goes back and forth from the history of the castle to filming locations. I understand that scenes from Outlander were filmed there as well. Dirleton Castle and Tantallon Castle are to the east of Edinburgh and in my opinion, worth the trip. South into the Scottish Borders, you will find the ruins of several medieval abbeys: Melrose, Jedburgh, Dryburgh and Kelso Abbeys are the most prominent. Melrose is probably the most interesting, in my opinion. It's where the heart of Robert the Bruce is said to have been buried and there's a stone to mark the location. Jedburgh is very interesting as well. Nearby in Jedburgh, is the Mary Queen of Scots House. It's a 15th Century T-plan tower house where Mary once stayed. (Hint: many places in Scotland are associated with either Mary or Bonnie Prince Charlie. Some are associated with both. It's their version of "George Washington once slept here.") At Dryburgh Abbey, in the graveyard you will find the resting places of Sir Walter Scott and Field Marshal Douglas Haig. For a scenic drive in the highlands, I recommend the A82 east from Glencoe. Probably one of the most beautiful drives in Scotland. The Isle of Skye is also worth a visit as well. |
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A few little tips I learned during several trips there...
- rent a car from a local rental agency, not one of the big chains like Hertz, etc. The chains all rent out easily spotted "tourist-mobiles." So you cannot blend in. - eat dinners in the pub instead of restaurants. The locals will talk with you. - avoid politics & football. If asked what team you support I always answered Dallas Cowboys or Green Bay Packers because they're well known & it will get a laugh. Football (soccer) is serious business. - buying a round of drinks tends to trigger an escalating round-buying contest. It's great fun while it lasts but oh the next morning! - visit the Islands: Skye or Lewis and Harris (that's 1 island with 2 names), etc. if you want to go where the road signs are in Gaelic (pronounced "gallic") & life is mostly unchanged from 100 years ago. - Americans are usually well liked in Scotland. During the off season someone is always trying to buy you a drink. |
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Yeah we have been warned about the weather going to pick up a nice rain jacket before we go. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes |
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I was only in Glasgow for a few hours so I can't help you much there. We didn't have time, but I wish I would have seen the Scottish Highlands. Hopefully someone can give you some suggestions for that. We only spent 4 days in Scotland, and about 2 weeks in Ireland. Getting out into the countryside was the best part. We did rent a room in Dollarbeg Castle just North of Edinburgh. That was pretty cool. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/260726/20161013_093738-1279770.jpg View Quote |
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I have been to Scotland several times, trips ranging from 4 days to 4 1/2 weeks.
Visit Glencoe. Hike up into the "hidden valley" Drive up to Kilmartin then on to the Isle of Skye, but stop off at Eilean Donan castle along the way. Visit Dunvegan castle, the Old Man of Storr, Kilt Rock, the Quirang, then take the car ferry from Uig to Lewis and Harris. Visit the Callanish Standing Stones, Carloway Broch. |
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For a scenic drive in the highlands, I recommend the A82 east from Glencoe. Probably one of the most beautiful drives in Scotland. View Quote |
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haven’t been to Scotland in like 30 years (save a quick foray across the border from Cumberland ten years ago just to say I've been there) but I've done a load of road trips in the England, and spent several days in Wales.
My main recommendation would be get a guide book (Lonely Planet is my general favorite), browse around and see what interests you. Put that into your itinerary and just drive there. Northern Scotland - Inverness and further - is beautiful country. It's fairly wet and cold IIRC, though, in the summer. I haven't hired a car (aka rented) anywhere besides England (Carlise and Heathrow), and Enterprise RAC to boot, but Enterprise doesn't have any manual transmission vehicles. Honestly, even if manual vehicles were more common, a rental agency would be crazy to buy them simply due to the lowest common demoninator factor. I'm pretty sure you could get an auto trans car in any situation, and honestly would recommend that. I'm fairly used to driving on the left; after a first day of really thinking about it I get totally used to it by the 3rd day or so. Just remember the driver is always closest to the center lane!!!!! *. IIRC in the UK the turn signals and wipers are on opposite sides, so for the first 1-2 days I switch to the UK or back to the US I turn on my wipers all the time. (Oddly, IIRC Japan keeps wipers and turn signals the same way as the US) Quoted:
A few little tips I learned during several trips there... - rent a car from a local rental agency, not one of the big chains like Hertz, etc. The chains all rent out easily spotted "tourist-mobiles." So you cannot blend in. - eat dinners in the pub instead of restaurants. The locals will talk with you. - avoid politics & football. If asked what team you support I always answered Dallas Cowboys or Green Bay Packers because they're well known & it will get a laugh. Football (soccer) is serious business. - buying a round of drinks tends to trigger an escalating round-buying contest. It's great fun while it lasts but oh the next morning! - visit the Islands: Skye or Lewis and Harris (that's 1 island with 2 names), etc. if you want to go where the road signs are in Gaelic (pronounced "gallic") & life is mostly unchanged from 100 years ago. - Americans are usually well liked in Scotland. During the off season someone is always trying to buy you a drink. View Quote One thing: not all pubs have meal service all the time, though I think in more touristed areas they do. (and conversely, if you find that places don't serve food you know you're off the beaten path. You probably also won't understand their speech. :D ) 24 hour super tescos can be your friend in such situations. * Don't know how I'd do driving a left hand vehicle on a right hand road. Honestly, last time I was in England we were driving in Bristol/SE coast and we saw a sign for a ferry to France. We were tempted to do a day trip to France, but a) there was plenty of cool random shit to see - that day we literlaly drive by and stopped at an old cathedral and a hill forts where a Roman-Celt battle took place b) I was worried my mind would get totally fucked up driving on the right again in a left hand vehicle . Kind of regret it; we could have spent a day trip at Cherbourg, driven through a woodsy national park and seen the Bayeux tapestry. But people do it; at a Roman dig we stopped at we saw a Frenchman with his French licensed car. ) |
