Trip to Scotland

[tightasadrum]

I just returned from Scotland to visit DD who is studying at St. Andrews University this semester. A few observations:

* Scotland is a beautiful place with wonderful, friendly people in general
* The current cost to travel there is breathtakingly expensive
* The weather really does change almost hourly, but not in a bad way.
* Driving on the left side of the highway through roundabouts can be a terrifying experience and was constantly stressful for the first week. (I could easily make the case that allowing foreigners coming from right-side countries should not be allowed to rent a car
* something as simple as walking across the street can be very dangerous to someone used to 60+ years of watching a different traffic pattern before crossing
* allowing DD to study at St. Andrews may have been a big mistake: she is already dating a young Scot and just loves the place. It would be a long trip to visit her if she settled down there
* if you don't ask for a bill, you might end up sitting at your table all day
* the trip reinforced my thinking about travel in general. I want to spent far more time in a place than a week or two. It's just not enough time to really get to know it well
* I'll look for another place to travel where the dollar will buy more on the next trip, at least until the exchange rate improves in Europe.

 

[StJohnsWood]

The Scottish Highlands maybe my favorite place on Earth. What a great place with such nice people.

 

[tightasadrum]

The Scottish Highlands maybe my favorite place on Earth. What a great place with such nice people.

I'll second that. I've never visited anywhere that I felt more at ease with the people than in Scotland. And that includes most of the places I've been to in the US. Everyone was so very pleasant and at ease. I hated to leave for home. The Scottish Highlands were wonderful, at least the part I saw. I understand that they get a little overwhelmed with visitors in the summer. A woman we spoke with at the ticket desk at the castle on Loch Ness told us that it's not unusual to process over 6000 people through the castle ruins in a single day in the summer. She felt it wasn't fair to the visitors, and that the number should be regulated. This was a tiny place, and 6000 people through there would have ruined it for me. It was very windy, cool and rainy the day we were there. If I were making a period movie in the castle ruins, then the setting was perfect.