My pet scotsman has proposed a distllery/golf trip this Fall, but prices from here (Louisville) to there (Glasgow) are fairly expensive.
I’d rather get the ultra-cheap flights to London out of New York or D.C., since I have a cousin in D.C. and a standing offer of a free room whenever I want it.
How tricky would it be to fly into London, mess around for a day or so, then hop a train to Glasgow, and back again five days later? Too much, too dicey, what?
H.
I realize this is a little shorter trip, but I took the train from Edinburg to London and it was really fantastic. You really get to see the English countryside.
My wife flew into London to meet me and we then immediately hopped a train to Edinburg. She was a little tired but it was fun.
Don’t use our trains. Trust me on this.
Completely unreliable service, viciously overpriced and you’ll be sitting on the most uncomfortable chairs imaginable. Don’t even ask about the food or your fellow passengers.
Honestly, its cheaper to fly. Look up flights from Stansted to Prestwick/Glasgow. The flight only takes an hour ( My folks live on the SW coast ). The biggest time-sink is getting from London to Stansted and back.
If you choose Prestwick - Troon is a decent gold course from what I remember. Sure there must be loads outside Glasgow, but that wasn’t my hometown.
Rather than Stansted, you can use City airport to fly up to Glasgow or even Edinburgh.
Really? I took the what is it, the TGV train and it was quite comfortable.
If you mean the Edinburgh to London line - Yes, I’m sure some of those trains are actually quite nice.
Heading up the West coast is a little different. I could be wrong these days. For all I know, Virgin might be running a hyperspeed hydrogen-powered bullet train along that line. My last journey was over a year ago. The key to our trains is to book far far in advance of travel -as the fares rise exponentially otherwise.
The City Airport to Glasgow recommendation is spot on though. That will save you loads of time.
Eat lots of haggis.
Additional culinary recommendations should include:
[ul]
[li]The smoked salmon - ocean caught only. Avoid supermarkets[/li][li]Deep Fried Mars Bars[/li][li]Scotch Pies - Tasty mutton[/li][li]Black Pudding - Avoid the white pudding[/li][*]Irn Bru - 6 times more caffeine than Coke, so legend has it.[/ul]
TGV= Train de Grand Vitesse = French cross-country high-speed train.
We just have Express services, and those are patchy.
P.S. It’s Edinburgh. It has an ‘h’ on the end.
It’s possible, but it will be dear, and it’s probably easier and cheaper to use the airports.
Aye, that’s right. The train I was on was a similar body style. It’s been about 10 years so I’m guilty of likely mis-remembering. I remember there was a first class section we accidentally sat at and the conductor let us slide because we were American tourists. On the way back we paid the 50 pound upgrade.
I take the London - Edinburgh train every few weeks, when i spend the weekend with my GF in Newcastle.
Peak travel times (Friday evening) are packed, and without a pre-booked seat you will be standing all the way. It’s also very expensive. (100 quid return just to Newcastle) Offpeak it’s not too bad. The seats are fine, there’s free wireless and a plug socket for your laptop/ipod if need be. Fares arent too bad in the form of single fares. Grab some food from Marks and Spencer in the station instead of using the trolley/buffet car and it’s no where near the nightmare British Rail was renowned for.
Flying from City Airport would be a great alternative. 15-20 mins from walking in to boarding. Minimal hassle and disruption. I use it to commute to Amsterdam on occasion and its the most stress free airport experience I’ve ever had.
You know you can’t bring your guns, right?
The Intercity - where the ICF (Intercity Firm) got their name. Aptly matched by the Leeds Service Crew.
I recommended it, but to follow up, I use City Airport about once or twice every couple of months for business and it really is easy, well serviced by the Docklands Light Railway, which can be ridden from Bank station on the Northern Line, Met Line, Circle & District.
All-in-all, very easy to get to and I do like the DLR, fast, clean and a great ride through the Docklands (where I have just rented a flat, come and say hi!).
City Airport is basically for business flights and so has a good number of flights a day and is pretty slick!
We found it quite a bit cheaper last summer to fly DC to Dublin (via Newark) and then hop across to a smaller airport (Newcastle in our case) than to go direct to anywhere in the UK. And we tucked in a couple of days in Dublin on the return trip, which was nice.
Do not, ever, take the late train from London to Glasgow or Edinburgh the day before a Celtic-Rangers match. That is fucking scary.