OK, it's long, but if you want to read it, here it is:
DATES: Departing Houston June 7, returning June 24
DESTINATION: London for a week, six days driving the Highlands, and the final 3 nights in Edinburgh
TRAVELING PARTY: myself, 40 y/o male, sister, 42 y/o female, our nephew (other sister’s 14 y/o son)
FLIGHTS: Continental, $1069 each for open jaw, IAH to LGW, then EDI to IAH via EWR
GROUND TRANSPORTATION FOR LONDON: Oyster cards with 7 day travel cards for Zones 1 and 2 loaded on (went to the trouble of getting photo Oyster card for 14-16 y/o kids so that we could travel with nephew at peak times, rather than having to wait until after 9:30 for the discounted fares). £22.50 each for the adults, and £11.00 for the kid (but his Oyster photo card application had cost us £5 to process).
GROUND TRANSPORTATION TO SCOTLAND: GNER out of King’s Cross, 3 First Class tickets for £105, total
GROUND TRANSPORTATION IN SCOTLAND: Rental car from Alamo/National (through Argus), Saab 9-5, with the reduced excess damage waiver approximately £300 for the week. Needed a larger car to accommodate all three people with luggage fully out of sight in the trunk. Good car (only had 800 miles on it), except for rear visibility. Got almost 30 mpg. In Edinburgh, we walked or took a cab.
ACCOMMODATIONS
LONDON (7 nights): VRBO Apartment # 47902, next to St. James tube stop. One BR, one bath, with Murphy bed in LR for 3rd occupant. £700 for the week. Great location. Apartment was functional, if not luxurious. Nice new TV with digital channels. Would recommend it for parties of 2 or 3 who are interested in a convenient location and functional facilities. If you are looking for luxury or quaintness, this isn’t the place. Located about 30 yards from St. James Park tube station, with the former Home Office and Wellington Barracks across the street, and New Scotland Yard just around the corner. High security presence. In addition to the Tube, several bus lines stop two blocks away on Victoria Street, and a taxi rank that was manned as early as 5:45 a.m. is located around the corner, across from the Crown Plaza hotel.
INVERARAY (2 nights): George Hotel. Two rooms (one with twin beds, and one single) for £105 per night. Loved it. Would highly recommend. Good food in the restaurant as well.
PLOCKTON (2 nights): Plockton Hotel. One room, King Bed with futon (convertible couch) for 3rd occupant. £110 pounds per night. Nice hotel, but our party of 3 was a little cramped in this room. Would have been great for a couple. Good restaurant.
INVERNESS (2 nights): Moyness House, bed and breakfast. Two rooms (one with twin beds and one single) for £38 pounds per night per person. Had a car park, but we were close enough to the city center to walk to restaurants. Nice place, and would recommend it for someone looking to stay in Inverness.
EDINBURGH (3 nights): Radisson. One family room, King plus two standard beds for £140 per night. Unbeatable location on the Royal Mile. Was great to end the trip with a clean, modern, business hotel without the quirkiness of our other locations. Would highly recommend it.
SITE PASSES/DISCOUNTS: Used 2 for 1 deals in London from Days Out Guide, and also had a 15 day Great Britain Heritage Pass–the family pass cost $217. Great deal if you are getting to sights out of London (only a few London sights accept it).
THE REST OF THE STORY
FLIGHT AND DAY ONE: My sister and I had planned a trip to Scotland in 2006, but had to cancel at the last minute when she fell off a counter top and broke her leg. When rescheduling, we decided to take our nephew along and add a week in London. Since he lives in Houston, and flights from IAH were about $100 per person cheaper than the same itinerary out of DFW, we decided to fly out of IAH.
The flight over on Continental was delayed a few minutes because of some problem with the evacuation slide, but we were only about 25 minutes late pushing back, and made up the time in the air. We arrived at LGW at 7:00 a.m., cleared customs, and proceeded to the rail station to catch the Gatwick Express to Victoria. We arrived at Victoria at about 9:15 a.m. and had to kill some time there before we could head to the apartment (prior occupants were not due to vacate until 10:00 a.m.), so we picked up our Oyster Cards and ate breakfast at McDonalds. At 10:00 a.m., we took a cab to the apartment dropped our luggage, and headed out (cleaners had the apartment until 4:00 p.m.). In retrospect, I wish I had rented the apartment for the day before our arrival date so that we could have regrouped in the apartment, but we didn’t, and were forced to follow the “keep moving” theory for fighting jet lag. Went to the Cabinet War Rooms for a couple of hours–could have spent longer, but we were just too tired. Then, we went to St. James Park, ate some hot dogs, and needing to kill some more time, rented the loungers and rested for a couple of hours. Actually enjoyed just people watching. Headed back to the apartment just before 4:00. We unpacked and regrouped for a while, got a bite to eat, then took the bus across the Thames to do the London Eye at around 7:00 p.m. It was a sunny Friday evening, but we had virtually no line. I went in and bought the tickets, and just had time to collect the others, then head for the line. We got straight on and enjoyed the ride. Put me in the “yes” column on the Eye, especially if you haven’t done it before.