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I haven't hired a car (aka rented) anywhere besides England (Carlise and Heathrow), and Enterprise RAC to boot, but Enterprise doesn't have any manual transmission vehicles. Honestly, even if manual vehicles were more common, a rental agency would be crazy to buy them simply due to the lowest common demoninator factor. I'm pretty sure you could get an auto trans car in any situation, and honestly would recommend that. View Quote |
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I've rented from Enterprise in the UK on 5 trips now, and had a manual transmission vehicle every time but one. The one time I paid extra for an automatic, because it was my first time driving on the left, and I didn't want to get overly confused. UK (and European car rentals) are not like rentals in the US. In many cases the automatic transmission vehicle is 50-100% more per day than the manual transmission vehicle over there. View Quote But again, enterprise does not offer the option. i guess they fleeced me. . but then, I happen driven a manual vehicle since I was at drivers ed at 15 |
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https://i.imgur.com/Wfqhrj6.jpg View Quote I will say that Scots are the nicest people in the pub. Course, it could be that they want to see how hungover you can get. They are almost as bad as Indians. |
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https://i.imgur.com/Wfqhrj6.jpg View Quote |
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The highlands is where you want to be. Wouldn’t bother spend to much time in Glasgow Edinburgh is very pretty but very expensive. If you are more for an outdoor vacation, then Isle of Skye is what you seek, and the Outer Hebrides are just a hour away via ferry.
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Scotland: Welfare Capital of the UK
"Astonishing figures from the Department of Work and Pensions reveal 85 per cent of working age adults in Bridgeton, in the city's impoverished east end, are claiming some kind of welfare payment." (Mail on Sunday, 13 May 2012) View Quote "[A]n area of Glasgow's east end is the benefits capital of Britain, with almost nine out of 10 working—age adults claiming some form of welfare payment." (Sunday Times, 13 May 2012) View Quote |
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I used to live there in Glasgow.
I loved Glasgow, its a bit gritty but I found the people quite friendly and they loved my Southern accent. Ayrshire and Glasgow are where a number of my ancestors lived (as well as the Highlands). Glen Coe is out in the country/Highlands and its absolutely wonderful. Go a bit further north to near Fort William and you may see men in tweed with shotguns over their shoulder hunting. Edinburgh is beautiful but the people aren't as welcoming but that's really because its a tourist trap. Likewise, Inverness I thought was decent. I've been all over Scotland but the West Coast I found to be my spiritual home of sorts. |
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Scotland: Welfare Capital of the UK "Astonishing figures from the Department of Work and Pensions reveal 85 per cent of working age adults in Bridgeton, in the city's impoverished east end, are claiming some kind of welfare payment." (Mail on Sunday, 13 May 2012) "[A]n area of Glasgow's east end is the benefits capital of Britain, with almost nine out of 10 working—age adults claiming some form of welfare payment." (Sunday Times, 13 May 2012) |
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That's exactly the trip I'm going on in early June. Driving around most of the country for 8 days in a rental car. Some of the highlights will be Isle of Skye, Loch Ness, Inverness, Aberdeen, Highland games, St. Andrews, Eilean Donan, etc. View Quote |
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Never been, but I dated a Scot one of the times I lived in Bahrain. She was fucking crazy.
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Mrs Rabinowitz spent the first three years of her high school years at the school in Dunoon near Holy Loch. Her dad was captain of the USS Canopus, the sub tender that serviced the nuke subs ported there. According to her, she says the way you can tell it’s summer in Scotland is that the dreary malaise of the place seems slightly warmer....but never hot. View Quote There's plenty to do in Edinburgh too...my favorite town there! There's a bagpiper on every other corner! |
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https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/152303/20190717_122859-1279259.jpgone of the most beautiful places I've ever beenhttps://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/152303/20190717_160843-1279257.jpghttps://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/152303/20190717_193951-1279256.jpghttps://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/152303/20190718_132509-1279255.jpg View Quote |
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I want to go here.
What It's Like To Drive Through The Most Beautiful Scottish Scenery | The Grand Tour |
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Not a Scot or nor do I live over there... but I watched a travel video by a guy that does a lot of travel. He and his family basically rented a car and just drove around in Scotland. There's TONS to see all over the place. Castles you can just drive up to and lot of them do tours. Lots of scenery and things to see. Someday I want to get over there and rent a car, then do that 500 mile loop around the country. I do kinda wish summa y'all going on trips would get a real, nice camera... potato pics must really leave you disappointed! :P View Quote Lol, beat. |
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There's a Grand Tour or Top Gear where they did part of the loop. They went on and on about how great it was. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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Not a Scot or nor do I live over there... but I watched a travel video by a guy that does a lot of travel. He and his family basically rented a car and just drove around in Scotland. There's TONS to see all over the place. Castles you can just drive up to and lot of them do tours. Lots of scenery and things to see. Someday I want to get over there and rent a car, then do that 500 mile loop around the country. I do kinda wish summa y'all going on trips would get a real, nice camera... potato pics must really leave you disappointed! :P |
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