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Why on earth would I want to go to Shetland?
Good question! But consider Shetlands location it's an ideal
place to get to the Nordic locations, like the Faroes and Iceland,
and the Scandinavian countries. You can travel in style on
the Norrona with Smyril-Line and
it doesn't involve flying, which some may say is a good thing.
Shetland is also a quite laid back place with a fairly relaxed
pace of life.
If you want to get to Shetland you're either going to have
to fly or get the ferry, contrary to what some people have
asked, there isn't a train and you don't need your passport
:)
The cheapest way to get here is to sail with NorthLink
Ferries from Aberdeen to Lerwick, there's a sailing
every day and it involves an overnight crossing. Timetables
and prices are Here
and you can do online booking Here
If you canna be ershed looking through the propaganda on NorthLinks site, here's
a brief description about travelling by ferry, this is MY opnion mind (ymmv)
:)
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NorthLink took over the route from P&O Ferries a few years
ago and brought in new ships. The ships that sail between Aberdeen
and Lerwick are the Hjaltland (pronounced 'yalt-land')
and the Hrossey (pronounced 'rossy') Hjaltland is
the old Norse name for Shetland and Hrossey is the
old Norse name for Orkney. Both ships are exactly the same,
albeit slighty different interior decor, and have about 100
cabins, 2 bars, a sef-service restaurant, an a la carte restaurant,
a shop and a Cinema.
Sounds great eh! However in reality, there is usually only one bar open, the
food in the self-service restaurant is quite good and reasonably priced, the
a la carte restaurant is expensive, the shop just sells the usual tourist tat
and the 'Cinema' is a total rip-off.
Now onto the important bit, the bar; a pint of Carlsbeg is £2.40 and
is the cheapest pint. The bar is well stocked and is open from whenever you
board, it stops serving alcohol at 3am but continues to serve tea & coffee
until 6am, presumably to sober you up before the boat docks at 7am! All the
bars and seating areas have televisions, with Sky Sports. The ships are non-smoking,
if you want a ciggie you have to go outside in the sunshine (!) or there is
a covered area aft (that's at the blunt end of the boat for the landlubbers)
where you can have a smoke without suffering from hypothermia :)
After all this food and drink you may want to get the head down for a few hours,
so here are your options. The cabins are either 2 or 4 berth, all en suite
with shower, toilet and wash hand basin. Here's a tip that's worth
remembering when your booking; it's cheaper to get a 4 berth cabin than a 2
berth. You can also get a shared cabin, this is a 4 berth that you share with
up to 3 others, it's a bit cheaper. You can sleep on the reclining seats which
you get allocated if you travel passage only, but for me they don't recline
quite enough to be comfortable. Or you can just stay in the bar and crash out
there, quite a few do just that.
This may be a good time to mention the weather conditions that affect the north
sea. It can get very rough during the winter months, sailing in force 9 to
10 winds are not unheard of, but that said it's usually fine and the NorthLink
ships handle the conditions very well. Weather forecasts from The
Shetland Times , Dave
Wheeler and the BBC will
keep you informed.
So all in all, the 'brief description' has turned into a bit of a ramble :)
so let's move onto flying to Shetland...
Flying
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