Train Only Fare fares: Pullman Style Dining (£799pp), First Class (£399pp) and Premium Standard (£349pp).
Train and hotel fares: Pullman Style Dining (from £1548pp*), First Class (from £898pp*) and Premium Standard (from £598pp*) *Three nights bed and breakfast, supplement applies for sole occupancy of double room.
Forth Bridge Lunchtime Tour: Pullman Style Dining (£259pp), First Class (£159pp) and Premium Standard (£109pp).
So if your experience of the train is only strain then take our advice and get steamin’ in Edinburgh.
No, the Jocks haven’t merged with the Irish though we have before under Edward Bruce, but we do keep Scotland’s green flag flying high.
The old joke goes, and it’s interchangeable for Scotland, Ireland and Wales, that God was handing out the countries.
He showed the Scots a land rich in nature with inventive and artistic people.
To which the Scot naturally thanks the Almighty but asks why he has been so giving to them.
At which point he reminds them of who their neighbours are.
Now this might just get you through the mania of England’s Lionesses football team’s European Championships run.
Thistle do nicely
Let the Games begin: Glasgow Green
Scotland is indeed a verdant country and on seeing one riverside valley in Dalriada, St Mungo, he named it Dear Green Place, or Glasgow, in native Gaelic.
My wee country has been rewarding those communities (and my green-fingered friend among them) with cherished green flags.
And there are a few among them I’ve passed a pleasant hour or dozen.
And even worked, to the absolute amazement of our tiller and plougher, The Scary One.
The Northern Delights
Seaton nicely: Then we’ll begin
Aberdeen: Aberdeen I know, I know its soil, it’s under my nails from working its links.
And it’s from here, in Hazlehead Park, that Keep Scotland Beautiful announced 85 of our green spaces achieved the international Green Flag Award.
Now green spaces for university students meant naturally drinking on the lawns.
And while Alex Ferguson’s gloried Giants of Gothenburg went through their paces in Seaton Park under the Hillhead Halls.
We went through the tinnies… and binned them afterwards and went on to glory in the Granite City.
The Garden of Edin
From a distance: Edinburgh from Figgate
Edinburgh: It’s not always the showpiece gardens then that need honouring.
And while locals and visitors alike wonder at the Floral Clock and backdrop of the Castle from Princes Street Gardens Greater Edinburgh’s a green place too.
And when it came to naming houses for the Son and Heir’s first primary school in St David’s in beachside Portobello…
They opted for the district’s parks, Figgate chief among them.
The Law’s a grass
Make my Tay: From Dundee Law
Dundee: For reasons best known to only us we call our big hills laws from our Gaelic tongue.
There’s one here in my new temporary home of North Berwick, east of Edinburgh.
But it’s the Dundee version which I’m flagging up here, and the organisers are too.
And it’s here that I would ascend daily on a busman’s holiday to the Tay city.
And stare in wonder from the Law at the architectural majesty of the Tay Bridges joining Dundee to the Kingdom of Fife.
My Dear Green Place
Let Glasgow Flourish: The Botanic Gardens
Glasgow: The West End of Glasgow has oft been known as aspirational where the city’s merchants decamped.
With its seat of learning, its university, art gallery, and grand houses the West End is in direct contrast to the impoverished East End.
Its arterial road is the boulevard, the Great Western Road, off which the Victorian Botanic Gardens is the meeting place for West Enders.
Nae taps aff here.
Yon greeny banks
Loch who’s here: A wise old owl and a birdie
Helensburgh, Loch Lomond: And It’s water, water everywhere in the famous freshwater lake.
But, of course, Loch Lomond is framed by lush lakelands.
And after a childhood of days out to the coast and Helensburgh I saw first hand the pride its citizens had in their parks.
Lying down on the job: The green-fingered one
Take a bow the gardeners of the 100-year-old urban park, Hermitage Park.
And all our gardeners and 85 honoured gardens, particularly Mrs M and hers which should be on the list.
There is already a statue of the Great Man outside although you might not recognise him if you didn’t know already.
Clintons runway
Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport, Little Rock, Arkansas: And ever since he burst onto the political scene Clinton has been flying by the seat of his pants.
And Bill has been sure to give Hill equal billing ever since.
Dutch of class
Orange is the only colour: For Queen Beatrix
Queen Beatrix Airport, Aruba: Now the Dutch connections with their little corner of the Caribbean.
And you see it too in Sint Maarten and the airport that has taken Prncess Juliana’s name through her life and continues to do so.
Lech’s go round again
Lech Walesa, Gdansk, Poland: We first made acquaintance with the moustachioed shop steward in the docks in the Eighties.
Now the union man who took on the Commies and went onto become Pres has his own airport. General Waruzelski anyone?
Bob’s the job
Food for thought: Mugabe
Robert Mugabe, Harare, Zimbabwe: And you’d think that after The Great Dictator died then they’d have changed the name.
Ryanwhere is Scotland? A question asked by one of its staff to a Polish family returning to Scotland from Portugal.
It was all to do with different Covid regulations applying to Scotland and England.
And fair’s fair because it’s complicated too for those of us who share this island of Britain.
It is of course an occupational hazard of being one of Jock Tamson’s Bairns (that’s being a Scot).
And on my first visit to America nearly 40 years ago the young people I’d meet would ask me if Scotland was in England.
The capital of North Dakota
Sign of the times: Ryanair staff
It irked me then until my American History tutor I learned under when I got back and studied in Aberdeen asked me what the capital of North Dakota was?
And like all lessons in life it’s stuck: Bismarck.
