My great brit
Having set out to visit foggy Albion, back in January we bought air tickets Moscow-London (Aeroflot), booked a hotel, although we planned to live with a friend. We booked the cheapest and returnable hotel in London, but that it was not completely shameful and was not further than 3 zones. We canceled the hotel reservation after we received the visa.
So, by the end of March, we decided on our route, which looked like this: Arrival in London - a couple of days for warming up and then a trip to Scotland for 4 days. After that, return to London, a couple more days of rest there and then an excursion to Bath, then London again for a few days and fly back home.
We planned to go to Bath one day, so we did not book a hotel. We decided to buy train tickets after we get a visa, because train tickets in the UK are non-refundable.
So, we had to deal with our trip to Scotland. The starting point of our journey was Edinburgh, from which the next day (by renting a car) we planned to go to Stirling, and then along the east coast to the city of Stonehaven (first night) in order to see the ruins of Dunnottar Castle there. After that, they had to go further along the coast to Inverness (where they planned to spend the night), and from Inverness to Edinburgh through the central part of Scotland. No sooner said than done, hotels were booked in Edinburgh, Stonehaven and Inverness. We started looking for a car rental company. There are a myriad of them in Edinburgh, but we wanted to find exactly the one that indicates all the conditions for renting a car in Russian. We have never dealt with rental companies, so after reading the scary stories of experienced tourists, we decided to overpay, but to make sure. After a long search, we found a Traveljigsaw broker, booked a Ford Focus automatic for 3 days, indicated the age of the driver. (23 years is the minimum age for a driver in the UK). Paid 6.5 tr. for car rental. Immediately, a voucher with payment confirmation came to the post office, it also indicated that our rental company Hertz Literally a couple of minutes later my mobile phone number received a call. A young man in English clarified some of the conditions of the booking and warned us that it would be necessary to pay about 15 pounds per day for a young driver (drivers from 23 to 25 years old) at the time of picking up the car, as well as city taxes, which are not included in the cost of rent and will need to be paid separately.
After we booked everything and paid, we filled out the form on the website of the Visa Application Center. Frankly, this procedure was given to us with difficulty. The questionnaire contains about a hundred questions, some of which are repeated. Before filling it out, I advise you to familiarize yourself with the rules, because without knowing them, you can fill out the questionnaire incorrectly. So, we filled out 2 questionnaires and made an appointment at the Visa Application Center. At the appointed time, they came to the EC, received a coupon, waited for their turn (everything was very prompt), handed over all the papers (original account statements, property documents, certificate of employment, route, hotel reservations, car and air tickets, insurance, international rights , marriage certificate - all in English, a Russian photocopy was also attached). After this procedure, they took biometrics from us, and we went home with a clear conscience. Exactly two weeks later, I received a letter in the mail that our visa was ready. After much sighing and sighing, we bought train tickets from London to Edinburgh (round trip) and London to Bath (round trip) from eastcoast. co. uk. Since we bought tickets in advance, they were much cheaper.
So, on May 14, we flew from Sheremetyevo right on schedule to London. The plane was half empty or half full (as anyone likes), 4 hours in the sky and now we are already circling over London and we can survey the Thames, Big Ben, Abbey and London Eye.
We filled out the migration card, the officer slapped a stamp on our passport, and now we are sailing to the baggage claim area. We were met at the airport by a friend, and we made the heroic decision to drive a long, but cheap ride home, instead of a fast and expensive trip. Expensive - it's 18 pounds per brother, the Aeroexpress train arrives at Paddington Station, and from there we had to go with transfers to the apartment with our suitcases, so due to the inconvenience and high cost, we went for 4 pounds by metro. By the way, we drove for ages - about 2-2.5 hours, because on Saturday (and we arrived on Saturday), the metro did not run often and our train stopped due to technical work. We were traveling with a friend who made us laugh and told us what and how is happening in glorious London.
On the way home, we had a bite to eat in a nice English pub (they are all nice, cozy and just super-English without exception ; )), drank tea with milk and went to our cozy apartment, which our girlfriend gave us full use.
For 4 days, Julia (that was the name of our guide friend) took us along secret paths and showed us all the most beautiful things. Tower, Abbey, Big Ben, London Eye, City, Docks, Dockland? , Horse Market, Covent Garden, Museums of Science and Animals, British Museum, Chinatown and many other beautiful and interesting places. Without it, we did not see even a hundredth of what we saw. For which she is deeply merci and bow.
So, I'll start from the moment when we boarded a comfortable train that took us to Edinburgh. The journey took 4 hours. Throughout our trip, special employees walked around offering coffee, sandwiches, sweets and other food. So if someone did not have time to have breakfast, then you could buy food. So we are finally in Edinburgh. We went out to the territory of the station, took a bunch of free prospectuses and went out into the street. The city greeted us with warm weather and the sounds of bagpipes that carried through the air like delicious perfumes. Asking the locals how to get to the street with our hotel, we stomped, satisfied and surprised, looking around. To say that Edinburgh is beautiful is to say nothing. It fascinates as much as the whole essence of your parachute flight fascinates, you begin to lack air, your chest often, often heaves and your eyes and head try to realize and contain as much as possible. A gigantic castle that rises high above the city, gothic buildings black with soot, the greenest grass in the world and incredibly charming and friendly Scots. We walked down the street, and all the passers-by smiled, seeing our enthusiastic smiles.
Having climbed all over Edinburgh without feeling our feet under us, however, we came to the conclusion that it is better to explore it on foot, because it’s more interesting, and the bus tours that were offered on the street cost from 12 pounds, while the all-day pass for any bus in Edinburgh cost 3.6 pounds.
In general, a few hours were enough for us. To fall in love with this most beautiful city on Earth and its inhabitants.
