Pick Your Dates Carefully (and Pack Accordingly)<\/b><\/span><\/h3><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>

To help narrow the options down, we first selected the dates that we would be traveling and then used tour aggregators to filter our searches.\u00a0 Before you select your dates, however, you should do more than just consult the articles on when to go to Scotland because, well, Scotland is not California.\u00a0 The weather in Scotland might be a major factor determining when you will visit, what you will pack, and what you will be able to see\/experience\/take pictures of.
\u00a0
<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

When we were packing for our Scotland trip, it was sunny and 95 degrees in Texas.\u00a0 I was so hot.\u00a0 I looked at the weather forecast for Scotland, and temperatures in the 50s with a little rain didn\u2019t scare me.\u00a0 I had a raincoat and experience layering.\u00a0 When packing, I told Howie that he didn\u2019t need the turtlenecks and heavy sweatshirt and pulled them out of his suitcase.\u00a0 On our Scotland tour during the first two weeks of October, it rained every single day.\u00a0 By day two in Edinburgh, Howie had bought a puffer vest.\u00a0 By day five, Howie had bought a Harris Tweed cap.\u00a0 He noticed that we seemed to be the only ones that didn\u2019t get the memo for full-zip rain pants.<\/span><\/p>

<\/p>

Do you know that the west coast of Scotland has <\/span>more rain<\/span><\/a> than the east coast?\u00a0 Do you know that Inverness, Scotland is at the same latitude as the <\/span>Gulf of Alaska<\/span><\/a>?\u00a0 Do you know that the wettest parts of Scotland have an average <\/span>of <\/span>250 days<\/span><\/a> of rain per year?\u00a0 <\/span>Do you know that Oban, Scotland\u2019s climate with <\/span>198 days of rain<\/span><\/a> per year beat <\/span>Seattle, Washington\u2019s 156 days<\/span><\/a>?\u00a0 Do you know that the <\/span>raincoat was invented<\/span><\/a> in Scotland by Charles Macintosh, a chemist born in Glasgow?\u00a0 Have you ever questioned why emigrants to <\/span>Nova Scotia<\/span><\/a> settled there instead of giving up after the first winter and heading south?\u00a0 It probably reminded them of home.<\/span><\/p>

In our defense, we did pack quick-dry hiking pants (you can\u2019t sit for hours on a bus with wet jeans), waterproof hiking shoes, hooded rain jackets, and automatic umbrellas, but it wasn\u2019t enough.\u00a0 We were not prepared for the wet gusts that sideswiped us in the Highlands and on the west coast. The rain would start with three-second warning-shot sprinkles and then the deluge would begin. If you didn\u2019t open your automatic umbrella within those first three seconds, you were going to get very wet.\u00a0 We longed for foul weather gear.<\/span><\/p>

The weather can also affect planned sights and activities.\u00a0 For example, our tour group\u2019s trip up the cable cars at Britain\u2019s highest peak was canceled because the cable cars weren\u2019t running in the downpours.\u00a0 We also had to cross our fingers and toes that the two ferries to the Isles of Mull and Iona would be running when we arrived on the west coast.<\/span><\/p>

Finally, the weather can affect your ability to enjoy an outdoor sight or even see or take pictures out of the bus windows, especially with an automatic camera or cell phone because it will focus on the raindrops on the window rather than the landscape.<\/span><\/p>

<\/p>

If Howie had been driving, there were many, many times that I would have lingered in a cute town or asked him to pull over to capture the shot.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

That said, you can\u2019t change the weather —<\/span> only your response to the weather.\u00a0 Plan accordingly, and you\u2019ll enjoy seeing this magical land of rainbows and unicorns.\u00a0 One day, I counted 5 rainbows!\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t so bad because, after all, they say that today\u2019s rain is tomorrow\u2019s whisky in Scotland.<\/span><\/p>

<\/p>

In short, you should not only research \u201cthe best times to go to Scotland\u201d and temperature ranges, but you should carefully consider <\/span>historic information about average rainfall <\/span><\/a>for different parts of Scotland. \u00a0 You\u2019re welcome. \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>

In addition to the weather, however, you should also consider whether you\u2019d like to be in Scotland for a particular event, like the <\/span>Highland Games<\/span><\/a> or the <\/span>Edinburgh Military Tattoo<\/span><\/a> in the summer or <\/span>Hogmanay<\/span><\/a> in the winter.\u00a0 There is also something to be said for being in Scotland right now while history is being made.\u00a0 At the time of our visit, the UK was in the process of pulling out of the EU pursuant to a 2016 referendum of voters and had requested extensions of the two-year withdrawal deadline until October 31, 2019.\u00a0 Our tour guide emphasized that the question of Brexit had divided families for the past three years and had raised questions regarding whether Scotland would vote to become independent from England and what to do about the border between Northern Ireland (that is part of the UK) and the Republic of Ireland (that is not part of the UK).\u00a0 Finally, another factor that could affect the timing of your trip is the fact that the British Pound to U.S. dollar conversion rate is at the <\/span>lowest that it has ever been since 1985<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>

• • Compare the Tour Itineraries<\/b><\/span><\/h3><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>

    On our <\/span>AWAY-DECIDE<\/span><\/a> page (under the GROUP SIZE<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0tab<\/strong>), you can find a handy list of tour aggregators with helpful filters for locations, dates, group size, ages, activities, etc.\u00a0 Even with helpful online tools, however, we quickly found that the number of tours and their itineraries can be overwhelming unless you already have a good idea of what you want to see in Scotland.<\/span><\/p>

    We then compared 10 general itineraries of major tours (5 Scotland only\/5 Scotland plus other countries) running during the fall of 2019 to get a handle on what those companies advertised as the \u201cmust do\u201d sights\/activities.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

    \n\t\t\t\t\t\t

    \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

    \n\t\t\t\t\t

    \n\t\t\t

    \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

    \n\t\t\t\t\t\t

    \n\t\t\t\t

    \n\t\t\t\t\t