whitetailfan's oversea adventure

whitetailfan · May 12, 2005, 05:29:17 AM

Hello All,
Not sure where to start this, so here comes the ramble:

This summer, whitetail and the doe will be headed across the pond to the UK, specifically Scotland[:D]

As the Bradley Smoker Forum is my only internet community, your opinions are heavily valued - well most of you anyway[;)]

What I am asking for in this thread is any advise that the members can give me. This trip is not something that the Mrs and I have been saving for years for to do, it is kind of a spontanious holiday, as my brother in law is getting married this summer in Dunfermline; therefore money is somewhat of an issue as we can't "do it all".

If anyone has any comments about stuff that you just "cannot miss while you are there" or any recommended cheap B&B's, or a favorite pub, or something you heard from a friend of a friend...doesn't matter. I'm in discussion with the wife on where to spend our two weeks, and you can't get all your info off the net or travel brochures. All first hand experience will be greatly appreciated and since its impartial, it will have a lot of weight in our decisions.

Thanks in advance for all comments.

Also - if there is anyone in the UK that needs some products they can't find that we talk about, let me know. And vice versa, anything that is hard to import to North America that I can pick up, let me know...I know there was a thread about a part of the smoke generator that no one here seemed to be able to find, but was available overseas.
EDIT: After re-reading the comments in that last paragraph, I might add drug dealers and weapon smugglers need not comment.[:D]

Anyway, that's my thread...thanks again to all who participate[:)]

whitetailfan
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

Oldman · May 12, 2005, 06:05:52 AM

WTF,
Wish I could help you, but I've never been there. However, if it is like some *cough* countries where people will allow their pets to crap all over the sidewalk and leave it there then I suggest you and yours get some water proof boots... about knee high. BTW I'm not joking about this. The reason I'm not stating the country is we have members here whose folks or grandfolks came from there, and I value their online friendship.

Olds

MallardWacker · May 13, 2005, 03:53:14 AM

I have not been to that part of the world but after going to Russia, there is something I would never leave home with out~~~That is my American Express Card. Laugh if you will, if you are in trouble, and I was, there was THE ONLY PLACE that helped me. Very nice AMERICAN folks tended to my needs and sure made things go alot easier. There is nothing so helpless than being in another country.

Another thing, I would talk my Doctor in giving me a round of general antibiotics. The folks that sent me over there told me to do that and I didn't and paid a price. I got a simple infection in my elbow that I could of headed off with something as simple as that, the time I got home it looked like my elbow was going to give birth to a baseball. I then was shot up with so many antibiotics that I will refrain from the disciptions of events that preceeded those drugs.

It was my experiance in that part of the world is that nice guys finish last and all that stuff that you mommy taught you about waiting your turn, well just forget it. They did not beleive in lines over there, if you ever wanted to get to the front, grab your stuff and get to pushing. Oh ya, not everone takes as many showers as you do PLUS there is not a word in ther vocab that has a relationship with deoderant.

I could add more but I would probably bore the stink out of you and get sidelined from this board if I carried on.

You folks will have fun....

Also bring more money than you thing you need because you WILL need it.

SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know. But...

Chez Bubba · May 14, 2005, 04:01:24 AM

Have a draft Guinness! It's nothing like you've been led to believe.[:)]

Kirk

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

JJC · May 14, 2005, 06:11:32 AM

Hi WTF,

I was waiting for some of our Gaelic or British members to chime in before I did. We went to Scotland for two weeks in the summer of 2001, and it was absolutely fantastic!

We spent a few days in Ayreshire and Glasgow (our host's home turf), and also visited the Isle of Arran. From there we took the train (and ferries) everywhere. We headed up the scenic west coast to Oban, a beautiful seaside village with a classic whisky distillery, of which there are many in Scotland! Didn't have time for day trips to the Isles of Mull and Jura, but I hear they're well worthwhile. From Oban we went inland to climb Ben Nevis, Scotland's tallest mountain, then headed to the Isle of Skye for a couple of days. The Talisker distillery is there and well worth visiting! From there we headed back through the Highlands to Aviemore, and from there to Edinboro before traveling to London to visit friends.

