Travel Planning for Scotland, Ireland and Beyond

I am going to start with a an important truth.  I am NOT a travel agent nor especially experienced.  What my husband and I are falls more in the determined and practical category. And we've had some great experiences with self-directed tour companies on early trips to guide us.  If you can work with one of them, I highly suggest it. This time it wasn't an option. We were on our own.

When we decided to do Scotland and Ireland this year, I knew from the start it would be more complicated. Because of our age, and the fact cars drive on the other side of the road, we didn't want to do any driving ourselves.  Trains, buses, cabs, Uber and occasionally a private driver were going to be the norm.  I also suggested we might want to spend 3 weeks just in Scotland where his mum was from and really get off the beaten path.  In the end, however, the decision was made we probably wouldn't be back in that area, so we would stretch our travels to Ireland where our youngest lived for a year.

We always try to start 5-6 months before a trip.  First on the list for us is always the plane flight. Where will we fly in and out of, and what dates? Those two questions were easy.  We had originally wanted to fly in and out of London (taking the train to Scotland and back) so we could see friends.  BUT it turned out because of airport fees and taxes it was cheaper to fly in and out of Edinburgh. The rough dates were starting in mid-May for 3 weeks, so my husband spent a little time moving dates around until he found the best fare and flight schedule. 

Next we decide what cities or towns we wanted to visit and how many days in each. Then we split the work.  I handle booking accommodations as well as any tours or popular places we need to pre-book. We set a daily budget for our hotel and I stayed pretty close to it, as well as made sure we were walking distance from historic old town, and tour pick up locations. The 3 tours we booked - Isle of Skye, Cliffs of Moher, a tour in Wales - were in towns where the places we wanted to see were a distance away. As we didn't want to drive, I looked for local guides with small 12 seat tour vans.  

We chose Edinburgh, Pitlochry (just a train stop and distillery tour), Inverness, Glasgow, Belfast, and Galway.  Then we wanted to return to Edinburgh a different way, so decided to take the train from Galway to Dublin Port, and a ferry across to Wales. We would stay a couple days in Llandudno, Wales, then head north into the UK, stopping along the way in Blackpool and Durham.  This meant a couple long travel days, but offered something extra we hadn't planned on. Glen's late mother was a war bride who grew up in Edinburgh, but she was actually born in Ruthin, Wales  (as were his grand-parents). It turns out Ruthin is only 40 minutes from where we are staying.  Glen was able to connect with the local historical office to help plan our visit. 

Glen handled booking the transportation. This had to be the most complicated part of our planning. It started with getting two Eurail Global passes.  From there he had to download the app, then book each individual train ticket.  This wasn't as big a deal going south to Galway, but when we started up the coast from Wales through the UK, it meant a lot of local trains. To go a 3 hours distance, might mean changing trains 2-3 times. Then there were 2 bus trips, one ferry ride and 2 car services to book. By the end our eyes were spinning. 

As we are travelling from place to place on transit, we both made sure we had a smaller suitcase.  Packing is going to have to be minimal.  We also made a change with our phone coverage. In the past Glen has gotten an international sim card to put in his phone. This time we discovered our carrier had not only a daily rate (way too high), but a flat rate for 4 weeks. This means we can use our phone minutes and data just like we were at home. So worth it. We don't have to memorize a new number and we both have access. 

I want to address one last choice we made. We are older now, and some things are not as easy as they were.  I have a growing problem with fainting on planes. To avoid it, I have to sit up straight, take deep breaths regularly, eat sparingly, wiggle my feet around often, and get up for a walk every 2 hours. No dozing.  That's easy on short flights, but on long flights it is really hard. If I get sleepy or let one thing go, the risk of fainting goes up.  So we made a hard choice to book lay-down seats.  We both grew up low income, so struggled with the high cost.  In fact I almost canceled our trip I was so worried and felt so guilty.

Glen searched for several weeks until he found a seat sale. It was still a lot, but we could make it work. The trade off is we won't be eating in gourmet restaurants or staying in five star hotels or going out at night clubbing, but that doesn't matter to us. We are more off the beaten path people and love immersing ourselves in local culture. We walk, turn random corners, and always talk to strangers, especially locals.And we might not be able to take another big trip next year. Such is life.  Removing the stress and anxiety of me fainting is worth the cost.

For any trip you are planning, you first need to decide what is most important to you and how you can eliminate as much stress as possible.   Glen and I will be happy schlep around happily snagging food in cafes, pubs and grocery stores while having the time of our life.  And that's what planning your own trip is all about.