as a scotsmans who just stumbled across your story, i must say it was both hilarious and charming – its always great to hear about your back yard being described by a visitor. i’ve just returned to scotland after 10 years away and you two would both certainly be an asset to the scottish tourist board – you certainly reminded me of what a great and beautifal city and country it is.

i’ve worked and visited the US about 5 times – miami, houston, virginia, fort lauderdale, new york – and found your countrymen welcoming, enthusiastic and considerate. i hope my scottish countymen treated you with an equal welcome.

next visit, be sure to check out the coastal towns of east lothian and venture further north than loch lomond, which without being unfair is the ugly brother of loch ness and beyond. the drive from bridge of allan to benmore, orchy, glencoe and to fort william is breathtaking.. although fortwilliam itself is a tad outdated.. better to stay in a nice B&B than some of the mainstay tourist hotels..

cheers
graeme

If you go during spring break just remember that it will be quite chilly and possibly very wet – but you will have a lot of the touristy areas all to yourself! This makes it worth it!

When we went back this summer, everyone was on vacation and while the weather was glorious, areas that we had easily explored previously were quite crowded – especially with all of the August festivals that were occuring.

The place that we rented on the 2003 trip is no longer available, but there are plenty of great flats that can be had by the day / week. This is a good place to look:

http://www.selfcatering-directory.co.uk/results.asp?town=Edinburgh

Nope, we have yet to go on a joint vacation to Africa. Someday!

Glad you enjoyed the article. Scotland was great and I would love to go back someday. Judie already returned for a 2nd vacation this year. That has to tell you how much fun this destination is.

I am now going to consider Scotland as an option. I’m wanting to take my 8 year old son. He’s excited about the thought of flying.

I actually have 2 good friends that are from Edinburgh & have met a few of their other friends. One of them is married to a childhood friend. All great people! I’ll have to get more great info from them. I’ve always wanted to travel to Scotland. Have been to England, but that was 19 years ago while in high school. Have been dying to go back since. You gave some great tips & I hope to utilize them sooner than later.

Oh, did you ever make it to Africa?

Thanks for the entertainment! [/COLOR][/FONT]

Thanks for telling us about Kushi’s. Unfortunately, we didn’t find that restaraunt – it sounds like we missed out ona real treat!

Judie :0)

They’re not your standard Indian restaurant. The current premises (they move every couple of decades) used to be a University canteen, so they’re all formica tables and orange/brown seventies wallpaper, very basic diner. The menu is extremely small, and consists of old Mrs Kushi’s home cooking — it’s not standard restaurant fare, it’s what you’d get if you visited a punjabi family at home. It’s made with good quality ingredients, in large quantities, and it’s consistently good.

(It’s a local cultural institution — and after fifty-five years I think they’ve earned it.)

Glad you enjoyed the article! What is the name of the Indian restaurant. Judie and Steve may have eaten there!

(Oh yeah: if I’d known about it, I could have pointed you at the good pubs — for beer and food — and recommended the oldest Indian restaurant in Scotland, which wasn’t far off your path.)

I really enjoyed your travelogue, in fact it had me in stitches at times, including the encounter with Hamish the hairy coo and the disappointing lack of dead bodies in the Princes Street Gardens!

One thing I’d better point out though is that the Irish distil whiskey and the Scots distil whisky (no letter ‘e’ in the word). I’ve had my ear bent from getting that wrong in the past!

I’ve been to Edinburgh several times, including hitchiking up there from Manchester (England) as part of a student ‘rag week’ challenge and sleeping in a sailing boat under the Forth rail bridge (oh, my ever moving stomach!) but I’ve missed quite a few of the places you’ve mentioned, so thanks for the incentive to re-visit.

There are now around 30 tv channels available free to air via digital terrestrial decoders which have recently come onto the market, so hopefully your experience of only four channels won’t be repeated in the future. I’m glad that the food was a highlight too, as I really enjoyed all my meals up there and it’s a shame when old stereotypes hang around for ever.

I was led to the your tale by spotting the review of the Sony U20, so thanks also for that, as it was good to see how it performed in the real world, not just for a few quick pictures on a specialist photo review web site.

Can’t wait for your Africa trip and hope it will be a mite warmer than you found it in ‘Auld Reekie’ (Edinburgh)!

