One other background factor for Bob to bear in mind when deciding on
the type of holiday he settles on is the price of fuel in the UK which
can be a shock for those visiting from the other side of the atlantic.
I have a modern, relatively economical diesel car (Vauxhall Corsa 1.3
TDCi) which gives me around 50 miles per UK gallon, but that still
means I plan journeys on the basis of 12 UKpence per mile travelled for
fuel and I reckon that is about 18 US cents a mile at the current
exchange rate. (And fuel might be significantly more expensive in the
NW of Scotland and many miles from the nearest refinery - Piers?)
On the other hand, my experience many years a go was that 'supper' in a
Scottish B&B in the highlands was a much more substantial meal than I
expected, which made the accommodation even better value than I
anticipated - is this still true, anyone?
With regard to mobile phones, the problem will not be the choice of
phone (unless you want access to 4G and I rather doubt that will be
available very widely in highland Scotland) but the operator, BT,
Orange, O2 etc and local knowledge will probably be needed to help make
a choice although the web may have some information on claimed network
coverage, but beware that many phones are sold locked to one network.
My wife and I use Pay-as-U Go contracts with unlocked phones which
allowed us to choose our network via our choice of SIM cards which are
readily available without needing a residential qualification or
similar as in some countries. Personally I would recommend against a
last minute purchase of a 'strange' smartphone as my experience is that
it can take quite a while to learn how to do even the simplest things
on first acquaintance with a touch screen system, while texting (SMS)
can be a cheap communication method, particularly on a Pay-as-U-Go
phone.
Brian
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