Some more information for my trip to Scotland

[rewok]

A few months ago, I posted about the trip we were planning to Scotland. It is now very real, as the plane tickets, B&Bs, and ferry tickets are booked, and our itinerary mostly set! I just have to draw some list of possible activities for each place we will be in.

I have a few more practical information that I would like to get from you. Some of it might seem silly to you!

1. Drinking water: I'd think that tap water is perfectly safe to drink, but is "normal" to do so? Can I ask for a glass of water in a restaurant/pub with my meal, or will it look crazy?

2. Tipping: as tipping is such a strong discussion point for Brits coming to the US, I assume customs are different... How much (if any) am I expected to tip in a bar, in a pub (for meals or drinks), a restaurant, a cab driver? Anyone else needs tipping (we're staying B&Bs, so no bellboys)?

3. How am I supposed to dial phone numbers? (a silly one...) We'll buy a Pay as you Go mobile phone when we get to Edinburgh, so we'll have a UK number. I'm looking at the contact info for all my bookings, and no one is listing their phone number in exactly the same format, and it seems crazy to me! I know +44 is the country code, so I won't have to dial that. Then there are either 10 or 11 (those all start with a 0) digits listed, should I just dial the last 10 digits?

4.Last one, but another stupid I feel... Is it normal not to have a house number in the address? I'm talking about B&Bs, which I will need to drive to... It's not like they should keep this information private, they put pictures of their house on the web! One of them doesn't even list a street name? That's in the far north of the Highlands, on a croft, but still... I hope he can give me good directions on the phone (and that we can understand each other's accent!) I must mention that I do have house numbers for some places.

See, those are mostly question about day to day issues, and as an obsessive planner, those keep nagging me! Hope you don't think I'm too crazy.

 

[kirstinemma]

Hopefully someone can help you with your tipping question as I'm no good when it comes to tipping in general! But in regards to your other questions, I have asked for drinking tap water a few times in restaurants and bars, and normally they'll give it to you no problems and normally for free.

Phone numbers all start with the area code, then the rest of the phone number, so the 010 and the 011 are probably part of the area code, and the whole number should be dialled, I hope this makes sense! My personal land line phone has 11 digits, which all need to be dialled for the number to work.

Lastly, it's normal for a house to have no number and not even a street name in cases! My house has no number or street name, just the house name and the name of the village makes up my address, so to me this is perfectly normal, and nothing to worry about!

Hope this helps!

 

[scottish mum]

I just typed a huge reply to you and my computer crashed .

The tap water is fine to drink, especially in the highlands, it will probably be the best water you have ever tasted.

Tipping - For a small snack a couple of ££ is fine, for a bigger meal I would tip between £3 and £5. No need to tip for drinks at a bar

If you are struggling to find your b&b, just stop and ask someone will help you.

Where are you going in the Highlands?

 

[scottishgirl87]

As most of the questions have already been answered I'll give me view on tipping.

Generally, we tip 10% for meals out, unless the service isn't great then we would tip less than that. Tips here aren't really "guaranteed" as such as they are in the US/Canada.

With taxis I would say 10% also, however, I normally end up tipping more than that. We generally "round up", so for example if a taxi is £12, I'd normally give them about £15, or if it's £18 then £20.

 

[rewok]

Thank you all for your answers! (and sorry I couldn't get back to post over the weekend). It eased my mind tremendously, mostly the street address issue. How to you get packages and stuff delivered?? PO Boxes only? In Canada (and the US as well I think), even in small rural places, I've never seen a place with no house number. Right now little things like that are stressing me, but I'll enjoy those small cultural shocks more when I'm finally there.

For scottish mum (and anyone else interested), our itinerary is planned like that:

Day 1,2,3: Land in Edinburgh, and visit the city
Day 4: Travel to Pitlorchy for the night
Day 5,6,7: Travel to Dufftown for a drunken 3 days!
Day 8: Leave Dufftown and travel to Kirkwall, Orneys
Day 9,10,11: Visit Orkneys mainland
Day 12: Leave Kirkwall and travel to Durness for one night
Day 13,14: Travel to Ullapool and enjoy sights around
Day 15: Late ferry to Lewis Island
Day 16,17,18,19: Enjoy Lewis & Harris islands
Day 20: Leave for Oban
Day 21: Visit Oban distillery and get back to Edinburgh for our flight tomorrow
Day 22: Go home

I've read guidebooks, and singled out places which interested me. Then I've built around that, limiting the number of 1-2 nights stops, trying to spend 3-4 nights in each accommodation. We're no going to see the whole "country", but we'll enjoy ourselves at a relaxing pace (I hope!). We'll have to come back one day, because there was so much more I wanted to do., but I didn't want to cram too much stuff.

 

[MinnieMouse73]

Re addresses and delivery:

All UK addresses have a postcode which is much more specific than your zip code (mine covers about 20 houses in my street) - all you need to have something delivered is a house name or number and the postcode.

 

[MinnieMouse73]

Sorry I just noticed that you are in Canada not the US so I'm not too certain of my comment about our postcodes being more specific - I lived in Montreal for 6 months so I should know, but it was about 18 years ago so I can't remember!

I know there have been conversations before with visitors from the US who were surprised that all you needed to order something or find somewhere over here was a house number/name and a postcode - street name not necessary!

Your trip sounds great, I confess the only place I've visited on your itinerary is Edinburgh though!

 

[caledonia]

My only piece of advice to you other than enjoy our beautiful country is to use your head as in all foreign trips common sense is the best piece of advice you can get from any local.Do drink the water and tip as you feel led.Finally when taking the crossing from the mainland across the Pentland Firth to Orkney don't do it on a full stomach as I did while at secondary school as it can be rough to say the least.

Enjoy your trip.
Ian

 

[rewok]

Yes, postcodes here are also quite specific (but a lot of people don't know that). 20 houses on a street is a good estimate. But no UPS truck driver would now "Julie's House"! I think it's pretty charming actually, now that's you've reassured me, just hard to input into my GPS.

I think it's very common not to have visited your own country. We're always attracted by the "exotic", the unknown. As winters are cold here, I understand very well the appeal of Florida and palm trees that you can fell, it's so different from home. I've actually visited lots of places in my own province, some younger with my parents and some with DH, as well as many maritime provinces. But it is so expensive to travel in the West, that we've never been. It's so much cheaper to visit the USA for me: plane tickets, lodging & restaurants, everything is much less expensive.


I hope the ferry is not that rough , mainly for DH as I've never been sick at sea, I'm always the one having a meal on-board! We're taking the shorter ferry (from Gills).

 

[pixiepower04]

I live not too far from Pitlochry, was up there a couple of weeks ago delivering a wedding cake, it was snowing!

I assume you're visiting the fish ladder in Pitlochry?

I tip £ per adult and 50p for each child so usually £3 for 'common places' like pizza hut or round it up as others have said.

The centre of Pitlochry is fairly small so if you have time you should head to Blair Castle nearby http://www.blair-castle.co.uk/

Good luck with your trip

 

[kirstinemma]

Just wanted to chime in about postcodes, my postcode is only specific to 5 houses, and each of them all are totally different, and our postman and lady are local too, so that's how I get my post and parcels! As long as the postcode you need is in your GPS you should be able to get where you're going fairly easily! But I'm sure if you do get lost, locals will be willing to help you with directions.

Your trip sounds great, I've lived in Scotland most my life, and haven't been to any of the places you're going apart from Edinburgh! I hope you have a lovely trip when it comes around!