Day 11: Glasgow to Home

I don't have many photos from our last moments in Scotland as it was a travel day and those are stressful. I was also pretty bummed to be ending our trip (although very excited to get back to my washing machine!).



We took one of the easiest bus(s)es from just up the street from our hotel to the Glasgow Airport at about 9 or so that morning. It was really nice to not have to wake up at the crack of dawn! We got to the airport super early and just read for awhile while we waited to check in. I actually don't remember too much from the Glasgow Airport except for the time we spent reading.

From Glasgow we flew to Heathrow where we had a short layover and I tried to get more information about my lost camera. Long story short: they never found it and I got reimbursed from travel insurance. (Yay!) It was also here that we ordered iced coffees from the Starbucks and the baristas were super confused.



The flight home was loonnngggggggg and the person in front of me had their seat reclined back the entire time. The Worst. Luckily, our seat mate was a big fan of getting up a lot, which works out super well!

Back in Boston we had a great surprise when my brother-in-law met us at the airport! How sweet is he!? I could barely drive after 10 days of not being behind the wheel and 7+ hours in the plane, but we made it back to Ali's house and crashed.

As you've hopefully read in my daily summaries, our trip was epic and it was such a treat to get to go to the amazing country of Scotland with my sister. It's something I'll always remember.

XO,
SVR

P.S. Can't wait to go back!

Day 10: Glasgow

All of our hotels in Scotland had really good breakfasts: Edinburgh was like a little restaurant tucked away in the back of the small hotel, Kirkwall was like eating in your neighbor's kitchen (but without the small talk), and our Glasgow hotel was a buffet, which was perfect for two tired travelers.





For our last full day in Scotland, we took it easy and basically planned our day around our meals. First up was breakfast and some chitchat with a lovely couple on vacation from Canada (?).

Between breakfast and lunch we did some more shopping and walking around Buchanan St.



 And then ended up at The Horseshoe Bar for lunch. It was good, hearty Scottish food served as an economical package. All served with some magic:




Even though it rained at least a little every day we were there, this was probably the most dreary of the days* and you could definitely feel the seasons changing as night was upon us the earliest of our trip.



I like to think that Scotland was sad we were leaving the next day. I know I was.

Ten days into our trip we were finally smart enough to pick a real restaurant for dinner instead of wandering around looking for a pub with food. We went to a lovely Italian place up the street for tapas and a delicious cocktail made with Pimms!



After dinner we went back to the Corner Bar near our hotel to get more of the amazing sticky toffee pudding and spiked coffee drinks, but their service SUCKED and after sitting there for 45 minutes, we gave up and left. It was pretty ridiculous.



But look who we saw!



Since we never got dessert, we went to a convenience store and picked up something there and also stocked up on Orkney oatcakes (yum!).

Saturday night in Glasgow had a special feel to it and I think we were both fine with heading back to the hotel to relax and enjoy our store-bought desserts. You could feel the energy outside as the night went on and as the street noises got louder, it definitely felt best to be snuggled in our hotel beds. Nothing felt scary in Glasgow, but it wasn't like we were looking for a wild night. Being hungover for 7+ hours on a plane is not something I want to experience!

I was pretty sad that it was our last night in Scotland. My only regret was not having more sticky toffee pudding. One more day to blog about!

XO,
SVR


*Note: I love dreary days!

Day 9: Glasgow

We were pretty tired by this time of the trip. I think we were both glad that Glasgow was our last city not because we wanted to leave Scotland, but because we had the least amount planned for that city. We had tossed around the idea of using our rail pass to go to another city, but we ended up not and while seeing more of Scotland would have been awesome, I don't think we would have enjoyed our last few days had we done that. It's important to be rested and well while traveling!

We were also a bit done with public transportation by this point, too. After our epic day of bus/cab/train to get from Kirkwall to Glasgow, we wanted to stick close to our hotel and not have to 1) worry about getting around and 2) pay for cabs. Luckily, our hotel was in a primo spot of the city and we could walk most everywhere. The only place I had wanted to go to, but was too far away, was Ubiquitous Chip, but that's okay. It's good to leave things for next time.

First up, we headed down Buchanon St, which is the main shopping area of the city. It's a pretty impressive street of shopping! It's also a lot of fun because there are street musicians and it has a very energetic feeling. While Edinburgh feels magical and old, Glasgow feels bustling and gritty.

Day 8: Kirkwall To Glasgow

Getting from Kirkwall to Glasgow was probably the most stressful part of the trip for me. A lot was riding on things going kind of perfectly and, spoiler alert, they did!

We were up at 4am or something to catch the first bus from Kirkwall to Stromness on the bus that we had been assured would arrive in time for the ferry back to the mainland. The bus was to arrive in Stromness with about 10 minutes to spare for us to meet the 30 minute before departure deadline for buying tickets for the ferry. We couldn't buy tickets beforehand because we got a discount with our rail pass and we had no printer. If we missed the first ferry, we would have to wait about 5 hours for the next one and then it would throw our train plans all off. Basically, it would have been really bad to miss that ferry. It's also interesting to note that after our trip I noticed a lot of times during the winter when the ferries would be canceled. I had not even thought about that possibility, thank goodness!



(Note: For anyone planning a similar trip, I would actually recommend looking into the overnight bunks on the ferry.)

The ferry ride itself was also kind of rough. We both slept at first and tried to read for a bit, but we were on the verge of getting SO seasick that we both went back to sleep. I caught a few photos, but man, any more and I would've vomited.



We arrived in Scrabster at about 8am-ish and needed to get to the very nearby town of Thurso to catch the train. This was another moment of the travel day that had me very nervous. We needed a cab and had not pre-booked one. So, we run off the ferry to hopefully be first in line when this bald cab driver with a super thick Scottish accent says, "Need a cab?" Wow! Such good luck! We couldn't believe it.



