Scotland Holiday Review

With Marc's permission, I am publishing his review of their customized trip to Scotland. This took a lot of planning and tweaking but I think it was well worth all the efforts as you can see.

Mindy,

I wanted to get back to you on what we thought of the trip and such.

Overall impression: This was a fantastic trip and I'm glad we did it. Would I do it again? Probably. I think I would wait until the Dollar got a little stronger, as it was expensive. Not necessarily the cost of the trip, but the "incidentals" cost. This was not unexpected, it's just that I did not realize how much everything added up until we got home and I looked at the credit card bills. :) Our itinerary was... perfect. Yes, perfect. This was an absolute perfect mix of distillery tours, site-seeing, castle-sleeping and driving. Neither Virginia nor myself found ourselves saying "Oh gee... another castle to look at..." The fact that we were able to drive ourselves around was a huge bonus as well, as it gave us more freedom in what we wanted to see (the tour notes proved to us were a huge help, too). The weather wasn't always cooperative (which was not unexpected), which was a downer sometimes. Some of the scenic drives we did weren't too much fun in the pouring rain and it's hard to take pictures when your wife is hudled under an umbrella with you, shielding your camera from the water. Not a huge deal though, because we knew the weather was going to be brisk and mostly rainy. We had 4 full days of sun which was more than I had anticipated, so I'm not complaining.

Both days of our guided tours (Islay with Lamont and Speyside with Paul) were done VERY well. Lamont was a treasure trove of local information and a really funny guy. He brought us to the 4 distilleries that we wanted to see and let us set our own pace, which was very much appreciated. Our day with Paul was also equally enjoyable. While he had some ideas of where to take us (Culloden and the cairns and a few distilleries), he modified the day to take into account what we wanted to see and do. Capping off the day with Paul at a local pub was a great idea. We got to know him better and he's a really great guy. Having the owner of the company drive us around personally made us feel very good about our travel decision and gave us a feeling that we were special.

I had already told Paul (when he drove us around Speyside) that both Virginia and I were very happy with the package, but it bears reiteration. Please forward on my complete satisfaction to Liz and Paul. I cannot emphasize enough how much fun we had and how well put together this trip was.

Individual impressions: I wanted to give you specific feedback on the properties we stayed at as well as the activities we did.

Stonefield Castle - Very nice grounds and the hotel itself is great. The staff was very helpful and the bartender was very nice to us. The room was as expected and was very clean. The water pressure in the shower will blow you off your feet. :) My only problem with this property was the dining room. The food was very well presented and tasty and had a good combination of flavors; so kudos go to the Chef. The price was outrageous, however, and the service is better in McDonalds. I frequently had to get up and approach a server to get water or another glass of wine, or to request our dishes be cleared. The portions that we received were miniscule, even for European cuisine. Summary: great place to stay, go somewhere else to eat.

Harbour Inn (Islay) - Excellent accomodations and in a perfect location for strolling around the town (it's also right across the street from the Bowmore distillery!). Dinner here was also very well presented and the food was very tasty, and it was about half the price as the previous night. The dining room is a bit cramped, but no big deal. Both Virginia and I liked this property very much. I would stay here again and recommend it.

Lamont and Islay in general - I've already commented on Lamont... he's an asset and a perfect local guide. Islay is a great place to come out and do an overnight trip. I'm very glad we were steered away from staying the night in Port Ellen, as Bowmore is a very nice place to stay. Duffies Bar (in the Lochside Hotel in Bowmore) is also a very nice "locals bar" and they had an amazing array of whiskeys. Islay is a great place to drive around and take pictures and if you like the peaty scotch they make (like I do), it's pure heaven.

Dungallan House and Oban - Dungallen House is a wonderful B&B. The owners (Michael and Marion) were very personable and friendly and the room was fantastic (the bed was VERY comfortable). The cocktail lounge is staffed by Michael and he was able to give us tips on what to do in Oban. I would definitely stay here again and would recommend this property to others. As far as Oban goes, we only spent the day there, but managed to do some shopping and visit one or two local pubs. It's not a huge metropolitan area, but it's a very active area, with many restaurants and small shops, and fishing boats literally docking right by the seafood restaurants. I recommend eating at "Ee-Usk" (http://eeusk.com/) which has fantastic, fresh, right-off-the-boat seafood.

