Why Scotland?We're Frank and Kathy and have been wanting to explore Europe together for a long time. We live in Charleston, South Carolina and try to escape the heat in late summer. Kathy is a physician specializing in Infectious Diseases; Frank is a historian and author who also leads history tours in the Charleston area. In early June after exploring different possibilities for journeys and deciding that Scotland would be ideal, we found all Rick Steves tours for August to October fully booked. But luck was with us. Kathy rechecked Rick Steves tours availability regularly and and found two openings on the Best of Scotland in 10 Days tour in mid-September. We jumped at the chance. Two months later we embarked on our adventure....
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Edinburgh: "That Ancient and Famous Metropolis of the North"
Robert Louis Stevenson, Edinburgh Picturesque Notes, 1878
Takeoff!
We added four days before and after the tour to see more of Edinburgh and add some time in Glasgow. After checking into events scheduled during our bookend days we found the Highland Games were coming to Pitlochry, a two hour train ride from Edinburgh. Woohoo!
By visiting Pitlochry on the Saturday before the tour, we'd get a head start on experiencing Scottish culture, the Highlands, bagpipe bands, the caber toss, and stone put, not to mention whisky tastings. Booking train tickets online through Scotrail was a breeze. Everything went smoothly until we reached the airport in Charleston on a calm Thursday afternoon. Unfortunately a long line of thunderstorms remained over New York City all that afternoon and evening, halting air traffic. After an over five hour wait in Charleston our flight was cancelled, and we went home disappointed. The following day all went smoothly but by the time we landed in Edinburgh and cleared customs, we'd missed the Highland Games. Undeterred, we set off to explore the city of Edinburgh as soon as we arrived and checked into our hotel. *Lesson learned: Heed the the advice of experienced airline personnel and arrive at your departure airport for outbound international flights as early in the day as possible. |
The Tao of Packing Rick Steves' philosophy of packing lightly resonated with us after years of toting suitcases. We decided to go with travel backpacks supplemented with a small day pack for Frank and travel purse for Kathy. How liberating! We walked comfortably through airports, train stations; city streets and country lanes throughout our time in Scotland. Dispensing with extra clothes and gear was aided by the helpful lists and videos on the Rick Steves Europe website.
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