ABD Scotland, brings back memories!

[Scottishdisneyfan]

Sayhello

THANK YOU so much for the detailed info! It's funny you mention the Tauck cruise because I was looking at it last night and thought 'hmmm....this may be the way to go'. So, I'm actually really glad you pointed that out in particular because I was very intrigued by it and your insight definitely makes me feel like this is the way we should go.


I also very much appreciate the info on Japan. This one is a little more complicated for me as I'm looking at ABD, Tauck and Abercrombie & Kent. My husband thinks we should do a cruise (Celebrity or Regent), but I'm not really sold on a cruise to Japan. He really doesn't want to change hotels multiple times, so we'll see. All I know for sure if I'll definitely be going to Tokyo Disney and Disney Sea at the end of our trip

I have a little bit to decide, but I'm very much looking forward to this trip. I've wanted to go to Japan for as long as I can remember so we'll be doing it for an upcoming big birthday .

If you’re booking the tauck tour of scotland and picking a hotel in Glasgow then opt for the Kimpton Blythswood over the Grand Central, im a cop in the centre of Glasgow and recommend this very strongly. That 11 day tour looks really good btw, with the exception of seeing Glen Coe you’ll pretty much get a feel for everything. Skye is beautiful, my granny was from Portree.

 

[tgeorge]

If you’re booking the tauck tour of scotland and picking a hotel in Glasgow then opt for the Kimpton Blythswood over the Grand Central, im a cop in the centre of Glasgow and recommend this very strongly. That 11 day tour looks really good btw, with the exception of seeing Glen Coe you’ll pretty much get a feel for everything. Skye is beautiful, my granny was from Portree.

Thank you for the info on the hotel and for your input the tour. Everyone says how amazing Skye is and really want to make sure we get there. Now I just have to try to figure out the best way to get my husband to the McCallan or Balvenie Distillery (his two favorites)

 

[Scottishdisneyfan]

Thank you for the info on the hotel and for your input the tour. Everyone says how amazing Skye is and really want to make sure we get there. Now I just have to try to figure out the best way to get my husband to the McCallan or Balvenie Distillery (his two favorites)

Yeh you’re itinerary doesnt really take you into Aberdeenshire so that might be difficult. Its not like a very quick drive from either Edinburgh or Glasgow up to that neck of the woods. If you had an extra couple days at the start of the holiday that might be good? There are some fantastic Whiskey’s from the western isles, Tobermory on Mull does a wee tour and if you can couple that up with a lunch in one of the places that does the fresh landed sea food you’re onto a winner.
Dont know how active you are, but when you stop in Skye the walks are incredible, if you’re really energetic do some cycling, google a guy called Danny Mcaskill, hes a world leading bmx rider from skye, he actually did this amazing video cycling around the mountains there, unbelievable. The Blythswood hotel is genuinely very nice, make time for the spa. Some nice restaurants about there too, i really suggest going for an Indian curry when you’re in Glasgow, its the birthplace of the Chicken Tikka Masala. When you’re in Edinburgh i completely cannot recommend a trip to ‘The Kitchin’ owned by a Chef Tom Kitchin, it was voted best Restaurant in Scotland and 5th Best in the UK (only Heston Blumenthal/Gordon Ramsay/Alain Duccaise etc rated higher really. I cannot recommend that restaurant high enough, its just genuinely fabulous, Tom Kitchin is a marvel.

 

[pjacobi]

i really suggest going for an Indian curry when you’re in Glasgow, its the birthplace of the Chicken Tikka Masala.

Interesting fact!

It's kinda like Chop Suey and General Tso's Chicken were first made in the US by Chinese immigrants.


-Paul

 

[tgeorge]

Yeh you’re itinerary doesnt really take you into Aberdeenshire so that might be difficult. Its not like a very quick drive from either Edinburgh or Glasgow up to that neck of the woods. If you had an extra couple days at the start of the holiday that might be good? There are some fantastic Whiskey’s from the western isles, Tobermory on Mull does a wee tour and if you can couple that up with a lunch in one of the places that does the fresh landed sea food you’re onto a winner.
Dont know how active you are, but when you stop in Skye the walks are incredible, if you’re really energetic do some cycling, google a guy called Danny Mcaskill, hes a world leading bmx rider from skye, he actually did this amazing video cycling around the mountains there, unbelievable. The Blythswood hotel is genuinely very nice, make time for the spa. Some nice restaurants about there too, i really suggest going for an Indian curry when you’re in Glasgow, its the birthplace of the Chicken Tikka Masala. When you’re in Edinburgh i completely cannot recommend a trip to ‘The Kitchin’ owned by a Chef Tom Kitchin, it was voted best Restaurant in Scotland and 5th Best in the UK (only Heston Blumenthal/Gordon Ramsay/Alain Duccaise etc rated higher really. I cannot recommend that restaurant high enough, its just genuinely fabulous, Tom Kitchin is a marvel.