DAY TWO (Saturday, June 9): The big event for this day was attending the Colonel’s Review of Trooping the Colour. This is the final dress rehearsal (the preceding Saturday saw the first dress rehearsal) for the troop review that celebrates the Queen’s official birthday. It is all the pomp and pageantry you could hope to find in one place. Large bleachers are set up around 3 sides of Horse Guards parade for the event. For a foreigner, getting tickets to the final dress rehearsal or the actual event itself (which involves a lottery for tickets) is difficult because not only do you have to apply for tickets in January or February, but, once your request is granted, you only have a short time to send in the money for your tickets, and, your payment must be made by check, in pounds sterling, drawn on a British bank. We enlisted the help of our landlady to get this done, but it was well worth the trouble. Great to see all the household units, and combined bands, in action. If you are going to be in London in mid or early June next year, you should definitely look into attending one of these ceremonies (note: there is a dress code, so pack accordingly). After returning to our apartment and getting something to eat, my nephew and I took the tube to South Kensington and went to the Science Museum. Kids love it, and it was fun for this adult, too.
DAY THREE (Sunday, June 10): Took the bus to Waterloo Station, then bought tickets for the train trip to Hampton Court (with our travel card for Zones 1-2, the fare for 3 was only £7.40). Used the GBHP for admission to Hampton Court. Definitely a good trip. Not quite as flashy a palace as Versailles, but costumed guides really added to the experience. Upon our return, my nephew and I made a trip to King’s Cross Station to pick up our tickets for Friday’s journey to Edinburgh (had been purchased online, but wanted to pick them up in advance of our journey, to ensure no problems on the day of travel), and took the obligatory picture at the Harry Potter Platform 9 3/4. After dinner, we decided to take the bus to the Tower of London for the Ceremony of the Keys since the District and Circle lines were out of service for the entire weekend. We made a crucial mistake in following the TfL website guidance, and getting off the 11 bus at Mansion House, in order to switch to the 15, rather than doing so at St. Paul’s. Because of road work, 15 was diverted from its stop and Mansion House and the next stop, as well. We walked what seemed like a mile before finally catching a 15 for the rest of the trip to the Tower. The Ceremony of the Key’s was fun and interesting, but suffered in comparison to what we had seen the previous day. Glad we did it, but someone who hadn’t just seen Trooping the Colour (or the dress rehearsal) would probably have enjoyed it even more.
DAY FOUR (Monday, June 11): This was our day to go to Oxford and Blenheim. We took the Oxford Tube bus from its stop near Victoria Coach station to Oxford (£30 pounds total for 2 adults with a follow on pass for an additional ride, kid rode free to Oxford, but paid £4 for one day buss pass to get us to Blenheim). The ride was about an hour and 45 minutes–longer than the train, but by leaving at 7:00, we got to Oxford before we could have even left London by train using a cheap day return ticket, which is only offered after 9:30 a.m. On arriving at Gloucester Green bus station, we simply walked over several parking bays to the bus bound for Woodstock (20 or 20A) and proceeded on to Blenheim, arriving about the time that the palace opened. Admission was covered by GBHP. Truly a spectacular site. Pretty good walk from bus stop to the palace proper, so take that into consideration. We made sure the weather was going to be decent. After doing Blenheim, we returned to Oxford. We decided not to try to cover too much ground, so we simply proceeded to Christ Church and toured the Cathedral and Great Hall. Walked back to the bus station past Radcliffe Camera. One note: my sister’s injury last summer has limited her mobility somewhat, so, someone with better mobility could have seen a lot more of Oxford, even with the morning trip to Blenheim, than we did. Keep this in mind when reading the rest of the report. The bus trip back to London was a little bit quicker, and we were back at the apartment well before 7:00 p.m.
DAY FIVE (Tuesday, June 12): With the Tube back in full operation, we decided to head first thing to the Tower for the full tour. We were there at opening time, and proceeded immediately to see the jewels. There was no line at all–we had to snake through several rooms filled with line barriers, with no one in front of us, but once we got to the jewels, we went past them on the conveyors twice (once on each side) and could have done so as many times as we had liked. After leaving the jewels, we went back to the entrance and picked up a Yeoman Warder’s tour, and were glad we did so. Following the YW tour, we went to the White Tower and looked at the armor. Then, we walked over to Tower Bride and for the Tower Bridge Experience. Admission was covered by GBHP. Probably wouldn’t pay to do this, but since it was covered by our pass, it was worth the detour simply for the photo op. In fact, we did not bother with the tour of the engine room. After doing the bridge, we walked back to Tower Green, then took a bus to St. Paul’s. We ate at a bar in the vicinity, then toured St. Paul’s. Admission was covered by GBHP. I wish that I’d had the energy to climb the dome, but I was just too tired, so we toured the cathedral and crypt, then went back to the apartment via tube, walking to Mansion House station. However, after we left Westminster Station, an announcement was made that the next station (St. James, where we would have gotten off) was closed. So, we had to go on to Victoria, then go back to our apartment. A short time later, my nephew and I left for the Imperial War Museum–this time, by bus, since the station was closed. We later learned that the station was closed because of the collapse of the top floors of a nearby building. After we finished at the IWM, we took a chance on the St. James Park tube station being opened (and luckily, it was), and took the tube back. Later, after dinner, my nephew and I went to the British Library to see the Treasures Exhibit. Being the son of a band director, he really enjoyed seeing the original scores of composers like Handel, Mozart, and Beethoven.
