If you follow us on social media (Facebook or Instagram), you might have already seen some of our semi-real-time posting about our recent trip to Scotland. But here’s a more organized recap, along with some of the impressions that are still soaking in from our travel adventures.

But first and foremost, I would say that one week is NOT ENOUGH TIME. Especially when some of it is spent on travel time. We felt like we were just starting to understand the area (and the traffic circles!) and get in a travel groove when it was time to head back home. There was so much more to explore. But, with our normal totally UN-planned travel style, we did pack in a lot!

To start with, our VA to NY flight was delayed. A lot. And diverted to Philedelphia once. And we missed all possible NY connecting flights to Edinburgh. So after 12 hours in airports for a 45 minute flight, we found we had an entire day to burn in New York City before the next plane to Scotland at 9 pm. Trying to make the most of it, we checked our bags into airport storage for the day and took the subway into Manhattan. Neither of us had ever been to NYC, so we just wandered around taking in the sights, and noise, eating pastries, and getting rained on.

Then back at the airport that evening our flight was cancelled and we were re-booked for 9 pm THE NEXT DAY . Our “make the most of it” attitude was fading fast at this point, so I won’t linger in describing Day 2 of living at JFK. Other than to say that we got to know our fellow stranded Scotland-travelers pretty well while sitting around. Out of the whole mess, that was a real blessing!

We did finally get to Edinburgh and pick up our rental car to start our vacation. We even got an upgrade from EuropCar to a diesel 4-door with super-amazing gas milage, which we dubed “the Elf.” Thank goodness we traveled carry-on only. Nothing else would fit in the car! {smile} We got quite attached to the Elf by the end of our trip, even if it was small enough to fit in the bed of the GMC. It certainly suited the roads and the parking spaces in Scotland better than anything bigger would have.

Even though we were taking an “unplanned” approach to our vacation, all the delays had made even our minimal plans very wonky and we ended up flying by the seat of our pants even more than expected. We headed west out of town for the National Museum of Rural Life, with an unexpected mis-routing right through Glasgow. It was an interesting introduction to left-side driving and clockwise roundabouts and we were definitely glad to get back out of the car for a couple hours when we got to the museum!

This museum is a gem! The house and farm were in the same family for 500 years and when the last couple passed away without children, they donated it to National Museums Scotland. The museum organization added the display center and continue to work the farm with traditional Scottish heritage breeds and manage the original house and outbuildings. We’re big fans of old tractors, old houses, and green pastures with sheep in them, and if you are too, we would highly recommend a stop.

Then we got back in the Elf and headed up the A82, through Glen Coe, to our hotel. The lochs and mountains were beautiful, in a very wild and barren way. Few houses, few people…mostly random sheep dotting the hills. Snow still lingered on mountain tops. The lower hillsides were starting to green up. The higher sections were rocky browns and purples and gold. We saw quite a few forestry operations, but as we went north we saw very little active farm work. No familiar patterns of tilling and planting. No landscaped yards or mowed medians and shoulders. It was all rough pasture, old stone fences, and scrub brush. And pretty much no road shoulders or medians at all!

Scotland is a land of lochs (or lakes). We saw a lot of marine operations and lakeside cottages. We checked into our hotel at Loch Leven Hotel and Distillery (awesome place, highly recommend!) and went exploring to find some dinner. The weather was beautiful and it was light until at least 8:30 pm every night we were there.

Big Lesson of the Scottish Highlands–you need reservations for dinner. Anywhere. And they are not kidding when they say everything closes at 9 pm. Yep, even the gas stations. Shut down, rolled up, go home.

We managed to squeeze in for dinner at Lochleven Seafood Cafe by leaving our name and driving around for 40 minutes while we waited. Before traveling, we had agreed that we were going to try and skip chains and comfort foods and experience things locally. So we ordered the local shellfish in cider broth–YUM!

The next day we slept in to recupperate from our 3-day airport fiasco, then headed north toward the Isle of Skye. We went through Fort William, passed Invergarry Castle, and stopped at Eilean Donan castle (which somehow sounds more like “Ellen Done-in” when they say it). Eilean Donan is a popular tourist stop, and seemed pretty crowded, so I wasn’t sure it was a good idea. But it was awesome and I’m so glad Mr. Fix-It insisted that we stop (even though I think it was more because he was tired of driving). It’s been beautifully restored and they offer the audio-tour free with your entrance fee. For my first real castle visit, it was amazing! Also, comparatively speaking, it was not crowded. We learned a lot about castle architecture from the audio tour that was useful later in our travels when we didn’t pay extra for tours.

Then we randomly drove through some small hamlets and waterfront villages in Drumbuie and Duirinish, and had fish and chips at Hector’s Bothy in Kyle of Lochalsh for a late lunch before we crossed the Skye Bridge. Heading north from Portree, we ended up hitting a pot hole (hard!) and getting a flat tire. Fun.

Thankfully we were just outside of Portree (and had full coverage with roadside assistance on the rental car!) and were patched up in about 1-2 hours. We also met the owner of the garage that towed the Elf and had such an interesting conversation with him about raising sheep, wool co-ops, and local farming that the waiting room time passed quickly. Since it was staying light so long, we were still able to see the Old Man of Storr, visit Lealt Falls and Kilt Rock, and walk to the ruins of Duntulm castle. We didn’t do any significant hiking, but each of these sites were worth the stop and a short comfortable walk. The cliff and coast views were just breath-taking. And stunningly different from anything at home.

All along our day on Skye there was this underlying randomness in the landscape. Haphazard fences, tumbling stone walls, sheep wandering wherever they felt like it. The landscape felt harsh and wild, but the animals, cottages, and flowers were not so much a feeling of feral, as of nonchalance. They were just doing what they do, grazing, growing, blooming, with calm disregard for how wild the environment around them was. It felt very soothing after several days of travel anxiety. Mr. Fix-It wasn’t big on the Duntulm castle ruins after seeing the restoration at Eilean Donan, but I really enjoyed watching the start of the sunset right there at the edge of the ocean cliffs.

So if the sun didn’t set until 8:30 or so, and we were watching it from the middle of nowhere at Duntulm castle, and everything in the Highlands closes at 9…guess what we had for dinner? Yeah, if that Big Lesson hadn’t sunk in yet, it did that night! {smile} From the Isle of Skye all the way back to Ballachulish (our hotel) we found ONE gas station open, an Esso station outside of Fort William. We got a Coke, an IronBru, and some Pringles, and stopped hangry-talking to each other.

The next morning we woke up and had a hearty Scottish breakfast at our hotel (haggis and blood pudding anyone?) and explored the local walking trails a little bit before checking out and heading back south.

To see the recap of the rest of our trip, read Our Week of Scotland Adventures…Part Two.