This is such great information- thank you for taking the time to point all of this out. It's one of the reasons the ABD was appealing because we end up in Inverness and I thought we could rent a car and drive to Macallan for a tour or take the Speyside Whisky tour from Inverness.

However, I REALLY want to go to Skye . I love cycling and will definitely need to look him up. We'll sort it out and decide what we want to do. At the end of the day, I may just need to make more than one trip to Scotland . Clearly there are worse problems to have.

I'm also definitely adding the recommendations for the restaurants as well.

 

[Scottishdisneyfan]

This is such great information- thank you for taking the time to point all of this out. It's one of the reasons the ABD was appealing because we end up in Inverness and I thought we could rent a car and drive to Macallan for a tour or take the Speyside Whisky tour from Inverness.

However, I REALLY want to go to Skye . I love cycling and will definitely need to look him up. We'll sort it out and decide what we want to do. At the end of the day, I may just need to make more than one trip to Scotland . Clearly there are worse problems to have.

I'm also definitely adding the recommendations for the restaurants as well.

Im so confident you’d enjoy the Kitchin that if you dont ill pay for yer dinner myself. Inverness is a beautiful wee city. I got engaged on the banks of the river ness near the castle overlooking the firth. You’ll love Skye, its stunning. Its my pleasure to be able to give an insight if i can, i love the USA and travelling there, but im proud of my home and love meeting tourists when im out working etc.

 

[tgeorge]

Im so confident you’d enjoy the Kitchin that if you dont ill pay for yer dinner myself. Inverness is a beautiful wee city. I got engaged on the banks of the river ness near the castle overlooking the firth. You’ll love Skye, its stunning. Its my pleasure to be able to give an insight if i can, i love the USA and travelling there, but im proud of my home and love meeting tourists when im out working etc.

That's what makes this community as amazing as it is- we all are excited to travel and also enjoy providing insight to people if we can. It's clear you're proud of your home and want to share it with others. I feel the same way- even if Kansas City isn't nearly as interesting as other places (especially those with centuries of history) .

 

[Scottishdisneyfan]

That's what makes this community as amazing as it is- we all are excited to travel and also enjoy providing insight to people if we can. It's clear you're proud of your home and want to share it with others. I feel the same way- even if Kansas City isn't nearly as interesting as other places (especially those with centuries of history) .

I know but in fairness we dont have kansas city bbq!

 

[tgeorge]

I know but in fairness we dont have kansas city bbq!

Hahahaha- well, that's fair. My husband was on a competitive BBQ team, so we get a lot of it which makes me pretty spoiled

 

[snowwite]

I shouldnt really tell too many people the secret but since you’ve all been so nice about Scotland, my advice, if you’re ever coming to visit is avoid Edinburgh or dont stay too long, get yourself out to the Western Isles like Skye, Barra, Jura and Lewis. The Kintyre peninsula is beautiful. If any of you are ever visiting and want to play some golf give me a shout, my course is on the Banks of Loch Lomond and im always happy to take a guest on to see the views.

I’m always surprised by how few people visit Scotland but never leave the cities. My favorite place in the world is the Isle of Skye. It’s just so incredibly beautiful. We rent a cottage there whenever we go. It overlooks a loch but there are farms all around. It’s such a moody place. The light and weather are constantly altering the scenery. We went there on my first visit and we got married in Portree a couple years later. Lewis is still on my list but we usually spend more time seeing family than sights now. I still can’t believe he chose to move here instead of me moving there. He has learned to make quite good versions of the foods he missed except for a fish supper. We spend a fortune importing Irn Bru!

 

[snowwite]

Inverlochy Castle
We have a fireplace by the toilet….quite fancy

Oh you fancy

 

[snowwite]

I think the fear is that weary with travel someone might forget to drive on the correct side of the road! When my husband and I drive on the left we remind the other person to keep to the correct side when making turns... just in case we go on autopilot.

That part doesn’t scare me but the narrow roads between stone walls where locals are going really fast scare me!

