We’re back from a whirlwind trip around Scotland with Jason’s parents!
I haven’t had a chance to wrap my head around the whole experience or had the time to tell you what we did (beyond scribbles in my journal), so how about some real quick points, updates, and photos to hold you over to next week…hopefully. It’s a busy week. sigh
First: we took our trip during Thanksgiving break. Yep, that’s right, the busiest time of year to travel. We landed in Edinburgh on Thanksgiving morning and quickly found things to do to stay awake, of which there were plenty. Rule #1 for curing jet lag – stay awake until your proper local bedtime the day of arrival, even – and this is key – if you didn’t sleep on the plane. We never sleep on planes so yes, we know how painful this can be.
November is an absolutely beautiful time to visit Scotland. The Christmas markets are gearing up, the days are brisk (and short…very short), and the tourist level is low, at least until the Christmas markets are in full swing. Our biggest tip – pack LOTS of layers. If the wind is blowing, it will chill you to the bone. Otherwise, it was quite pleasant and the scenery, as always, was breathtaking. It snowed! So magical!
We took this trip with Jason’s parents to test out some new hotels, plan a new driving route, see some friends, and test the feasibility of us leading some small, self-driving, adult trips in the future. It was a bonus to have his parents along to give us feedback and so his mom could visit her ancestral stomping grounds in Huntly in Speyside. We figured out what is and isn’t open during the off-season and visited some places we hadn’t been to since before the pandemic. It was a productive trip.
Have we mentioned here before that we’re thinking about leading small group trips in the future? The entire goal of this blog (beyond helping our friends and family keep track of us) is to teach folks how to confidently travel on their own. Besides answering tons of questions on the blog, in messages, and in person, we’ve decided that it’s time to put it into practice. We are currently in the process of closing our boutique business at the end of the year (thus the chaos in our life in the next few weeks). After that, I am hoping to have time to create itineraries for purchase AND create self-driving itineraries for group trips, which we will lead, for those who want a little more guidance. We’re hoping to do maybe two of these a year, starting in Scotland for now and most likely traveling in May and October.
We would love your feedback on both the itineraries and small-group trip ideas. I am hoping Jason has time to create a survey for us soon with more specific questions. Meanwhile, let us know what you would be interested in seeing, how we can help you feel more comfortable traveling, what you need the most help with, and what your thoughts are on driving yourself in Scotland. We could rely on the train and bus system to get around the country, but you’ll miss so much outside of the cities. We can’t personally drive you without special licensing and expensive bus/van rentals, and quite frankly, I hate bus trips. We’re not going to be a bus trip. The transportation is something we are still working out, so we would like your thoughts on driving yourself. We’re all here to learn after all!
That’s all for now! Leave us some comments on the blog or send us a message on Facebook or Instagram to answer those initial broad questions. I’ll let you know what we got up to in Scotland next week…hopefully.
