Scotland on the cheap

[frank_a]

I would love to see an X Marks forum simply dedicated to travel to, in and around Scotland. Questions, reports, pictures, guides, links, etc.

The wee lass and I would love to go, but sweat over the costs. We figure we could come up with air travel, but what sort of daily costs for average type folks would we expect? We can't imagine going for less than 3 weeks, and probably in August. We figure we would take advantage of Scot Rail packages, where you pay a set amount for like 8 days of mass transit over 15 days. While we're not too interested in cities, I figure we would at least visit Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, Orkneys, Hebrides, and end up in Argyll.

Because we're members of the National Trust, we have free or very inexpensive entrance to over 100 sites in country. We have that benefit through my membership with the St. Andrews Society of the City of Albany NY.

So then it becomes a matter of room and board. I've done some research that suggests for middle income blokes we might plan on 160 USD for the two of us per day? Does that sound about right? Or is 200 more realistic?

The farthest we've been is to the Caribbean. We have passports.

Are there good books or guides that the rabble might recommend?

We're at least two years away from this goal. If I can sell our boat next spring (3500-4000 USD), that money would start the kitty.

I'd be interested in yer thoughts.

Frank