Scotland 8/4 - who else is coming?

[calypso726]

Hi everybody!

I posted some of this on another thread but thought it would be nice to "meet" my fellow ABD travelers. The DIS has cruise meet threads, so why not an ABD meet thread

I am Terrie and my DH is Wally. It is just the two of us. This will be our first ABD trip! We were planning our first ABD trip to be London/Paris in 2014 and intended on leaving a few days early to fly into Scotland and go on an Outlander (book series by Diana Gabaldon set in Scotland) day tour first. I am thoroughly addicted to the series which is probably why I've been dying to visit Scotland

Once the new Scotland itinerary was hinted at I felt like a kid on Christmas morning! I spent a few days trying to see if we could make it work for 2013 instead of waiting. That wait wound up costing us thanks to the increases in price I finally decided it will have to work I know airfare prices aren't out for those dates yet but took a peek at what it looks like for August of this year

We are hopig to fly in a couple of days early and see the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

So who else is coming to Scotland on the 8/4 trip?

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Hey Terrie,
We'll be there with you! It's me (Monica), DH (Dave), DD12, DS15 (ages now). I've been fortunate to travel extensively around Scotland, but this will be the kids first time (to Scotland). We'll probably go out a couple days early to hit Stirling Castle before. The last two times I've been in Edinburgh, I've tried to do the underground tour http://www.realmarykingsclose.com/ and it's been sold out, so I may try that as well. When I saw the itinerary, I jumped right on it--couldn't believe they were doing the Isles! I've heard our date is 50% sold, so hopefully we'll have plenty more to the party

Thanks for the heads-up on the Tattoo dates! I suspect we should book hotels early because of it. Although maybe ABD can take care of that...

 

[Calfan]

We will be joining you as well. It will be me (Laura), DH (Rob), DD (Nicole -- age 10 when the trip begins and turning 11 on the trip) and DS (Evan -- age 9 at the time of the trip). We are very excited and will likely head over to Scotland a few days before the trip begins. We are hoping to use United miles for the air. So glad you started this thread. This is our first ABD, but we have been on a couple of Disney cruises (with a couple more scheduled), and I was wondering if the concept of the meet thread existed for an ABD.

 

[calypso726]

Hey Terrie,
We'll be there with you! It's me (Monica), DH (Dave), DD12, DS15 (ages now). I've been fortunate to travel extensively around Scotland, but this will be the kids first time (to Scotland). We'll probably go out a couple days early to hit Stirling Castle before. The last two times I've been in Edinburgh, I've tried to do the underground tour http://www.realmarykingsclose.com/ and it's been sold out, so I may try that as well. When I saw the itinerary, I jumped right on it--couldn't believe they were doing the Isles! I've heard our date is 50% sold, so hopefully we'll have plenty more to the party

Thanks for the heads-up on the Tattoo dates! I suspect we should book hotels early because of it. Although maybe ABD can take care of that...

Hi Monica, I can see that Scotland will be somewhere I'd like to visit several times as there is so much to see and do that interests me. Thank you for the link to the underground tour. I guess we will be adding that on the Scotland to do list! I am glad this wasnt sold out. Yeah, definitely going to need to book hotels early! Hopeffully, ABD can help Nice to meet you Monica!

We will be joining you as well. It will be me (Laura), DH (Rob), DD (Nicole -- age 10 when the trip begins and turning 11 on the trip) and DS (Evan -- age 9 at the time of the trip). We are very excited and will likely head over to Scotland a few days before the trip begins. We are hoping to use United miles for the air. So glad you started this thread. This is our first ABD, but we have been on a couple of Disney cruises (with a couple more scheduled), and I was wondering if the concept of the meet thread existed for an ABD.

Hi Laura, nice to meet you. What a great birthday for Nicole! We are in the process of figuring which air miles will be best for this trip. Yeah, I wasn't too sure about meet threads with ABD. But we have grown accustomed to getting to know our fellow Disboard travelers on all of our cruises. I figured it couldn't hurt to come out and say Hi!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Looks like your great idea for an ABD meet thread is getting some play, Calypso!

I think the underground tour is somewhat scary, not sure whether I'll be able to convince DD to go, LOL. As Calfan knows (she and I are friends), she's a bit of a chicken.

I hope to have miles to use by then. I usually fly Virgin to the UK, but I'm not sure how easy they make it to go on to Scotland. I guess I better set my fare watcher for Scotland!

P.S. I just found out my sister and two of her kids signed up for the trip! It must be over 50% booked by now. Pretty exciting

 

[calypso726]

Yeah I thought that was pretty cool! I also saw from previous ABD travelers that the groups rarely have Disers. I would have thought that with as pricey as the tours are that the typical groups would be folks who really LOVE Disney overall. You know, the ones that eventually find their way to this board because they can't get enough and need the extra Disney fix

I hope she decides to do it. It looks like it would be a fun experience! Normally I don't care for scary much. I've only been to Halloween Horror nights once back in 2002 and that was enough This looks like something I'd really like though.

I know I will have AA miles but they usually use their partner airline British Airways for European flights from Ft? Lauderdale. BA's taxes and fuel surcharges on their flights are ridiculously high, $500+ on top of your miles for the award ticket I want to avoid that.

We are up in WDW right now. We decided on a last minute quick trip to come see Merida from Brave before the movie comes out next month. I love her gown and she is adorable too. While we are here we also met up with a couple who are cast members that we met last month on the Fantasy Maiden Voyage and became friends with. We told them over dinner last night that we booked the Scotland trip and are hoping they will be able to come too. keeping fingers crossed!