Onich Hotel and Fort William - They have free Internet access!! The only property we stayed at to offer it. The desk staff was fantastic and very friendly. They gave us ideas of where to go and what to see in Fort William and chatted with us about local things. The property itself is showing its age a bit, but it's still very nice. We were able to do our laundry there for no extra charge, which was great. We didn't eat there either night, as their dining room was closed because a private party had pretty much booked the entire hotel and they got the dining room. The bar there however is fantastic. The bar staff was very nice and when Virginia and I weren't playing cards at one of the tables, we were chatting with the bartenders, who were just as curious about Americans as we were of Scots. I even talked about Fantasy and Science Fiction authors with one of the guys. He also kept giving me extra shots. :) I would stay here again, but probably not two nights like I did this time. As far as Fort William goes, there's really not much to see. There's a small shopping area and some restaurants and a few local sights, but that's about it. We ate dinner one night at the Crannog Seafood Restaurant (http://www.oceanandoak.co.uk/), which is THE place to get fresh (literally) seafood in Fort William... IF you can get in. We got lucky.

Jacobite Steam Train - This was pretty neat, but it would have been a LOT better if we could have seen the scenery. The day we took the train it was pouring out for most of the morning and the train cars, since they're very old, kept steaming up, so nobody could see anything. The 2 hour trip up to Mallaig was basically just a random train ride, which was really too bad. I'm sure the experience would have been a lot better had the weather cooperated. Mallaig itself is a very small fishing town. There are many places to eat and a few shops and that's about it. The amount of time we spent there before getting on the train back (which was about 2.5 hours I think) is all you need to see the town and grab lunch. The train ride back was a little better, as it wasn't raining too much, just drizzling. I got some really good photos by sticking my head out the window (and getting a faceful of smoke). I would recommend this activity and both Virginia and I enjoyed it, weather nonwithstanding.

Stuart Castle - Wow. All I can say is... "Wow". This was absolutely THE best place we stayed in. I don't care what it cost me (well, I do know what it cost me, but I don't care), as it was worth it. Every. Single. Penny. If this isn't rated 5 stars, it should be. Our room was at the top of the West Tower (99 steps up a spiral staircase!) and there aren't any elevators, so we ended up re-packing one of our small suitcases with two days worth of items and just bringing that to our room. We also had a separate bathroom suite which was REALLY big. Caroline Stuart (hostess) is great and she is an absolute FANTASTIC cook. I hate to say it, but she's wasted as a castle steward (stewardess?). She should be head chef in a restautant somewhere collecting Rosettes. Virginia and I had an absolute blast at the castle and there was only one other couple there, so 4 people had the full run of the castle. Having an after-dinner drink in the Drawing Room and playing games in the game room was a lot of fun. I would absolutely stay here again and fully recommend the property.

Millennium Hotel - The Millenium Hotel I could tell was a "business travellers" hotel. I've stayed in enough of them to recognize their idiocincracies. That doesn't mean we had a bad time. We didn't. We actually had a very good time but the hotel is really geared towards the business traveller. Internet access was charged at a rate of 10 pounds ($20) for 4 hours of access, or you could use one of their hotel computers which you had to keep on feeding coins into every 10 minutes. The restaurant food (at The Brasserie) was typical hotel food and was disappointing. The location was great though. It's right in the middle of the downtown area and is a *perfect* base of operations for site-seeing and shopping. The property itself, while old, is well-maintained and the rooms were clean, if a bit small. We got a room right in the front on the 2nd floor overlooking George's Square which was fantastic. They also have a pretty good bar (with very good prices) and their spa prices aren't outrageous. I would stay there again and would even recommend the place, just don't bother with the food. There are waaaay too many other places to eat within walking distance.

Glasgow - Well worth the visit and probably is a good two days of activity (we only had a day). If you're ambitious, try eating your way through the downtown area. If you only have a short amount of time, concentrate on the shopping and things in the immediate area of George's Square. We unfortunately never got to see the Botanical Gardens or anything outside the immediate area (although we did do the hike up to St. Mungos and The Necropolis in the pouring rain). Forget a cab, just walk around. There's a lot of things to see and do and the architecture is a really odd mix of modern and Victorian. Glasgow should be on everyone's itinerary.

Air - The flight back was amazingly nice. The flight out there, since it's pretty much the only direct flight into Glasgow from the New York Metro region, is always packed solid (I found this out from one of the gate agents) and books well in advance. Heck... look where we ended up sitting (the last row in the airplane). I *may* connect somewhere if I do this again (not Heathrow, though).

People - Extremely friendly and very understanding of the Stupid Americans. We never met a nasty person and everyone we interacted with was extremely nice to us.

Driving - Not as bad as I thought it would be. It took a little getting used to, but I caught on quick. The maps provded were a huge help, but I went one step farther and purchased the maps for my GPS unit and brought the GPS with me to Scotland.

Sheep - There are a lot of sheep. Seriously. There are REALLY a lot of sheep.

I think that's all I can think of for the time being. I finally updated my blog with the remainder of my trip and you can point Paul & Co over there if you wish. There's nothing bad on there (not because I wouldn't put bad things on my web site, but because nothing bad happened during the trip).

Marc