Best wishes and thanks for sharing your fun with us,
James

Just read your travel report…very interesting!

I’m actually originally from Scotland (though I now live in Southern England) and I spent 4 years at university in Edinburgh. And I *absolutely* fell in love with the city – in fact, it’s my wife’s and mine goal to move back “Up North”.

I’m so glad you enjoyed your stay in Edinburgh, and in Scotland in general! I think there are lot of misconceptions in the USA regarding holidaying in the UK (the food, for example) – your article went a long way to dispell them! Thanks!

And TGuv, you’re right – they barely scratched the surface of the things to do and see!!!

But it’s funny how you picked up on the difference in technology, My wife is American, so I spend a lot of time in the US. I think the perception is that “all the good stuff” goes to the ‘States…but I disagree. When I was last in the US (Nov ‘02), I took the opportunity to browse around the local Best Buy’s, Circuit City’s, etc….and I really wasn’t that impressed.

The mobile phone (ie cellphone) is the obvious example – in the UK, and I would say Europe in general, mobile phones with external externals went out of fashion years and years ago. But in the US, they are still prominent. The phones here are *really* small, have colour screens, built in cameras, polyphonic ringtones, etc, etc. And the great thing is, we use the GSM standard, which means we can pretty much go to any country in the world & our phones work (I used to work in 3G cellular development, so I know all about the different standards). In fact, some US operators are adopting GSM as their standard – I stepped off the plane in Pittsburgh last November, switched my phone off and called my family back in the UK to let them know we had arrived ok – much to the disbelief of my American sister-in-law!:-D

Cheers,
Steve.

Several people told us NOT to wear jeans and sneaks… that we would stick out like a sore thumb. :p

I must admit that some of your observations do sound a bit corny. Whats wrong with jeans and white sneakers? Were not as backwards here in Scotland as you might think. The coke here is horrible but the water is some of the best on the planet and our chocolate is nicer than the stuff available in the states.

Good to see you braved the Haggis, its not to everyones taste.

Yep we are generally friendly but you cant trust everyone over here.

Id be suprised if everyone in America has a central water heater, im actually very suprised that you didnt have one were you stayed. With weather like ours most homes do have central-heating.

To see the Highlands you really have to travel to Inverness, about three hours north of Edinburgh (E-din-bur-uh ) some of the best scenery etc. Loch Lomond is in the Trossachs (Lowlands )

Its really great to see people come over to explore I love it here. Hopefully ill get back out to NY this year but ill have to wait and see.

I would love to see your pictures from Arthur’s Seat – we got lots of the hill itself, but didn’t climb it.

Just send the photos to judie@the-gadgeteer.com

Thanks!

Judie :0)

I really enjoyed reading Your trip report to Scotland. Judie, we sort of talked a little bit about Edinburgh some weeks ago. While I was a student for a year in Edinburgh I wondered, if You did not visit the great Arthur’s Seat – the “mountain” in the middle of Edi. I would be honoured if I can send You some pictures taken by me some years ago, when I was now and then in Edinburgh. Just send me an email so I don’t have to bother You when You are not interested … Thanx very much for all Your nice articles. Greetings from Mäckie

But that’s just my 2 cents

Judie :0)

Glad you enjoyed yourself and it would be great for you guys to come back over sometime.
Just for the record, it’s been virtually unbroken sunshine and no wind for almost two weeks here now! Very unusually warm for March in Scotland!

Andy.
reviewer at Pocket PC Thoughts and Ultimate Pocket.

You are, of course, correct. I will go in and fix that right away. Thanks!

Judie :0)

One thing tho’: the big street running through Edinburgh, the one with the gardens beneath the castle, is called Princes Street, not Prince’s Street

I sure do wish that we could get the kind of saturated GSM/GPRS coverage that people in Europe enjoy – but then I would be stressing because I didn’t know which phone to settle for. ;0)

BTW, I saw your comment about not getting the cool cellphones here in the States… but we are! My Verizon Motorola T720 just arrived today, and with a color screen, email and SMS, web browser, downloadable software, etc., it’s definitely as nice as the DoCoMo phones that my friends in Japan have. And just as tiny! I haven’t really taken it for a full test drive yet, but I think the cell technology gap between the U.S. and Europe/Asia is definitely narrowing.

—Ell
Ellen Beeman

Thanks again, great job!

Irv

Judie :0)