On the way the cabbies phone rings and basically his accent is so thick we can barely understand him. "I'll be there in 5 minutes," we make out. And then he says, "I thought you were the Sweeneys!" Turns our when we heard "Need a cab?" he had said, "Sweeney? Cab?" Ruh roh! He was cool about it and we tipped him well, but man, we were so nervous to run into the Sweeneys later on the train. We kept imagining them pulling up as the train was departing and our cab driver pointing us out. Yikes!

The train for the first long leg was pretty nice. NOTHING like the Hogwarts Express, much to my disappointment.



Train travel can be tough because it is so long, but the first part of this trip was nice and we saw some beautiful sights.





Check out this Gaellic:



In Inverness we had to switch trains to get on the one headed to Perth. This is when the trains got a bit more cramped both is spacing and with people! And we didn't know people could reserve seats, which kinda freaked us out when we first got on. It was super hard to get around while carrying out huge suitcases and trying to find seats. So, not many pictures of this part of the day.

Ali yelled out, "I got a seat!" so I grabbed the first one I saw, which had plastic on it and a "wet" sign. Oy! I actually stayed dry, but then I started thinking, "What if this is urine?" so after we got going I assessed the situation and moved to another row. Ali and I emailed during the trip since we were far away and planned our next move for when we got to Perth.

This switch was fine, but the train seemed to get even smaller and we were basically on a metro-like train to the city. I stood the entire hour trip because it was too much trouble to try to get my suitcase into an overheard compartment. It was also Halloween so a lot of people were getting on in costumes. That was pretty amusing.

I liked traveling by train because we got to see more of Scotland, but it took forever and the parts without comfy seats together were kinda rough. I think I'd travel by train again, but only if I didn't have to switch trains. (I'm a big fan of planes!)

I was a little nervous pulling into Glasgow because so many people had warned us about it. It's way more city-like than Edinburgh, but for a visit, I really liked it. It reminded me of all the great Scottish bands I like. I could just imagine all of them living there and playing music.

Our hotel was the Alexander Thompson Hotel, which was right by the main shopping area. We checked in to our very spacious and comfortable room and then went for dinner across the street at a restaurant that looked over the street and gave us a great view called The Corner Bar.





It had been a LONG, LONG day so after we dinner we watched some TV and went to sleep!

XO,
SVR

Day 7: Explore Orkney

Remember when I went to Scotland? And then I was blogging about it? Yeah, it's okay if you don't. It's been awhile!

You guysssss, Orkney is AMAZING! Before going on the trip, I did a little bit of research about the sites we would see on our Megaliths and Mysteries tour by Explore Orkney but was not prepared for how cool it is to see things that are thousands of years old.

We started out pretty early and met up with our tour, which was just us, one other guy, and our guide, who was a native Orcadian.

Our first stop was not far away and I readied my camera as we drove down the muddy driveway of a working farm and parked next to a fenced in area.

Rennibister Earth House



Rennibister is believed to have been built around 1000 BC, but wasn't discovered until the 1920s when a threshing machine fell through the roof. It was a neat thing to see, but I was shocked when our tour guide said that we were going to climb down into it! WHAT?! It just seemed unreal!



But we did it! And it was tiny down there! And short.



I just couldn't get over how this amazing archaeological thing was just...chillin' in the middle of a farm.



Next we drove just up the street to get a good view of the Bay of Firth where it is believed that ancient stone sculptures are. We didn't see any, but it's a great view.



And, from this spot, we got a great view of an upcoming destination, the Standing Stones of Stenness.



But first, Maeshowe! One of the coolest things I've ever seen.



They think Maeshowe was built 2800 BC, which is incredible because it is made out of large rock squares and is impressively well designed. There were two features that were most notable to me. First, to enter the tomb, one must lean down and walk along the very short entryway. (My sister had a great picture of us emerging from the tomb, but this photo kind of shows someone scooting out.)



Our guide explained that it was likely that this design was to force visitors into a kneel of respect upon entering. The other feature that is so insanely cool is that the structure is designed on a specific slope and position so that on the winter solstice each year, the light shines perfectly against the far wall on the interior.

Our guide was AWESOME and told such fun stories about Maeshowe and the people who built it and the people who later found it-The Vikings!

This is a photograph of our guide demonstrating the age of Maeshowe:



"The pyramids? Meh...Stonehenge? BOOO! And wayyyyy back here, Maeshowe."

Yes, Maeshowe is older than Stonehenge.





As you can kind of see in that photo above, there is tons of Viking graffiti on the walls inside the tomb. Our guide explained that it was ~3,000 years later when Norseman (Eric?) found the tomb and probably used it as shelter. I loved the stories of what the graffiti says because while in such a majestic and old tomb, one would expect there to be profound words carved into the walls. But, no, mostly the walls say things like, "So and so, the son of so and so was here." And "This chick is hot."

Maeshowe has the largest collection of runic inscription that survives outside of Scandinavia.

We LOVED Maeshowe:



And how do you follow up Maeshowe? Well, with this:



The Ring of Brodgar



The Ring of Brodgar is a true circle of large stones with evidence of a trench around it and is believed to be from between 2500 and 2000 BC. It's not known what is in the center of the circle so, if you're a millionaire, be sure to donate to the excavation!



Following the Ring, we saw the Standing Stones of Stennes, which, like the Ring of Brodgar, is impressive and just really effing cool. These stones are actually larger than the Ring's, but there are fewer of them and they date to about 3100 BC making them one of the earliest stone circles in Britain.





Our guide told us that in more recent years (like, the 18th century), the stones seen above were used or engagements, where the couple would hold hands and walk between the stones or something. It's also interesting to note that you can see Maeshowe between those stones!

Next up: Skara Brae!



(And no, 5000 BC is not a typo.)

