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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   968 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for June 28, 2026

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I have my brother coming over for two weeks next month. It's somewhere between a much needed vacation for the poor sod (he's just finished his internship and is about to discover that life as a doctor is no fun) and a welfare check. I definitely need the vacation myself.

So I'd appreciate travel advice. The current rough concept of a plan:

  1. Spend 2-4 days in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Take him to the ridiculous gay pubs, bars and clubs I've seen to expand his horizons. Too late for Pride, and too early for Fringe, but that saves us money anyway.
  2. A day or two in the Highlands. Hitting up distilleries, swatting away midges, and pissing in Loch Ness. I see little point in showing him Aberdeen, Dundee or Inverness.
  3. Towards the end, we need to be Good Indian Boys and spend a few days with miscellaneous relatives in Manchester and London. As little time as we can get away with, since I do need to show him London.
  4. Heading down to Dover for a day. I loved the cliffs.

We're not particularly outdoorsy, or touristy, for the matter - we're not looking to go for scenic hikes or to see every tiny castle around. I'm focusing on nightlife as well as a quick visit at the Greatest Hits. The typical day involves some walking, sightseeing, drinking and nice meals - followed by more drinking. We will probably rent cars where it's reasonable to do so (not London or Edinburgh).

Any suggestions?

If you do end up going to Dover - I’d recommend going to the castle. There’s a real slice of history from a Roman Lighthouse all the way through to quite a lot of WW2 stuff.

I’m not far away and it’d be a privilege to buy you a drink or help you out with driving/logistics.

I recommend popping through Milroy's when you're down in London, if you want advice for future distillery trips. May seem ridiculous to send someone down from Scotland to London for scotch, but those guys really are some of the best in the business. And right in Soho so easy to get out for proper pints after.

May have already recommended this to you before, but Sir John Soane's museum in London is a great alternative to the big ones if you want a very quick, very quirky, very cool little museum.

  1. Unless you are interested in industrial heritage or Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Glasgow is a day-trip from Edinburgh at best.
  2. Good idea - the Highlands are beautiful and unique. Personally I think Loch Ness is overrated, and Glen Coe is the best bit of the Highlands. Doing both from Edinburgh or Glasgow gives you about 8 hours of driving time, so doing the loop in 2 days is a bit hard-core. If whisky is the main attraction, you could stop short of Inverness and hit up Aviemore (for Glen Coe and the Cairngorms) and Grantown-on-Spey (for the Speyside distilleries). If you are passing through Inverness (and you will be if you go to Loch Ness) it is worth a brief stop to buy Highland-themed tourist tat. Or if you are in Glasgow at the start of the trip, you could do Glen Coe and Oban. You will need a car in the Highlands unless you are on an organised coach tour.
  3. If you can spare the time, York and Bath are probably the best tourist spots in England outside London. If you are driving Scotland-Manchester-London, both are manageable detours. If you are taking the train, only York makes sense. But if you have four or less non-relative days in England, I would spend all of them in London (possibly including a day-trip to e.g. Windsor). Once in London, you may want to consider the Wellcome Museum or the Old Operating Theatre as a historical medical museum.
  4. If you are there for the cliffs more than the castle, the Seven Sisters (between Seaford and Eastbourne) are better than the White Cliffs. See this post.

I can probably offer more specific recommendations if you let me know what your brother is interested in.

Glasgow has excellent nightlife! I've already seen someone nick a traffic cone and carry it off proudly beneath their armpit, and I can only describe the experience as akin to accidentally walking into a fairy tale. It turns out I actually like the city, and not just because it seems like a promising place to be a senior shrink.

I have no specific interest in Loch Ness, so if you think Glen Coe is better or less of a tourist trap, I'll prioritize it instead.

If you are there for the cliffs more than the castle

The best part of the castle was ignoring it, or at least the argument about medieval laws around monogamy that I won

A castle loomed over the harbor like a very large, very literal metaphor about who was in charge of what. My friend and I debated whether owning a castle in medieval England gave you street cred or just a crowded calendar. This prompted a brief, speculative argument on medieval sexual economics. He posited that the local lord must have had a hundred wives. I countered that, as a Christian noble, he was likely constrained to one official wife for appearances, and ninety-nine plausible deniabilities, likely undocumented liaisons with the wives of the local fishermen. We failed to resolve this.

I've been to York, but haven't really explored it. I'll put a pin in that and Bath, though I'd prefer a shower. Appreciate the suggestions!

Honestly speaking, my brother is a homebody, just like me. As long as we see scenic places and drink plenty of booze, we'll be content. All the more so if we can do both at the same time.

I mean maybe sticking to the UK is the point but as an American with a distorted sense of scale the idea of not nipping over to Ireland or France or Netherlands or something in a two week period seems odd to me, it’s not like those are that far

That would be doable, but it would involve applying for a Schengen visa. Downside of having a meh passport. I've been too caught up to do that, and it's even more of a headache for my brother with the little notice that he has. Something for the future.

There's still more than enough to do in the UK to eat up a fortnight. It's small but dense with history and architecture.

You don't need a Schengen visa for Ireland - despite being an EU member it remains part of the Common Travel Area with the UK. Indians are one of the nationalities that can visit Ireland on a UK visa and vice versa.

That said, I think two weeks to do Scotland and England doesn't leave enough time to make crossing over to Ireland worth it.

Huh. That's very good to know, I'll look into seeing if we can just about squeeze it into our schedule. Thanks!

You could nip over to Northern Ireland, do Giant's Causeway and the North Coast and so on. Either a car ferry from Cairnryan or a 30 minute flight. Also you could take your brother shooting if you liked. Handguns are legal in Northern Ireland, so at somewhere like https://www.nitargetsports.com/ you can pay for range time and fire pistols, shotguns and rimfire .22 "mini-rifles" on an AR frame most likely. Might give your practice for scaling up if you ever go to the US.

I think you have to sign up as a member but should be doable.

Edit: Could also do tasting at Bushmills distillery which is excellent. If so hit up Tartine for Sunday dinner. They do amazing lamb.

These are excellent recommendations. You're right that trying to fit in a tour of NI in that time frame would be difficult, but I'll see what we can manage. Thanks a lot!

No problem, if you do decide to go, you can always ping me if you want advice or anything else to do.

Adding to the above, my fiancée was underwhelmed by the Causeway but substantially more impressed terrified by the rope bridge. I've also been meaning to return to the puffin sanctuary on Rathlin Island for years, and was far more impressed by Belfast's Titanic museum than I expected to be.

The rope bridge is great, as is the Titanic museum.

I bought my wife a Titanic t-shirt with a bit of Northern Irish dark humor (Sure it was fine when it left here!) and the first time she wore it home in America she got told off for making fun of a disaster.

Too soon still apparently.

Yanks gonna Yank.

Something for the future.

If you do come to Dublin, I'll show you around.

Very kind of you to offer, and I'll let you know if I ever head that way. Always wanted to see what was up with the [REDACTED] Car Bombs.

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