Scotland: A Brave Adventure Meets Thread

[sayhello]

Please post here if you would like to talk with anyone else who has signed up to travel to Scotland with ABD in 2012/2013.

You can also share information/ask questions about the Scotland: A Brave Adventure ABD.

Please try and keep this thread on topic to discussion and questions about the Scotland ABD. Off topic posts will be deleted or moved.

Thanks!
Sayhello

Roll Call:
June 9 - 17, 2013 - jjharts, dh, and dd (14)
- SleepingPrincess & DH
- 2BNDisney
Jun 30-Jul 08, 2013 - Liz (MKTowerView) & Mom.
- paddles, hubby & 2 kids (8 & 10)
- Miss SD, DH & DD14
- OhhBother & DH
- bobrex & DW (Sandy)
- lkkinghorn & family (includes 2 kids, 12 & 14)
Aug 04-12, 2013 - Terrie (calypso726) & DH Wally (W@LL-E)
- Monica (CaliforniaGirl09), DH Dave, DS16 & DD13
- Laura (Calfan), DH (Rob), DD (10/11) & DS(9)
Sep 15-23, 2013 - Tozzie
- wld, DH
- fleaflour

[calypso726]

Thank you Sayhello for adding meet threads for everybody!

Hi everybody!

I posted some of this on another thread but am reposting some of it here on our official meet thread.

I am Terrie and my DH is Wally (W@LL-E). It is just the two of us. We will be on the 8/4 adventure. This will be our first ABD trip!

We were planning our first ABD trip to be London/Paris in 2014 and intended on leaving a few days early on that trip to fly into Scotland and go on an Outlander (book series by Diana Gabaldon set in Scotland) day tour first. I am thoroughly addicted to the series which is probably why I've been dying to visit Scotland I was hoping ABD would add it one day.

Once the new Scotland itinerary was hinted at though, I felt like a kid on Christmas morning! I spent a few days trying to see if we could make it work for 2013. That wait wound up costing us thanks to the increases in price I finally decided it will have to work I know airfare prices aren't out for those dates yet but took a peek at what it looks like for August of this year

We are hopig to fly in a couple of days early and see the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Also, thanks to fellow traveler Monica (CaliforniaGirl) we will also be hoping to do the Mary Kings Close tour. Thank you for the heads up!

Looking forward to sharing ideas, tips and general excitement over this, sure to be awesome adventure, with everybody!

[Tozzie]

I am booked on the 9/15 adventure, I am pretty sure there won't be other people on this trip as it has been blocked by a group but I booked it before it was blocked so I am safe for the trip. As my trip will be the last of the season, I would be very interested in hearing about things that travellers did on their free time as well as restaurants for on your own meals.

[MKTowerView]

Hi there!

I'm excited that I booked the June 30 departure last Friday! I can't believe that the prices went up again so soon...I'll be going with my mom again - ABD trips are our (relatively new) cute mother/daughter bonding tradition.

I was originally looking to do Bella Italia next summer, but my mom fell instantly in love with the Scotland itinerary. So, I couldn't say no to her. Plus, that archery lesson (along with everything else) sounds so very cool.

Looking forward to meeting / talking to others on the Scotland train. In the meantime, I'm focused on Esprit de France! I leave in 17 days. Eeek!

-Liz

[paddles]

Hi everyone!

We're booked on the 6/30 trip as well and are so excited for the trip - the itinerary looks amazing!

There are 4 of us - me, my hubby, and 2 kids (who'll be nearly 8 and 10 next summer).

This will be our second ABD trip....we're leaving for the Bella Italia trip on June 10th (so just a week away!!).

[Paul (tigger fan)]

Hi guys,

Have a fab time when you arrive here in Scotland, any questions I'll endeavour to answer.

Ps bring a sweater ha ha

Paul

[Miss SD]

Originally Posted by paddles

Hi everyone!

We're booked on the 6/30 trip as well and are so excited for the trip - the itinerary looks amazing!

There are 4 of us - me, my hubby, and 2 kids (who'll be nearly 8 and 10 next summer).

This will be our second ABD trip....we're leaving for the Bella Italia trip on June 10th (so just a week away!!).

We're also on the 6/30 adventure (me, DH, DD14).

I fell in love with Scotland on a trip I took 20 years ago with my cousin. Can't wait to see Edinburgh again! My husband and daughter, however, have never been. When I saw the itinerary, I thought, OK, let's plan for 2014, but they overruled me. They wanted to go sooner rather than later.

This will be our fifth ABD. Just wanted to say it got a lot easier to pull the trigger with these trips after our Germany ABD last year. It was fabulous!

And, Paul (tigger fan), I'll be sure to show your advice to my DD. My husband and I told her that she'd have to wear wool (or at least bring long sleeves) if she wanted to enjoy this trip. I don't think she's taking us seriously. ("C'mon, we're going in summer!")