Skara Brae is right by the coast and is basically an entire little village underground. It's insane.



Owning the nickname "Scottish Pompei" because of it's preservation, Skara Brae is a collection of eight houses built into the dirt, most likely to protect against the winter weather.





Last for this most incredible tour was the Broch of Gurness.



We learned that whomever built this structure, made a perfectly round building...with no instruments to aid them.



The Broch is practically a baby, though, built between 200 and 100 BC.



And so concludes or tour of Orkney! Truly an amazing day. With a VERY early morning upon us, we had a good dinner of fish and chips and some brews at a bar by the water and turned in as early as we could. I was definitely sad to say goodbye to Orkney. It's a very special part of the world.

Day 6: Kirkwall

It was a beautiful day when we decided to walk to the Highland Park Distillery, which is about a mile outside of town. A long, long mile as it were.

But we got to pass some pretty funny street names...here is one:



Check out the sky! So pretty! And that's the water in the near distance:



The Distillery was one of the things we were most looking forward to doing while in Scotland. We had hoped to go to the Orkney brewery while there, too, but it had just closed for the season. We made up for it by drinking a ton of Orcadian beer while there. The Distillery is really cool because it's the top spirit in the world yet it exists on this tiny island and it has such an old feeling to it. You would think that such a popular whisky would be produced in a much larger and more modern way, but it's not.



And it's such an old place!





We took the tour, which I highly recommend, and James, our guide, was amazing. He was so informative and you could tell he really loved the place. We got to see all the parts of the whisky production:













After the tour, we got to try a wee dram of the whisky and it was delicious! And strong!





And then, the coolest thing happened: James all of a sudden went to the backroom and came out with another tray of samples. Apparently it was a "special group" and we were going to get to try the 18 year old scotch, as well! We're still not sure what made us a special group, but we kind of think it was us. The other people in our group were from Glasgow and France...but we had definitely come the farthest! All the way from America! It was quite special. And damn, that 18 yo is good.

Please please make the Highland Park Distillery a part of your trip if you ever find yourself in this spot in the world. This was one of the best things we did on the whole trip! Amazing!

On the walk back to town, we stopped by the amazing spot where Bishop's and Earl's Palaces are. These palaces are so cool to see in person and it was amazing to see how they're just chilling right on the edge of town. when I had researched them before the trip, I kept picturing them way on the outskirts, but they were practically a part of the neighborhood. The house next to mine here in Virginia is 20 years old. I can't even imaging living next to something from the 17th century!









The rest of our day was spent shopping for souvenirs and gifts and that evening we had drinks and ate dinner at our hotel. It was a great day.

Day 5, Edinburgh to Kirkwall

I was sad to leave Edinburgh. It's such a magical city and I loved both the people and the sights. I really feel like I could dig deep into the city and be content for quite a long time. I will definitely be going back.

But, the time had come to hop on a tiny tiny plane to head north to the Orkney islands. As excited as I was to go to Edinburgh, I was off the charts ready for Kirkwall. There's something extra special about going somewhere that probably no one I know has been. There's nothing rustic about Kirkwall, but we also headed there without too much of a plan. The guide books tells you a few sights to hit and I checked out instagram to get a feel for the town, but much of our three days there was kind of up in the air.

Getting to the Edinburgh Airport was, of course, an adventure in itself. Our hotel called out cab, so that was easy, but the 20 or so minute trip was spent trying to understand our driver and giving up half the time and just laughing in the hope that it was an appropriate response.

Our flight was on a tiny plane that we walked on the tarmac to get to and had one flight attendant. It was also filled with people who obviously were just going home so we stuck out like sore thumbs as tourists. It was a quick flight with a lot of great views. (I couldn't get any photos since I had lost my little camera and didn't want to cause the plane to crash by turning on my iphone.) I got the following shots before taking off:





So, I didn't take the following picture, but imagine the grass being greener and the cliffs being cliffier and just feeling like you're about to land on Venus:



And check out this airport!





Once we had the plane portion of the day over, we realized we had another bus situation on our hands, but this time it went much smoother and we were on our way to town.

We stayed at the West End Hotel, which was super cute and had a Dragonfly Inn* feel to it.



Our room wasn't quite ready so we set off for town in the drizzle and found The Reel, which turned out to be one of our favorite places! A coffee shop/music store/bar/cafe, it had everything we needed, which at this moment was FOOD.





After doing a bit more exploring we went back to our room to relax and get ready for dinner, which we ended up having at our hotel that night. Our hotel pretty much had everything we needed: beds, shower, teddy bears, a bar, and a restaurant. My meal that night was a delicious scotch pie:



Oh, and Nessie joined us!





After dinner we made our way back to the church for traditional scottish dancing! Unfortunately, I don't have those pictures online just yet, but I'm sure you can imagine how hilarious it was for me and Ali to hit up the local dance night. It was epic.

I really liked Kirkwall. It was like nowhere I had ever been before and while, of course, the same could be said for Edinburgh, there was something special about Kirkwall. Maybe it was the stone buildings and cobblestone streets or the fact that we were on a tiny island, but being in Kirkwall felt really special and different.

Next up...WHISKY!


* Gilmore Girls

Day 4, Loch Ness, Glen Coe, and The Highlands

We decided on a whim to take a bus tour from Edinburgh because we wanted to see more of the country, but weren't going to be renting any cars. Highland Experience was perfect for us because for a relatively low price, we got to see The Highlands, the famous Loch Ness, and a lot of countryside we would have missed out on if we had just stayed in the cities. It's also a LONG tour (12 hours!) so we knew we would get our money's worth.

We departed Edinburgh at 730am and after an informative trip out to the highway (seriously, our tour guide James knew so much!), we immediately saw a beautiful rainbow!



