UK Travel Authorization

No more impromptu visits to the UK without a hoop to jump through!

Earlier this year, the UK started requiring travel authorizations for travelers coming from countries that previously had no Visa or similar requirement for entry besides an adequately valid passport.  

Things to know:

• There's a fee.
• The authorization lasts 2 years
• The authorization is tied to your passport number.  The email says you don't need to show any information, but I have read online that some airlines may ask for proof of the authorization.  Thus it's best to print and bring a copy just in case.
• You need a passport-like photo which you can take and submit online yourself.  However, the website bot is very finicky with its requirements.  
• Blank background and good lighting
• Do not smile!
• No hats
• Head to shoulder in the frame, look straight at the camera
• Despite following all of that, the bot on the website bot kept saying my photo did not meet requirements.  In the end, I overrode the bot and voila, my photo was accepted presumably after review by a human!
• The turnaround time for approval is unpredictable.  My application was approved within minutes.  Another member of my travel party didn't get approved until several hours to 1 day later.
• I didn't want to download the app despite it being highly encouraged by the UK government.  I was able to complete everything on the website just fine.

Scotland: University Housing and Hostelling

From a crowds and hotel pricing perspective, August has got to be one of the worst times to come to Edinburgh.  

From an activities and weather perspective, August may be one of the best times to come to Edinburgh.  They have multiple festivals going on at once: film festival, arts (dance, music) festival, military tattoo performance near the castle, and fringe stand-up comedy festival.

It was so crowded that some sidewalks had two lines, one going in each direction.  I rarely travel in the summer expressly to avoid crowds, and I was surprised by how crowded it was in late summer since school had already begun in many countries.  I had also discovered after having booked my flight that hotel prices were sky high!

Here's where I stayed and what I liked about these places:

1) University of Edinburgh Summer Stays

It's quite ingenious- build a welcome center, hire students to work reception 24/7, and open up unused dorms during the summer to tourists.  One wonders why other universities don't do this!

I can't say the price was cheap, but I can say it was cheaper than the exorbitant August hotel prices.  The best part of the deal was it included all you can eat breakfast.  You might think, why do I want to eat dorm food?  Well, I personally thought it was the best dorm food I've ever had, and I've eaten at a couple universities.  They had plenty of healthy options and also had unique Scottish breakfast items so that you don't have to go searching for a restaurant to try Scottish food.

Although they did not advertise this at reception, the key card allowed entry into the pantry (kitchen) on my floor which meant access to a common fridge, dining furniture, cupboards, etc.  I also saw signs for laundry rooms but did not try using them.

2) Hostelling Scotland

I can't say enough positive things about my experience with Hostelling Scotland.  Each hostel had private room options with en-suite bathroom.  The staff allowed luggage storage which ranged from a locked room to middle of the lobby area kind of set-up, so don't store any valuables.  My favorite part was the milieu.  For example, the Glasgow hostel had a historic wood carved staircase inside the Victorian building.  Going down this staircase, one could smell the wood and imagine living in this Victorian house.  The exterior of the Stirling hotel was very 1500s.  It's next to the Old Jail, and from the window I could see an ivy-covered wall, stone turrets of the old jail, and dilapidated headstones from the old cemetery.  The hostel used to be Erskine church, so I wonder if they razed over some burial sites to pave the lot and so forth.  It's a bit creepy but also very rustic and unique.

One downside to staying in rustic accommodations is there is no lift (aka elevator) in a couple of the hostels, so be physically prepared for many flights of stairs!  Pack lightly.

Scotland via rail, bus, and walking

 Scotrail is timely, affordable, and efficient.  I took it throughout the Lowlands.  I did not get any pass and paid a la carte.  Here are my tips:

Humans can save you money

Tickets are available from machines, but I discovered that humans can get you the best deal.  For example, unsolicited by me, the agent at the Stirling station kindly split the ticket to and from Dundee so that I would save 10 pounds a person!  With split tickets, you have to insert the first leg (cities A to B) upon entry and second leg (cities B to C) upon exit, but I was told I did not have to disembark the train at all when it arrived at Perth (city B).

Edinburgh Ride a Card 

I got the week-long Ride a Card.  You can get it in advance and activate it whenever you'd like afterwards by tapping it onto the bus or metro station.  For metro, you need to tap on and off at the stations.  For the bus, the tapping point is near the driver and different from the contactless payment tapping area. 

The Ride a Card is a great deal compared to other day or week passes that I've bought in other places.  It includes the journey to the airport on the Lothian Bus Air Link 100 (tall dark blue buses) or via the tram.  It includes the Lothian buses and trams.  Depending on where you are lodging, either one may be a feasible option for traveling back to Edinburgh airport.  For the journey from the airport, it was not possible to use the Ride a Card since they don't sell it on the bus.  You can pay for a one-way ticket online while you wait or with exact fare (no change) with the driver.  The Air Link 100 can be found right as you exit the airport on the right near the Edinburgh sign.

Beware that the bright orange Airport Express buses are *not* run by Lothian and are not included in the Ride a Card.  Hence there are 3 options for getting to/from the airport, and only two are covered by the Ride a Card.  Make sure when using Google that you are looking at times for the correct type of transit option and make sure you stand at the right stop!

Where do you get one?  

They're sold at the Lothian bus travel center.  I used the one at Waverley Bridge which is walking distance from where the Air Link bus drops you off when arriving in Edinburgh.  Caveat- they are closed Sundays.  Check their hours and plan accordingly.  Each card has the person's name and photo, which is unlike all other cities that I've visited, so make sure each member of your party is in the line when you buy the cards.

Dundee Day Tripper

A day ticket can be purchased from the bus driver.  The sign at the stop said 5 pounds a person, but the ticket receipt was a bit less than that (though I paid 5 pounds and there is no change).  

Glasgow on foot

Because I stayed near Kelvingrove Park, I was able to walk to and from the university museums and Kelvingrove Park museums.  I was also able to walk to and from the train station to the hostel.  I saw some buses and had researched their transit app but did not use it at all so cannot speak to it.

Stirling on foot

The tourist part of the city is extremely walkable.  I only saw tour buses around.  I stayed on St. John St. which is walkable to the castle and Smith Gallery and Museum.

British Airways Booking Nightmare

When it comes to their booking and customer service experience, British Airways is hands down the worst airline with which I have ever dealt.

The fact that I had to Google multiple times for hacks just shows how bad they are.  This is 2025 for crying out loud.  If a cheap carrier like Frontier Airlines or Zip Air can have a better online booking experience than a large airline like British Airways, that speaks volumes.

Here are my tips and pearls after going through this nightmare and losing way too much sleep over the whole thing.

#1- CLUNKY WEBSITE

If the website is very slow or frequently throwing error messages, just give up and try the next day.  Apparently they don't have any website banner to warn about system down times.  Thus I had no idea if the fact that I kept running into error messages was typical for them or not.  Since the website worked about 10-20% of the times I tried, it gave me a little hope such that I kept trying it.  Otherwise I would've given up long before.  However, after going to bed for 4 hours and trying again early the next morning, voila, the website was much smoother.  I suspect they just don't announce system maintenance times.

#2- NO RECEIPT

Apparently after they updated their website a few months ago, they don't issue a receipt right after you buy it of how much you paid for your tickets.  I can go to the corner store, buy 2 apples, and get a receipt, but British Airways can't give me a receipt for two international air tickets that cost $2400!?!  When went to the website "manage booking" section and clicked on the receipt the first day, it said error.  On the second day, it showed some details but showed 0.XX for how much I paid.  Now I know that ticket wasn't free!

Especially if you need reimbursement for work or other purposes, this hack is useful.  Thanks to the Reddit member who posted it!  Go to the Finn Air website and enter your booking number and surname.  You'll get a receipt in minutes via email.  

Beware, if each member of your party entered a different email address associated with that booking number, you'll get separate individual receipts at each respective email.  Thus each person will only see their own receipt.  That was not intuitive to me at first since I was used to getting one email with receipts for all members of the trip.

It's possible they wait for the credit card to totally clear before listing the paid price on the online receipt, but that is overly conservative vs. other companies.  Other companies send you a receipt within minutes of booking.  It's been several days, and British Airways has not emailed me any receipt.  Yes, I've checked my Spam folder.

#3- UK ONLY NUMBER FOR TICKET CHANGES

Apparently my ticket is fully refundable before departure, but any cancellations or changes are not possible through their website.  This is bogus.  I've never had an airline make it so hard to make changes or cancellations.  It makes one wonder how hard it'll be to ever get a refund.  They list a non toll-free phone number open only during their UK business hours to call for any changes to seats, tickets, refunds, flights, for my ticket.  I Googled for tips, and apparently there's a toll-free US number that might be able to do changes...I'm not sure yet as I don't have any changes to make at this point.

#4- NO CONFIRMATION NUMBER

No confirmation number?  Don't freak out too much yet.  The scariest part for me was after I entered the necessary payment information and my credit card confirmed payment, the screen didn't move.  I DID NOT GET ANY CONFIRMATION NUMBER.  Thus I had no proof that I had any ticket.  I did not have any email, either.  It's been several days, and I have heard zip from them about my confirmation number or tickets via my email.  It's only thanks to the Finn Air receipt that I even have some proof that I have tickets.  But how did I get the confirmation number to get the Finn Air receipt?  

I called the British Airways reservations line, which is a toll-free number, and told the agent I didn't have a confirmation number.  I went into the whole story about how I hit "pay" numerous times, but nothing happened after the first time the money was deducted from my credit card.  I was tempted to start all over again and rebook about 2 hours later.  Only while doing so did I see that the exact pair of seats I had selected for all 4 portions of the trip were already booked!  It's highly unlikely in the almost empty plane that this was a coincidence.  At this point the agent told me "let's not waste time" (his tone insinuated it was his time, not mine, that he cared about), and he proceeded to look up the date of my flight, origin and destination airports, flight number (I could only guess as I had not saved any information from my first booking), and name.  He had a very thick South Asian accent and spelled my name incorrectly.  I corrected him, but he said he couldn't find anyone by that name on the flight.  Thankfully I remembered the seat numbers I had chosen and asked him to look up who was sitting in those seats.  Then magically he found me on the flight and gave me my confirmation number.

Even then due to the clunky website throwing errors, I wasn't sure this number was legitimate.  After the first few errors, I was back on the phone dialing the toll-free number again.  While on hold, the website briefly flashed my reservation details, so I hung up.  Then it went back to throwing errors...and so goes why I only got 4 hours of sleep that night.

Moral of this story is, British Airways human reservations folks can get you that confirmation number if you're sure the reservation went through, like if your credit card got deducted.  Don't be tempted to hit "pay" repeatedly (lest your card keep getting charged) or to start all over from scratch (lest you end up with way more tickets than you really wanted!).  Save everything- flight number, seat number, etc. since you CANNOT RELY on them to send you an email BOOKING CONFIRMATION.

CAVEAT EMPOR