DAY SIX (Wednesday, June 13): Took the tube and DLR to Greenwich. Started with the old naval college, popping in to the chapel and painted gallery for pictures, then went over to the maritime museum and caught the tram to go uphill to the observatory. As an unexpected bonus, while we were at the observatory, we were able to watch the carrier Ark Royal proceed past Greenwich, on its way to participate in ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of the Falklands War. We took the obligatory prime meridian pictures, and I particularly enjoyed seeing the Harrison time pieces, which I had learned about by watching the Jeremy Iron’s movie “Longitude” on A&E several years ago. Ate at the café outside the observatory before catching the tram down the hill to the Maritime Museum, which we also toured. Then we took the boat back to Westminster, and toured Westminster Abbey on the way back to our apartment. Later, my nephew and I proceeded to the National Gallery which had extended hours this evening. Unfortunately, some of the galleries were closed, so we didn’t get to make a true progression through the various periods as one can do if all the galleries are opened. We ate at Leicester Square, then walked over to Piccadilly Circus, before catching the tube back to the apartment.
DAY SEVEN (Thursday, June 14): Having crossed the big sights off our list, my sister needed some recovery time, so nephew and I set out on the Tube for Mansion House, thence by foot across the Millennium Bridge to the Globe Theater. Admission was covered by the GBHP. We returned to the apartment, gathered sister for lunch, then went to see the Guard’s Museum at the Wellington Barracks. If you want to see all those fancy uniforms that they wear up close, this is the place. Later, we went to Apsley House (covered by GBHP) and the Wellington Arch (also a GBHP site). Apsley House as a structure might not be all that interesting, but being the home of the Duke of Wellington made it worthwhile. The view from the Arch wasn’t all that great, and wouldn’t be worth paying a separate admission. We then walked down Constitution Hill to Buck House, took some pictures around the palace, and headed back to the apartment to get packed up for our train trip to Scotland.
DAY EIGHT (Friday, June 15): We took the train from King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley, then took a cab to the airport to pick up the rental car. On paper, it would look easier to do this by air, since we were ending up at the airport, but we find flying, with the security checks and luggage restrictions, to be such a struggle that we were happy to do this leg by train, and “splurged” a little for first class tickets. The train trip was uneventful, even though this was the day that York was hit with heavy flooding. We picked up the rental car at the airport, fired up my laptop for use as a GPS system (using Microsoft’s Autoroute Europe), then proceeded down the “wrong” side of the rode bound for Stirling Castle, on the way to Inveraray. The idea of picking up the car at the airport to avoid city traffic was a good one, and we got off to a smooth start. However, when we got off the motorway, I forgot to get in the center lane in order to make a 270 degree turn, and was forced to proceed several miles in the wrong direction before finding a place to turn around and head back into Stirling. Then, trying to navigate our way up the hill to Stirling Castle, even with GPS software, was a bit of a challenge. Suffice it to say that this was our most difficult auto challenge on the trip, but we made it. Stirling Castle (admission covered by GBHP) was an impressive sight and deserved more time, but with the temperature in the 50s and the wind howling at about 35 mph, we didn’t last much more than an hour before giving up and deciding to press on. We proceeded to Doune Castle, and opted to simply take some exterior pictures even though the Castle was covered by GBHP, then proceeded on to Inveraray via Loch Lomond and the Rest and Be Thankful Pass. Really enjoyed the last part of the drive. Arrived at the George and ate dinner there.
DAY NINE (Saturday, June 16): We decided to make this a light day, limiting ourselves to a tour of the Inveraray Jail, the Arctic Penguin, and Inveraray Castle, with some down time in between to watch Trooping the Colour on TV (and to hear all the commentary). Sister and nephew enjoyed shopping for souvenirs on Main Street. For dinner, we went to the Loch Fyne Oyster Bar.
DAY TEN (Sunday, June 17): After breakfast, we left Inveraray bound for Plockton via Glen Coe, the Road to the Isles, and Skye. We managed to get our obligatory picture with a lone piper out of the way at the head of Glen Coe, with the best dressed, and arguably best located, piper we saw on the trip. Stopped at the Glen Coe visitors center (admission covered by GBHP), then proceed on through Fort William to Glen Finnan. We stopped at the visitor’s center (covered by GBHP), and my nephew and I climbed the monument. We then sent my nephew up the hill behind the visitor’s center to get some pictures from the viewpoint, and afterwards, grabbed a light lunch. On our way to Mallaig, we encountered our first single track road. We wanted to be sure we made it to Mallaig in plenty of time to check in for the 16:00 ferry, but we got there early enough that they ended up putting us on a ferry at 14:45, so we got to Skye a little early. This allowed us to take a detour to Toskavaig and the north side of the Sleat peninsula for some great scenery. This time, when we got on the single track roads, we encountered some tourists using the passing places as parking places, but we managed to find a few legit places to park and take some photos. We got back on the main road, headed over the Skye Bridge to Kyle, then took more single track roads to Plockton, where we checked into the Plockton Hotel. Ate dinner at the Hotel that night.
DAY ELEVEN (Monday, June 18): After breakfast, we left for Skye, our first stop being the Tallisker Distillery, where we took the tour. We then proceeded to Dunvegan, but opted not to tour the Castle, and went onto the Troternish Peninsula, taking a single track road from Uig to Staffin so that we could see the Quiraing up close. Great scenic drive, although finding a place to park at the top was difficult. We waited for a few minutes and determined that most of the vehicles belonged to hikers, so we double parked and hoped that nobody we blocked would be leaving in the next 10 minutes. Didn’t seem to be a problem. After returning to the main road, we too the turnoff for the scenic view of Kilt Rock, then proceeded on back to Plockton. After having had big meals for three nights running, we opted for take away food from a little hamburger stand (at least that’s what we’d call it in the States) called Grumpy’s. It was actually pretty good, and a nice change of pace.
