Scottish Isles Aug 2022
I'm traveling on the Scotland Isles cruise in August 2022, starting in Edinburgh...Is anyone else traveling on that trip? Has anyone who has taken the trip have any comments or suggestions?...This is my 10th trip with Tauck and I'm eagerly anticipating the experience. Thanks...
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I'll be looking forward to your review. I hope to take this trip in 2023. I love Scotland.
We did A Week in Scotland in 2019. Glasgow to Edinburgh. It was a land tour, our first Tauck tour.
If you can arrive early in Edinburgh, there are some wonderful things to do. I see that the Royal Military Tattoo will be on in August; definitely worth doing if you're not going with Tauck before your cruise. It's a huge spectacle of music and light at the Edinburgh Castle - kind of what I imagine the Olympic opening ceremonies would be like. Tauck had arranged for our seats with our tour, but I bet you could order them on line if you act now. Bagpipers galore, dancers, flags...many countries represented. Just fabulous.
The other thing we loved in Edinburgh was the Fringe Festival. There are hundreds of performances scattered in venues large and small throughout the city. We saw 10 shows in 3 days: comedy, drama, music. We heard blues while we sampled scotch; attended a dinner theater where we were guests at a "wedding" gone wrong; saw bawdy circus acts; heard a singer playing the music of Joan Baez; saw a troupe of medical students in a comedy sketch...and many others. Most of the tickets we bought the same day. Even if you just listen to the street performers, you'll have a great time.
We also spent some the National Museum of Scotland (it was raining that day!); really great exhibits. You need a few hours.
Enjoy!
Thanks, SGF, for your suggestions. I'm excited about the trip and now just concerned about the required covid test and getting a timely result...It appears confusing...timing of the test to meet the requirement for departure, using the correct time zone, etc....Hope by next summer, complete vaccinations will be sufficient???...Anyone have a comment??.
Covid test requirements could change many times between now and then. Best to wait awhile and not worry too much for now.
Time zones do not come into account. Leaving the US- depending on the destination requirements you will typically need a PCR test somewhere between 48 - 72 hours prior to your first flight.
To reenter the US you only need a "qualifying test" (several types qualify- SARS-CoV-2 viral test (nucleic acid amplification test [NAAT] or a viral antigen test (also referred to as rapid diagnostic tests because it can take less than an hour to get the test results). You do not need a PCR test) within "one calendar day" (NOT 24 hours) of your departure. If your first flight home departs the foreign country any time on a Monday, you must be tested anytime the previous day, e.g. if your flight home is scheduled to depart Edinburgh on Monday at or before 11:59 pm local time you can be tested any time after 12:00 am (midnight) on Sunday, so in this example have a 47 hr, 59 min. window to get tested. The test will be given on the ship.
Here is the link to the current CDC guidance: https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/fr-proof-negative-test.html
Who knows what the requirements will be in August?
thanks Alan