My friend, Paige, has decided to take her family of four to England and Scotland in May 2019 (just the beginning of peak season) and they will fit the trip into just 8 days total. Using the the travel tools shared in my #VisitClanHomelandsSeries, I am assisting her in planning to see the sights that are important to them for this trip and will share that planning experience in this blog series.
The tricky thing for an 8-day trip is that it also includes travel time between destinations. The family wants to see both England and Scotland and include at least one day on the Scottish coast. Their main two destinations will be London and Edinburgh, 2 Ā½ days each and 1-day in Oban, a beautiful city on the coast. This is where your research will pay off by checking train and flight schedules to utilize the best venue and time to travel between your destinations if you are not driving yourself.
In London, Paigeās family will maximize their sightseeing by using the train station near their B&B to get to Big Bus London Hop-On, Hop-Off Day Tour, Red Tour near one of its attractions such as the Tower of London. Once they start using the Big Bus, they can see other attractions such as Hyde Park, Chinatown, Trafalgar Square, London Dungeons, London Eye, St. Paulās Cathedral and more the entire two days. If there is something off the route, then they just utilize a bus or taxi.
When it is time to head for Scotland, they will fly with Flybe.com from Heathrow to Edinburgh. The next stop is actually Oban so they will take the tram from the Airport to Princes Street, near the Scott Monument, walk about 2 blocks to the Waverly Station where they store their bags @ Luggage Point for the 5 hours they have til the train departs to Oban. This way, they can take just walk to the Royal Mile and enjoys shops or even take the tour at Palace of Holyroodhouse since it is only a few blocks from the station as well. Even this day is not a full day of travelling because they flew instead of using the train from London. The cost was actually less too! They arrive in Oban early evening, get settled in at their B&B and maybe walk around for dinner a wee bit. The next day, they are going to take use Staffa Tours and The Three Isle Tour to Mull, Iona and Staffa | West Coast Tours for the day where they get to enjoy actually being off the mainland. They may luck out and see Puffins on the Isle of Staffa and enjoy the Abbey on Iona too. They return that evening to enjoy some Scottish music maybe at the Royal Hotel with a lovely dinner and the next morning catch the train back to Edinburgh.