Now, let me tell you about our tour mates who we would be with allll day:

• James- Our precious tour guide from Glasgow who knew so much information about Scotland. He drove and gave information at the same time, which is pretty impressive as he was driving a 24 person van. 
• Talkative Guy- We found out later that this American's parents live in VA, but he, of course, was more worldly and made sure we all knew it. He literally did not stop talking for 12 hours. And he was loud! He was seated diagonally from us so we heard all about the girl he had broken up with and his plans for school and how he didn't miss living in America. 
• Aussie Guy- This guy started out as "Good Looking Guy", but after drinking an entire bottle of scotch, he was just Aussie Guy. Plus, he was married. We later figured out that his wife and kids were back at their Edinburgh hotel and that they lived in London. 
• Impatient Guy- Every time the bus stopped, he was the first one off, despite being seated in the back. 
• Spanish Girl and Gma- They sat in front of us so, despite not really adding to the trip much, they're still in my memories. Plus, Aussie Guy kept trying to get Gma to drink his scotch.

We started our trek by heading West and then North on the way to Stirling and immediately we saw beautiful countryside and cute little towns. It was tough to get good photos, though, as we were moving. Thank goodness for mental pics!



We also saw a bridge just like in Harry Potter!



Because the tour was so long, James was required to making certain length stops through out the day so our first one was at a little cafe/convenience store where we picked up a bite to eat and enjoyed the many people dressed up for Halloween already. (That was actually pretty amusing.)

What came next was one of the most breathtaking views of my life. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:







After the awesomness of that view, we hopped back into the bus and continued through the Highlands  and Glen Coe on our way north to Loch Ness. It was about at this point that Aussie Guy leaned over and held out his coke bottle asking, "Spirit?" So yeah, I took a swig. It was strong. I had a few more sips throughout the day, but at a certain point, my fear of not knowing where the next bathroom would be won over my enjoyment of scotch.

BAM!



We were just going around a roundabout when some old Scottish guy totally t-boned our bus! I don't think he was going that fast, but the impact caused the entire door to completely shatter! It also meant that we had to wait around for the cops to come:( It ended up causing us to miss the Loch Ness boat ride, but I think it kept us from getting caught in a really bad traffic jam that was a few miles up the road. After about 30 minutes, James gave us the update that the police were dealing with a car wreck fatality and that in Scotland, when those happen, they shut the road down for hours!

Soooo, we took a back way. And by back way, I mean middle of nowhere Scotland where the road is often barely wide enough for one vehicle, let alone two. As you can see from the following picture:



Aussie Guy jumped out and began directing traffic with a guy in an Audi wouldn't go past us! I think we would still be sitting on that road if he hadn't done so. My favorite part of this, though, was when James said, "Do you smell alcohol?" after Aussie Guy jumped through the broken door. Actually, now that I think about it, I think it was right after this that I had some spirits and not before because I remember not realizing until James mentioned it that Aussie Guy was drinking.

Oh hey, it's us!



After the traffic jam, we had to stop again (it's the law!), but we got some more breathtaking views in.





And then we went to Loch Ness!!!!! Which is beautiful and huge and completely magical. Aussie Guy invited us and Talkative Guy to go to a bar with him in the small town there and, at first, we went, but then we realized we'd rather go find Nessie than drink brews!







And it's a good thing we didn't get those brews or we never would have found Nessie!



After finding Nessie, we stopped at a castle a few miles up the road, also on Loch Ness.



By this point the sun was setting and we were about to hit Inverness, which was our northernmost point before heading back to Edinburgh. And remember how the door to our bus had been shattered? Well, it got pretty cold on the way home. It wasn't unbearable, but it did make me wish I had maybe one more layer on:)

This part of the day was pretty long. It was dark out so we didn't have much to look at, we were cold, we were hungry (since on our Loch Ness stop we found Nessie and not food), and about 20 miles from our next stop, we had an urgent call from nature. And I don't think we were the only ones because the line for the restrooms was about 20 deep once we stopped.

I think it was Pitlochry where we stopped, which seemed like a really cute town, but we weren't there long enough to do much more than go to the bathroom and get some curry chips from a super obnoxious guy at the fish and chips restaurant.

It was a short trip back to Edinburgh from there and once James dropped us off, we made sure to tell him how much we enjoyed our day and we were off for the walk back to our hotel with a quick detour to grab some dinner at Wagamama before hitting the hay!

(Can you even believe that after all of those sights we saw all day that we thought a RAINBOW would be the best thing we saw all day??)


Next up...Kirkwall!

Day 3, Edinburgh

Our second full day in Edinburgh was a memorable one because it was our first full Scottish Breakfast. Eggs, sausage, bacon, sauteed mushrooms (not for me), roasted tomato, and haggis. HAGGIS! It's actually not that bad. My first experience with it was maybe a 5/10 because I was super tired and was thinking way too hard about it being random sheep guts. But it's great when mixed with eggs and toast and such.

We set out from our hotel and headed to the Edinburgh Castle, which is a shortish, but steep walk.







I'll wait while you catch your breath from all of the steps.

The views from the castle are pretty spectacular so it's definitely worth it to go there.







I really enjoyed exploring the castle and even though we didn't take any formal tours, it was great to see such a different type of building. A castle, y'all!







After getting our fill of royal things, we went to the Whisky Experience, which is actually right at the entrance to the castle. This is a super touristy thing to do, but it's a lot of fun so I would still recommend it. First you ride in a barrel to learn about the whisky making process and then you go in a tasting room to try the whisky of your choice: Lowland, Speyside, Highland, and Islay. (I chose Highland.)



At the end of the tour, you get to see the largest collection of whisky in the world. It's quite impressive!



Since we got the Gold tour, our tasting wasn't over. For paying extra, you get to try four more whiskys or you can get a cocktail. Whisky is pretty hardcore so we decided to get the cocktail since we had more planned for the day.

Unfortunately, "the mixologist is off today" so we ended up with four more tastes!



