Who, me?
To answer your direct (and implicit) questions, Michael, there are
international airports in Scotland at Edinburgh and Glasgow (as Gerry has
mentioned), as well as Aberdeen, all with direct flights from Heathrow.
There are smaller airports too, but none of them have links to London
Heathrow.
As Chuck, and before him Nathan, have discovered, Scotland is a bigger
country than you might think, and it takes much longer than you might expect
to travel around it. If you want to see Highlands and lakes (we call them
lochs) as well as Edinburgh followed by York, I strongly recommend that you
fly as far north as you can. If you must fly from Heathrow, then that means
flying to Aberdeen. Preferable (but not possible from Heathrow) would be to
fly to Inverness, which is at the very centre of the Highlands. It might not
appear to be so from the map, but you have to take into account that the
beautiful mountains force the roads (and railways) into some not-so-direct
routes!
BUT the time you have available is very limited indeed, given that you want
to see York, and arrive in Somerset (which is about as far from the
Highlands as possible) on 1 September. Here's some indications of timing
for you:
London Heathrow to Aberdeen, Inverness or Edinburgh by air will take about
1.5 hours flight time + at least 1 hour for security
Edinburgh to Inverness by train will take nearly 4 hours
Aberdeen to Inverness by train will take about 2.5 hours
Edinburgh to York by train will take about 2.5 hours
York to Taunton by train will take about 4.5 hours
I suggest that you aim to fly to Aberdeen on 27 August, and the next day
take a train to Inverness. There are tours available in Inverness to cover
the main tourist/historical/scenic spots. Take the train to Edinburgh on 30
August, and from there the train to York on 31 August, and from there the
train to Taunton on 1 September. I think you can "get away" with less time
in Edinburgh and York because the cities are more compact than the
Highlands!
Let us know how your plans develop - and congratulations to your daughter, I
hope she enjoys Taunton!
Piers
-----Original Message-----
From: Chuck Norcutt [mailto:chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: 12 January 2012 15:04
To: Olympus Camera Discussion
Subject: Re: [OM] UK trip 2012
Congratulations to your daughter... and her parents! :-)
I'm sure Piers and others will chime in with all sorts of suggestions but my
wife and I along with another couple (of Scottish descent) toured some of
Scotland in early July. We went first to London where we stayed with the
son of our friends who is on assignment there.
To tour Scotland we took the Virgin train from London to Glasgow.
Due to fortunate timimg we got a good price break and took first class which
was excellent. The first class lounge while waiting for the train was
especially welcome since it was very hot that day and the lounge was air
conditioned. It was also serving wine, strawberries and cream and other
delightful snacks. On board we were served wine, whisky and an excellent
meal with seconds.
In Glasgow as well as Edinburgh we stayed at the "Hot-el Apartments"
<http://www.hot-el-apartments.com/> which we greatly enjoyed. Good price,
good accommodations... 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, kitchen and living/eating areas.
In Glasgow the apartments are only a short walk from the train station. In
Edingburgh they are on the waterfront, a beautiful spot.
On arrival in Glasgow we rented a car from Hertz which is within walking
distance of the apartments. We kept the car in the apartment's garage.
We toured Glasgow and the River Clyde on foot and then used the car to
tour the country side generally toward the north. Places of note: Loch
Lomond, Inveraray/Loch Fyne (where I took my "fynest" photo), Oben and its
waterfront and distillery :-)
After several days of that we took the car from Glasgow to our other
apartment in Edinburgh. We spent several days touring Edinburgh by car, bus
and foot. Places we especially enjoyed other than the city itself are the
Royal Botanical Gardens (plan at least a full day) and a tour of the ship
Britannia. By car we toured to the north again seeing the Falkirk Wheel (a
must for mechanical engineers) Stirling Castle, Dunfermline (the abbey, nave
and palace) and St. Andrews. Once again the Hot-el Apartments proved to be
a good base. Aside from the beautiful water front and modern building they
have plenty of parking for the car, good bus service a short walk away and
grocery and other shops a short ride by bus or car.
We returned to London via train from the Edingburgh station. The driver
dropped the rest of us and our luggage at the station while he returned the
car to Hertz which is not very far from the station. But plan a cab ride
for that one if you're in a hurry. The train ride back was not on Virgin
Trains and was not first class since first class on that line was very
expensive. Nevertheless we had a comfortable ride and a decent meal. IIRC,
the train ride between London and Glasgow or Edinburgh is about 6 hours.
Maybe the train would be better if you have a lot of photo gear.
I had hoped to meet up with Piers in Scotland but our schedules didn't match
up. But he did come to visit me in London and we had a good time in the
British Museum and a busy pub. :-)
Once again, congratulations to your daughter.
Chuck Norcutt
On 1/12/2012 6:46 AM, Michael Wong wrote:
> My daughter has confirmed to admit Queen's College in Taunton,
> Somerset in next school year. We are planning to visit Scotland before
> my daughter reports to school. Preliminary idea is 26 Aug (HKT) night
> flght to Heathrow and will arrive on 27 Aug morning (GMT). I
> appreciate to transfer to Scotland at Heathrow on same day. Where is the
airport in Scotland?
> Edinburgh? I wish to visit Scottish Highlands, Edinburgh and take some
> shots of lake scenes. An then to York before go to Somerset. I have to
> arrive Somerset on 1 Sept& my daughter will report to school on 2 Sept.
>
> Any suggestion to me?
>
> Thanks. ^^
>
>
>
> ---
> Michael
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