Reading this was a glorious return to a Scotland trip my sister and I took last October, a first visit for us both. We did a self-guided driving tour and agreed that it was an excellent survey; we now know where we want to return to, and as soon as possible. We took the ferry to Orkney and were there for several days, momentous ones because we had a plan to leave some of our dad's ashes there. We lost him in Oct 2020 and Orkney was one of his favorite places on earth. Our food experiences were much like yours: uneven, either stunningly perfect or really bad. All part of the charm. We are both swimmers and so we'd done a bunch of footwork ahead of time to ensure we could drop in to the excellent system of community gyms in Scotland (High Life Highland); swimming at pools in Inverness, Ullapool and other smaller cities was a definite highlight, because we got to feel as if we were living like a local, just for those few hours. The people were uniformly warm, curious, and courteous. Like you, we are smitten. Like you, we can not wait to return, Like you, we dream of living there. We've both filled our social media feeds with Scottish cultural sites, so we get daily reminders of the beauty and splendor and idiosyncrasies of a place we now hold dear in our hearts. Thank you for sharing your journey with us.
Ohhh, this is so amazing, I'm so glad you had such a wonderful trip too and I love that you guys went swimming! I'm so sorry about your father, but how special to have such an emotional link to such a beautiful, rugged place.
What an amazing trip! I loved watching your trip via Insta photos and the sheep in the back garden reminded me so much of staying at my aunt's house in the English countryside where I would hear the sheep baaing in the fields at night.
We were in Skye the year before our first child was born. It was pure magic! Night train from London to Inverness, rental car and a friends’ family’s crofters cottage.
The last time I went to Scotland, I was pregnant with my oldest who is now 18! Clearly time to go back. I bought a cookbook there and a wonderful wool blanket that we still use all the time. I wanted to address the idea of traveling with kids. One of my husband's uncles once told me the golden time to travel with them was between the ages of 7 and 12 - old enough to be slightly independent and young enough to still want to hang with the parents. I have two boys, 18 and 16, and we still find them to be delightful travel companions. We get a tiny bit of eye rolling now and then but mostly we have enthusiastic interested grateful companions who can also carry heavy luggage. It doesn't have to go south when they hit their teens!
Ohhh, that is so lovely to hear! I totally agree that teens today get a bad rap - literally all the teens we know are actually adorable creatures (also they are all boys, I'm just realizing, haha). I'm just perhaps referencing my own bad attitude back in the day at 13 when my mother took me on an amazing vacation and I mostly just moped around and read. GAH!
Reading this was a glorious return to a Scotland trip my sister and I took last October, a first visit for us both. We did a self-guided driving tour and agreed that it was an excellent survey; we now know where we want to return to, and as soon as possible. We took the ferry to Orkney and were there for several days, momentous ones because we had a plan to leave some of our dad's ashes there. We lost him in Oct 2020 and Orkney was one of his favorite places on earth. Our food experiences were much like yours: uneven, either stunningly perfect or really bad. All part of the charm. We are both swimmers and so we'd done a bunch of footwork ahead of time to ensure we could drop in to the excellent system of community gyms in Scotland (High Life Highland); swimming at pools in Inverness, Ullapool and other smaller cities was a definite highlight, because we got to feel as if we were living like a local, just for those few hours. The people were uniformly warm, curious, and courteous. Like you, we are smitten. Like you, we can not wait to return, Like you, we dream of living there. We've both filled our social media feeds with Scottish cultural sites, so we get daily reminders of the beauty and splendor and idiosyncrasies of a place we now hold dear in our hearts. Thank you for sharing your journey with us.
Ohhh, this is so amazing, I'm so glad you had such a wonderful trip too and I love that you guys went swimming! I'm so sorry about your father, but how special to have such an emotional link to such a beautiful, rugged place.
What an amazing trip! I loved watching your trip via Insta photos and the sheep in the back garden reminded me so much of staying at my aunt's house in the English countryside where I would hear the sheep baaing in the fields at night.
So idyllic!
Interested in the restaurants friends recommended in Edinburgh that you couldn’t get into.
They were Scran and Scallie, Angels with Bagpipes and Valvona & Crolla.
While I was reading this I kept thinking that I just have to take a trip to the Highlands. Wow, sounds wonderful!
It was outstanding!
We were in Skye the year before our first child was born. It was pure magic! Night train from London to Inverness, rental car and a friends’ family’s crofters cottage.
Heaven
The last time I went to Scotland, I was pregnant with my oldest who is now 18! Clearly time to go back. I bought a cookbook there and a wonderful wool blanket that we still use all the time. I wanted to address the idea of traveling with kids. One of my husband's uncles once told me the golden time to travel with them was between the ages of 7 and 12 - old enough to be slightly independent and young enough to still want to hang with the parents. I have two boys, 18 and 16, and we still find them to be delightful travel companions. We get a tiny bit of eye rolling now and then but mostly we have enthusiastic interested grateful companions who can also carry heavy luggage. It doesn't have to go south when they hit their teens!
Ohhh, that is so lovely to hear! I totally agree that teens today get a bad rap - literally all the teens we know are actually adorable creatures (also they are all boys, I'm just realizing, haha). I'm just perhaps referencing my own bad attitude back in the day at 13 when my mother took me on an amazing vacation and I mostly just moped around and read. GAH!