Reddit mentions: The best great britain travel guides

I've been to Glenelg a few times, as I go up to that area a few times every year. As far as fishing on Skye goes I have never actually fished there, but there is good fishing in the area around. As far as getting to Skye, you can get the ferry from Glenelg which will put you on the South pretty quickly, however you are right that it will take you a while to get to the North.

Round towards Kyle of Lochalsh there are a number of Lochs that are easy to access and are free to fish, unfortunately when I went there I didn't have much success, but did see very large fish jumping.

If you go toward Strathcarron, the Attadale estate have a number of Lochs that have a lot of small trout in and are also free to fish.

The Lochs in the Applecross Hills are good to fish if you like a little walk and can be fished for a small donation to the Applecross estate.

If you haven't already, I'd suggest getting a copy of Bruce Sandison's Rivers and Lochs of Scotland, it lists as good as every Loch and River in Scotland, who owns the rights, what can be expected, what flies to use etc. Just check on an OS map, see what Loch is nearby and then reference the book. It is a must for fishing in Scotland. I don't have my copy with me currently, if I did I'd have a look for you.

Here's the book. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rivers-Lochs-Scotland-Anglers-Complete/dp/1845027116

Unfortunately I have never fished near Glenelg as it is just a bit too far from where I stay (Lochcarron), but if I were you I would get a copy of that book and I'm sure you'll be able to find somewhere pretty quickly.

> I'm told that good service is not to be expected. Is that true?

I think it depends on what you mean by "good service". I would say that competent and reasonably prompt service is to be expected, but if by "good service" you mean super friendly/flirtatious or otherwise especially solicitous or overly-familiar service then you will probably be disappointed.

If there are no problems with the service I will usually tip around 10% for restaurant meals (or pay the service charge, typically 12.5%, if it is already on the bill). I have occasionally left a small or no tip if the service was particularly bad. I have refused to pay the service charge on one occasion, when the waiter took each of my three courses away before I had finished eating it (despite there being a very clear cutlery-based signalling system to prevent such incidents)! I can recall no occasion when the service was extraordinary enough to merit a tip of greater than 10%, or a tip on top of an included service charge.

(By the way, speaking of table manners: fork always in the left hand, never the right, with prongs down (stabbing, not shovelling); and napkin on the lap, never tucked into your shirt. There's a lot more rules, but those two and the cutlery-together-when-finished one will be enough to get you through all but the fanciest meals without looking like an uncouth imbecile).

You don't tip the bartender at a pub, not even if buying food, but you could offer to buy them a drink (which they may accept payment for when offered but serve/consume later). This happens rarely, however, and most typically only if someone is a 'regular' at their local.

One additional bit of general advice:

I would very much recommend the Lonely Planet British Phrase Book as a basic introduction to British English for tourists/new arrivals (hint: the things you wear on your legs are trousers, not pants) as well as Kate Fox's Watching the English which is a delightful introduction to English culture from an antropological point of view (it has a whole chapter on how the English behave at the pub, including IIRC some two pages on the subtle protocol for ordering drinks at the bar) - entertaining and fascinating, even in the opinion of many of my actually-British friends.

Never eat English food. Just stick to Indian/Chinese etc. and you'll do just fine.

Try to see Fatboy Slim live at some festival or other; go clubbing in general. The UK scene is great!

Being self-deprecating (especially when joking) will go a long way towards making British people accept you.

Finally, read this book before you go. Godspeed you good Redditor!

EDIT: lol I had no idea that English food would inspire such... passions. All hail the mighty shepherd's pie then!

More to tell? Um...In my experience, British people won't automatically be dicks to Americans (or anyone, really). But there's definitely a period I've had with my British acquaintances where they were clearly reserving judgement until they've determined whether or not I was a walking stereotype. At one point I won someone's respect but picking up on sarcasm and responding in kind.

Watching the English was something I read not long after getting serious with my partner. It helped put many cultural differences in context, especially class-related stuff. It's not that Americans don't have a class system, but rules signalling class is primarily based on income, where in the UK it has much more to do with education and social mores.

