Moving to UK: I will take all the advice you can spare

Hi Will

> Got a color preference? I'm thinking Sand.
Black sand? White sand? Gold sand?
:-)

I prefer a bright colour in the snow for two reasons: more cheerful, and easier to find at night. Elsewhere – whatever. I have used blue, but I'm easy. Um – not a dark colour if possible: can be gloomy inside. Gold sand? Fine.

I've (almost) never worried about stealth camping. Most passers-by wouldn't see an elephant standing beside them in the bush.

Eh, you'll discover a whole new world of meanings for 'weather' in the UK. The Yorkshiremen describe some of their winds as 'lazy'. What they mean is that the wind is too lazy to go around you: it simply goes straight through you. And it ain't warm.

Cheers

Highly amusing takes on what is the UK :-D

Airport Taxes, Foot and Mouth….next you’ll be saying we have a right-wing bunch of toffs running the country..

You probably won’t be let in as our lovely government does not like anyone not bred at Eton…

Inner first pitch fine. NOT likely to be raining half the time you pitch, oh please – quick JCloth rub down if it is..

What Stuart says about Scotland. You ‘mericans’ (sic) might not count it as wilderness…but you’d be unwise to underestimate how harsh it can be.

Some great sites suggested – I’m a big fan (and contributor) to Trek.lite – mainly with US trips stuff ironically.

Scottish Hills is great for hiking trips reports..

http://www.scottishhills.com/html/modules.php?name=Forums

Scotland is wonderful per se. Don’t go.

Oh. And. We don't do that North American 'friendly' stuff ;-)

You for sure what to find your way back to the car and the pub.

The trails are sometimes not signed all that well compared to the Sierra Nevada and often there is no trail, just a sign and a fence to cross over. In the more mountainous areas, like Scotland or the Lake District, sometimes you are walking on what we Californians would call a road but sometimes it is a single track trail that will look like one of 20 other streams when it starts to rain.

When the horizontal rain hits and your visibility drops to 100 or even 50 feet, those UK style waterproof map cases with the right Ordnance Survey (OS) map inside come in handy. Also if solo hiking be sure to take a be sure good GPS preloaded with OS survey maps.

The OS has an excellent store on line:
https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/shop/

The views are great….

That's a path btw

You can also get this

Warm turquoise waters from the Caribbean via the Gulf Stream. Palm trees grow here. Cant quite remember exactly where it is though…

Matt,

Since 3 months ago there has been a U.S. $250. carbon tax for ONE WAY travel and a $500. carbon tax for round trip travel through Heathrow and other Brit international airports. (God, I absolutely despise Heathrow's confusing passenger routing within the airport.)

Ex. Check ticket prices to say, Greece. (Transferring planes in London v.s. the same transfer in France.) That nice "carbon tax" is included in your ticket price through London. :o(

There is no such tax. I just checked for flights in February, from Chicago to Athens, Greece.

The cheapest is Turkish, via Istanbul, at $788.

British Airways is $832, comprised of:

Fare: $115
Passenger service charge at Heathrow (this is a usage fee, for running the airport – not a carbon tax) $85.50
US taxes + fees $62.60
Greek airport fees $52.50
Fuel surcharge (this was introduced a number of years ago by nearly all airlines, and is a way to charge frequent flyers large fees for redeeming their miles) – $516

No carbon tax.

APD is not charged if transiting through the UK and not stopping for more than 24 hours.
here is the explanation on how it works :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Passenger_Duty