1st time to Scotland, help!

[Babz]

Glasgow to Leeds....

Its easy enough to get there in approx 3 hours.

We go down the M74/M6 quite a lot to Doncaster and we find it is easier to go across the
A66 and down the A1 than straight down to the M62.

There is a stretch of the M62 that is highly accident prone and we choose to avoid it (between Junctions 25 - 29)

Edinburgh to Leeds....

Straight down the A1

If you are staying a couple of days in Leeds you could visit quite a few places..I suppose it depends
on what your interests are !!

I like Brimham Rocks, Skipton and Knaresborough to name a few !!

[slunderville]

Thanks! You 2 are great. And the road tips will be priceless. We both love cashmere so the mills in Hawick are a must and I thought that might be a good place to drop to Leeds from and then maybe drive across England to Gretna or towards that side of Scotland anyway. Main roads to get somewhere quicker and smaller roads for the sightseeing, might be safer for the locals if we're on the small roads since I'm sure we'll be looking all around.

Do you think we'd be silly to pay more for a car with an automatic transmission? Thought in towns it might be safer than trying to concentrate on shifting and driving on the left? At least your speed limits will help, we shouldn't be having too many people angry because we don't know where we're going. Do the rental cars have big bumper stickers that say Beware Tourist Driving? ha ha If not, they probably should!

So Babz, Elvis and chocolate? Can't do much better can you? Have you ever been over here for Elvis Week? I went this year for the first time, it was the best time I've ever had! Do you go to the Elvis Week's in England? My friend Lolly (Lorraine Whitaker) goes to the smaller one every year and sometimes the other one but this year she came to Memphis and then at the end of the Elvis Week over there she won a trip for 2 to come back over for the Birthday Celebration. She's ecstatic! Maybe we need an Elvis forum here. Do you belong to the Elvis Insiders Club? Ok, this is a travel forum here isn't it? Sorry folks! I do get a bit carried away on the subject.

Scotland will top it I'm sure. Elvis and Scotland are my two obsessions and it drives my family nuts. They didn't think I'd go to Memphis and they sure don't believe me yet that we're going to Scotland for a month, they think we're just talking but we plan on getting our tickets this coming week as the airfare is creeping up. Then they'll have to believe us won't they?

Kathy, it says your in Oregon but you are so knowledgeable have you lived in Scotland? Or just hooked like me? You must've at least been there more than once.

Enjoy your weekends and don't eat too much chocolate!

[kathyv]

I've only been there a couple of times, so far, but in planning those trips I have done a lot of research which has stuck with me, plus years of reading everything I can get my hands on about places that I've been, am going to or plan to go to again. (Scotland in a nutshell!LOL)

As far as the Manual v Automatic, you might want to get what you are most familiar with, that way you can focus on driving on the British side of the road!

Is it possible to eat too much chocolate?

[slunderville]

Too much chocolate? Only when you've got another 20 lbs to lose! Want to look good in Scotland, right?

Used to both transmisstions but did think about the extra concentration needed to stay on the left.

I haven't traveled that much, this will be my first time needing a passport, does that say anything? Only thing better than filling it with trips to Scotland would be to have a place there to spend half of every year. In my dreams.... Have to admit, winter in Arizona pretty well spoils you. Though snow at Christmas is always the best.

I haven't even made it to Oregon and my aunt and uncle live in Medford. Pathetic.

[kathyv]

Medford is nice, my uncle lives around there just out o Ashland. I am caddy corner across the state in the NE corner. Mountains abound so snow all year at times! LOL

I imagine that after a day or 2 of practice driving on the Brit side will be second nature to you, driving back home may seem tricky when you get back! LOL Just give yourself some practice in lees congested areas, like a big car park, before diving into heavy traffic.

Do you have a passport yet? I sent mine off for renewal in May as I need it in April '08, I got it back about 3 weeks ago so it's taking a lot of time, and first timers may take longer than renewals so if you haven't gotten it, send the paper work right in.

One of my plans, after the hubby and I retire, is to spend a year living around GB, That way we'd get to see a lot more than you can on a holiday, get to meet more folks than the few you happed to meet in the pub or hotel once or twice, poke into a lot of little off the beaten path type places and just become part of the place we happen to be in at the time. That would free us up to go or stay where ever our fancies take us.

And, those extra 20 lbs might come in handy if it happens to be cold for you, after all, the latitude in Arizona and the latitude in Scotland are vastly different!

[slunderville]

You're right about the driving, we'll just have to see how much difference there is in costs. I sent my passport application in in July and had it back in August so I was pretty happy, had been expecting it to take months and months.

How wonderful that would be to spend a year! My first thought for my trip was to find a cottage somewhere and rent it for a month figuring I'd be going by myself. Mostly just to be there and get to know people, see what I could. Then my friend said she'd like to go to so now things have changed and we're traveling around to see it. I would love to find a little place for sale that was fairly cheap and needing fixing and see if I could get my sister to get it for me. She does spoil me a lot and that would be pushing it but we can dream...

I grew up in Wisconsin so the cold in Scotland won't be bad and I've been tracking temps all year, the weather this past spring wasn't any colder than our winter here, just more rain. Night temps there were warmer than here and I'll still have insulation.

For Babz - Do you know anyone that has gone to the Fire Festival? Would love to talk with someone who's gone to it already.

[Polwarth]

Unless you have enough money not only to buy a cottage but to 'keep' yourself indefinitely, OR have Scots ancestry no further back than a grandparent (and only then in some cases!) OR are in the process of marrying a Scot - then your chances of being allowed the relevant visa which would give you the legal 'right to remain' might be almost impossible to come by. If you can prove that you can afford to keep yourself without being a charge on the State, then I think the longest you could stay is six months.