We’re home.
Phew! What a trip! It was 14 days a full, jammed packed, Scottish everything. I
thought we were booking when we did Ireland. That trip was a walk in the park
compared to this one.
Don’t get me
wrong, I’m not complaining. I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. I
just got exhausted from it. Which, in my opinion, is a good thing with
vacations. I wonder what a “relaxing” vacation actually feels like. Someday I
might know, until then it’s full throttle.
As I always do
after I travel, I reflect on the entire experience. Not just the places we saw,
but the experience as a whole. The Pros and Cons of traveling, if you will.
Most my trips
don’t have too many “cons”, and when they do it’s likely something I did to
cause it.
A lot of folks
have asked me what my favorite part of Scotland was…that’s really hard to nail
down. We tried every day to call out the “best” and the “worst” for the day. It
wasn’t too long into the trip before we realized there weren’t any real “worsts”.
There were “just ok’s”, but nothing “worst.”.
So here’s my
list of Cons:
- There were a couple of LONG days
on the bus. One was because we had to get off the Isle of Mull ASAP to
avoid being stranded there due to a storm. The other was just getting us
from one place to another. The bus rides, wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t
for their one lane roads and the constant having to pull over to let
people pass. Still, it added to the charm of Scotland. (See #2 below).
- I’m going to say this, and it’s
going to come out not quite like I’m going to mean it…but traveling with
people. Janet and I travel so well together that adding two more to our
merry band of travelers made the dynamic change slightly. I thoroughly
enjoyed having Blueberry and Billie with us. At the same time, I really
missed it being just Janet and I. As travelers go though, Billie and
Blueberry are good travel companions.
- One couple in the tour. We
ultimately called them our stalkers. It was like they would purposely seek
us out. They weren’t interesting, and she was Miss Negative all the time.
- Burning my hair. That was
definitely a con.
- Burning my hair kinda goes with
the whole converter thing. Its necessary. And if I want to continue to
travel it will always be, but man it’s a pain in the butt.
- Beer. I’m putting Beer in the “con”
category because 1) we didn’t get to drink as much as we did in Ireland
and 2) I didn’t find Scottish beer particularly interesting.
- Not enough scotch. I think I
tasted scotch twice. Of course, a Pro could be that I’ve discovered I’m
not a huge fan of scotch.
- The trip there and the trip back. I hate the actual "traveling" part of travel. Long plane rides are just so long. And this trip, in particular, we were on planes that weren't modern and didn't have TVs in the seats, so watching movies for the entire trip to kill time was out.
And the Pros:
- We had fantastic weather. Just a
couple of days of overcast that ultimately burned off, and one day of rain
where we were on the bus anyhow.
- The crazy one lane roads. As
frustrating as they could be, it was pretty cool to see that they hadn’t
expanded to fit the tourist industry that has taken over the country. The
single lane roads is what I would have expected in Scotland and that’s what
we got.
- Sheep, sheep and more sheep.
Billie and I could not get enough of the sheep. AND, the added bonus was
the babies were still babies.
- The Globus tour. Say what you will
about these types of touristy tours, but to have someone else plan the
entire thing for me is awesome. And Globus did a good job. I couldn’t help
comparing it to Grand Circle the entire time, and there are things that
Grand Circle did that I liked better, but all in all, Globus is a stand
out company to tour with.
- Castles, castles, castles. I love
them all. Some are more interesting than others, and that is certainly
true for the 6 we saw on this trip. I prefer the ones that actually look
like castles versus the ones that are called a castle, but are really just
a huge manor house. My fascination with them is really about the history
there and the fact that something was built so many hundreds of years ago
and is still standing.
- My travel check list. Yes, I have
one. It’s been developed over many, many years. Mom and I started it years
ago. That list has saved my bacon more times than I care to admit.
- And lastly, Scotland. What a
beautiful place. If you’ve not been there, you should add it to your
bucket list. The lowlands weren’t my favorite, but the highlands…man were
they something to witness. None of the photos will do it justice though.
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