[SleepingPrincess]

DH and I are signed up for the 6/9 trip. We're thinking of potentially adding on a few days to go to Glasgow and Stirling as well. This will be our first ABD. We actually just got back from London and doing a Mediterranean Cruise and DH mentioned that he really wanted to visit Scotland (I went about 10 years ago and loved it). So when we saw the itinerary - we decided to go for it!

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Originally Posted by SleepingPrincess

DH and I are signed up for the 6/9 trip. We're thinking of potentially adding on a few days to go to Glasgow and Stirling as well. This will be our first ABD. We actually just got back from London and doing a Mediterranean Cruise and DH mentioned that he really wanted to visit Scotland (I went about 10 years ago and loved it). So when we saw the itinerary - we decided to go for it!

Whoo hoo! Congrats on signing up. It's an AMAZING itinerary, and you are going to love ABD. I think we are going to go to Edinburgh a couple days early and take the train to Stirling for the day (so we don't have to move around so much). I keep meaning to contact my TA about pre-nights. Has anyone done this yet?

[sayhello]

Originally Posted by Tozzie

I am booked on the 9/15 adventure, I am pretty sure there won't be other people on this trip as it has been blocked by a group but I booked it before it was blocked so I am safe for the trip. As my trip will be the last of the season, I would be very interested in hearing about things that travellers did on their free time as well as restaurants for on your own meals.

Something just occurred to me. Did ABD tell you who the group is that you're traveling with? I imagine they're all communicating through whoever reserved the date, and I'd think you'd want to be included in that... I know when I went on the DIS exclusive Knights & Lights, we made a lot of plans for before & during the trip, and just got to know each other. It really added to the trip.

Originally Posted by SleepingPrincess

DH and I are signed up for the 6/9 trip. We're thinking of potentially adding on a few days to go to Glasgow and Stirling as well. This will be our first ABD. We actually just got back from London and doing a Mediterranean Cruise and DH mentioned that he really wanted to visit Scotland (I went about 10 years ago and loved it). So when we saw the itinerary - we decided to go for it!

Welcome to ABD! You're going to love ABD, and the Scotland itinerary looks wonderful! Be sure & report back to us after you go!

Sayhello

[OhhBother]

Did you guys see the blog post by Deb Wills with www.allears.net today? That's who has the group block on the September trip.

[calypso726]

Originally Posted by SleepingPrincess

DH and I are signed up for the 6/9 trip. We're thinking of potentially adding on a few days to go to Glasgow and Stirling as well. This will be our first ABD. We actually just got back from London and doing a Mediterranean Cruise and DH mentioned that he really wanted to visit Scotland (I went about 10 years ago and loved it). So when we saw the itinerary - we decided to go for it!

Welcome to the Scotland meet thread! It looks like there are several of us coming in a few days early on our adventures.

Originally Posted by OhhBother

Did you guys see the blog post by Deb Wills with allears dot net today? That's who has the group block on the September trip.

Yes, I did! Too bad she's not going before we are. I would like to see her write up on the trip.

[sayhello]

Originally Posted by OhhBother

Did you guys see the blog post by Deb Wills with allears dot net today? That's who has the group block on the September trip.

Just thought I'd mention here that if you are posting a website, you need to post the entire address. If you post the "dot net" thing, then the site's filters are being bypassed, and the DISboard policies don't allow that. (Some sites have been banned from the DISboards, and the only way you'd know is by posting the whole address). I've edited your post to show the entire address.

I was wondering if it was Deb Wills. She likes to take groups on new itineraries.

Sayhello

[starry_solo]

Have a great time all! I have yet to be able to afford an ABD trip but maybe soon.

I did have a question, though, about ABD. Is it true that you get specific pins for the trip? Like for China - you get Mulan? So for Scotland, you might get Merida?

[sayhello]

Originally Posted by starry_solo

Have a great time all! I have yet to be able to afford an ABD trip but maybe soon.

I did have a question, though, about ABD. Is it true that you get specific pins for the trip? Like for China - you get Mulan? So for Scotland, you might get Merida?

There are Collectable pins given to you for each day of an ABD. They are specific to the Theme of the Day for that specific trip. You can only get these pins on an ABD (unless someone parted with theirs on ebay or something, which I would NEVER do!) So, if there was a themed day in China that Mulan was appropriate for, they'd likely put her on the pin for that day. You get pins with all sorts of characters, like Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck, Belle, etc. I think they do tend to tie the pins to characters from related countries, etc, if they can. So, since the Scotland trip is so themed to Brave (at least for next year) I think it's likely you'd see a pin with Merida on it, and probably other characters from Brave.

Sayhello