 

[snowwite]

If you’re booking the tauck tour of scotland and picking a hotel in Glasgow then opt for the Kimpton Blythswood over the Grand Central, im a cop in the centre of Glasgow and recommend this very strongly. That 11 day tour looks really good btw, with the exception of seeing Glen Coe you’ll pretty much get a feel for everything. Skye is beautiful, my granny was from Portree.

I’ve only been to Glasgow a few times as most of the family are in Falkirk and Livingston now. My first visit I flew into that airport but now we usually go to Edinburgh. We have a mate in Paisley so we meet up when we can. I thought Grand central was such a beautiful train station. We went to some pub that was a church at one time and there was a tree growing out of what I believe was once an altar. We went back another time to the People’s palace. My Step son is autistic and he just loved that place. He took about a million photos of plants. One year we were there for the holidays. Glasgow knows how to decorate. I forget the name of the large department store with all the pretty white lights. I loved the Christmas market and would go back in a second! We watch pretty much every police procedural, detective or law show set in the UK. It’s addictive but not a great tourism advertisement. Lol

 

[snowwite]

Hahahaha- well, that's fair. My husband was on a competitive BBQ team, so we get a lot of it which makes me pretty spoiled

I would happily volunteer to sample the BBQ. Just to be sure it’s award worthy.

 

[Scottishdisneyfan]

I’ve only been to Glasgow a few times as most of the family are in Falkirk and Livingston now. My first visit I flew into that airport but now we usually go to Edinburgh. We have a mate in Paisley so we meet up when we can. I thought Grand central was such a beautiful train station. We went to some pub that was a church at one time and there was a tree growing out of what I believe was once an altar. We went back another time to the People’s palace. My Step son is autistic and he just loved that place. He took about a million photos of plants. One year we were there for the holidays. Glasgow knows how to decorate. I forget the name of the large department store with all the pretty white lights. I loved the Christmas market and would go back in a second! We watch pretty much every police procedural, detective or law show set in the UK. It’s addictive but not a great tourism advertisement. Lol

Aw i live right beside Glasgow airport so Edinburgh is a pain in the backside. It is a lovely station, but the street beside it is where the homeless shelter is and there is quite a lot of crime in that small area (its localised) but i wouldnt recommend staying there. Most of the city is very very safe (im good at my job haha), most of these shows highlight the worst, but in all honesty most Scottish people would help anyone in trouble and you are very safe here. I think the department store would be House of Fraser? Take your step son to the botanic gardens in the west end next time, really nice!
Aye the one thing the Americans cant get right is proper fish and chip shop stuff (but please anyone reading this, the locals dont eat deep fried mars bars, thats all for you guys). If you are in Florida and near Orlando you can get Irn Bru in most of the Publix stores that cater for the tourists.

 

[snowwite]

Aw i live right beside Glasgow airport so Edinburgh is a pain in the backside. It is a lovely station, but the street beside it is where the homeless shelter is and there is quite a lot of crime in that small area (its localised) but i wouldnt recommend staying there. Most of the city is very very safe (im good at my job haha), most of these shows highlight the worst, but in all honesty most Scottish people would help anyone in trouble and you are very safe here. I think the department store would be House of Fraser? Take your step son to the botanic gardens in the west end next time, really nice!
Aye the one thing the Americans cant get right is proper fish and chip shop stuff (but please anyone reading this, the locals dont eat deep fried mars bars, thats all for you guys). If you are in Florida and near Orlando you can get Irn Bru in most of the Publix stores that cater for the tourists.

Aw i live right beside Glasgow airport so Edinburgh is a pain in the backside. It is a lovely station, but the street beside it is where the homeless shelter is and there is quite a lot of crime in that small area (its localised) but i wouldnt recommend staying there. Most of the city is very very safe (im good at my job haha), most of these shows highlight the worst, but in all honesty most Scottish people would help anyone in trouble and you are very safe here. I think the department store would be House of Fraser? Take your step son to the botanic gardens in the west end next time, really nice!
Aye the one thing the Americans cant get right is proper fish and chip shop stuff (but please anyone reading this, the locals dont eat deep fried mars bars, thats all for you guys). If you are in Florida and near Orlando you can get Irn Bru in most of the Publix stores that cater for the tourists.

Yeah we do pick it up there too but we get it delivered from the Scottish Grocer or Amazon. Yes! House of Fraser was it.

 

[tgeorge]

I would happily volunteer to sample the BBQ. Just to be sure it’s award worthy.

If you're ever in KC- would love to have you