It's actually a lot of whisky. In a short amount of time.



It was FUN!

After all of the whisky, we set out for our ghost tour, which was meeting up on another part of the Royal Mile. Unfortunately, no one in Scotland eats, so we just had beer for dinner at the Jolly Judge.





Our Ghosts and Ghouls tour was So Much Fun! We got to hear a lot of interesting stories about the city and its past inhabitants and we got to see some parts of Edinburgh that we wouldn't have before. Oh, and remember the bathroom at the Real Mary King's Close? Perfect for when all your whisky and beer threatens to make for an embarrassing moment:)



The ghost tour was informative and SCARY. While underground in the Blair Street Vaults, our guide told us a bunch of ghost stories and then...SOMEONE JUMPED OUT OF THIS DOOR, which was behind our backs.



(Super glad we had hit that bathroom! TMI?)

Once they had scared the crap out of us in the underground vaults, we continued on for our "adult beverage" in Megget's Cellar and photos with dead guys.



The only weird thing about the tour is that we finished in a completely different spot than from where we began, so when we came out into the night, we were completely turned around! After a long walk back to our hotel, which picked up some za and went back to the hotel to relax since we had an early morning planned for the next day.

Edinburgh is completely gorgeous and magical. It feels very old while there, which is a lot of fun for us Americans who have nothing like it at home. I would love to go back and focus solely on the pubs- they were fun!

Up next? Our trip to Loch Ness!

XO,
SVR

Day 2: Edinburgh

For our first full day in Scotland, we hit the ground running! After a delicious breakfast at our hotel, we set out for Calton Hill, which is listed in a million books and websites as being The place for great photo ops.





The hill itself is a World Heritage site and is home to several monuments as well as Scottish Parliament buildings on the bottom part of the hill.





It poured on our walk to the hill and then was sprinkling off and on while there, but that didn't dampen* our spirits one bit. In fact, it rained at least once every single day we were there. We were ready for that, though, so it didn't bother us.

After the hill, we walked back to the Royal Mile, which is actual a few streets that aren't really a mile long and run from the Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace. Everything in this area is quite exquisite (even the touristy shops!).



In this area is St. Giles Cathedral, a beautiful building right in the middle of the bustling touristy/historic** area. I love visiting churches and cathedrals because they are always so gorgeous and I like to see the different interpretations of beliefs. It's especially cool in Scotland because a lot of the buildings are incredibly old. St. Giles Cathedral was built in the 12th century. Whoa.



After lunch, (I think. I want to remember things exactly, for my own memories, but a few things are a little jumbled timeline wise) we got lunch and then went for a tour of Mary King's Close, something that was on my To Do List early on in our trip planning.



Closes in Scotland are another word for alleys and this tour takes you into the underground ones in the Old Town under the more recently built Royal Exchange. It's fascinating to see how people lived around the 17th century in tenement buildings that went up to seven stories high. It's these buildings that created the closes and on the tour, you get to see how awful the living conditions were and the tour guide tells a lot of stories about how the Plague affected life at the time***. This tour was one of my favorite things from the whole trip so, if you find yourself in Edinburgh, be sure to check this place out.

(Side note: There is a VERY accessible and lovely toilet**** right off the street! Perfect for when in the area. And don't laugh, bathroom knowledge is high on my list of travel requirements.)

Hebrides Bar was another spot on our To Do List and we hit them up next.



This is a great little pub with a good tap list and seems to be a destination for locals and tourists. They don't serve food, which is weird to us Virginia natives, but the bartenders were super friendly and we had a good time relaxing and drinking a few pints. I would definitely go back!

The sun sets early in Scotland in October so my memory gets a little hazy at this point on what we did next, but I'm pretty sure we went home for a nap. (I guess that explains the haze.) Dinnertime in Scotland proved to be a little challenging as pubs don't serve food in the evening and usually we didn't really want to go to a big restaurant. But, ya gotta eat, right? This night we ended up at a Thai restaurant near our hotel and had a really good dinner, but it took for-ev-er. We were so tired once we were done so we headed back to our hotel for some lobby time at the hotel!

Night night!



XO,
SVR
* HAHA!
** That's the thing about Scotland- even if it's touristy, it's still historic and awesome.
*** Can I get a what what for Sores and Boils Alley??
****I could never get used to calling the restroom "the toilet". So crass;)

Vacation, Day 2: Boston-->Heathrow-->Edinburgh!

I thought I would be too tired to sleep the night before going to The Motherland, but I guess waking up at 3:30am and then driving 10 hours makes a person pretty tired. I woke up on the 24th VERY excited to begin our epic trip to Scotland.

Everything at the Boston airport went quite well, including our delayed flight, which had us a little worried for our connection, but supposedly there would be a lot of wind helping our flight and we were only going to arrive 30 minutes later than originally planned. Okay, this is all boring stuff...fast forward to boarding and being excited about our flight attendants' accents and our awesome in-seat TVs that showed good movies and TV shows. Oh! And the Andy Murray BBC documentary that totally made me tear up while on the plane! Embarassing! Fast forward to me taking a picture with my Powershot and putting it back into my bag*. Zoom through the five hours on the plane and then...

Seeing London from above and at night! So cool. I've never been to London, but based on the aerial view alone, I'm in. Our connection at Heathrow went fine* and before we knew it, we were on a freaking plane to SCOTLAND!

SCOTLAND!

I kind of can't describe my excitement at this point. I have dreamed about going to Scotland for as long as I can remember so to be on the final leg of the journey there left me filled with joy. 

 The reality of touching down in Edinburgh was that we then needed to navigate the nine miles or so to the city from the airport. Originally we had planned on taking a taxi since we arrived at about 11pm and weren't certain about the bus system, but we're pretty frugal and decided to try the bus because it looked to be pretty clear with which one to take.