DAY TWELVE (Tuesday, June 19): We had intended to drive from Plockton to Inverness via the northern route, and perhaps to detour across the Applecross peninsula. But, frankly, I’d had my fill of single track roads by that point, so we opted to stick to the main roads, head toward Loch Ness, and on to Inverness. The scenery that way was actually quite good in its own right. We stopped at Urquarht Castle (admission covered by GBHP) and enjoyed that sight more than I had expected. Once we got to Inverness, we still had some time to do some sight seeing, so we proceeded on to Cullodden, which we had intended to see on the following day. Since the weather worsened, we were glad we did. The visitor’s center (admission covered by GBHP) had a living history presentation, and they are in the process of restoring the battlefield to its original condition while building a new visitor’s center, which should be done in a year or two. Afterwards, we proceeded back to Inverness and our B&B. We walked to dinner, and called it a night afterwards.
DAY THIRTEEN (Wednesday, June 20): Our first really bad weather day. We started by going to Fort George (admission covered by GBHP) and managed to see a good bit of it before the rain picked up. Sister had been interested in some kind of wildlife boat tour of the area, but in light of the weather, we opted for something different and decided to dive down to Aviemore, and take the funicular up Cairn Gorm, in hopes that we would have a break in the rain and end up with some kind of a decent view. When we got to the top of Cairn Gorm, the station at the top was totally sopped in, but we checked out the exhibit, had a meal, and hung around long enough for the clouds to break somewhat and provide us with some decent views to the west and northwest.
DAY FOURTEEN (Thursday, June 21): Our task today was to travel from Inverness to the Edinburgh airport in order to return the rental car. Along the way, we wanted to see Balmoral and Glamis, so we took the long way around, through Tomintoul. Some very good scenery along this drive, and a lot less traffic than the A9. We got to Balmoral (admission covered by GBHP) in time for lunch, at ate at the café. We opted for only a short stop here, taking time to see the main house and take some photographs before proceeding on to Glamis. The drive through Glen Shee was interesting. The tour at Glamis (admission covered by GBHP) was very good, and the house very interesting. Afterwards, the GPS told us to take some back roads to the motorway, rather than proceeding through Perth, but I’m not sure it was such a good idea. We made it OK, and managed to return the car to the airport by 6:00, even though there were delays for construction and traffic from the Royal Highland Show near the airport. Took a cab into the city and checked into the Radisson.
DAY FIFTEEN (Friday, June 22): Ever since eating some smoked Salmon on Saturday, my stomach had been giving me problems, and if finally caught up to me here. So, sister and nephew went to St. Giles and Gladstone’s Land (admission covered by GBHP) without me. They also enjoyed checking out the shops on the Royal Mile and doing some final souvenir shopping.
DAY SIXTEEN (Saturday, June 23): For our final day, we opted to start with Edinburgh Castle, rain or shine. Of course, it rained steadily that morning, but even in a steady rain, the Castle is a great site. Admission was covered by GBHP, and I got to skip the lines for buying tickets–a real plus given the weather. We took a cab up, and, after spending a couple of hours at the castle, walked back down the Royal Mile toward the hotel. Had the weather been better, I would have ventured over to Victoria Street, and we might have gone to the Museum of Scotland or Holyrood. But, the weather stunk and we were tired, so our only detour was to go to St. Giles and to listen to an American church choir that performed at noon. It was nice to actually get to hear the acoustics of one of these large cathedrals as we never found time to do that in London. We ate a late lunch at Pancho Villa’s on Cannongate, wanting to see what passed for Tex-Mex in Scotland. It was pretty good. Later that afternoon, the rain stopped, and my nephew and I took a cab to Charlotte Square to see the Georgian House (final GBHP site) and to see some of the new town. We walked back down George street for a way, before heading over to Prince’s Street and the Mound.
RETURN FLIGHT (Sunday, June 24): The only eventful part of our return flight was getting our bags rechecked after picking them up to go through Customs at EWR. The conveyor system broke, and they ended up taking bags and putting them in various piles. Even though we had 3 hours between flights, and arrived at EWR 30 minutes early, we only had about 1 hour to kill after clearing security to get to our gate, which left us enough time to get something to eat, but not enough time to wish we booked an earlier return flight.
FINAL THOUGHTS: London has great sights, and I had been needing to go back after a brief stop there in 1985, but the city has changed a lot. Right now, London really has a boom town atmosphere, somewhat reminiscent of Houston during the oil boom of the 80's. It’s very crowded, and moves at a very quick pace, with terrible traffic and air (all of us were suffering sinus problems, until we left London). It’s a place everyone should visit, but I don’t know that I’ll be in a hurry to go back. I’m certainly more inclined to return to Paris before my next London trip, and this comes from a confirmed Anglophile. Scotland provided some great scenery, and I need to go back to Edinburgh sometime when it is not at the end of a long itinerary. I agree with those who say that the only way to see the Highlands properly is with a car, but I would warn those who plan on driving, that its not the distances covered, but more so, the nature of the roads that makes driving in the Highlands a challenge. I found driving 10 miles of single track road to be as draining as driving 100 miles of good old straight highway, and that’s with me being a pretty confident driver who had done as much to prepare for this driving experience (by reading about road rules, quirks, and customs on the web) as I possibly could in preparation for the trip. Had our trip to the Highlands not been proceeded by 7 hectic days in London, it probably would have been less of an issue. I wish that my circumstances allowed me to take a 30 day vacation to cover this same itinerary, but like so many other Americans (particularly the self-employed ones), I had to balance my sight-seeing desires with time constraints. It was a fun, if tiring trip. Now, all I have to do is decide where to go next.
[This message has been edited by twk (edited 6/27/2007 10:13a).]
