ARRRGHH!!! Itinerary Assistance Please....

Sherri,

I can't offer any help with your itinerary since I've not traveled to Scotland (yet), but my daughter is presently studying in Edinburgh.

This is the SIM card she purchased for her iphone:https://www.o2.co.uk/shop/sim-cards/international-sim

• http://www.o2.co.uk/storelocator

Edit: You may consider hiking to 'Arthur's Seat', if you have the time while in Edinburgh :-)

Hi Sherri,
Love your itinerary.
How about hiking around one of the Lochs. Enjoyed Loch Lomond.
We took our teenagers and they had a great time hiking there. Stirling Castle was another hit too.

We have the following apps to our phones:
Here Drive+
Here Maps
We uploaded the countries we were visiting while still at home and it worked beautiful.

As far as I know, we didn't get a sim card.

Have a wonderful adventure!

I can answer about driving to Inverness. You can definitely make it there in a day with time to spare. We left EDI airport, got lost (which probably added an hour to what it would have taken), stopped in Pitlochry and still made it to Inverness in time to find our BnB, walk to town and have dinner. We didn't leave EDI at the crack of dawn, either. I was able to use my Blackberry (went in 2009) with Verizon's international plan and got a sim card from Verizon before I left so my phone would work there. I didn't have navigation on my phone, though.

Hi Sherri-

The bicycle tour sounds fun - and you'll be heading downhill -- but don't forget to keep to the left! :-)

Two years ago, we had 3+ days on Skye, and could have used more time, but if it's the only time you have, use it.

How are you getting from Skye back to Mainland Scotland? Skye Bridge? We took the tiny ferry from Kylerhea to Glenelg - a neat experience, but it can take a while on the narrow, twisty road and then waiting for the ferry & making the crossing.

We headed to Sterling one morning after leaving Fort William, and had lots of traffic and a steady downpour of rain driving thru Glen Coe. We got to Stirling in late afternoon after a leisurely lunch and a stop in Doune at Doune Castle. Depending on driving conditions, you might need to push your pace to get to Stirling in time if you're leaving Skye that morning.

We popped in to a phone store on Prince's Street in Edinburgh and were out of there in 20 minutes with a new SIM card that they installed and set up, preloaded with minutes. Cheap and easy.

We just relied on maps and road signs for Scotland, although having a GPS in southern France this past summer was helpful.

Days 9 and 10 pose a significant issue - Spending the night in Stirling and making the drive to EDI in the morning is cutting things too close , for my taste . An 08:30 departure means being at the airport by 5:30 - 6:30 . You will have to drop the car and get to the terminal ( not difficult , but unless you have been to EDI before , you will be dealing with Terra Incognita ) Also the route down from Stirling is a heavily traveled commuter route , traffic is a consideration , even at that early hour . I would make the drive down the night before , drop the car and stay at a hotel at the airport . Making a trip ( even a relatively short one with a flight or major rail journey in the offing , is a kind of stress that is not appealing to me . One last point - while you don't indicate your dates of travel , be mindful that due to structural repairs ongoing at the Forth Road Bridge ( which may be completed by the time of your trip , or not , as the case may be ) additional traffic congestion in that general area is a distinct possibility . Make the trip the night before , you'll be glad of it .

You all are awesome! Thanks for the feedback!! I'm reconsidering the plans to stay at Stirling before the early flight. Are there any family friendly recommendations for hotels close by the EDI airport?

Also, are there libraries or other options for printing the boarding passes while on the go?

We have DriveHere app and use it all the time. I'll check into downloading the maps for UK. Can this be used without data usage or roaming charges? I honestly have never tried it on airplane mode. We have T-mobile and a windows phone if this makes any difference.

What is the pros and cons of taking the ferry back from Isle of Skye, vs driving?

Again thanks for your insight! We enjoy a more leisurely pace, but surely don't want to bypass something that we would later kick ourselves for missing!!

Sherri

There are a variety of hotels right around the airport ( Ibis , Premier Travel Inn , Marriot , Hilton ) I have used the Hilton several times before an early morning flight to NYC . It's right on the airport campus , and there is a shuttle that goes to the terminal every fifteen or so minutes . the ride is about five minutes . Nice place and very comfortable , but be sure to look at the Premier as well . They are a big chain in the UK and the rooms are always spotlessly clean , and comfortable , with very good rates

You'll need to reconfirm everything if you opt to take a ferry, but as I recall there are 2 ferry options (or were in 2014) for departing Skye -- the tiny Glenelg ferry and the much bigger Mallaig ferry. Both will transport you and your vehicle.

Glenelg - Pros: very cool experience, cheaper than Mallaig ferry, short distance so doesn't take long to cross the water, closer to Portree so shorter distance drive to reach the ferry, no reservations needed, there are 2 pre-Medieval Brochs (fortified stone towers you can explore) about 1 1/4 miles outside Glenelg once you reach the shore, fairly easy drive to Fort William from Glenelg; Cons: very twisty, narrow, up-and-down secondary road to reach the ferry at Kylerhea, tiny ferry so you may have to wait your turn to get on board

Mallaig (which we didn't take, so I don't have first-hand experience, but we did a lot of reading about it) - Pros: bigger boat (more popular), once reaching the mainland, you can drive Rick Steves' described scenic drive to Fort William; Cons: more popular, so you likely need a reservation, and you have to be there in plenty of time to make your departure time, farther drive from Portree so plan ahead, more expensive than Glenelg ferry, longer boat ride (takes more time), might take longer to load and unload with all the others on board

Skye Bridge - Pros: you no longer have to pay a toll to go over it, no ferry-related costs, and you get on a more major road than if you take either ferry; Cons: once on the mainland, you're still a long way from Fort William and Stirling, you miss the ferry experience--and how often do you get to take a car ferry?

P.S. - You'll likely have taken the bridge to get to Skye in the first place!

Instead of staying in Stirling
I booked the Independence tour from Edinburgh.....small limited to 8 and looks right up your interest in history...goes to Stirling Castle, Monuments etc but not the grueling 10-12 hour tours of some companies.
You may want to check it out. Then just stay in Edinburgh near the airport.
http://www.inventscottishtours.co.uk

You don't need to stay in Stirling to visit it, it can very easily be done from Edinburgh of Glasgow by train. I'm saying that cause IMO there's isn't a great amount in Stirling beyond the castle and Wallace Mon. You could drive back to Edinburgh on day 8 and hand back the car then do Stirling by train in the morning or afternoon of day 9, stay the night in Edinburgh then fly out the next morning. Alternatively with 2 teenagers they may enjoy a visit to Glasgow, so you could drive to Glasgow on day 8 (this allows you to see Loch Lomond en route) and hand back the car. Day 9 Stirling by train from Glasgow and a bit of Glasgow. Day 10 fly to Ireland from Glasgow airport. Both of these allow you to see a bit more, 2 days less car hire and make you closer to an airport on the morning of day 10....................although I don't think it's a major problem if you do decide to stay in Stirling, its only 30miles/40mins drive on a freeway. If you leave Stirling just before 6am you'll have no problems, just make sure the car rental return is open that early! I guess it depends how early you want to get up!;)