Now, this was pretty funny because we went to buy our bus ticket from the little machine next to the stop, but it would only take coins. (Oh, sidenote: At Heathrow we hit up the ATM, but I was denied, which totally freaked me out! I was so worried my card would be eaten that I decided to wait until the next machine, which was at the Edinburgh Airport. Except, I was denied again! OMG! Was I not going to be able to have cash while there?! I was freaking out until my genius sister who used to work at a credit union realized that I probably had a $300 limit for withdrawals and with the conversion rate, my attempt for $200 was breaking that limit. A quick request for $100 that was granted confirmed our suspicions and we were good to go.)

Okay, back to the bus story. So we needed coins, right? But all we had were 20 pound notes so we went to the one food spot open and bought a bottle of water each. It was so obvious we just needed change and we felt bad for taking the till's smaller bills to break our twenties. And then? Then the ticket machine for the bus flashed "Buy Ticket From Driver". *sigh*

The trip to the city was uneventful and we had looked at the map saved to my nook so we were pretty sure where we were going. It had seemed like our hotel was really close to where the bus stopped, but we got so lost once we started walking! At one point we were dragging our suitcases on a dirt path next to a small highway with no real idea of where we were. And it was about midnight by then so not my favorite time to be wandering around an unfamiliar city.

Remember when the Knight Bus picks up Harry Potter in the third movie? That same exact thing happened to us while standing on the side of the road while lost in Edinburgh. Well, except it was a taxi instead of a Knight Bus, but it was the same idea and about ten minutes later we were being dropped off at the Brooks Hotel on Grove St!

Sweet relief!

Until the hotel front desk guy checked us in and said, "Oh, you're only staying with us one night."

"WHAT?! No, technically four."

Long story short (I'm not a good story teller, by the way), our original itinerary had our three nights booked, but Ali (genius, seriously) realized our first night wasn't included! Turns out that when our travel agent added the first night, they put it under my name so when the guy looked in the computer, he didn't see the subsequent nights that were under Ali's name. Apparently being super smart runs in the family because I was the one who figured that out;)

Ahhhh, with the accommodation problem settled and our pajamas on, we tucked in at about 1am to get some sleep before hitting the ground running the next morning!

(Note: I highly recommend taking the daytime flight to the UK. We had no pressure to sleep during the flight and even thought it was only about 8pm our time when we got to our hotel, we were so tired from getting up early and traveling all day that it wasn't that difficult to get to sleep. I know a lot of people fly overnight so they don't have to spend money on a hotel room that first partial night, but for me, money spent on comfort is money well spent.)

More soon! I promise it gets better! And soon, PICTURES!

XO,
SVR

*Except that somewhere in between taking that photo on the plane to London and getting on the plane to Edinburgh, I lost my beautiful (and new!) Powershot. I was pretty bummed, but also determined not to let it get to me too much. I quickly put it in perspective: it was much better to lose it at the beginning of the trip rather than the end after taking a million pictures. And also, it was NOT the worst thing that would have happened. Not by a long shot. Plus, I still had my DSLR and iPhone for photo ops!)

Vacation, Day 1

I'll be writing these posts mostly for my own memories, but I hope you enjoy reading about our adventures as well.

We flew out of Boston, so my vacation actually began with a little* drive from Virginia to Kittery, Maine where my sister lives now. I usually avoid toll roads like the Plague, but in order to make the trip as short as possible, I begrudgingly headed up 95 and the New Jersey Turnpike and spent about $35 in tolls. (RIDICULOUS!) I got there at about 3pm, which, if you do the math, shows that I had left my house at 5ish so I was practically a zombie by the time I arrived. Sleep is for the week, though, so we spent the next few hours checking into our flight and finalizing our itineraries. 

It was at this point that I took out a couple of things from my suitcase. This was VERY tough for me as I love to take a lot with me wherever I go. I hate getting somewhere and not feeling like wearing what I've brought. I ended up having three things in my suitcase that I didn't wear in Scotland: a sparkly shirt, a skirt, and a dress. Oh, and the tights for the dress. I'm still glad I brought them, though. Options, people!

I was falling asleep by 9 or 10 so I hit the hay and set my alarm for 4am the next morning!

Next up? A day of traveling!

XO,
SVR

*HA!

Prepare Yourself

Since we planned for our trip to Scotland about a year in advance, I had a lot of time to prepare for the trip. It was nice to be able to buy things when I found them and it gave me time to read up in travel books. Some prep work was better than others. Here are my thoughts now that I'm back:

• Boots are essential. You want them to be waterproof, comfortable enough to walk miles in, and ones you won't mind getting muddy. My boots were a lifesaver!
• Raincoat. I searched long and hard for the right coat. I knew I wanted it to be longer, to be waterproof, to have a hood, and to have a detachable liner. I tend to wear more layers, therefor I can get away with a light coat at times, but that being said, I also can get cold pretty easily so that's why I wanted the detachable liner. The coat I ended up getting (a lined London Fog raincoat) didn't have a detachable liner but it was so comfortable and perfect in every other way that I went with it. And it WAS perfect!!! Only once was I too cold and that was when it was brutally windy in Kirkwall. 
• Jeans. I took two pairs of jeans to Scotland. One pair were perfection, and the other were not because they had lycra, which tends to be susceptible to gravity. I should have taken one more pair with me. 
• Pinterest. I pinned a ton of stuff before we went on our trip. My thinking was that if we got there and weren't sure of where to go, we could hop on Pinterest and see what had looked good before. I highly recommend doing this! It was so much fun to look up things and make a big list of activities and places that interested us. 
•  Books. My sister and I both read up in a lot of travel books about Scotland before we got there and then we each took one book with us. I took a Rick Steeves and she took a Fodors. Both were awesome and super helpful! 
• How to get from the airport to your hotel. For the longest time we had decided to splurge for a cab from the airport to our hotel because we were to arrive late at night. Once there, the bus seemed pretty easy (and way cheaper!) so we did that. Unfortunately, once dropped off, we got a little turned around and ended up a bit lost in a strange city in the middle of the night. After walking down a sidewalkless street and getting very turned around, we hailed the next taxi and ended up tipping him 100% for saving us from being murdered. 
• Sidenote- Once in the cab he asked where we were from and when we said near DC in America, he replied with, "I guess you haven't heard what happened, have you?" Holy hell I thought he was going to tell us there had been some attack. We were so relieved when it was just that spying story. We laughed it off, "Oh, we're used to that." 