Romanians are generally pretty cool with Americans and Brits, in my year of experience. However, there are some class differences - people who are reasonably well educated and young have zero problems with Brits/Americans, where as older, working class people tend to be harder to win over (but they're rarely openly antagonistic or resentful). Not being a dick (e.g. not treating taxi drivers or store clerks like robots) and learning some Romanian goes a long way.

There was a programme on recently called Posh & Posher about this, but I didn't think much of it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00y37gk

To be honest, the best analysis of that kind of thing that I've come across is this book, which I highly recommend even for British people, it's fascinating. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Watching-English-Hidden-Rules-Behaviour/dp/0340818867/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302431227&sr=8-1

Actually, according to this brilliant book it's a class thing.. Some upper middle class people decided that napkin sounded too much like nappy and it would make them seem lower class, so they started using serviette instead. Now, the funny thing is that the proper posh people didn't give a fuck, and kept saying napkin. It is now a fairly accurate way of spotting middle class people with upwards ambition.

The same goes for the word "pardon" btw. Upper and working class find saying "What?" perfectly acceptable if they need someone to repeat themselves, the middle classes find it crude and have adopted the use of pardon instead.

I'm a Swede living in the UK, and my English boyfriend gave me that book. It's hilarious and incredibly accurate. Class is still very much an issue over here. At least a lot more than what I'm used to.

Asia's quite a big place, where abouts are you from?

It looks like other commenters have kept you informed about most of your questions, but, as a student here for quite a while, I'd say most people walk everywhere!
The weather's been really rather mild this year, and the summer, if it matches last year, will be absolutely lovely. You shouldn't have to worry about anything but a rain coat/umbrella if you're coming over during the summer.

If you're curious about British customs, a lot of my friends from overseas have waxed rhapsodic about this book which gives a bit of an insight into British (particularly English) culture. The biggest shock for most is the necessity of verbal politeness and queuing. We queue for everything.

If you want a whole book on these kind of differences, I'd recommend Watching the English: by Kate Fox It's a great book which is a easy-to-read explanation of some of the linchpins of English culture, and will help you understand how people act differently in the UK compared to the US (one short thing the book explains in alot more detail: it is never the wrong moment to make a joke about something)

Its a bit old, and some of the content is probably a bit out of date now, but I enjoyed London Under London:A subterranean guide by Richard Trench and Ellis Hillman. As well as underground railways it talks about underground rivers, tunnels, etc.

Not sure if its out of print or something as the Amazon link shows it as around £30-£65, but it looks like they have a bunch of near-new/used copies at more sensible prices.

I'm from Scotland, but haven't actually done anything like this myself, so I can only provide some preliminary information.

The main distillery regions are Speyside and the Western Isles. You should look at the Speyside Way - http://www.speysideway.org/ - which is about 80 miles long, passes quite a few distilleries and will provide a decent starting point for your route.

The Western Isles are also a popular cycling holiday destination, but will require a bit more planning. There will be plenty of guide books on cycling there, though, which you may want to take a look at. I know Lesley Riddoch wrote one - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Riddoch-Outer-Hebrides-Lesley/dp/1906307865/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1412441134&sr=8-2&keywords=riddoch - although I think it's more a memoir style book than a guide book.

I'd suggest figuring out which distilleries you most want to visit, figure out a route between them, and then stop at a few others on the way.

Class is sort of hard to define over here, because it's more of an innate knowledge of what's high class/low class rather than anything that actually affects your life. It's more about the papers you read, the school you went to, and the way you talk than anything else. Oh, and probably the way you vote. I'd argue that it some sense it's still tied to occupation for the lower classes, but once you get to middle/upper middle the lines are blurred a lot more.

A really good book to read that might help you get a better idea of how we work would be Kate Fox's Watching The English.

I get that we have a shared history. But we have a shared European history. We have a shared history with the commonwealth. We have a shared world history. The built environment is very different across different parts of the country and even within cities the contrast can be stark.

I would probably have more things in common with someone who lives in Paris, Warsaw, or even Istanbul of a similar class than I would with someone who lives in rural England.

My life would not compare to say someone on benefits or to a millionaire.

