h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

If in doubt lie ...... and if they find out hide

Any advice on travel to Edinburgh?

The flight times I'm looking at arent dovetailing nicely, so I'm open to less obvious routes. Via Manchester? Fly to Glasgow? Take the train?

Flying to Glasgow could perhaps be an option, however the airports are on the wrong side of town if you're going to Edinburgh.
Flying to Glasgow Prestwick (Ryanair) leaves you with an hour-long train journey just to get into Glasgow, and then another hour to get to Edinburgh.
Flying to Glasgow Int'l (BA, EasyJet, any other major airline) leaves you with a bus trip to the train station at Paisley (approx 10 minutes), then a 20 minute train ride to Glasgow central, and then the hour on the other train to Edinburgh.

Train could be a viable option, I'd imagine, although it'll take a lot of time, and unless you can get to sleep easily or have a very good book toimmerse yourself in (or have good company on the train) a train ride gets really tedious really quickly.
I'd have to say that if you can't find a good flight straight into Edinburgh (EasyJet for instance) then I'd probalby advise you to get the train to Edinburgh. After all, it'll drop you off in the middle of Edinburgh town.

Bah, this is a nightmare!

Time to get from Edinburgh ariport to city centre?

Hmmm timing of flights into Edinburgh very not helpful.

So I went fo the cheap Ryanair option via Glasgow Prestwick (OK OK it's a bummer to get from there to Embra...but it's only one flight for me, the times look good, plus it's literally a 10th the price of what I'd have had to pay!)

Right - where to stay in Edinburgh on the 9th? I've got to be in EH11 bright and breezy next morn.

dagnabit! It's the middle of the week or I'd be there.

You could always hire a car?

The trains from Prestwick isn't too bad but that's as long as you are coming in at a sensible hour of the day.

Zantic

Good thing with the RyanAir flight as well is that they have this deal with ScotRail where they offer half price travel to any Scottish train destination, so if you show them your flight itinerary and ask for a ticket all the way from Prestwick to Edinburgh, you'll get half price off on that fee.

As the supermarket ads say: Every little helps.

Absolutely! I'm not on expenses this time, so that's very useful tip. Ta

Where abouts in EH11 is it? I have a vague knowledge of buses in that direction. Also on the 10th I could be persuaded to a pint of two in town before I go home at night.

Broomhouse Drive.

Er, on the 10th I'll be dashing off to catch a 15.50 flight from Prestwick....

But should be able to manage a pint on the 9th!

Broomhouse Drive! Broomhouse Drive!! That'll be Saughton House then? You'll want a number 2 or 22 bus from the centre of town, the cafeteria is duff and be very glad you don't have a car.

Can you tell where I work?

P.S. Oh alright, I'll come out for a pint on the 9th then.

Er, yes that'll be Saughton House

Maybe we should DEFINITELY have a pint before the interview (just the one, mind....)

15.50 flight from Prestwick? That could be cutting it a bit close if your interview takes a while. You'd need to leave Edinburgh probably at the very latest at noon to get to Prestwick by 14:15 in time to check in and stuff. I'm not sure when their last check in is, but if it's an hour before departure, that noon train from Edinburgh would be the latest you could get.

Oh, and the half price travel offer is for both from Prestwick to anywhere in Scotland, and to Prestwick from anywhere in Scotland.

yeah, I know it's pushing it a bit, but I should be finished at 11.45 (they say...)


Now then, all you Scots. What are the "key challenges at the present time" (think finance here....)

I should point out that, although I work at Saughton House I am not employed by the Executive itself. So obviously that means that the key financial challenge at the moment is to keep my contract going.

What areas should I be looking for a B&B in?

How do postcodes work in your country ?

It depends. I could tell you where all the good B&Bs are but they're on the other side of town. There are a few of the big hotel chains that are in the City Centre though.

So, where are we going to meet then?

Can I just say impresssed I was by the train system in Scotland?

Well, firstly, I loved landing at Prestwick and seeing Ailsa Craig (cos I can see it from my home in Norn Irn, so it was a reminder of how near I was....<nostalgia&gt

The train station is right at the airport so no long transferring or shuttle bussing, trains were every 1/2 hour, it cost me £10 return to get to the other side of the country, the trains were clean, ran on time, had friendly staff....

Now I want everybody crossing their fingers, saying novenas, and generally putting in a good word with the deity of your choice...

"trains were every 1/2 hour, it cost me £10 return to get to the other side of the country , the trains were clean, ran on time, had friendly staff...."

I'm sorry what country did you land in?

It was the 'clean and ran on time' part that really cracked me up- Can i just assure you that, that was an abberation. We truly apologise for the uncharacteristic nature of your experiences with our public transport. The next time you travel on one of our late trains I feel confident that the usual experience of being knee deep in discarded litter and fast food, together with the smell of years of the unwashed having sat on your seat, will be present.

Thank you for visiting one of the dirtiest countries in europe