Back from London and Scotland

[shaggy Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close shaggy]

Glad you had a great time , in spite of the heat. When I hit Seattle, they broke the heat weather ( and me with no shorts) I thought I'd die from a heat stroke. Wonderful cool weather in Alaska, came home and feels like I'm baking in a oven. shaggy

[travelfan Member Find all posts View Profile Close travelfan]

Sharon, so glad you had a great time with your son. Those memories and experiences will last a lifetime, both yours and his.

If you ever plan Scotland again, I can highly recommend Kilconquhar Castle Estates. We had no car and did not miss it. The Castle is in the East Neuk, Firth of Fourth. St. Andrews is the most famous town, but all the little towns, accessible by public bus, are wonderful. We only spent one week there, but would loved to have had more time.

Again, welcome back.

[Laurie Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Laurie]

Sharon, glad your trip had its good times, its memorable moments - and none of your worst fears came to be!

Recently in Europe, we had some initial reactions over high prices, in part because we kept forgetting that our exchange rate is the pits - not long ago, our dollar was worth 2x as much as today. Had you paid 10 dollars for 90 minutes of internet, that probably wouldn't have seemed like price-gouging. They're not necessarily making as much of a killing in their own currency - of course I don't know what comparative rates in Scotland would be.

We made some "mistakes" early on, especially with phone calling, as have many other Americans. Our next door neighbor (distinguished college prof, lecturer, writer, and otherwise experienced world traveler) even had his LD account cancelled by his phone company for unknowingly running up huge bills on his calling card.

We've learned that U.S. calling cards and 800 #'s from resorts and hotels can be disastrous (the most ritzy ones as well as dives, and all over the map), so now I always check w/reception before I pick up the phone, and if there's any question even after discussing it with them, I don't touch it. One French TS we stayed in even charged us for an incoming call, and/or a call that didn't connect, I forget which (but I was shocked at the time).

The best deals for both calls within Europe and back to the US are usually from public phone booths - using the prepaid phone cards purchased within the country. Or, free at the public phone booths, if 800#'s.

On our recent trip to Italy, a 10-Euro phone card bought so much time that at the end of our 3 weeks, during which we checked messages and made return business and personal calls, I called a friend and just chatted for a half hour to use up some of the minutes, until the church bells next to us started ringing so loudly that I had to hang up. Never did finish up the minutes, but next time we'll know that their 5-Euro card would have been plenty. And we've already invested the hour in figuring out how it works (not a real phone card - just a paper receipt with a code # on it, and some sort of expiration date).

Some of these details have taken us time and multiple trips to figure out. After the fact, I often notice the Rick Steves guides have some of these nitty-gritty hints described, if only I'd taken the time to read the fine print.