Specific English-ness does not really bind us together. I read Watching the English by Kate Fox not too long ago. She spent,I believe, a year basically researching our culture. The main points I remember is that we say sorry regardless of fault when she intentionally bumped into them. And that we queue instinctively. I don't remember reading that much else which we all shared.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Watching-English-Hidden-Rules-Behaviour/dp/0340818867

Yeah, people make jokes when they're uncomfortable. I read a book by an anthropologist who was investigating British social codes and norms, and in the chapter about sex, she wrote with amused exasperation about how every time she mentioned that particular subtopic of her research to anyone, they always made a joke, and always the same joke: something about "helping her with the practical research".

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I moved here 8 months ago from Australia, and work for a tech company in the city - nothing related to your area of study I'm afraid.

After you get here I'd be happy to introduce you to one of our many excellent drinking establishments and natter about how everything's different to back home.

I can even lend you a copy of Watching The English http://www.amazon.co.uk/Watching-English-Hidden-Rules-Behaviour/dp/0340818867 which I was given by a french coworker after I arrived.

This is absolutely brilliant :)

​

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Watching-English-Hidden-Rules-Behaviour/dp/0340818867

If you want to understand English (not all British) mentality, read this book http://www.amazon.co.uk/Watching-English-Hidden-Rules-Behaviour/dp/0340818867.

It's a pop-science book written by an anthropologist who studies the English. If foreign, it'll explain a lot of wierd/mysterious stuff: queueing, how queues work in pubs, why English people don't tell you their name, why saying goodbye can drag on for ages, and more... Foreigners living in London have told me it's been the most useful book they've read and they wish they'd read it as soon as they arrived. As an English person it's eye-opening/shocking/depressing how much of our behaviour is determined by our culture.

After reading Watching the English I became very aware of class, where before I was pretty much oblivious. Because class is such an obvious and daily thing in England I thought about it some more, initially out of intellectual curiosity, and now my levels of class awareness are pretty high, and chronic. My life is worse for it.

Highly recommend London Under London if you needs more of This Kind Of Thing.

There's a good book about exactly that. UK and Japan have both developed similar societies independently. Both value privacy, are well mannered, highly structured and lots more. The author claims that it could be because we are both island nations with high populations..It may be called watching the English..It was quite a while ago that I read it

Watching the English is a fantastic read.
Its written like an anthropologist would study cannibals from the jungles of Borneo except it focuses on headhunters from Epsom.

If you liked this, you'll also like "Watching the English" by Kate Fox - same author and sort of inspired by the pub study (and a similar one commissioned by the horse racing people).

Kate Fox's book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Watching-English-Hidden-Rules-Behaviour/dp/0340818867

It gets better reviews on amazon.com - she understands us, and helps non-English people understand our wacky ways.

Yep.

This is a good book on this kind of stuff

https://www.amazon.co.uk/London-Under-Subterranean-Guide/dp/0719552885

Try reading Watching the English by Kate Fox. It’s a brilliant book, and it sheds a lot of light on our culture and traditions.

• Atlantic Spain and Portugal: Cabo Ortegal (Galicia) to Gibraltar
  
  
• Mediterranean Spain - Costas Del Sol and Blanca: Strait of Gibraltar to Denia
  
  
• Islas Baleares
  
  I highly recommend Cadiz, where you can anchor near the bridge - we agreed we could happily spend several days there, if we had more time.
  
  I don't have photos of the sheltered anchorage at Sancti Petri - it is full of moorings and I can't remember if there's room to put the anchor down, but the book will tell you.

2. Detergent is detergent. The extras are packaging, including which stores it's stocked in, and perfume.
   
   
3. Staples is your best option, although branches tend to be in retail parks. For town centres, look for Rymans and, perhaps, WH Smith.
   
   
4. No idea. Ask a doctor. It may be that one or more of those are not available "over the counter", i.e. without prescription, here.
   
   
5. http://www.sirc.org/publik/pub.html and https://www.amazon.co.uk/Watching-English-Hidden-Rules-Behaviour/dp/0340818867
   
   
6. Depends, both on whether it's a chain or an independent place, and on what you're ordering.
   
   If it's a chain, then tell them what you need, and let them figure out what they can do without their bosses being arseholes.
   
