Badenoch

North Americans have a very different outlook when it comes to driving distances. I recall a couple of years ago friends in the UK being somewhat taken aback that I thought nothing of driving 5 hours from Chester to Norwich. For us an 8 hour drive is not unusual.

Good advice on lane discipline. Do not pass in the slow lane. Clear the fast lane unless you are passing. It would be great if Canadian drivers took this as seriously as drivers in the UK.

antichef

Some of the advice about car hire fuel purchase is not quite how the main rental companies work it at LHR. your car will come fully fuelled and you get a number of refuelling options for your return. For example Hertz policy is here:
https://www.hertz.co.uk/rentacar/pro...20and%20Africa

As you are going to be allowing plenty of time to get back to LHR, with a long drive I would advise you you return it fully fuelled, there are a few handy filling stations near LHR. Fuel in the UK is very expensive compared to the US and is sold in litres not Gallons - and the fuel hoses are differently coloured. NB: Diesel is a black hose and petrol (gasoline) is a green hose. Many rental cars are diesels. There are 3.8 litres to the US gallon and petrol costs about £1.20 per litre, so £4.56 per US Gallon (about $5.88 per US gallon). Diesel costs about £1.30 per litre.

You asked for advice on where to stay the first night - wow that is tricky! Much depends on how far you wish to drive that day. You have a 500 mile journey and it will take over 9 hours and you are going to drive through the main bulk of the UK .... and whether you want a B&B or a 5* hotel would affect any advice.

Kirriemuir is really about 1hr 40mins driving north of Edinburgh, so be careful with your driving estimates!

Dump the car at LHR on the way back if you are staying the last night in Kensington and travel in on the Tube/ Heathrow Express etc.

Lukaboy

Now thinking of taking train from LHR to Edinburgh, or do I have to start that trip in London? Would rent car in Edinburgh and return it in London or LHR. By the way, a one-way St.Louis to Edinburgh air ticket is $2,800 while a round-trip St. Louis-London is about $600.

And thanks for the advice.

Ldnn1

To connect to one of the train lines from LHR is a bit tedious, so really if you are planning on heading straight from LHR on arrival you are best off just booking a flight from there. It doesn't have to be on the same ticket as your St Louis flight, just make sure you allow enough time to connect - I'd recommend min. 4 hours if you have to check in luggage. If you buy a Plus fare on BA, which inlcudes luggage, that also allows you to make free same day change, so you could book a later one and move it forward if you are in good time. Or consider using avios if you have them - that doesn't allow same-day change though.

You could then choose to take the train back to London should you wish.

ajGoes

Try pricing the open-jaw itinerary STL-EDI/LHR-STL. You can do this by choosing the multi-city option in Google Flights and other search engines. The open jaw itinerary should come a lot closer to the round trip.

Google Maps routes you on the Piccadilly tube line to King's Cross/St. Pancras station and thence to Edinburgh Waverly station with a total trip time of six hours three minutes. You'll want to read up on how the transfer works at the train station — Google thinks you can do it in nine minutes, so you wouldn't have much time to dawdle.

antichef

One way rentals are pretty straight forward with the major companies. I do this regularly with Hertz in the UK and there is a £50 premium over normal cost, so not prohibitive. EDI to LHR is one of my regular routes and vice versa.

Lukaboy

We are taking your advice and flying to Edinburgh. I think our plane (AA) goes to Terminal 5, which is where BA is. We'll have at least five hours. We'll overnight in Edinburgh, then rent a car there and hit Kirriemuir and make our way back to London for 3-4 nights. Re/ Edinburgh, we could use advice on a good hotel with a nearby car rental.

We're considering the Black Ivy in Bruntsfield, Edinburgh.

UKtravelbear

Assuming you mean you will fly AA into LHR and BA to EDI then BA mainly use T5 with some flights from T3. EDI flights leave from T5. AA only uses T3 at LHR so you'll have to make your way between the terminals (which is a lot smoother than some people make it out to be)

The connections planner on the LHR website gives a good idea of the route.

antichef

Car rental from EDI should be from the airport only. Do not use any pickup in the city itself. Driving in the city is not to be recommended. However, as the hotel you fancy is on the airport side of the city you should be ok with collecting the car and driving there, but you might want to enquire about parking - which is the bane of driving in Edinburgh.

Alternatively, take the tram into the city and get a taxi to the hotel. Then return to the airport and pick up the car. Heading from the airport towards Kirriemuir is easy - I do it regularly

lwildernorva

As an American with the experience of a half dozen trips to Edinburgh, I second this advice. Central Edinburgh was built long before cars existed, and the city fathers don't seem interested in making it vehicle friendly. The streets are narrow and confusing, even to a good GPS unit, and the main area to pick up and drop off rental cars, at Waverly train station, is a terrible place to try to get your feet wet in a rental, especially if driving in the UK for the first time.

It sounds as if your time in Edinburgh will be brief. I don't normally recommend airport hotels anywhere, especially for one of my favorite cities, Edinburgh, but if you're really not going into the city, why not stay out near the airport? There's a serviceable Doubletree close to the airport which would do for the night. Since it's near the terminal, you would have the convenience of the rental lots being near the hotel the next morning plus the tram line if you change your mind and decide to go into the city for a quick look.

antichef

EDI airport has also acquired two new hotels in the past three months. Hampton by Hilton and a Moxy now open to complement the Doubletree.

OP has picked a nice expensive boutique hotel in town - so may not be keen on chains!

Lukaboy

Thanks to all for the advice. Someone at AA did suggest the 'open jaw' option, so we're into Edinburgh direct at 9 a.m. and depart from Heathrow.. Cheaper than roundtrip STL-LHR.. Likely will spend one to two nights in Edinburgh city centre, then rent car at airport. Recommendations on hotels?

On another topic, we're researching my wife's grandfather, David Melville Nicoll, a sea captain, born 1884 in Kirremuir. He emigrated to NYC; his siblings stayed in Kirremuir. We're interested in living descendants, not ancestors. Thoughts?

stut

You could try the local Facebook group - mine's always got this kind of thing. There seems to be one here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/133301436801420/

More geared towards ancestry, there is of course:

https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

I personally don't find driving in Edinburgh that bad - parking is, of course, a different matter, but if you're just picking up a car, I'd be happy to do so (and have done before from near Haymarket).

antichef

Write a letter to the local papers with the details and you might be surprised how quickly it can be picked up and responded to!

https://www.kirriemuirherald.co.uk/
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/send-us-a-story/

bradleykhofmann

I rented a car in Edinburgh last April. Couldn't have been easier. All of the rental counters are in a central building. Enterprise was fantastic to me. They asked about purchasing the extra protections. I told them my card would cover anything, and that was that. No pushing at all. Also the tram line is right next to the rental center. You can easily take the tram to the city center and return the same and be right at the rental building. I drove to Dundee from Edinburgh, looks to be the same route you'll take to get to your destination. Fantastic little drive.