DATES: Departing Houston June 7, returning June 24
DESTINATION: London for a week, six days driving the Highlands, and the final 3 nights in Edinburgh
TRAVELING PARTY: myself, 40 y/o male, sister, 42 y/o female, our nephew (other sister’s 14 y/o son)
FLIGHTS: Continental, $1069 each for open jaw, IAH to LGW, then EDI to IAH via EWR
GROUND TRANSPORTATION FOR LONDON: Oyster cards with 7 day travel cards for Zones 1 and 2 loaded on (went to the trouble of getting photo Oyster card for 14-16 y/o kids so that we could travel with nephew at peak times, rather than having to wait until after 9:30 for the discounted fares). £22.50 each for the adults, and £11.00 for the kid (but his Oyster photo card application had cost us £5 to process).
GROUND TRANSPORTATION TO SCOTLAND: GNER out of King’s Cross, 3 First Class tickets for £105, total
GROUND TRANSPORTATION IN SCOTLAND: Rental car from Alamo/National (through Argus), Saab 9-5, with the reduced excess damage waiver approximately £300 for the week. Needed a larger car to accommodate all three people with luggage fully out of sight in the trunk. Good car (only had 800 miles on it), except for rear visibility. Got almost 30 mpg. In Edinburgh, we walked or took a cab.
ACCOMMODATIONS
LONDON (7 nights): VRBO Apartment # 47902, next to St. James tube stop. One BR, one bath, with Murphy bed in LR for 3rd occupant. £700 for the week. Great location. Apartment was functional, if not luxurious. Nice new TV with digital channels. Would recommend it for parties of 2 or 3 who are interested in a convenient location and functional facilities. If you are looking for luxury or quaintness, this isn’t the place. Located about 30 yards from St. James Park tube station, with the former Home Office and Wellington Barracks across the street, and New Scotland Yard just around the corner. High security presence. In addition to the Tube, several bus lines stop two blocks away on Victoria Street, and a taxi rank that was manned as early as 5:45 a.m. is located around the corner, across from the Crown Plaza hotel.
INVERARAY (2 nights): George Hotel. Two rooms (one with twin beds, and one single) for £105 per night. Loved it. Would highly recommend. Good food in the restaurant as well.
PLOCKTON (2 nights): Plockton Hotel. One room, King Bed with futon (convertible couch) for 3rd occupant. £110 pounds per night. Nice hotel, but our party of 3 was a little cramped in this room. Would have been great for a couple. Good restaurant.
INVERNESS (2 nights): Moyness House, bed and breakfast. Two rooms (one with twin beds and one single) for £38 pounds per night per person. Had a car park, but we were close enough to the city center to walk to restaurants. Nice place, and would recommend it for someone looking to stay in Inverness.
EDINBURGH (3 nights): Radisson. One family room, King plus two standard beds for £140 per night. Unbeatable location on the Royal Mile. Was great to end the trip with a clean, modern, business hotel without the quirkiness of our other locations. Would highly recommend it.
SITE PASSES/DISCOUNTS: Used 2 for 1 deals in London from Days Out Guide, and also had a 15 day Great Britain Heritage Pass–the family pass cost $217. Great deal if you are getting to sights out of London (only a few London sights accept it).
THE REST OF THE STORY
FLIGHT AND DAY ONE: My sister and I had planned a trip to Scotland in 2006, but had to cancel at the last minute when she fell off a counter top and broke her leg. When rescheduling, we decided to take our nephew along and add a week in London. Since he lives in Houston, and flights from IAH were about $100 per person cheaper than the same itinerary out of DFW, we decided to fly out of IAH.
The flight over on Continental was delayed a few minutes because of some problem with the evacuation slide, but we were only about 25 minutes late pushing back, and made up the time in the air. We arrived at LGW at 7:00 a.m., cleared customs, and proceeded to the rail station to catch the Gatwick Express to Victoria. We arrived at Victoria at about 9:15 a.m. and had to kill some time there before we could head to the apartment (prior occupants were not due to vacate until 10:00 a.m.), so we picked up our Oyster Cards and ate breakfast at McDonalds. At 10:00 a.m., we took a cab to the apartment dropped our luggage, and headed out (cleaners had the apartment until 4:00 p.m.). In retrospect, I wish I had rented the apartment for the day before our arrival date so that we could have regrouped in the apartment, but we didn’t, and were forced to follow the “keep moving” theory for fighting jet lag. Went to the Cabinet War Rooms for a couple of hours–could have spent longer, but we were just too tired. Then, we went to St. James Park, ate some hot dogs, and needing to kill some more time, rented the loungers and rested for a couple of hours. Actually enjoyed just people watching. Headed back to the apartment just before 4:00. We unpacked and regrouped for a while, got a bite to eat, then took the bus across the Thames to do the London Eye at around 7:00 p.m. It was a sunny Friday evening, but we had virtually no line. I went in and bought the tickets, and just had time to collect the others, then head for the line. We got straight on and enjoyed the ride. Put me in the “yes” column on the Eye, especially if you haven’t done it before.
