That's a tall order. What research have you done? I would suggest first looking at www.visitscotland.com,or http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/ You'll get alot of ideas and a good starting point.

If I were you, I would fly into London and spent your first night there. Since it is your first trip to Europe, why not see a bit of London too? British airways has a non stop from Dallas-Fort Worth to Heathrow. I like BA because you still get 2 meals included and free cocktails. And I like the non stop flights I get from Denver. Connections waste my precious rare vacation time! You could get a hotel near the airport, take the tube into London and see a few sights. My daugheter and I used the tube for the first time this summer and we were surprised at how easy it is to get around with it. Spend the night and then next morning fly to Edinburgh, rent a car and then drive to St. Andrews.

And do drive to the other little fishing villages like Crail, Pittenweem and Anstruther (for the best fish and chips). I love those places because though they are tiny, they are 100% opposite of what Kansas has to offer. Also try to get to Falkland. It's a lovely village that is very relaxing to walk around in. The palace is worth a look and if your feeling up to it, a hike up east Lomond hill gives awesome views in good weather. Fife is very easy to drive in. You could also toodle up to Dundee or Arbroath. The ship Discovery is an interesting way to spend an hour or two and Arbroath is a nice place to explore too. These places are all within a short drive of St. Andrews. With more time you can explore farther to see more. The www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk website is one of the best. There is also an area to click on to find self catering cottage options. It looks like there are some really unique places on the list.

The only warning I can give you is to expect $$ shock. With our dollar on par with toilet roll it takes a lot. On the other hand, the rental cars get awesome gas mileage so you won't have to fill up very often.

You could easily find a lovely sea side cottage (self catering)in Fife.

embracescotland.co.uk/region_Kingdom_Fife.asp

From there you have a wonderful variety of activities and sights at your doorstep. Kelly Castle is lovely and has a wonderful garden as well. Check out this forum for other ideas in Fife.

We just returned from 3 weeks in Scotland and had a wonderful time. The weather was fairly rainy but we didn't let that stop us from doing things. You posted in the St. Andrews forum so I'll tell you about our time there.

We really enjoyed the St. Andrews area. We stayed for 2 nights at St. Nicholas Farmhouse B & B. Bill and Anne took great care of us, with lovely breakfasts and our room was well-equipped. The B & B is very close to a great seaside path that runs along the ocean. Walking along this path, we could be in the shopping areas/cathedral in about 20 minutes, the Old golf course, another 10 minutes further.

My husband golfed the Old course by showing up at 5:30 a.m. and lining up. He got a tee time at 6:40 and had a fabulous round.

Even if you are not a golfer, a fun thing to do is to play the Himalayas course--18 hole putting course. It costs one pound, fifty, you don't book, just show up and have a lot of fun putting on this challenging course. It takes about 30 minutes.

The castle and cathedral are very interesting, if you like history. Lots of shopping in the little shops-some touristy, some not.