Input on my trip to Scotland

There are direct flights to Edinburgh from both Philadelphia (on American) and Dulles (on United). You could get an open jaws ticket if you intend to fly home out of Heathrow (assuming you will be going further south than York), but I don't see any disadvantage to flying direct when you can.

I highly recommend getting a good guided tour of Edinburgh on the first day after a good nights sleep. I’ve been there 3 times and the last time I hired a guide for the days and it was soooo much better.

Robert Keightley gave us an awesome tour and I would highly recommend the splurge on a guide.
https://www.guidedtourscotland.co.uk

Bob

Hey, sounds like a great trip! I recently visited Glasgow and Oban amd wanted to say that I were you I'd add a night to the trip between Edinburgh and Oban so you could stop during that drive for a night. 3.5 hrs (on Google maps so maybe more ) is a lot of driving for 1 day in Scotland. Just my .02! Then maybe you could get on the ferry the day you arrive in Oban and not have to do a night there. Oban is fine, but if I were you it would be worth it to get to Mull sooner. Not sure if it would work with the ferry times though. Good luck!

maybe stop in Stirling.

We spent two weeks in Scotland in 2023 and Stirling Castle was our favourite day. We did it as a day trip from Glasgow and spent about 5 hours there.

I love Mull. If you have time, try and make it to Calgary Beach; with the white sand you'll think you're in the Caribbean, the weather will remind you otherwise though. We tried to visit Iona and Staffa but the weather didn't cooperate and the ferry was cancelled. It was a long drive from Tobermory for nothing. Because of that I'd recommend you don't plan on visiting your last day, that way if the ferry is cancelled you might get a 2nd chance on the next day.

Here's my Trip Report if you're interested. Days 11 and 12 are on Mull and day 15 is Stirling Castle.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-scotland-the-search-for-jamie-fraser

If puffins are a priority, make sure you get to Lunga (from Mull). It's included on many Staffa boat itineraries. Staffa has some puffins, but Lunga has many more and they're more accessible. Mid-May is prime season.

I like your timing. You are resisting the urge to try to cover too much ground (because there really is so much to see). :)

Thanks! That is a very clear lesson learned from reading RS travel forum! (Amd my own travel experiences.)

I agree with Allan that Stirling Castle (and Stirling) is worth a visit, so hopefully you can get there to see it. The castle offers a free guided tour every hour on the hour, beginning at 10 am. If you can avail yourself of one of those, I would highly recommend them. The guides are very good, very interesting, and very funny—at least mine was.

I agree with TexasTravelMom that this is a good itinerary. You've allotted enough time to really see some of those areas, and you chose some of the best parts of Scotland, in my opinion.

And I agree with Jjjgurley that getting out to Lunga on one of the Staffa tours would be wonderful. I would suggest that you book it early in your stay there if possible. Mine wasn't scheduled till my last day, and unfortunately, weather caused a cancellation of the tour, and I had no place else to put it.

I must just be in an agreeable mood today. I'm agreeing with everyone. 😊