DAY TWO (Saturday, June 9): The big event for this day was attending the Colonel’s Review of Trooping the Colour. This is the final dress rehearsal (the preceding Saturday saw the first dress rehearsal) for the troop review that celebrates the Queen’s official birthday. It is all the pomp and pageantry you could hope to find in one place. Large bleachers are set up around 3 sides of Horse Guards parade for the event. For a foreigner, getting tickets to the final dress rehearsal or the actual event itself (which involves a lottery for tickets) is difficult because not only do you have to apply for tickets in January or February, but, once your request is granted, you only have a short time to send in the money for your tickets, and, your payment must be made by check, in pounds sterling, drawn on a British bank. We enlisted the help of our landlady to get this done, but it was well worth the trouble. Great to see all the household units, and combined bands, in action. If you are going to be in London in mid or early June next year, you should definitely look into attending one of these ceremonies (note: there is a dress code, so pack accordingly). After returning to our apartment and getting something to eat, my nephew and I took the tube to South Kensington and went to the Science Museum. Kids love it, and it was fun for this adult, too.
DAY THREE (Sunday, June 10): Took the bus to Waterloo Station, then bought tickets for the train trip to Hampton Court (with our travel card for Zones 1-2, the fare for 3 was only £7.40). Used the GBHP for admission to Hampton Court. Definitely a good trip. Not quite as flashy a palace as Versailles, but costumed guides really added to the experience. Upon our return, my nephew and I made a trip to King’s Cross Station to pick up our tickets for Friday’s journey to Edinburgh (had been purchased online, but wanted to pick them up in advance of our journey, to ensure no problems on the day of travel), and took the obligatory picture at the Harry Potter Platform 9 3/4. After dinner, we decided to take the bus to the Tower of London for the Ceremony of the Keys since the District and Circle lines were out of service for the entire weekend. We made a crucial mistake in following the TfL website guidance, and getting off the 11 bus at Mansion House, in order to switch to the 15, rather than doing so at St. Paul’s. Because of road work, 15 was diverted from its stop and Mansion House and the next stop, as well. We walked what seemed like a mile before finally catching a 15 for the rest of the trip to the Tower. The Ceremony of the Key’s was fun and interesting, but suffered in comparison to what we had seen the previous day. Glad we did it, but someone who hadn’t just seen Trooping the Colour (or the dress rehearsal) would probably have enjoyed it even more.
DAY FOUR (Monday, June 11): This was our day to go to Oxford and Blenheim. We took the Oxford Tube bus from its stop near Victoria Coach station to Oxford (£30 pounds total for 2 adults with a follow on pass for an additional ride, kid rode free to Oxford, but paid £4 for one day buss pass to get us to Blenheim). The ride was about an hour and 45 minutes–longer than the train, but by leaving at 7:00, we got to Oxford before we could have even left London by train using a cheap day return ticket, which is only offered after 9:30 a.m. On arriving at Gloucester Green bus station, we simply walked over several parking bays to the bus bound for Woodstock (20 or 20A) and proceeded on to Blenheim, arriving about the time that the palace opened. Admission was covered by GBHP. Truly a spectacular site. Pretty good walk from bus stop to the palace proper, so take that into consideration. We made sure the weather was going to be decent. After doing Blenheim, we returned to Oxford. We decided not to try to cover too much ground, so we simply proceeded to Christ Church and toured the Cathedral and Great Hall. Walked back to the bus station past Radcliffe Camera. One note: my sister’s injury last summer has limited her mobility somewhat, so, someone with better mobility could have seen a lot more of Oxford, even with the morning trip to Blenheim, than we did. Keep this in mind when reading the rest of the report. The bus trip back to London was a little bit quicker, and we were back at the apartment well before 7:00 p.m.
DAY FIVE (Tuesday, June 12): With the Tube back in full operation, we decided to head first thing to the Tower for the full tour. We were there at opening time, and proceeded immediately to see the jewels. There was no line at all–we had to snake through several rooms filled with line barriers, with no one in front of us, but once we got to the jewels, we went past them on the conveyors twice (once on each side) and could have done so as many times as we had liked. After leaving the jewels, we went back to the entrance and picked up a Yeoman Warder’s tour, and were glad we did so. Following the YW tour, we went to the White Tower and looked at the armor. Then, we walked over to Tower Bride and for the Tower Bridge Experience. Admission was covered by GBHP. Probably wouldn’t pay to do this, but since it was covered by our pass, it was worth the detour simply for the photo op. In fact, we did not bother with the tour of the engine room. After doing the bridge, we walked back to Tower Green, then took a bus to St. Paul’s. We ate at a bar in the vicinity, then toured St. Paul’s. Admission was covered by GBHP. I wish that I’d had the energy to climb the dome, but I was just too tired, so we toured the cathedral and crypt, then went back to the apartment via tube, walking to Mansion House station. However, after we left Westminster Station, an announcement was made that the next station (St. James, where we would have gotten off) was closed. So, we had to go on to Victoria, then go back to our apartment. A short time later, my nephew and I left for the Imperial War Museum–this time, by bus, since the station was closed. We later learned that the station was closed because of the collapse of the top floors of a nearby building. After we finished at the IWM, we took a chance on the St. James Park tube station being opened (and luckily, it was), and took the tube back. Later, after dinner, my nephew and I went to the British Library to see the Treasures Exhibit. Being the son of a band director, he really enjoyed seeing the original scores of composers like Handel, Mozart, and Beethoven.
DAY SIX (Wednesday, June 13): Took the tube and DLR to Greenwich. Started with the old naval college, popping in to the chapel and painted gallery for pictures, then went over to the maritime museum and caught the tram to go uphill to the observatory. As an unexpected bonus, while we were at the observatory, we were able to watch the carrier Ark Royal proceed past Greenwich, on its way to participate in ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of the Falklands War. We took the obligatory prime meridian pictures, and I particularly enjoyed seeing the Harrison time pieces, which I had learned about by watching the Jeremy Iron’s movie “Longitude” on A&E several years ago. Ate at the café outside the observatory before catching the tram down the hill to the Maritime Museum, which we also toured. Then we took the boat back to Westminster, and toured Westminster Abbey on the way back to our apartment. Later, my nephew and I proceeded to the National Gallery which had extended hours this evening. Unfortunately, some of the galleries were closed, so we didn’t get to make a true progression through the various periods as one can do if all the galleries are opened. We ate at Leicester Square, then walked over to Piccadilly Circus, before catching the tube back to the apartment.
