Scotland in April

[Big River]

I'm heading to Scotland for two weeks at the beginning of April and have some questions:

1) should I get a sim card at the airport or in the city (Edinburgh first)
2) does/can customs seize your cell phone and copy it?
3) are there any distilleries in Scotland? jk
4) going to Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness then Glascow - any recommendations?

Thanks
Big River

[Lights Out]

Customs arent going to be interested in your phone.

What do you need recommendations for? Are you talking eating or drinking
For whisky, the Pot Still in Glasgow is a glorious pub. If you are into whisky, you will never want to leave.

[CopperFiend]

There's no way they'd seize your phone unless they had a warrant for it and if they had that, you're probably in much more serious trouble than just getting your personal messages looked through! Surely your network provider from wherever you're travelling from has roaming and will work in Scotland?

[Saltbush Bill]

Surely your network provider from wherever you're travelling from has roaming and will work in Scotland?

If I was to go to Scotland from here and used "Roaming" Id end up with a phone bill bigger than the holiday its self cost......including airfares.
Roaming is a huge No No where I come from.
Maybe its different in other parts of the world.

[CopperFiend]

Roaming doesn't necessarily mean using mobile data, just your phone plan (calls and texts) in another country. Using data can, as you say, be ruinously expensive however, though much less so nowadays.

[Big River]

Tmobile gives me unlimited text and data in UK, but calls are expensive. I want phone service for coordinating my boarding places (so a sim). As for recommendations, I'm talking about sites, especially places where locals go that may be off the beaten path.

[Bushman]

In Edinburgh I would highly recommend Cadenheads Whisky it’s been around since 1842. It’s a whisky shop that carry’s different distilleries products. You can sample and purchase at cask strength.

[HDNB]

change out the sim at the airport EE or Vodafone both has a £15 for 5GB of data plan

Tesco mobile starts from £10 and can be good value for visitors4. Plans with Tesco Mobile include £10 for 4GB of data and 500 mins of calls but you got to find a tesco store.

but if its avaycay, leave your phone at home.

[Lights Out]

If you have plenty of time and want to get out into the sticks, head for the West Highlands. Get away up as far as Ullapool etc. It's absolutely stunning up there. Plenty of wee fishing villages etc all up and down the West Coast. Definitely my favourite part of Scotland. The Western Isles are good too. I mean there's not a lot going on, but they are beautiful and tranquil.

[NormandieStill]

Can second the recommendation of the west coast and isles. I got sent to Stornaway for a week once by work (there's a big film studio there). Didn't want to leave afterwards.

[Ben]

I did Scotland a few years back, hit a lot of the places you are talking about. If you can at all swing it stop by Pitlochry on your way up to Inverness and visit the Edradour distillery. It was by far my favorite, really beautiful old facility and great product. The other thing that's on the A9 is the Cairngorms park, it is beautiful and they have a cool little Reindeer rehabilitation facility.

For your sim card pick up an orange holiday card, they are available online. It will work all over the EU and 30 days is around $30.

The coast is also really good!

[Rum Agol]

When you're in Glasgow I recommend a visit to the Glengoyne distillery just north of the city near on the A81 near Killearn. There are a few tour options but If you take the Malt Master Experience you will get the chance to create your own cask strength single malt which is presented to you in a 200ml Glengoyne bottle, boxed with a label and a record of your recipe.

[Big River]

great info guys, one more UK question - are the Covid rules still in place?

[Lights Out]

great info guys, one more UK question - are the Covid rules still in place?

Masks in Scotland until the 21st of March. But with that said, more and more people are just binning them off now. Nothing else to speak of.

[zapata]

Customs (and/or a wide variety of agencies at the border) can seize almost anything. Crossing a border is not like chilling in your house or walking down the street, you and your property have very different rights. They can absolutely copy your cell phone or computer, demand or force entry for passwords or biometric locks, demand access to various services or accounts on the device (apps, social media etc) and in some cases charge you with crimes committed out of the country based on your digital evidence. Hopefully you aren't worried about kiddie porn or criminal sex tourism, because that's exactly what they are worried about.

If it's just a general principle thing, tough shit. You can backup / wipe / cross border / restore. You can install a hidden and encrypted second OS. But that doesn't really do anything about their behavior it just changes yours in response to theirs.

A few donations to groups developing good encryption and those lobbying and defending liberties is probably a lot more productive than any particular counter measures.

Unless of course you're actually a creepy pervert in which case, no, they never look at anyone's devices, everybody always gets to stroll right through.

[Big River]

Just to be clear, my concern is my HIPPA health info on my phone and my mash recipes. No social networking crap.

[Rum Agol]

Unless you have been flagged as a " person of interest " then you will welcomed just like any other tourist so don't worry

[SaltyStaves]

Just to be clear, my concern is my HIPPA health info on my phone and my mash recipes. No social networking crap.

I took bottles of my home made liquor to the UK. I even left a bottle of my rum on Islay. They were sealed, but they were very obviously not commercial spirits and I made no effort to disguise them as such.
I don't think a bunch of recipes on your phone are going to be of any interest to anyone.

[Lights Out]

Please also be assured that even if your phone WAS of interest to anyone, the ineptitude of our border officials will ensure you meet no inconvenience whatsoever.

[zapata]

You know, I was thinking of the data breach being on return to the states, not entry into Scotland. Lol. Turns out either authority can. The yanks at least have done it enough times to set precedent, listen to the others with experience as to whether it actually happens over there or not.

[Lights Out]

How did you get on in our green and pleasant land Big River?

[Big River]

Thank for asking, I visited Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness, Loch Ness Castle and Glascow. Trained to all to make the circle north, bussed back to Glascow from Inverness that was best option country side reminds me of parts of Colorado and Idaho. Beautiful.

The concentration of the trip were the cities, I mean we're talking old architecture. I did notice the differences between the cities, Glasco reminded me straight up like New Orleans, was not the best city to visit. We absolutely fell in love with Aberdeen, where else could you get snow and sleet walking across the bridge, and sun comes out 10 min later. Very clean town.

We did a lot of bus travel, did not rent a car. While in Aberdeen bussed out to Footlie, on the beach and I spent over an hour visiting with people on the beach who were walking their dogs. Whole country loves dogs and that's great by me.

We had a great B&B next to Edinburgh castle -Big view was killer, walk was tough on wife, straight up. I liked Edinburgh alot.

Overall, trip was great. Only negative I caught a bad sinus infection on the way back, still down with that. Haven't been this sick in over 45 years.

Visited a new distillery in Glascow could not coordinate to get out to Glengoyne where I wanted to go. Highly recommend visiting the country so many options, golf, history, whiskey, people were very nice.

Told the TSA lady in Edinburgh I learned Gaelic, she said give it to me, said "Meet me in the Pub", they laughed.

Big River