Any questions about Scotland or traveling? We definitely had a planes, trains, and automobiles type of trip*.

XO,
SVR


* Modes only. Our trip actually ran quite smoothly. 
+ Title from Porcupine Tree

Lessons Learned

What I Learned In Scotland:

• Scottish Breakfast is really good! 
• When I had googled the description prior to our trip, I had seen a lot of photos of haggis and beans on toast. I already knew I wanted to try haggis, but beans on toast just doesn't sound appetizing in the morning. I ended up seeing beans/toast at only one hotel breakfast and it was in a buffet so I just didn't get it. What I loved about Scottish Breakfast is how big it is! I love starting out my day with a big, satisfying meal of eggs and meat. Yum!
• Haggis is not scary.
• Well, yeah it is because it's a bunch of sheep parts mixed with an oatmeal mixture, but it doesn't taste bad. If you've had scrapple, you can eat haggis.
• The Scots don't eat dinner.
• Not like Americans do anyway. We had such a hard time (in the cities especially) with eating dinner. We kept going to pubs with the plan to have a few pints and eat some pub grub, but they all stopped serving food super early! In Virginia, bars are required to serve food, which means we have fewer cool pubs, but also means we can easily combine drinking and eating. We ended up having to go to real restaurants to get dinner. 
• Distance is to Scots what time is to Americans. 
• People looked at us like we were crazy when we said we were including Orkney into our trip. Kirkwall is about 300 miles from Edinburgh, which would be like me going to New York City-not a big deal, right? But to them it's a lifetime away. 
• I remember one time in America someone remarking on how old their house was. It was built in 1950! That's not old! We went into a house that was built in 1471 while in Glasgow! We saw ruins from 5,000 years ago while in Orkney! I could barely comprehend how old that stuff was. It was incredible. 
• As soon as a bathroom is not available, you will have to use one.
• I don't want to get TMI or anything, but bathroom access is probably the most difficult thing about traveling. If you've ever been in a traffic jam on a one lane road in The Highlands with no bathroom nearby, then you understand. Just the thought of "I wonder how long we will be here?" immediately equals a call from nature. 
• The Heathrow bathrooms are not to be missed. So nice!
• They can touch you on ghost tours in Scotland.
• That would NEVER happen in America! 
• When you say you're from Virginia, people either assume you're a county bumpkin or their eyes get big with jealousy.
• My favorite reaction was the girl at a bar we were at for lunch who said, "I want to visit all of the states and see how they're all different!" So sweet. I said, "I haven't even been to them all!"
• My favorite bad one was the guy who got really excited and asked if we're from where The Waltons take place. A quick wiki search back at the hotel told us that The Waltons did indeed take place in Virginia, but I'm not sure that's how I want my home state pictured. And seriously? The Waltons? Plenty of other shows take place in Virginia....like The Vampire Diaries!
• Everyone in Scotland is attractive.
• We fit right in, which was nice.
• It really does rain a lot. 
• It rained every day. Even on days when it was nice, it rained. We didn't mind, though. You just deal with it. 
• The thing I didn't understand was the people walking around soaking wet. If I lived where it constantly rained, I'd probably at least have a coat with a hood. 
•  They're serious about credit card safety.
• Only one time was I told that a place could only take cards with chips. (They credit card has a security chip in it.)
• At a restaurant/bar, they bring the credit machine to the table and run it there. Then they compare your signature like you're signing out classified material at MI-5. I even had to show my license once because the signature on my card was rubbing off. I kept thinking about how in America I often just scribble something on the credit slip that doesn't even resemble my signature. And how at work I don't care if someone's card isn't signed. We told one waitress that in America we don't have the credit machines brought to the table and she looked at us like we were crazy. She said, "We take credit theft really seriously here," which I get, but it's not like we have a lot of that going on here. I've never had a problem after a waiter has taken my card away from me to run. 
• That said, at one restaurant, they actually undercharged us 10 pounds, which seemed weird because shouldn't their little machine show that the whole bill wasn't paid? (We added incorrectly when splitting the bill.) We realized after leaving and I ran the money back in. They hadn't even realized. Weird. 
• Tipping is weird.
• When they bring the credit machine to your table, it can be nice because it's easy to split the bill, but sometimes you don't get the option to add a tip. So be sure to always have some cash on you! 
•  We tipped on our drinks about half the time. We watched other people and they didn't, but the bartenders are so nice! And they were happy to get some extra pounds:) It definitely wasn't the customary $1 per drink that we do here in America.
• Guinness is served warm and ice cold. 
• Ranch dressing doesn't exist in Scotland. 
• Or, at least, it didn't exist the first time we asked for it with our chips and the waitress looked at us like we'd grown second heads. 
• Honey mustard didn't seem all the rage either, but at the West End Hotel they mixed some up for us:)
• People kept warning (getting me excited) about how it's cooler inside over there. I was told several times that they don't use the heat as much indoors. That's a LIE. Especially in Edinburgh. Glasgow was cooler outside and in, as was Kirkwall in a few places.
• Scotland has Build-A-Bear Workshops! YAY!
• Hardly anyone jaywalks. It's awesome! 
• The one pence piece looks just like a penny. Take your American change out of your wallet to avoid confusion. 
• If you're a vegetable fan, eat your garnishes. Veggies were a little too scarce for my taste. 
• Take the tour. It's worth it.
• Roll your pants up when it's raining. 
• 1 in 10 girls will be wearing shorts with tights underneath. 
• Don't be that person on the plane who sits in the wrong seat. You mess everything up! 
• This person was NOT me. I promise.
• 10 days is not enough time to find your Scottish soul mate. 