DAY SEVEN (Thursday, June 14): Having crossed the big sights off our list, my sister needed some recovery time, so nephew and I set out on the Tube for Mansion House, thence by foot across the Millennium Bridge to the Globe Theater. Admission was covered by the GBHP. We returned to the apartment, gathered sister for lunch, then went to see the Guard’s Museum at the Wellington Barracks. If you want to see all those fancy uniforms that they wear up close, this is the place. Later, we went to Apsley House (covered by GBHP) and the Wellington Arch (also a GBHP site). Apsley House as a structure might not be all that interesting, but being the home of the Duke of Wellington made it worthwhile. The view from the Arch wasn’t all that great, and wouldn’t be worth paying a separate admission. We then walked down Constitution Hill to Buck House, took some pictures around the palace, and headed back to the apartment to get packed up for our train trip to Scotland.
DAY EIGHT (Friday, June 15): We took the train from King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley, then took a cab to the airport to pick up the rental car. On paper, it would look easier to do this by air, since we were ending up at the airport, but we find flying, with the security checks and luggage restrictions, to be such a struggle that we were happy to do this leg by train, and “splurged” a little for first class tickets. The train trip was uneventful, even though this was the day that York was hit with heavy flooding. We picked up the rental car at the airport, fired up my laptop for use as a GPS system (using Microsoft’s Autoroute Europe), then proceeded down the “wrong” side of the rode bound for Stirling Castle, on the way to Inveraray. The idea of picking up the car at the airport to avoid city traffic was a good one, and we got off to a smooth start. However, when we got off the motorway, I forgot to get in the center lane in order to make a 270 degree turn, and was forced to proceed several miles in the wrong direction before finding a place to turn around and head back into Stirling. Then, trying to navigate our way up the hill to Stirling Castle, even with GPS software, was a bit of a challenge. Suffice it to say that this was our most difficult auto challenge on the trip, but we made it. Stirling Castle (admission covered by GBHP) was an impressive sight and deserved more time, but with the temperature in the 50s and the wind howling at about 35 mph, we didn’t last much more than an hour before giving up and deciding to press on. We proceeded to Doune Castle, and opted to simply take some exterior pictures even though the Castle was covered by GBHP, then proceeded on to Inveraray via Loch Lomond and the Rest and Be Thankful Pass. Really enjoyed the last part of the drive. Arrived at the George and ate dinner there.
DAY NINE (Saturday, June 16): We decided to make this a light day, limiting ourselves to a tour of the Inveraray Jail, the Arctic Penguin, and Inveraray Castle, with some down time in between to watch Trooping the Colour on TV (and to hear all the commentary). Sister and nephew enjoyed shopping for souvenirs on Main Street. For dinner, we went to the Loch Fyne Oyster Bar.
DAY TEN (Sunday, June 17): After breakfast, we left Inveraray bound for Plockton via Glen Coe, the Road to the Isles, and Skye. We managed to get our obligatory picture with a lone piper out of the way at the head of Glen Coe, with the best dressed, and arguably best located, piper we saw on the trip. Stopped at the Glen Coe visitors center (admission covered by GBHP), then proceed on through Fort William to Glen Finnan. We stopped at the visitor’s center (covered by GBHP), and my nephew and I climbed the monument. We then sent my nephew up the hill behind the visitor’s center to get some pictures from the viewpoint, and afterwards, grabbed a light lunch. On our way to Mallaig, we encountered our first single track road. We wanted to be sure we made it to Mallaig in plenty of time to check in for the 16:00 ferry, but we got there early enough that they ended up putting us on a ferry at 14:45, so we got to Skye a little early. This allowed us to take a detour to Toskavaig and the north side of the Sleat peninsula for some great scenery. This time, when we got on the single track roads, we encountered some tourists using the passing places as parking places, but we managed to find a few legit places to park and take some photos. We got back on the main road, headed over the Skye Bridge to Kyle, then took more single track roads to Plockton, where we checked into the Plockton Hotel. Ate dinner at the Hotel that night.
DAY ELEVEN (Monday, June 18): After breakfast, we left for Skye, our first stop being the Tallisker Distillery, where we took the tour. We then proceeded to Dunvegan, but opted not to tour the Castle, and went onto the Troternish Peninsula, taking a single track road from Uig to Staffin so that we could see the Quiraing up close. Great scenic drive, although finding a place to park at the top was difficult. We waited for a few minutes and determined that most of the vehicles belonged to hikers, so we double parked and hoped that nobody we blocked would be leaving in the next 10 minutes. Didn’t seem to be a problem. After returning to the main road, we too the turnoff for the scenic view of Kilt Rock, then proceeded on back to Plockton. After having had big meals for three nights running, we opted for take away food from a little hamburger stand (at least that’s what we’d call it in the States) called Grumpy’s. It was actually pretty good, and a nice change of pace.
