Archive for category: Scotland

Edinburgh Castle is part of the Royal Mile (see other post).  You need to order tickets in advance, but there is another option if you’re like us and missed that part of the trip planning. It seems that the tour groups will buy up a selection of tickets, and then charge for the tour they provide (tickets being part of the package). This is a way to get into the castle without planning very far ahead. The groups have a designated meeting point somewhere in the Royal Mile, and they tell you to look for (in our case, a certain style of umbrella).

Now, I think you’re supposed to stay with the group, even after they give you the tickets to enter the castle. I will also say that our guide seemed knowledgeable and was entertaining. Especially amusing was the story about how Queen Victoria was disappointed that the castle wasn’t castle-looking enough, and she had certain features added to better fit her expectations. This includes the gatehouse that one must now use to enter the castle. Apparently, Victoria of the Victorian Era wanted something more Medieval.

Even though I found these tidbits interesting, I knew Kevin would repeat it all to me later either way. While Kevin dutifully stayed with the group, I kept leaving to look at different parts of the castle that caught my interest. I was also staying out of the wind as much as possible (if you visit here, prepare for wind as much as rain! Cold wind. Very cold.).

It’s a good thing Kevin stayed because he found out about a particular display that I would have missed: the Honours of Scotland (Regalia, Crown Jewels). The Keiths hid the Scottish Regalia at Dunnottar. When the castle was attacked, the regalia were smuggled out and successfully hidden for years more. These are now housed behind glass in a dark room in Edinburgh Castle, and no photography is permitted (alas, I don’t have anything to share here for my favorite part of the castle).  I just stared and stared, trying to burn the image into my brain.

Then I promptly purchased the full-color book of photos they sold at the gift shop.

Video:

The Great Hall (a room with red walls and  full of weapons)

Photos:

 

Scotland trip journal excerpt, May 25, 2025:

Made the drive from the Edinburg airport without dying. Driving on the left side of the road is a challenge. Exiting the airport car rental along with a bunch of similarly-challenged tourists adds to the adventure.

As we started out, I let Kevin know that he was too far left. I was tensing up as he came close to parked cars. After a few times, he told me that my perspective was different since I wasn’t used to being a front passenger on the left.

Then we felt the bumps of the line closest to the curb. I quietly thought it was wise that the road was designed with textured lines. A few more bumpy lines, two instances of running over the curb, and one moment where the car’s collision alert was activated (to which Kevin wondered out loud what was wrong with the car)… it seemed that perhaps the road and car shared my “perspective.”

By the third outing, Kevin had a good sense of the road. It helps that he learned to drive on the left side when living in Japan, and it’s as if his brain shifted back to those formative years. Whew!

 

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Worth it!

Kevin drove with confidence the rest of the trip. I’m grateful he was able to do this because if it were up to me, we’d be doing a lot more walking, and we would have missed seeing so many areas of Scotland.

There were some extra challenging sections of road though, and it takes patience, continuous awareness, and a cooperative mindset as people work together to get past each other on lanes not wide enough for two vehicles. There would be periodic pull-out sections to help with passing, and these would be sometimes on the right, and sometimes on the left. People would cheerfully wave and smile at each other in passing almost every single time we did this (which happened countless times over the 10 day trip).  I remember seeing this behavior depicted in a Netflix series, thought it to be idealistic, and then saw it could be a reality. It was one of the many things I loved about Scotland.

Tips for transportation in Scotland:

1. Know that they have a pretty good public transportation system where trains and buses can get you to most places that visitors will want to do, and beyond. You can also combine this with local tour guides to expand your options without having to get a car.
2. Car rental places will try to upsell you to get an SUV, talking about cobble stones. Our personal priority turned out to be the wise choice: get as slim of a vehicle as possible while still being able to fit your luggage.
3. They will try to also upsell you on additional car insurance. Read the policy and decide for yourself, but we found that it was a very good idea.
4. We landed in Linlithgow near a train stop to start off our journey. Great choice! We could walk around Linlithgow (relatively quiet, safe, friendly… and near a grocery store), and drive the relatively simple streets to get a feel for being on the left side of the road. We could also catch a train into Edinburgh or Glasgow.
5. There are these large camper-vans that they rent out to tourists; know that  they often get stuck, blocking the roads, and hold up traffic until assistance arrives (can be hours).
   1. On that note, use the bathroom often, and also have snacks and water in the car (but drink the water slowly if you’re stuck due to a camper van… because it might be awhile).
6. The wording for the signs can be different, but they tend to make sense. Examples
   1. Layby: the passing points/pull-outs (also sometimes called passing place)
   2. No Overtaking: no passing
   3. Queues: there might be a long line of cars having to take turns getting past a certain stretch of road, either for road construction or just because that section of the road is narrow.
   4. Dual Carriageway: this means the road will actually be wide enough for traffic to go in opposite directions, maybe even with a line or barrier in between.
7. Give yourself time to readjust to driving on the right side again! For us, this means get a hotel near the airport where we can park it for our trip, get a shuttle from the airport to the hotel, and get a full night’s rest before trying to drive. It took a couple days to adjust back, even for me (and I was just a passenger in Scotland).

Videos & Pictures

I managed to get some videos and pictures of driving (see below).

Driving in Isle of Skye:

 

Taking turns to cross a one-lane bridge:

 

 

Dual carriageway giving way to a single lane, in Linlithgow: