Nov / Dec is not really the time to visit Scotland if you’re planning on doing much driving or want to see the countryside. However, Christmas and New Year in Edinburgh is ace, with the Tattoo, and the New Year celebrations.
Roundabouts I can handle, but maybe we should think about coming in the Spring, instead? We’ll get dirt-cheap airfare if we come in November, but if everything’s going to be closed up…
As far as looking folks up, I will happily look up anyone willing to meet me at a pub or show me around their town. I’m going to be doing this Scotland piece travelling by myself, so it might be nice to meet a few folks along the way.
Thanks for all the input–I’m really, really excited about the prospect and appreciate your time!
Bring an umbrella.
Edinburgh is wonderful…skip the tattoo at the castle, though, it is a tourist trap if you ask me. Just wander up Prince’s Street and the Royal Mile and hike up Arthur’s Seat and so forth. I found it was pretty cool to buy an all-day ticket on one of the red tourist buses. You can sit on the bus and get the tour or get on and off as you please.
Visit as many castles as you can. They are unforgettably cool.
Melrose Abbey is quite cool too and the “backroads” drive there from Edinburgh is charming. And you really should see St. Andrews, even if it is biggish…no I’m not talking about the golf course. 
Also, a drive into the highlands might be nice.
BTW, if you stay for New Year’s Eve (Hogmanay), Edinburgh, Scotland is one of the biggest hotspots in europe. Major street party and the best fireworks I’ve ever seen in my life shooting from and around the castle. Huge crowds, but so much fun.
Well I liked it. It was quaint.
You absolutely can drive in Scotland with a USAn license. You can even get pulled over and given a warning for speeding on your way to the airport to fly home! Just ask my husband!
I agree Edinburgh was fun. We did a whiskey tour (complete with a ride in an aging barrell replica), and we don’t much like to drink, but we still found it fun.
Stirling was beautiful - worth the climb up the Wallace Monument to see the river shining below the castle. Also, encountered the oxymoronic dish, “Vegetarian Haggis” at the hotel there.
My biggest piece of advice is eat lots of butter. Scottish butter is astoundingly good.
The tattoo?
I am getting SO worked up about this.
Is there anything I should be concerned about? Things NOT to do?
Things to do:
Whiskey Trail
See castles
Eat lots of butter 
Also, I need recommendations for cheap places to stay–can I camp in Scotland or is it alltogether too wet? Are there hostels?
We stuck mostly to the Aberdeenshire area when I was there, but we did get to go to Edinburgh which I simply loved and would have liked to have seen more of; our Lonely Planet guide talked of “Underground Edinburgh” and we were fascinated by the descriptions of the South Bridge Vaults - alas, we only had a couple of hours there and didn’t quite manage to see the whole castle in that time let alone the rest of the place. Looking forward to exploring it further next time.
We went to the Glenfiddich distillery near Dufftown and that made a big impression on us all. It was a good tour, and it was free which was a nice bonus! The castles I remember most fondly are Kildrummy, Dunottar (which we didn’t get to see inside, but just its location was amazing to me) and Crathes. Braemar was a gorgeous town, but the castle of the same name was a disappointment. I’m so glad we went to Loch Ness because it was like nothing I had ever imagined - in my mind, loch = lake = roundish body of water. The reality was far different.
Have a ball! It’s a beautiful country and I can’t wait to go there again!
When I was a pup in 1980 I went from Glasgow up to Glencoe, hiked up the Pap of Glencoe (a truly glorious day), went over to Ft. William and hiked up Ben Nevis (could barely see ten yards in front of me), went over to Inverness, then took a train back down to Edinburgh. Except for the train I hitchhiked and stayed in youth hostels. The highlands is just beautiful country. There are some train lines that run through there that you might want to look into. Other times in the UK I stayed in bed and breakfasts or camped out. I wouldn’t recommend camping out unless your either a hardy outdoors type or hard up for a place to sleep.