   If it's independent, then tell them what you're after, and see what happens!

I'm a little late to this party, but I did read a book called Watching The English by Kate Fox. She explains how to determine which 'class' somebody is by the words they use for things, and Settee is one example:
>Settee
Or you could ask your hosts what they call their furniture. If an upholstered seat for two or more people is called
a settee or a couch, they are no higher than middle-middle.
If it is a sofa, they are upper-middle or above. There
are occasional exceptions to this rule, which is not quite as accurate a class indicator as ‘pardon’. Some younger
upper-middles, influenced by American films and television programmes, might say ‘couch’ – although they are
unlikely to say ‘settee’, except as a joke or to annoy their class-anxious parents.
If you like, you can amuse
yourself by making predictions based on correlations with other class indicators such as those covered later in
the chapter on Home Rules. For example: if the item in question is part of a brand-new matching three-piece
suite, which also matches the curtains, its owners are likely to call it a settee.

Watching the English by Kate Fox, a social anthropologist and entertaining writer.

Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0340818867/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_-nLCCbATQEJ9B might be worth be worth.

Definitely get ths one: Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour

Contents: http://i.imgur.com/Rxxxo.png

This book would interest you. 'What' is used by upper and lower/lower-middle classes, the latter with a glottal stop. 'Pardon' is used by the class conscious middle. 'Sorry' by upper-middles.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Watching-English-Hidden-Rules-Behaviour/dp/0340818867
http://www.amazon.co.uk/English-Portrait-People-Jeremy-Paxman/dp/0140267239/ref=cm_lmf_tit_1

They may both help. Or confuse further.

Today actually. A BBC podcast by David Mitchell touches on it a little and Kate Fox's book Watching the English does as well neither are serious but they sing to the same tune about this.

Shopping at Waitrose.
Painting your house in Farrow and Ball paints.
Having a large gun dog rather than a small fluffy one in a bag.
Old Volvo rather than brand new BMW

Watching the English is good on this class thing. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Watching-English-Hidden-Rules-Behaviour/dp/0340818867

I recommend this book to you. I'm reading it for the first time and, as someone English, it's making me realise that a lot of the stuff we do and the way we think is really really weird.

A generalisation, not an assumption - based on the findings of social anthropology ( this is a good read if you're interested). Again, this isn't a dig at Americans or saying that they are incapable of using sarcasm, but that Brits and Americans (and indeed every other culture) have different normal modes of communication. Brits rely on understanding implicit meanings a lot in day to day conversation, while Americans tend to be more "straight talking". It's not that Brits are "better" at sarcasm, just that they're more used to it.

Not by an American, but could it be Watching the English?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Glasgow-Country-Walks-Pocket-Mountains/dp/0955454816

these wee books are ace. dunno why it's 40 quid there, they're not really.

Boogie

How about a pub or food guide?

Read Watching The English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour by Kate Fox. It is unerringly accurate.

Edit: Really? Minus one`d for a book suggestion? Gosh.

It was listed in this book I bought, https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wild-Ruins-Explorers-Britain-Castles/dp/1910636029 else I wouldn't know it was there!

I read Watching the English . There are so many times I "got it" because of that book.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Watching-English-Hidden-Rules-Behaviour/dp/0340818867

Watching The English is the book you are looking for.

I know, it's a camaraderie thing, and a whole bunch more besides. It can sure feel hostile if your not used to it - the Brits are a complex lot.

https://www.amazon.com/Watching-English-Hidden-Rules-Behaviour/dp/0340818867

Kate Fox did precisely this as part of her social experiments. She said queue jumping was the most painful experience of her life. "Watching The English" is her book about English social norms:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Watching-English-Hidden-Rules-Behaviour/dp/0340818867

> I guess I'm just trying to hold these people to higher standards. They're really falling into the constitutional monarchy trap where since they have no power they don't take themselves very seriously.

No English person takes themselves seriously though. It is the secret of Englishness. This book was recommended to me by an English person, and it explains it:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Watching-English-Hidden-Rules-Behaviour/dp/0340818867

Edit: And the higher up the social ladder you are, the less seriously you have to take yourself.

Edit 2: Glad you like the song though!