The arrival

I planned my arrival some months before coming but when it was the moment of leaving the nerves and the emotion of beginning this new experience overwhelmed me a little. But now I can promise you that it’s really worthwhile. Well, now I am going to focus on how to arrive to Scotland. I am from Spain so my best option was travelling by plane. I flew with Ryanair because is one of the best low cost companies to buy a flight.

The nearest airport from Paisley is the Glasgow International. From there it will take you ten minutes by taxi to arrive to Paisley or you can catch the bus McGrill's 757 that will leave you at Paisley Gilmour Street Train Station.
 

The other option is the Prestwick Airport (the second nearest airport); here is where my flight landed. After that to get to Paisley City there are several options:

• TRAIN (ScotRail): This airport has its own train station which is linked to the airport by a walkway. You can get a train direct to Paisley Gilmour Street train station; more or less it will take 40 minutes to arrive and the price is more or less £8. Everyone from the airport receive discounted rail tickets if flight itinerary or boarding pass are shown. This train operates every 30 minutes approximately every day, and on Sundays every hour. Once you have arrived at Paisley Gilmour Street train station, you can take a taxi from Country Square (right outside the station) directly to your accommodation. Or go by walking if it’s near, for example, if you stay in the Storie Street Residence it will take you ten minutes by walk, but if you have all your suitcases maybe it will be more comfortable to take a taxi.

 

• TAXI: That option it was the one that I did. I arrived at the airport after the last train to Paisley had left so I needed to take a taxi, it cost me £60 and it took 50 minutes. It took me a long time to get a taxi because there were no taxis available outside of the airport but if this also happens to you, taxis can be called from the airport. If you are lucky and in the airport someone else also has to go to Paisley, then you can share the cab and it will be cheaper.

 

• BUS: No through bus to Paisley available.

When I took the taxi, I couldn’t understand at all what the taxi driver was saying and this scared me a little because I didn’t expect that because I can speak English properly. But don’t worry this is because the native people speaks Scottish and their accent is really difficult to understand but later you will see that you’ll get used to it. In fact, neither the professors nor the students or the people of the street are so difficult to understand if you have a standard level of English. So my tip is don’t worry about English if this happens to you.

 

Additional information:

If you need a taxi at Prestwick Airport, a good company of taxis is Stream line Taxis, and the mobile numbers that you can call to are:

• 01292 28 45 45
• 01292 477 000
• 01292 26 10 10

And if you need a taxi in the Renfrewshire area and surroundings another great company serving is the Paisley’s taxi. All their taxis are white, they resemble the old cars of the 70’s and are wheelchair accessible. The contact numbers are:

• 0141 884 8888
• 0141 887 5050
• 0141 889 9000