I almost forgot this Blog existed! But, to be fair, not a lot has happened in the planning of our trip since my last post. We did book all our hotels, and a few backups as well, almost entirely using credit card points. It took a couple of months of earning sign-up bonuses on 3 new cards, then making the reservations, but they're all done. Then I took a break while there was a lull in things I could book.
This weekend, however, turned out to be a lot of work on transportation solutions. See, the itinerary has us spending 6 nights in London, then 3 nights in York, 3 nights in Inverness, and 4 nights in Edinburgh before flying home. Hubby and I decided we were definitely not going to drive or rent a car, so we chose public transportation in the form of London Underground and buses to get around the city and trains between cities.
Yesterday I was able to get "early access" tickets for the train between London and York, and then a direct train between York and Inverness. What I found was the last 4 seats in First Class on the only direct train between these 2 cities on the day we want to travel. There's something about this that makes me somewhat suspicious that I missed other options. Given that these were non-refundable, though, I'm not even going to search for anything else, so I don't have any regrets and just congratulate myself on getting the last available tickets we wanted.
Today I ordered 4 Visitor Oyster cards for London, which will be shipped to the house and we'll need to remember to bring them with us. (ooo, off to add those to my packing list right now) Okay I'm back.
Left to do is book our final train ride from Inverness to Edinburgh, but right now those aren't showing as available to purchase. I'll be watching for them throughout the week.