England/Scotland - Final Thoughts

When I was planning my trip, I had thoughts about whether I was giving too much time to Scotland. But now in hindsight - nope! I had just the right amount of time there. My two days in London could have been skipped since I knew I needed more time there, but I am still glad I went. I got a good idea of how to move around and see things there. 

1. Time Spent in Scotland - These are my days in Glasgow, Inverness and Edinburgh. Glasgow would have been better if George Square was open. The construction there is just an eye sore. But that cannot be helped. Considering that I reached there in the afternoon from Manchester, I would say one and a half day are sufficient in Glasgow. One day I took the tour to Highlands (Glencoe), which was beautiful! Inverness is small city and one day is good enough there, but it is a good point to get the tour for Isle of Skye. I wanted to do the two day tour as I wanted to see as much as possible there - and it was totally worth it. The Jocobite steam train tour was not that worth the money, but there was no other way I would have ridden the train. And just the day before the tour I got an email saying they were not using the traditional carriages. One cannot do anything about these changes. But despite that I still enjoyed the sights and the train ride. Edinburgh I found is a bit overrated city. What I spent, two and half days, was just sufficient to see all the sights and also sit and enjoy coffee :-)
2. Manchester - This is a small city, but really a good place to start. I went of course because of Shruti, but the tours I took from there were memorable. I could not have taken those elsewhere, especially the one towards Wales. 
3. Hotels - This was my third trip during my sabbatical and I planned this myself and I realized that many hotels in England did not serve breakfast. I don't know if the same was true for Argentina and Norway and is that why the expenses were a bit high there. In any case, some of the chain hotels - Travelodge, Premier Inn - provide breakfast for extra 10 pounds (which I took for Glasgow's Premier Inn). In Inverness, breakfast was not included but it was very affordable in the same hotel. Edinburgh (Smith Place) did not even have the option of breakfast. I would not stay there again anyways because it was a bit far from the city center. What was nice about all the hotels was that they had tea/coffee in the room, which for me is big plus. I love a tea in the morning and then in the evening after touring. Hotels were generally comfortable. It was very easy to book hotels online.
4. Shampoo - I forgot to pack shampoo!! Most of the hotels did not have shampoo, only body wash. I got a one from Aldi for a pound.
5. Snacks - I was able to get some snacks from various places so that was great. Bananas are the best snacks!
6. Food - As much as I wanted to eat pasta etc, I could not because most portions are too big for me and I did not want to waste food (or my money wasting food). I ended up have a lot of soup and sandwiches. The sandwiches were really good! 
7. Walking - Oh there was walking. Good shoes are a must. And if possible, waterproof. That really saved me.
8. Umbrella - Cannot go to England without one. Everywhere it was raining!! A raincoat is also good but umbrella can also protect the face. There is a lot of wind, so umbrella can be a challenge but I managed. 
9. Trains and Buses - I love that I am able to get around easily in England and Scotland. All places were connected well by buses and or trains. The city had great transportation within the city. I did not have to use Uber. Almost all buses used direct payment via credit card or phone, which is so convenient. Everything worked on time and once again Google maps win!! Trainline was the website I used all the time to check for intercity trains and buses. 
10. Tours - One big thing for me was the day tours I took this time. Get Your Guide and Viator were good sites to get started on, but I will recommend to myself (again!!!) and others to go through the tour companies themselves. They will give better deals. I think I lost about $200 while booking through Viator.

I went to Stockton only to visit my cousin - seeing sights around there was a bonus. And I will not count London as a visit since I did not really visit all the places I could have. The only thing I can put a check mark on is the London Eye and Notting Hill. Everything else has to be visited again, and of course even though there is nothing British in the British Museum, I have to visit them. 

All in all a fantastic trip!! Quiraing pass and Fairy Pools will always be on my mind....