+ Title from Carrie Underwood

Scotland

I have a million posts planned about my epic trip to Scotland, but until I have the time, please enjoy my photos:

Photos of Scotland!!!


+ Title from My Love For Danger

Idea Track

Continuing with my plan to do, see, and hear all things Scottish leading up to my trip at the end of October, I now present you the music portion of this plan!

Top Bands From Scotland:

• Mogwai- One of my favourite* bands! "Folk Death 95" is an incredible work of art and it moves me-MOVES ME- when I hear it. I love how dark and heavy this band is and 90% of the times, it's done solely instrumentally. 
• Belle & Sebastian- Voted the top Scottish band of all time awhile back, this band is definitely on my list. They're sometimes a little too cutesy for me, but all the same, great melodies and lyrics. 
• Franz Ferdinand- This band is FUN. You just can not listen to them and not feel happy. (Sidenote: The band members have incredible accents!)
• Travis- I first heard this band in college and it was a secret track that I was obsessed with! And how can you top a song titles "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?" Depressing!
• Twilight Sad- I don't have as much experience with this band, but I remember hearing them and I could tell they were Scottish so that wins a lot of points in my book.
• Arab Strap- Completely obsessed with them. Serena and I saw them awhile back and it was so so so good. You can hear Aidan Moffat's accent in the songs and it's so good. 
• Mendelssohn- Okay, not Scottish, but his "Hebrides Overture" is, quite possibly, my favorite classical piece of all time.
• Idlewild
• Snow Patrol- I saw them live once.
• Frightened Rabbit
• We Were Promised Jetpacks
• Camera Obscura

Any bands or artists you'd recommend?

*Gotta get used to these British spellings.
+ Title from Idlewild

Going To Scotland

In preparation for my upcoming trip to Scotland*, I was thinking I should do a Scottish cleanse. What's a Scottish cleanse you may be wondering? Well, it does involve some scotch, of course, but it also involves immersing myself in all things Scottish in anticipation for being there. I actually got this idea when my e-friend, Sarah, tweeted about Scottish accents and I was reminded of my inability to understand most accents. (Seriously, it's like I shut down.) So I figured I would watch a bunch of Scottish movies leading up to my trip in an effort to get used to the accent, but then I decided to one up that and include music, too!

So, let's see...movies first, music later...

Scottish Movies To Watch:

• Braveheart- Duh! I haven't seen this movie in years and am so excited for the rain, the fights, and Mel Gibson as William Wallace.
• Trainspotting- Ewan McGregor is so good in this movie. I might skip the baby scene, but otherwise, this movie is so good and it's by Danny Boyle who also directed Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours. I also love Jonny Lee Miller and Kelly MacDonald.
• Dog Soldiers- I haven't actually heard of this one, but it's a horror movie that takes place in the Scottish Highlands so I'm in. It has a pretty good rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
• Rob Roy- Can you believe I've never seen this?
• Stone of Destiny- Supposedly light-hearted and it has Kate Mara in it. 
• Brave- Such a cute movie and the accents are to die for! Hard to believe Merida is voiced by Kelly MacDonald who you will remember is also in Trainspotting. 
• Dear Frankie- Gerard Butler pretends to be a kids dad for a week while in port in Scotland? Done!
•  The 39 Steps- Honestly, any excuse to watch a Hitchcock movie works for me. 

I think that's a good start! Do you have any films that take place in Scotland that you would recommend??


XO,
SVR



*I'm gonna mention this a lot. Sorry.


+ Title from The Mountain Goats

Host

It's funny when people ask, "How did you meet?" and you have to say, "Online", because, for me, inevitably, the next thing out of my mouth is, "But not in a weird way!"

So yeah, I met Ant yesterday, which was super awesome. I think he may now hold the title of "The First International Blogger I Have Ever Met"...and really, when I think about it, he might also hold the title of "The First Person* I Have Met From Across The Atlantic Who Was Not A Foreign Exchange Student At My School" which may be even more impressive. I hope he is excited to hold both of these titles.

I think he had a good time (?). I know Ali, Serena, and I did. After meeting at the train station we headed over to the monuments for the obligatory touristy stuff. Luckily, we were all in agreement to do nothing that involved a line** and after taking pictures of the ducks and monuments, we decided to go get lunch.

Ali's suggestion of Gallery Place was a good one and she led us to a restaurant she knows, which turned out to be quite tasty. This is also about when the pollen decided to attack me. I. Hate. Pollen. But you know what makes one forget about allergies? Beer. Lots of it.

So we went to a bar. Fado's, which is just down the street. We introduced Ant to the wonders of the Long Island Iced Tea and PA's own, Yuengling***. Sitting around chatting and drinking turned out to be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the day had to end since he was headed back north at 5pm.

I did promise to compile the list of words and phrases for him to take from us back to Scotland. I fully expect to arrive in Scotland next May with Ali and hear these words as I step off the plane:

zip zoom

yabbo

wowzers

beep boop

bing bong****

He taught us quite a few of his own phrases from Scotland, but I can only remember "Loch*spit*". Oh, and pal.

PICTURES HERE!

XO,
SVR


*Bands don't count.
**What are people standing in line for at the Archives anyway?
***Although I still maintain that was either not Yuengling or it was the "bottom of the keg" because it tasted weird.
****Wouldn't want to hear that when getting off the plane. That would just be weird!