The cities, villages, B+Bs, and hostels were clean, the people were friendly, the scenery was gorgeous, the history is fascinating, trains run on time . . . you'll have a ball!

If you enjoy sports, try to get to a Scottish Premier League soccer match or a high-level rugby match. The atmosphere in a European stadium is totally different than anything you'll experience in North America. I'm not saying that a Canadiens-Bruins or Red Sox-Yankees game doesn't have a great atmosphere, it's just different and you can't decribe it--you just have to experience it. Of course, Scotland and golf go hand in hand, and the salmon fishing is excellent (though expensive).

As for malted beverages, be sure to try several of the 200+ single malt whiskies available, especially if there is a local or regional one available. As for beer, Chez' recommendation of Guinness is a good one, but be sure to try one of the excellent Scottish ales: Belhaven, Caledonian, McEwan, Tennant, and numerous microbrewery offerings.

We saved a lot of $$ by staying in hostels. They were clean and private rooms are usually available (bathroom/shower facilities are always shared dorm style, however), but make reservations ahead of time if you can. We either bought food in local markets and cooked it in the hostel kitchen or ate at pubs rather than restaurants (except for a couple inexpensive Indian places in Edinboro and Glasgow). We figured we'd rather spend our money drinking at the pubs than on food! We also saved money by buying a Scot(Brit?)Rail pass for our train travel.

I hope others will proffer their ideas for your trip. Dunfermline is on the eastern side of central Scotland, near the Firth of Forth. If time is an issue, I would consider skipping the Borders region and the east coast of Scotland and head to Edinboro for a day or two, then into the highlands for several days, maybe hit an island or two on the west coast, and then go to Glasgow for a day or two.

Air fares can really vary during the summer, which is the peak travel season, so be sure to look for specials early on. We happened to get the best fare with IcelandAir because they always make a stop in Reykavik and they hope you'll either spend a day or two there or at least buy a few things at the airport while you're waiting for your flight to Scotland! I just did a quick search of a couple of travel websites and saw mid-summer fares from Boston or New York to Scotland for $706-$801, so that's probably at least a ballpark starting point.

Anyway, I'm sure there are others who have seen more of Scotland than I have and I'd defer to their experience, but I hope the above info is of some general help.

John
Newton MA

JJC · May 14, 2005, 11:51:59 PM

Hi WTF--

Thought of a couple of other things that others have raised as concerns in their travels to other countries . . . those concerns are certainly important and definitely apply to places like Russia or many other countries where local health issues, infectious diseases, and lack of adequate medical care are endemic. Luckily, none of that applies in Scotland or anywhere in Britain.

Don't worry about the quality of medical care anywhere in Britain, incluidng Scotland. It's free, you don't need to have your insurance card with you, and it's first-rate. I had a severe sciatica attach the day I was due to leave Glasgow for Boston. I went to the local ER, and within 30 minutes was being evaluated, treated, and provided with adequate medication (modest charge for the meds) to get me back home to the States. I was out in less than an hour. If I had needed hospitalization, that would have been fre, too. I offered to give them my health insurance card since I know that my health plan will cover the cost of medical care outside the U.S. when it's urgent, but they didn't even want to see it. On an earlier trip to England, one of my sons developed strep throat--again we went to the local ER, they did a throat swab, gave him the correct antibiotics and advice, and never charged us for anything except a nominal fee for the antibiotics. That visit took about 2 hous since the ER was fairly busy.

I also just checked with our Geographic Medicine and Infectious Disease Department (fancy name for Travel Medicine clinic) at Tufts-New England Med Ctr as well as the CDC website and their are no special precautions or shots that you need to visit anywhere in Britain, even if you go to the Isle of Man (just kidding, Paul[;)])! If you're due for some routine vaccinations anyway (tetanus, for example) you might as well get them before you go, but otherwise you've got no worries on the medical front.

