I can not tell you how excited I am to share this post! It has been in the works for some time and I can finally share it with you! For the last two weeks Beth has joined me on the blog for a travel series. If you missed the posts, check out the Scotland Q & A and traveling Europe on a budget. Beth and her husband Steven are joining me again on the blog. This time they are sharing their camping in Scotland experience! Without further a do, let’s get into it….
We were driving along the West Coast of Scotland when we were struck with something so beautiful, that it stopped us in our tracks. The rainbows over Scotland seem to glow from within. They arc across the sky in a vivid display of technicolor. You can’t help being awestruck at the sight of one. In fact, they are so impressive and abundant that we started keeping count on our journey—the one that stopped us in our tracks was number 21!
Scotland is a place of raw, unimaginable beauty with a landscape as verdant as the imagination allows. The people there are our kind of people and the hills and glens are filled with magical moments. Undoubtedly, there are many ways to explore Scotland. However, after trying our luck in our Campervan we are convinced that is the best way to explore Scotland! Traveling in a Campervan, like all things new, requires going through a steep learning curve. Lucky for you, we are here to help you navigate that learning curve with some hard-earned tips so you can make the most out of your trip to Scotland!
Van Life
In theory, you could get around Scotland a number of ways. Their public transportation system is amazing and you can take planes, trains and automobiles all over the country. For this trip, we wanted to walk on the wild side. We wanted to explore Scotland at our own pace so we opted to rent a van and we could not have been happier with that decision!
After searching around and reading a million reviews we chose to go with Rose Isle Luxury Campervans just outside of Edinburgh. That decision proved to be the best decision of the trip! Our van was top-notch and their employees treated us like lifelong friends. Before leaving their lot, they throughly prepared us for our travels in the van. They helped us dial-in our itinerary and genuinely shared in the excitement surrounding our trip! The van included a kitchen, a bathroom, an incredibly comfy bed, a fuel-efficient diesel engine, a GPS system, an air conditioner/heater and many other amenities.
Traveling in our van, which we affectionately nicknamed Adrian, gave us this wonderful feeling of being wild while we were surrounded by creature comforts. If you want to see Scotland in style we highly recommend considering doing so in your own Campervan!
Getting Around
“Left lane, left lane, left lane!” It started out as a little joke and ended up being a life saver! Whenever we pulled out onto a road we would sing our little “Left lane” jingle to remind ourselves that we actually should be driving on the wrong side of the road. That took a lot of getting used to but by the end of our trip we had adapted to life in the left lane.
Here’s some advice to help you learn how to drive on the wrong side of the road. Before you ever get behind the wheel you should familiarize and then visualize yourself successfully driving in the U.K. We researched their traffic laws and driving customs beforehand and we started considering how we would approach intersections, roundabouts, country-roads and highways. In our research, we realized getting an International Driving Permit was a great idea and Steven received one from our local AAA Office for $20.
One last tip I can give you is to not underestimate the importance of being an active co-pilot during your travels! You will need to help out with navigation and route finding, help your pilot stay safe in traffic and above all, be the DJ and keep the good tunes playing!
Home is Where you Park it
For us, having the flexibility of an open schedule and the ability to stay wherever we wanted—in our van—was a key part of our trip. Sure, we had places to go and landmarks to see but doing so at our own pace really made our trip special. For instance, to avoid weathering a storm on the Isle of Skye we completely changed our schedule and headed north, to Inverness, to avoid the storm completely. The weather in Inverness was beautiful and it ended up being one of our favorite places on the trip. After hanging out for a day in Inverness, the skies started clearing over Skye! Once we got there we were treated to a show and saw most of our 21 rainbows over the next two days in Skye. If we had stuck to the original plan we would have missed that show, and those memories, completely!
On our trip we stayed in a mixture of free campsites and caravan parks. When you camp out in the wild you get this amazing wilderness experience and when you stay at a caravan park you get the same type of wild experience but with just a few more creature-comforts. We found it really cool to mix it up between wild camping and caravan parks because you could stay a couple nights for free out in the middle of Scotland’s incredible landscape. Every few days we would pay around $20 to stay at a Caravan Park where we could refill our water tank, empty our toilet tank, do laundry, and use their bathhouse.
When choosing where to stay don’t forget to be adaptable and creative. That night we spent in Inverness, we treated ourselves to a stay in a luxurious spa/castle that we found online at a last- minute steal! The next night we camped for free at Kilt Rock; beside a waterfall, next to the Ocean.
If you’re in Scotland, you’re in Heaven. There is no right or wrong way to travel around that magical place. We hope you will consider renting a Campervan for your journey. For us, it was the perfect mixture of wild and wonderful. We were able to go where we wanted, when we wanted and we stayed in a variety of places, each one more beautiful than the last. On your trip you can rent a Campervan, rent a car or choose not to drive at all because the only thing that truly matters is that you GO TO SCOTLAND!
Written by Beth and Steven Reinhold
Beth and Steven live in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina with their kitties. Please follow along on their adventures- Beth @bh2318 and Steven @appalachianadventurecompany
