Planning a 2024 June trip to England/Ireland/Scotland. Heading there with my British buddy's family but only hanging with them for a few days and then peeling off on our own. Trip length is TBD but figuring 2-3 weeks. Very broad question but what's worth a visit and what's worth a skip?
You could go visit my family castle. https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/urquhart-castle/ Please be sure to spend lots in the gift shop. Long story short... the Urquhart's had a nice castle. Then the Jacobites started encroaching, and were going to overrun the place, so they gave the castle to my family, The Grants. The Jacobites showed up, started to bring in the siege engines (trebuchets everywhere), and we said "fuck that ya bastards" and proceeded to pack the place full of black powder and blew the fucker right the fuck up. The Jacobites went away. We win. They've put in a pretty impressive visitor centre and have some interesting historical presentations. And a hell of a gift shop. Funny back story... my ex-wife was a Urquhart, and she didn't appreciate the fact that the Grants blew shit up. (She drew some interesting comparisons to our failed marriage, which I laughed at).
Another thing that I really enjoyed was going to a sheepdog demonstration. I can't remember exactly which one we went to, but it was a pretty big sheepdog/sheep museum or tourist attraction... it had a bunch of different sheep, sheering exhibitions, and a bunch of sheepdogs herding ducks and sheep. It was really quite enjoyable watching the dogs work. They also had some other Scottish farm stuff going on (cattle, etc). All in the show/tour lasted about 3 hours, and it was worth the gorgeous drive through the highlands to get to. You might want to look for something similar.
There was a lot of good advice on London earlier in the thread. I absolutely loved the Isle of Skye. We were there in the off season so the weather was atrocious but there was nobody else around, which was awesome. Heard it can be busy in the peak season, but I'd highly recommend it. Will peek through our travel logs to pick out some other recommendations once Christmas is over if you're still planning in a couple days.
Went for a 10 day Scottish roadtrip a year ago. We went to Edinburgh, Inverness, Skye and Oban. Skye is amazing. It looks like another planet. Did a couple of distilleries and ate well. Also went to the Urquhart castle and the Eilean Donan castle. Edinburgh is a beautiful place with lots to see and do. We had surprisingly nice weather for the time of year we went. It was cold, but I like that.
I was there during the Fringe Festival and the anniversary of the military tattoo. I went there on a 10 day bus tour with my parents, and it was amazing. The only "meh" part of the trip for me was Glasgow... great architecture, old churches, but really didn't do much for me. Everything else (Inverness, Edinburh, Sky, etc) was great.
There is a good pub to the left of the picture across the road. Because there always is in Scotland. Nett is right I think about Glasgow, I have been there quite a bit and I really find it dreary and depressing. You can see that loads of places. I agree with X about Oban. My recommendation for you would be to use Oban as a base for a couple of days, from there you have the Oban distillery, a nice town and easy access to loads of Islands. Take a boat trip around and check them out, see some old ruins. Check out Rick Steves’ video: https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show/scotland-islands I am in Oban a couple times a year and love it.
The best shellfish dinner I had my life was in Oban. The food was so fresh and had the name of the fisherman who caught it on the menu.
@GTE going through some of my travel notes: Ireland The Cliffs of Moher are beautiful and in some ways a must-do, but are crowded. If you want to escape the crowds, the Slieve League cliffs are beautiful and taller, though less sheer. There wasn't a soul around when we went there, and it was stunning. Brú na Bóinne is an archeology marvel if you're interested in that kind of thing We had a really nice day walking around Killarney National Park Scotland I would go back to Skye in a heartbeat. The Old Man of Storr is the iconic view here and is well worth the (pretty easy) hike. Haggis is surprisingly delicious, and definitely try a cranachan while you're there If you find yourself near Loch Lomond, we had two nice short hikes in Ben A'an and Conic Hill
Things to do in London and Paris. Going to London in a little less than a month, as I'm running the marathon there. I will take one day for recovery afterward (it's all I needed after my first marathon, so that's what we're going with), then the following day we're taking the train to Paris for a few days. Already booked train tickets. Staying in Trafalgar Square while in London -- marathon finish line is on The Mall so I'll hobble to the hotel -- and on the Champs Elysees in Paris. Fortunately the course will take me by Cutty Sark, over Tower Bridge, through Canary Wharf, down Upper and Lower Thames, past the London Eye and Big Ben etc. so I'll get a lot of sight seeing out of my system. We're mainly looking for places to eat around the area, but also excursions or whatever type things that aren't super touristy since we hate huge crowds (which is the antithesis to the marathon, I know). I heard the tower tour is really cool, but I've heard that from so many people that I'm afraid it's gonna be a tourist trap. A little more familiar with Paris, but still haven't been in years. My gut is to just walk around and duck into whatever restaurants or shops look good, but open to actual planned things as well.
If this was anyone else, I would assume this was an attempt to get a second round of opinions. Since it's @Revengeofthenerds, though, I think I should just check... you know that you posted this same question a couple pages back, right? Just... you know... checking. What with the brain and all.
Soooooo, overall the experience was not the best. The flight there was fine. The planes seem to be a bit on the older side and not terribly comfortable. Granted each stage of the trip was under two hours so I wasn't expecting a luxurious experience by any stretch. The flight back was a huge hassle though. Our initial flight was cancelled and we were rebooked on a flight the following day. Apparently, there were mechanical issues on that plane and they didn't want to fly it out. Understandable and I don't (entirely) fault them. But given the age of their planes......I wonder if this will be a recurring issue. We wound up rebooking through Air Canada and just eating the cost to fly out that day and getting a direct flight. Overall......I give it a meh. It seems to be a step above a Spirit or Frontier. It's a bit cheaper, and they don't nickle and dime you, but between having to do deal with a layover (not the worst, but would happily pay extra for direct) and the later mechanical issues, I think I'd be inclined to just bite the bullet and spend a bit more on a larger carrier. Montreal remains a great city and we'll definitely be going back again, though. Just a really cool place to visit.
Damn dude... sorry to hear it. I have heard nothing but great things from the people I know who fly them.
I'd wager it'd be a different experience if I lived in Canada and used to it to bounce around that way and removed the hassle of layovers/security/whataver. The flight there was fine enough but as I was telling my wife, I'd pay extra to avoid the layover. It's just crazy expensive to fly to Canada from the states. I'm wagering there's not a lot of competition (plus more taxes and fees maybe) which drives up the cost. It was about $1k to fly back on Air Canada. And that was basic economy, plus checked bags. I think that was roughly the cost of flying there when I check initially. When I look up flying to San Francisco for my wife and I to visit some friends later in they year, it'll be about $400 cheaper for a flight that is twice as long. Kooky.
Depends on where you are. Just to fly out of my little town it costs 1k just to get to a major airport
made reservations at Hawksmoor for my wife’s bday, thank you for the recommendation. Got a spot at Duke of Sussex for Sunday Roast after the marathon — I heard from friends who have previously run London that it’s a bit of a party afterward, especially for those who wear their medal in there. Beyond that we’re kinda gonna play it by ear. From what I’ve seen a lot of places are filling up with reservations, but we hate having a set itinerary so will play it by ear. Our hotel, The Trafalgar St James London, has a wonderful restaurant as well.