Past Trip: Scotland/England 1994

In February 1994, we took another trip across the pond. Little did we know what we were starting. We traveled again using the Brit Rail Pass and visited Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness in Scotland and London, Dover, Winchester and Chester in England. We probably wouldn't have planned to visit Glasgow, but the impetus for the trip was my cousin's wedding. She was living in Glasgow, met someone, was getting married in Glasgow and that was enough of an excuse for us. We traveled on the Scottish part of the trip with some friends, they also came for the wedding and were to come to Inverness too, but one fell ill and we went on without them.

Highlights of the trip:

• Still have menus on the flight
• Slept in a Scottish Castle
• Slept on a Sleeper train
• Saw more real Castles
• Saw the Loch Ness Monster (kidding)
• Hand pumped ale

Sights we saw:
Glasgow (4 Days)
Had a good time in Glasgow, met my cousin's friends and in-laws.  Our eldest asked why we always went to pubs?

• trips to Edinburgh
• pre-wedding gathering
• Wedding

Edinburgh
There is a lot to see along the Royal Mile, the main street leading down from the Castle to The Palace of Holyroodhouse. We only scratched the surface. I would definitely visit again.

• Edinburgh Castle
• The Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre
• Arthur's Seat hike

Inverness (2 days)
Had hoped to visit a Whiskey distillery while we were in the Highlands, but there was not enough time. It snowed on the trip up from Glasgow, but it stopped before we arrived in Inverness.

• Loch Ness Monster Exhibition Centre, Drumnadrochit
• Loch Ness - the scenery reminded me of upstate New York
• Urquhart Castle

Urguhart Castle

London (2 days)
Who knew we would be spending so many vacations in the Worlds best city. Lots of free museums.

• The Tower Bridge Exhibition
• Prince Henry's Room
• The Science Museum
• An Inspector Calls (play)
• Temple Church
• Westminister Abbey

Dover (1 day)

Dover Castle

• Dover Castle  - Very large and comprised of fortifications from many different time periods.
• Hellfire Corner - Secret tunnels on the grounds of Dover Castle used for various purposes over the years.
• The White Cliffs

Winchester (1 day)
Heard the organist and the choir practicing when we visited the Cathedral.

• Cathedral
• City Mill
• statute of King Alfred the Great

Chester (2 days)

The Rows

• Roman amphitheater
• City walls, actually used to get about the town.
• The Rows, double tiered half timbered stores along the shopping streets.
• Beeston Castle - a ruin, but still worth a visit.
• Cathedral

Hotels:
I was very lax in keeping receipts and writing down all the names of the places we stayed at, we might have been having too much fun... in the pubs.
The Sandyford Hotel on Sauchiehall (pronounced Suckiehall) Street, Glasgow, Scotland, very clean.

Castle Stuart

Castle Stuart, Inverness, Scotland, the highlight of the trip for me. We had the Battlement Suite and the eldest had her own bed down the hall off in a side nook, needless to say she ended up staying in our bed. No one else was staying at the time so we had the run of the place, the whole Great hall, the drawing room and the Billiard room. The pool table was the size of a soccer pitch. We had to have dinner in town because Cook didn't cook for less than six! The next day, the lady of the Castle made breakfast for us and then the Daughter took us into town in the Rolls. They have a ghost, but we didn't see it.

Wait, is that a ghostly presence I see in the bed nook?

The Royal Highlander Sleeper Train, Inverness to London. A bit tight and a bit warm on the top bunk. We had to change engines somewhere north of London and that delayed our trip by 3 hours. It was still exciting and I have ever since wanted to take a sleeper again. I really like train travel.

???, London
Cliffe Court Hotel, Dover
Right by the harbour, you could hear the Hovercrafts departing. A bit of a walk back to town.
???, Winchester
Eastern Guesthouse, Chester, very nice.

Pubs:
Kept even worse track of the pubs we visited.
The Horse Shoe, Glasgow
Ye Olde Cock, Fleet Street, London

$1 = 0.68 pence
Average Daily spendage was 66 GBP (12 days)
Lodging totals were 721 GBP

1994 Trip expenses - 2 adults, 1 child
$1108 - air fare (2 Adults, 1 child)
$ 675  - rail pass
$1165 - daily expenses
$1059 - Lodging
$4007 - Total omitting any charges