Ancestry trip to FOD (General)

by mrsbruso , Sunday, March 25, 2012, 00:50 (4630 days ago) @ charwatkin

Depending on the time of year, it might be a bit iffy. When I did most of my unplanned travel, I was young enough to stay at hostels, and they can generally find someplace for you to lay your head down for the night, regardless of how full they might be. Vacancies at pubs and B&Bs were a bit harder to find, especially if you're there during high season. (Hence my reliance on the aforementioned hostels.)

One thing that you could do is plan a cottage for a week or so, and then another "home base" B&B for a night or two, and then another one a bit further on, etc. That said, I was generally lucky finding someplace to stay when I was travelling without a timetable. At one point I got it into my head that I wanted to travel the entire Scottish coastline, and I did it without any reservations or plans. I drove and hiked and explored, and when I was too tired to move any further, searched for someplace to lay my head. (My favorite spot was the Betty Hill Hotel . . .) I once started walking Hadrian's Wall, but a number of people were attacked there that summer (a very unusual occurance I was told)) so discretion being the better part of valour, I didn't finish.

You can probably get a wonderful map through AAA . . . although they might need to order it for you. I have one that I've dragged back and forth a few times, where I highlighted travel routes I had taken (mostly the Scottish ones, rather than the ones "at home" which I saw often enough I took them completely for granted) and places I wanted to re-explore.

One other option (I tried this in Scotland, too) is to sign up for a one day coach tour. You get to see a bit of everything, and that gave me some idea of where I wanted to go exploring on my own, and what I could just as happily give a miss.