Advice requested for UK vacation

"bill mccollam" <Billmccollam@m> wrote:
> I'm unsure about the airports. Does it make economic sense
> to fly in one city and out another?

-- It makes sense in that you won't have to backtrack, but using
an "open jaw" may mean that you won't get a discounted airfare.
I'd price it both ways, to see if backtracking saves you money..

> Will I be able to rent a car in London and leave it in Belfast?
> If not, can I leave it in Stranraer and get another in Belfast?
> Or should I try to work this with in/out of the same airport?

-- You'll likely have to pay a substantial drop charge for a one
way rental. Renting a second car in Belfast would save you
the cost of ferrying the car and likely reduce the drop charge.
The cost of a return ferry trip with the car probably makes a
drop-charge is worthwhile.

> Can I take a car from England into/out of NI anyway?

-- Should not be a problem. Its the Republic of Ireland that is
considered to be a foreign country and incurs special fees.
=R=

Bill, I have been planning a similar trip. Im am flying Zoom from TO to
Manchester and from Belfast back to Toronto- pretty good fares still
available. Check with holidayautos.co.uk- they seem to have decent
rates as well- Cheers

Steve

"bill mccollam" <Billmccollam@m> wrote in message
news:Xns97CBDECD8F518mccollamhomemailcom@216.196.9 7.131...
>
> I'm planning a vacation for my family (two adults, two teenagers) this
> summer, and I'd be happy if I could get some advice on the following (or
> handy references).
>
> We're taking 2 weeks in late August. Flying from Toronto. I'd visit the
> following points;
> - London for 3 days for the sights
> - Bristol for 2 days to see my cousin
> - Aberdeen for 2 days for my wife to do some family history research
> - Belfast for 1 day to see my other cousin
> - Antrim coast (Ballycastle, Giants Causeway, Portrush) to see my
> childhood
> home.

Sounds fine, but remember that Bristol to Aberdeen is a fair old distance.
You will have to budget one full day for the drive between the two, don't
forget about the price of petrol too, it will cost you a lot.

I would say Aberdeen to Belfast will take quite a while too, budget another
full day for that journey.

> I expect to fly into London, do London on the public transit, rent a car
> for Bristol and Aberdeen. Take the Stranraer ferry to Belfast, probably
> around day 9 or 10, and spend the rest of the time in NI, and fly out of
> Belfast.
>
> I'm unsure about the airports. Does it make economic sense to fly in one
> city and out another? Will I be able to rent a car in London and leave it
> in Belfast? If not, can I leave it in Stranraer and get another in
> Belfast? Or should I try to work this with in/out of the same airport?
> Can I take a car from England into/out of NI anyway?

The only way to find out answers to these questions is to get onto the
airline and car rental websites and do your research.
Flying into one city and out of another makes sense for your itinery but you
can often miss out on the cheaper flight deals by doing this, for the most
part it is usually cheaper to fly into and out of the same place, but not
always.

As for car rentals, many rental companies in the UK state that you cannot
take the car out of the mainland, which may stop you from taking it to
N.Ireland. Either way you are likely to be charged a drop off fee for not
returning it to London.

Some alternatives, easyJet fly from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness to
Belfast, which may be a better alternative than driving and getting the
ferry.
You can also fly back from Belfast to Luton, Stansted or Gatwick on easyJet.

"The Reid" <dontuse@fell-walker.co.uk> wrote in message
news:95g572psc5kd296dlfigtq0lbek2st7m5s@...
> Following up to Mark Hewitt
>
>>Sounds fine, but remember that Bristol to Aberdeen is a fair old distance.
>
> 10 hours at least

Indeed. I'm wondering how necessary a car is going to be for this journey?
It could be done by train and plane, which would eliminate the tricky parts
of the 10 hour drive to Aberdeen and the ferry to Belfast.

From London get the train to Bristol.
From Bristol fly to Inverness. From Inverness you can get to Aberdeen by
train or you could hire a car for 1 or 2 days, which shouldn't cost too
much.
From Inverness fly to Belfast, again hire a car to see the coast, and again
shouldn't cost too much as you are picking up and dropping off in the same
place.
Then either fly directly out of Belfast if possible, or get on another
easyJet flight back to London.

Normally I would suggest doing any journey by car,, but I think London to
Bristol to Aberdeen to Belfast, is just too much.