All of which ramblings brings us to Ryanair‘s flash sale which ends tomorrow, midnight, Sunday, January 30.
Michael O’Leary’s empire, of course, is built on a model of flying to out-of-the-way destinations to cut down on prices for the punters.
And so Scots (and non-Scots) have had to become educated in towns we’d never heard of before.
Some of them are also in the same country as the destination we want to visit.
Some out-of-the-way places
Suits you sir: Legoland
For our Ryanair pal Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, which is the northern country of the island of Britain.
And it, and Scotland’s largest city Glasgow, is €9.99, from my old stomping ground of Dublin (Ireland that is, not Ohio).
But like Geography Gio we had to look up the map to find some of these others.
Billund in Denmark is the cheapest destination on offer at €7.99.
The bad news is that if you wanted to see Copenhagen then you’d have to island hop and it’s 261kms away.
Eindhoven, 122kms south of Amsterdam, too comes in at €7.99.
And while I’m sure that Eindhoveners are very friendly, their centrepiece the Philips Electronic Museum is always going to be a hard sell.
Do you know these cities?
A Star in Hamburg
Happy Hamburg is in the same price bracket and is instantly recognisable for anybody who has seen the map of Europe more than once.
Now I’ve had the good fortune to attend the German Travel Mart in Dresden and stay abreast of most of what is going on in Deutschland but Memmingen? Sorry.
Well, the old Roman fortress town is 116kms west of Munich and is clearly a smaller airport than the Bavarian capital which you can get lost in (trust me).
Pole star: Lublin
We dare say too that in Lublin‘s fair city the girls are so pretty.
Only it’s pronounced Looblin and is in Poland, 170kms south-west of capital Warsaw.
And you can get there for €12.99 where film buffs may recognise if from the film The Reader.
So the next time an airline worker asks you Ryanwhere is Scotland (insert your own country) then take five.
And reflect on the fact that we don’t all know where each other live.
It shouldn’t be surprising that the two cities that inspired JK Rowling the most are the most represented.
London and Edinburgh, of course, feature most heavily in the author’s life.
With the Scottish capital where JK has set up her demesne.
The two major capitals in the UK are also, because of their history and their architecture, among the most used sets.
The journey starts, obvs at King’s Cross Station at Platform 9 and three-quarters.
Your Potter planner
The magic train: And Harry’s off
And this is how Family Money lay out your Potter planner for you, the cost, and how much time you will need.
King’s Cross Station
20 minutes to the next destination
3.6 miles to the next destination
Free
30 minutes
Leadenhall Market
10 minutes to the next destination
1.7 miles to the next destination
Free
5 minutes
Millennium Bridge
10 minutes to the next destination
1.8 miles to the next destination
Free
5 minutes
Tower Bridge
30 minutes to the next destination
2.8 miles to the next destination
Free
5 minutes
Platform for success
Party spirit: And even Voldemort gets into the festive fun
Your journey will take you more than 70 hours to enjoy if you are driving (not including sleep or food time) and could cost you up to £2714 if you are taking part in the full trip.
Explore the different bridges that were used as filming locations in The Big Smoke and enjoy walking the corridors at Gloucester Cathedral.
And relax with a drink in one of the many Harry Potter themed bars or stay in the J.K.Rowling suite for just £2370 a night!
As well as London and Edinburgh, you will also be traveling to Watford where you can look at the Great Hall and go behind the scenes of the filming.
Other essentially English sets include Oxford, Chippenham, Gloucester, Northwich, and Alnwick.
Buckle up
Magic Murty: Showing off his wizarding skills in Watford
And to reiterate your journey (and I always need telling once, twice, thrice).
You’ll start in King’s Cross Station, venture to Leadenhall Market, Millennium Bridge, Tower Bridge, Lambeth Bridge, The Harry Potter Photo Exhibition, The Potion Room Tea at Cutter & Squidge, House of Mina Lima and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
That Warner Brother Studio Tour in Watford, north of London, is a must for families.
So next one will be Warner Brother Studio Tour before going all academic in Oxford at The Dining Hall at Oxford’s Christ Church College, Duke Humfrey’s Library at Bodleian Library, New Colleges Cloisters & Courtyard and The Divinity School at Bodleian Library.
Now I confess the next bit of geography and Potterology gets sketchy for me but you’ll know where to go.
So it’s Bodley Tower Staircase and Cloisters, Lacock Abbey, Harry Potter’s Parents’ House and Horace Slughorn’s Hideaway.
I know that Gloucester Cathedral is in the West, then there’s Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience before you hit the north and Alnwick Castle.
Welcome to Edinburgh
Gothic: Edinburgh
And seeing that I’m in the second chapter of my Scottish capital life let me take you around.
The Balmoreal Hotel where the clock is always set three minutes late to allow rail passengers at Waverley some extra time to catch their train.
But that trip up to the Highlands can wait.
First we have to take in The Elephant House where JK wrote the early Potter.
Greyfriars Kirkyard where she took the names for characters such as McGonnigal.
The Victoria Street shops, J.K. Rowling Handprints, the Department of Magic Escape Rooms, the dramatic George Heriot School, The Dog House and The Cauldron (Harry Potter Cocktails).
Bridge of highs
And you can play quidditch too: In Orlando
Now some of these I confess have stumped me but I’m seduced by those cocktails, particularly as I wouldn’t be a fan of Butterbeer.
We’ll finish it off, of course, by driving past the bridge we all know, Glenfinnan Viaduct.
And if you have young people in the back make sure that the broadband is good and they can crank up the films on their laptops.