After a delicious dinner, we went to bed, because the next day we had to take a car and go on an independent journey through this beautiful country.
Getting up early and taking backpacks with us, we easily found our rental office and went inside with joyful smiles. Having provided the employees of the company with all the necessary documents (credit card, Russian + international rights, air ticket and insurance; ), the employee of the rental company asked how old I was. Answering that I am 23 years old, I continued to smile at him sweetly. To which he told me with bewilderment that he could not give us our booked car, because according to UK law, driving a car with an automatic transmission is possible only after 25 years. To say that we were shocked is to say nothing. After long and tedious conversations, we were offered a small car with mechanics for our money or to provide international rights to my older sister so that they could hand us our machine gun. Since we didn’t know about such strange rules, we didn’t make international rights for her (older sister). We refused to take the mechanic and left the car rental office with sour faces and lowered hands. Hertz assured us that all the money would be returned to the broker through which they ordered the car and, if anything, deal with them (by the way, having arrived at home and sent an e-mail to Traveljigsaw, I was transferred to the card the entire amount that I paid when booking a car, and also received a letter of apology, etc. , etc. ).
Having visited several rental companies, we came to disappointing conclusions: 1) there are no automatic machines available at all - they are ordered in advance 2) the stupid rule for automatic and mechanics applies selectively and not everywhere 3) you can’t take a car near the center for an adequate amount.
In the tourist center, a nice girl gave us a bunch of booklets with car rental companies, saying that it would not be as expensive as in the center and near the station. Calling a few pieces, we chose and booked a Chevrolet Matiz mechanic. On the way there, my sister and I were sweating and remembering how the mechanics work, because I'm the only one who drives a car and yes, only an automatic. Mechanics and everything connected with it was forgotten 10 minutes after passing the exam in MREO or whatever it is called.
was not on the outskirts. Chevrolet Matiz cost us 75 pounds for 3 days, no taxes and surcharges for a young driver were demanded from us, international rights too, and we were not ripped off for the fact that two drivers can drive. 300 pounds were frozen on a credit card and released with God. Before that, we signed all sorts of papers, inspected the car, signed all the scratches, etc. , etc. So, by some miracle, we rolled out of the rental office without stalling. On the pavement, we set up the navigator (we prayed for it many times and thought that without it we would hardly have gone further than the second traffic light), fastened our seat belts, and very slowly at first speed drove away into the unknown, where the navigator pointed the way to us. To say that I've turned gray and thinner since we've been out of town is an understatement. I don’t know how, but we left Edinburgh, and then the road became wider - 2 lanes in one direction, 2 in the other, and somehow things started to work. Oh yes, drivers in Scotland are just overly restrained and polite, they let us through at traffic lights and didn’t swear very much when we shamelessly (but out of ignorance) violated the rules : )
So, the first on our way was Stirling. Having parked next to the castle, having paid for parking at the machine, we went to explore this amazingly beautiful place. No photograph can convey the scale of the stone castle and its beauty.
After a walk around the castle, we bought all sorts of knick-knacks in the shop there, including beautiful postcards with views of Stirling Castle. After such a stunning walk, we went to a local restaurant and had a Scottish haggis lunch. We fell in love with him as much and forever as we did with this amazing country.
After lunch, we moved towards Stonehaven, where we had booked a hotel.
The hotel turned out to be beautiful, in the morning we woke up from the bright sun, which made its way through a tiny crack through thick curtains. After breakfast at the hotel, we went to explore the ruins of Dunnottar Castle. Dunnottar Castle turned out to be the most romantic castle, and Sami unreal, of all that we saw during our entire trip. From its territory a beautiful view of the North Sea opens.
Seeing this miracle, we set off along the east coast of Scotland to the north, deciding to stop by the city of Fraserburgh. The town is unremarkable, except perhaps for the fact that the whole is saturated with the smell of fish : ). After walking there, we went to Inverness via Elgin, which has a lot of architectural monuments that we advise everyone to visit.
Arriving in Inverness, and leaving the car in the parking lot at the hotel. We collapsed in bed and fell into the deepest sleep.
In the morning we went to explore the northern city of Inverness. Of interest is the hanging pedestrian bridge across the river, the church, the cathedral and the castle, which now houses the court. And in general, the city itself is all buried in greenery and blue and is very different from the cities of Scotland we have seen.
After exploring and collecting things, we set off through the Scottish National Park to Edinburgh. On the way, we saw the snow-white Blair Castle, several ruins from castles, the name of which was not remembered. We stopped in a small town where Queen Victoria liked to spend time. We had lunch and with fresh forces went to Edinburgh to rent a car.
We saw a completely different Scotland, saw lush green meadows. Vast fields with yellow flowers, coniferous forests and mountains covered with strange-smelling bushes with poisonous yellow flowers, snowy peaks, gentle mountains without any vegetation and rivers running down the mountain slopes.
After returning to Edinburgh, we handed over the car to the office without any problems and went to the hotel. The next day we left by train for London, which took us away from this stunningly beautiful nature, castles and kind people.
After Scotland, the sights of London no longer touched our hearts and imaginations. Therefore, even when sightseeing Bath, we did not experience the wild enthusiasm that climbed out of us in Scotland and at first in London.
Bath turned out to be a small town, with a restrained architecture and the same people. Loved the Roman Baths Museum we visited. The complex itself contains a huge territory, and tape recorders provide detailed information about each room and subject of interest. Next to the Roman baths is a beautiful abbey and square where young talents sing and play strange musical instruments.
Arriving in London, we also walked around several museums, visited Oxford Street, several pubs, restaurants, and flew home with a sense of accomplishment. We flew home, and the sounds of bagpipes still sounded in our hearts, there was a funny Scottish accent in our ears, and our eyes saw wonderful pictures with a huge number of different sights of Great Britain.
