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Nov. 1st, 2017 10:06 amGraham left the UK in early April 2016. He talks to his nephew most Saturdays plus his sister-in-law whose computer he's using (or his nephew's who also lives there). We generally talk to him and a little bit with her. She isn't too good for chatting because she can't hear well and you can tell. I talk to her and I can tell sometimes she didn't hear what I said at all! She's nice, though, we get along and like each other. She watches most of the soaps too so we can always talk about Corrie!
We always planned to return to the UK to see his family and our friends so I think we'll do that next year in October. We are thinking of combining it with a road trip around Scotland. This will be a more expensive trip, with having to have hotels most of the two weeks or so there in addition to the rental car for two weeks. Previously, obviously, he still lived there so I stayed with him unless we went away on a trip which would only be for up to 5 or 6 days at the most. We can't stay with his sister-in-law as there's no room. There's a hotel around the corner from her which we used last time and it's a Best Western takeover of an older hotel but it's fine and due to the location, that's where we'd go again. We might be able to stay with friends in Manchester though I hate to invite myself. But we'd be going to Manchester for a few nights to see various people. There's at least three different groups which don't cross over. Well, I say groups but only one is an actual group, the other two are individuals who don't know each other or the group. There's another friend we can stay with on our travels, too, for one night. But for the most part, best case scenario, we'll need hotels for more than 75% of the trip if we do the Scotland leg which is fairly definite at this point. Even B&Bs aren't all that cheap these days but at least you get a nice breakfast. We wouldn't really be comfortable in hostels.
Now the decision to be made is do we start and end at the same airport or do we start at one and end at another? We might try flying Westjet this time to take advantage of the companion ticket which is going to cut the flight costs down a good 30%. Because of the Westjet Mastercard, we qualify for a companion ticket once a year. For overseas, the ticket costs $399 plus taxes. That's probably about half the cost of the normal ticket, especially if flying in high season/summer. THen you'd probably save about 50%. It's worth less in the fall because the normal price is lower but it's still a saving most of the year. We can fly from Halifax into Dublin, Gatwick or Glasgow and since we aren't going to IReland this time, it would be one of the other two. So, considering our road trip, I thought we could start at Glasgow, go around Scotland from there, work our way down via Manchester and Sunderland where another friend is, then to Ipswich for the family and then to Gatwick with a night in an airport hotel, and home. Seems the most logical to me.
We can get the rental car from one and return to the other. The service we used last time should even pick us up at the airport and have everything all ready for signature. They were a private company but also use Europcar I think as their partner. I found their ad in a British tourism magazine and checked them out. We used them last time and everything worked out well. They were a little cheaper and offered second driver free which was a plus because since the credit card is in my name, we often have to pay for a second driver. There will be a fee for dropping off at a different location and probably a premium fee for airports I don't drive in the UK using a standard shift gearstick. I haven't driven one of those in decades.I know I don't forget how but trying to figure that out plus driving on the opposite side of the road is a bit intimidating.
And really, if we only use a car for half the time and book trains around for the rest, it's not going to be any cheaper. Planning is everything and God is in the details. Or the devil. I can never figure out which.
We always planned to return to the UK to see his family and our friends so I think we'll do that next year in October. We are thinking of combining it with a road trip around Scotland. This will be a more expensive trip, with having to have hotels most of the two weeks or so there in addition to the rental car for two weeks. Previously, obviously, he still lived there so I stayed with him unless we went away on a trip which would only be for up to 5 or 6 days at the most. We can't stay with his sister-in-law as there's no room. There's a hotel around the corner from her which we used last time and it's a Best Western takeover of an older hotel but it's fine and due to the location, that's where we'd go again. We might be able to stay with friends in Manchester though I hate to invite myself. But we'd be going to Manchester for a few nights to see various people. There's at least three different groups which don't cross over. Well, I say groups but only one is an actual group, the other two are individuals who don't know each other or the group. There's another friend we can stay with on our travels, too, for one night. But for the most part, best case scenario, we'll need hotels for more than 75% of the trip if we do the Scotland leg which is fairly definite at this point. Even B&Bs aren't all that cheap these days but at least you get a nice breakfast. We wouldn't really be comfortable in hostels.
Now the decision to be made is do we start and end at the same airport or do we start at one and end at another? We might try flying Westjet this time to take advantage of the companion ticket which is going to cut the flight costs down a good 30%. Because of the Westjet Mastercard, we qualify for a companion ticket once a year. For overseas, the ticket costs $399 plus taxes. That's probably about half the cost of the normal ticket, especially if flying in high season/summer. THen you'd probably save about 50%. It's worth less in the fall because the normal price is lower but it's still a saving most of the year. We can fly from Halifax into Dublin, Gatwick or Glasgow and since we aren't going to IReland this time, it would be one of the other two. So, considering our road trip, I thought we could start at Glasgow, go around Scotland from there, work our way down via Manchester and Sunderland where another friend is, then to Ipswich for the family and then to Gatwick with a night in an airport hotel, and home. Seems the most logical to me.
We can get the rental car from one and return to the other. The service we used last time should even pick us up at the airport and have everything all ready for signature. They were a private company but also use Europcar I think as their partner. I found their ad in a British tourism magazine and checked them out. We used them last time and everything worked out well. They were a little cheaper and offered second driver free which was a plus because since the credit card is in my name, we often have to pay for a second driver. There will be a fee for dropping off at a different location and probably a premium fee for airports I don't drive in the UK using a standard shift gearstick. I haven't driven one of those in decades.I know I don't forget how but trying to figure that out plus driving on the opposite side of the road is a bit intimidating.
And really, if we only use a car for half the time and book trains around for the rest, it's not going to be any cheaper. Planning is everything and God is in the details. Or the devil. I can never figure out which.