DAY TWELVE (Tuesday, June 19): We had intended to drive from Plockton to Inverness via the northern route, and perhaps to detour across the Applecross peninsula. But, frankly, I’d had my fill of single track roads by that point, so we opted to stick to the main roads, head toward Loch Ness, and on to Inverness. The scenery that way was actually quite good in its own right. We stopped at Urquarht Castle (admission covered by GBHP) and enjoyed that sight more than I had expected. Once we got to Inverness, we still had some time to do some sight seeing, so we proceeded on to Cullodden, which we had intended to see on the following day. Since the weather worsened, we were glad we did. The visitor’s center (admission covered by GBHP) had a living history presentation, and they are in the process of restoring the battlefield to its original condition while building a new visitor’s center, which should be done in a year or two. Afterwards, we proceeded back to Inverness and our B&B. We walked to dinner, and called it a night afterwards.
DAY THIRTEEN (Wednesday, June 20): Our first really bad weather day. We started by going to Fort George (admission covered by GBHP) and managed to see a good bit of it before the rain picked up. Sister had been interested in some kind of wildlife boat tour of the area, but in light of the weather, we opted for something different and decided to dive down to Aviemore, and take the funicular up Cairn Gorm, in hopes that we would have a break in the rain and end up with some kind of a decent view. When we got to the top of Cairn Gorm, the station at the top was totally sopped in, but we checked out the exhibit, had a meal, and hung around long enough for the clouds to break somewhat and provide us with some decent views to the west and northwest.
DAY FOURTEEN (Thursday, June 21): Our task today was to travel from Inverness to the Edinburgh airport in order to return the rental car. Along the way, we wanted to see Balmoral and Glamis, so we took the long way around, through Tomintoul. Some very good scenery along this drive, and a lot less traffic than the A9. We got to Balmoral (admission covered by GBHP) in time for lunch, at ate at the café. We opted for only a short stop here, taking time to see the main house and take some photographs before proceeding on to Glamis. The drive through Glen Shee was interesting. The tour at Glamis (admission covered by GBHP) was very good, and the house very interesting. Afterwards, the GPS told us to take some back roads to the motorway, rather than proceeding through Perth, but I’m not sure it was such a good idea. We made it OK, and managed to return the car to the airport by 6:00, even though there were delays for construction and traffic from the Royal Highland Show near the airport. Took a cab into the city and checked into the Radisson.
DAY FIFTEEN (Friday, June 22): Ever since eating some smoked Salmon on Saturday, my stomach had been giving me problems, and if finally caught up to me here. So, sister and nephew went to St. Giles and Gladstone’s Land (admission covered by GBHP) without me. They also enjoyed checking out the shops on the Royal Mile and doing some final souvenir shopping.
DAY SIXTEEN (Saturday, June 23): For our final day, we opted to start with Edinburgh Castle, rain or shine. Of course, it rained steadily that morning, but even in a steady rain, the Castle is a great site. Admission was covered by GBHP, and I got to skip the lines for buying tickets–a real plus given the weather. We took a cab up, and, after spending a couple of hours at the castle, walked back down the Royal Mile toward the hotel. Had the weather been better, I would have ventured over to Victoria Street, and we might have gone to the Museum of Scotland or Holyrood. But, the weather stunk and we were tired, so our only detour was to go to St. Giles and to listen to an American church choir that performed at noon. It was nice to actually get to hear the acoustics of one of these large cathedrals as we never found time to do that in London. We ate a late lunch at Pancho Villa’s on Cannongate, wanting to see what passed for Tex-Mex in Scotland. It was pretty good. Later that afternoon, the rain stopped, and my nephew and I took a cab to Charlotte Square to see the Georgian House (final GBHP site) and to see some of the new town. We walked back down George street for a way, before heading over to Prince’s Street and the Mound.
RETURN FLIGHT (Sunday, June 24): The only eventful part of our return flight was getting our bags rechecked after picking them up to go through Customs at EWR. The conveyor system broke, and they ended up taking bags and putting them in various piles. Even though we had 3 hours between flights, and arrived at EWR 30 minutes early, we only had about 1 hour to kill after clearing security to get to our gate, which left us enough time to get something to eat, but not enough time to wish we booked an earlier return flight.
FINAL THOUGHTS: London has great sights, and I had been needing to go back after a brief stop there in 1985, but the city has changed a lot. Right now, London really has a boom town atmosphere, somewhat reminiscent of Houston during the oil boom of the 80's. It’s very crowded, and moves at a very quick pace, with terrible traffic and air (all of us were suffering sinus problems, until we left London). It’s a place everyone should visit, but I don’t know that I’ll be in a hurry to go back. I’m certainly more inclined to return to Paris before my next London trip, and this comes from a confirmed Anglophile. Scotland provided some great scenery, and I need to go back to Edinburgh sometime when it is not at the end of a long itinerary. I agree with those who say that the only way to see the Highlands properly is with a car, but I would warn those who plan on driving, that its not the distances covered, but more so, the nature of the roads that makes driving in the Highlands a challenge. I found driving 10 miles of single track road to be as draining as driving 100 miles of good old straight highway, and that’s with me being a pretty confident driver who had done as much to prepare for this driving experience (by reading about road rules, quirks, and customs on the web) as I possibly could in preparation for the trip. Had our trip to the Highlands not been proceeded by 7 hectic days in London, it probably would have been less of an issue. I wish that my circumstances allowed me to take a 30 day vacation to cover this same itinerary, but like so many other Americans (particularly the self-employed ones), I had to balance my sight-seeing desires with time constraints. It was a fun, if tiring trip. Now, all I have to do is decide where to go next.
[This message has been edited by twk (edited 6/27/2007 10:13a).]