John
Newton MA

JJC · May 15, 2005, 06:36:42 AM

Geez, just thought of another nice thing about folks in the British Isles--they are unbelievably polite. Duck-Man mentioned the pushing and shoving in Russia and I've experienced that there and several other countries in Europe, but the concept of "queueing" still runs strong in Scotland and the rest of Britain. Folks are almost embarassingly polite--Bill Bryson penned in his wonderful book on Britain called "Notes from a Small Island" that if you accidentally stepped on someone's foot they are likely to say "I'm terribly sorry, but could I trouble you to remove your foot when it's convenient?" (that's more of a paraphrase than a quote, but you get the idea). Though most of the book deals with England, he does have a portion on Scotland which is truly delightful, including as absolutely hilarious story about a pub in Glasgow. You can get the book for around $12-15 at Barnes and Nobles or Amazon.com, and I think it's a short, funny and useful read before you go to Scotland.

John
Newton MA

manxman · May 16, 2005, 10:07:17 AM

hi,

Quote from JJC:

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"> their are no special precautions or shots that you need to visit anywhere in Britain, even if you go to the Isle of Man (just kidding, Paul)! <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Soooo funny my friend!!!! [:D][:D]

I have'nt chipped in because I have not been to Scotland for 20 years plus![:I][:I]

Couple of places that I would recommend are Loch Ness and Urqehart (spelling?) Castle on the shores of Loch Ness, perhaps a chance of seeing Nessie, and Glen Coe. The scenery and ambience is awesome.

The soccer and rugby seasons more or less finished this weekend and I would hesitate to recommend cricket unless you have a very hot day and a lot of cold beers to laze the day away! Can be very boring to watch. (and play!)[}:)][}:)]

One thing it would be worth trying to seek out would be a Highland Games.... should be quite a few on over the summer months and that should be good fun to someone from across the pond![:D][:D]

Having visited some of the sites JJC mentioned I can only agree but his knowledge is far more up to date than mine and puts me to shame!![:I][:D]

Whatever..... hope you have a brilliant time!![:D][8D]

Manxman.

MallardWacker · May 16, 2005, 02:25:02 PM

John,

That is a a great note about the health care there. Somewhat I was speaking out of ignaorance, I do apologize. I do consider that part of the world is probably a generation ahead of Russia. To see a Rx store in Moscow is down right scary--evrything in weird glass bottles, stange folks wearing (semi)white coats with funky hats that looked like they came from McDonalds---nothing like we would know. Well being clean, that is a whole different story. I didn't know that "clean" could be such a relative term when it comes to medical type things.

SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know. But...

JJC · May 17, 2005, 04:09:16 AM

No need to apologize, Duck Man! There are plenty of places in the world, including quite a few countries in Europe, where you would want to make sure your vaccinations are up to date, or go to your doc for advice on what meds to bring with you, or be careful about drinking the water or eating certain foods. Fortunately, most of western Europe and all of Britain have a high standard of medical care and public health. I suspect your elbow problem would still have a good chance of occurring today in many parts of Russia, but would never have blown up like that if you had been in Scotland, even "back in the day", so your comment about being a generation ahead is well-taken.

John
Newton MA

Oldman · May 17, 2005, 04:31:47 AM

I may reply to this tomarrow: <blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"> Folks are almost embarassingly polite--Bill Bryson penned in his wonderful book on Britain called "Notes from a Small Island" that if you accidentally stepped on someone's foot they are likely to say "I'm terribly sorry, but could I trouble you to remove your foot when it's convenient?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

If I do it will be off of a private posting that can only be view by a link.... it is so British~~! But somewhat tainted [:0]

Olds

JJC · May 27, 2005, 05:35:41 AM

Hi WTF,

How's the planning going for Scotland? Just curious . . .

John
Newton MA

JJC · June 02, 2005, 08:35:57 AM

bump

John
Newton MA

Osibisa · June 08, 2005, 11:29:41 PM

If you can make it down to East Anglia in the UK by all means look me up and you can show me how to use my BS correctly!![;)]

The UK is one big queue... Its called the M6, M25, M4........

Smoked Haggis! Theres a thought!!

Peter.

Chez Bubba · June 09, 2005, 04:14:41 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Osibisa
 Smoked Haggis! Theres a thought!!<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
There are some things in life that smoking just can't make palatable.[;)]

Kirk

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?