There are campsites and hostels all over - Edinburgh is stuffed with hostels and there are several campsites on the outskirts - this is Mortonhall near my dad’s house, and I drink at the bar from time to time… as said before, you take your chances with the weather. It’s been good so far this year, though!
This is the Scottish Youth Hostel site , but there are many others.
The Tattoo?
It’s a big military display held twice nightly on the Edinburgh Castle Esplanade during August and sold out months ago for this year. Opinions vary as to how enjoyable it is! The Tattoo
Camping in Scotland can be fantastic given a decent tent (and wild camping is allowed and accepted in the further reaches), but I wouldn’t recommend it in the winter months. A lot of B&B places will be shut, but the ones that are open will be cheap, and many small hotels will have prices down in the B&B range, only rising again over Christmas and New Year. In November and December the weather is a complete lottery - but you are unlikely to encounter much in the way of extreme cold or snow if you stick to A-roads and coastal towns, even in the Highlands.
I’d like to try and clear up a wee misconception here if I can. Scotland isn’t a particularly wet country, even on the west coast. However, it can be be gray for days on end, with low scudding clouds and a brisk wind. The word we use for this is “dreich” (It needs a rolled -r and a guttural -ch). In the winter, the rain we do have tends to be horizontal and cold. But interspersed with these will be days of crisp clarity and stunning light. And if you are anywhere near some mountains, on a dreich day, the way that the cloud mantles the hill, and drops raggedly into the glens, will fill your heart.
But I’d recommend Edinburgh in early December. They put up a big Ferris wheel and a skating rink in the Gardens, and there’s a great market and tons of gluhwein, and lots and lots of lights on all the trees, and the Castle and the Old Town lit up in grand fashion. Worth seeing, I think.
Sorry for quoting in whole, but I couldn’t help it. I am in love with your country. I’d move there right now based solely on this discription, if y’all hadn’t banned my dog 
Twice in the past three years I have visited Scotland for holidays in October. It can be cold and wet but that (to me ) is part of the attraction. I have hired cottages for a week at a time in the more remote parts and use that as a base for touring (hire car). There is no difficulty driving in Scotland- away from the major cities the roads aren’t very crowded. Also, compared to Australia, distances aren’t large.
Places to see? The west coast is pretty well underrated (apart from Isle of Skye). Gairloch is beautiful. The Trossachs are great, and a boat cruise of Loch Lomond or Loch Ness. If you can, the steam train ride from Fort Augustus to Maillaig, and the funincular railway at Aviemore (which is a dump in itself).
The Orkneys are worth a visit- there are far too many great spots to list.
Eat lots of salmon, drink lots of beer.
Not much else to add to what’s already been said, but if you are interested in feats of engineering, you might want to check out the Falkirk Wheel, west of Edinburgh, a clever device used to eliminate several sets of locks on the Forth and Clyde canal.
Since it appears you’ll be in Edinburgh anyway, be sure to take in the mighty Forth rail bridge, still impressive despite being partially covered in scaffolding when I was there in May.
:smack: Make that Fort William to Mallaig.
Do you mind if I email you? This sounds exactly like the vacation I want to take. I moved to the Pacific Northwest for weather like that.
What’s the story with your dog? If you just mean about quarantine, the US is part of the pet passport scheme now.
Yes. Don’t eat or drink in any of the establishments on the Royal Mile. They’re tourist traps and really expensive.
You can get some good views of Edinburgh from the top of Arthur’s Seat and Salisbury Crags. They’ve put in a stone staircase up the front of the Seat now. The best way to get up is to head towards Pollock Halls, the University Halls, into Holyrood Park and up the staircase on the front. It’s pretty easy to find.
If you’re coming in November, try and catch Bonfire night (November 5th). Arthur’s Seat and the Crags get set on fire every year. You get to see everybody setting their fireworks off from the Crags, too.
Go for your life. I’d love to be able to help, and may be able to suggest some of the places which we found were great. My email addy on the profile still works.