What's the area of Scotland to visit for someone who's never seen it before? The definitive Scottish destination, as it were?

If it had to be only one area? I'd vote Edinburgh. Many days' worth of sights and entertainment there. But that's a foreigner speaking...

I would agree with Clodfobble, Edinburgh is a good place to start. There's the castle and other historic sites close by, but it's quite a touristy city. If you want a more true Scottish feel, you would probably want to head further north. Inverness would be good, as its a lot further from England and any major tourist centres, so has retained a more local feel. Its not far from Loch Ness, where the world famous Nessie is said to lurk. Its also surrounded by the Highlands and many of the views that make Scotland such a great place to visit. Kind of harder to get to Inverness, it has an airport but most flights are internal, not international, but it is probably worth it if you want to see the real Scotland.

Hello, first post here! :)

I'm living in Sweden and I'm going to Aberdeen through my school this summer. I'm traveling with my friend whom is 18 years while I'm still 17 at that time of the year... will be 18 a couple of months later. Do you think I will have problems with this? :P Can you buy alchohol in shops at 18?

Will I have a hard time to understand the people in Aberdeen or is it like "normal" english?

Sorry to pull up such an old post!

Hey Tengil,
I can't answer your question. I just wanted to say "welcome to the Cellar." Your English is outstanding. Much better than my Swedish.

As far as scottish versus "normal" english, it's all in the ear.

The scottish brogue is one of my all time favorite accents (my knees go weak just hearing it) but it is something you have to train your ear to really understand. And there is a difference in dialects between Aberdeen and Edinburgh, in the way they pronounce things.

The language itself isn't much different between British English, but can be very different from American English. (A boot in Britain is the storage compartment of a car, but in the US it's what you wear on your feet. In the US, the storage compartment on a car is called a trunk, which is luggage in the UK. A bonnet in the UK is what Americans call the "hood" of the car, but in the US, a "bonnet" is a rarely used term for a ladies hat.)

So, bottom line is: it's takes some getting used to and time in country before you can understand it properly, and train your ear. I love Billy Connelly and laugh hysterically when I see his comedy specials, my husband insists he's not speaking English. Cannot understand more than 1 or 2 words per sentence.

Enjoy!

hi, first post so apologies for any etiquette mistakes!

I'm from Aberdeen but currently a student in Edinburgh. Found the site through idle googling of the alma mater, I went to the same school as grazzers.
So Tengil, about the alcohol, you can buy it legally when you're 18 in shops and pubs but if you look young and they ask for ID and you don't have any, you won't get served. They won't usually make you leave the pub but you can't have anything alcoholic. If you're in a pub, don't try and get your own drink, ask your 18 year old friend to buy it for you. They should have no problem if they have ID, with their date of birth and photo on it of course. A passport or driving licence is fine. If you try to buy your own drink and are refused and then the pub employees see you drinking alcohol, you could get both yourself and your friend thrown out.
Aberdeen accents range from perfect English to some kind of hideous Neanderthal dialect consisting of grunts and spitting that I still don't even understand. But on the whole, you should understand most of what you hear and if you don't, just ask them to repeat it and they'll realise that they need to speak more clearly.
I think the most difficult Scottish accent for visitors to understand is the Glasgow accent, it can sometimes sound like a totally different language. Billy Connelly has a Glasgow accent. Edinburgh and Aberdeen accents shouldn't be much of a problem in comparison.

p.s. if grazzers is still around, I haven't been back in Aberdeen for over a year. What's with the railing type things i see in your photo of what looks like the path between the Earlswells and Earslpark sections of Cults and Bieldside? Why did they do that?

I would SO love to go to Scotland. I've heard it's beautiful, though a bit cold, and that accent....read the phone book to me, baby! :D

Scotland, Ireland, Greece, and Italy...one day...*sigh*....hopefully...

Billy Connolly kills me....I rented one of his shows once, and while I'm the "ha ha, that was cute" kind of person, I swear, I thought I was going to hyperventilate, I laughed so hard. :lol2:

As Mr Connelly says it "Glaazzguuuue".

I got to go to Edinburgh on business once. It was beautiful. And not all that cold considering it was the first week in December.