While We're Young, Scotland 2008

We're home!

2008-05-05T06:52:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I'm going to dive into posting about the trip straight away - but I wanted to let everyone know that we're home and all four flights were successful :) We actually got home last night and I was falling asleep at 9:15pm! When I woke up this morning, bright eyed & bushy tailed at 5:20am I was happy to realize that I think we didn't mess up our internal clock too much and I just hope I'll be able to fall asleep & wake up so easily indefinitely.

Here's a short list of what I'm going to miss and what I'm not going to miss from Scotland...

I'm NOT going to miss:

The smell of gas on all the streets. It appears that despite all of their commercials about saving the environment they don't have very strong smog regulations in place, at least not in comparison to California that has some of the strictest. I know that everyone complains about smog checks and all that, but I'm now very grateful. Being able to walk down the street - or be in the vicinity of cars without gagging on fumes - is nice.
Lack of toilet seat covers, and toilets that flush the first time. Before everyone starts in about the toilet seat covers, I know that there have been studies that prove them next to worthless - but that doesn't matter to my piece of mind and I'm just glad to have them back in public restrooms.
Driving. Enough said.
Banking hours - for EVERY business. I'm an American and a Californian, the fact that I can't find hot food at 1am is appalling and was very frustrating as we couldn't adjust to the time change despite waking at the crack of dawn for our included breakfast everyday.

I'm going to miss, very very much:

The sky. I'm going to miss those thick sweeping clouds that moved faster than us and spotted the hills with shadows. Playing peek-a-boo with the sun was a big game that we never get to play here.
The wet weather. Everywhere we went, people were apologizing about the weather - and everywhere we went we said, "This is what we came for!" I'd like to point out that it was in the high 90s (° Fahrenheit) with a chance of burning alive while we were gone from our home area.
The sight of livestock everywhere. I was telling my dad when he asked if we saw sheep, "We saw them everywhere - and up to the very end I shouted 'SHEEP' or 'COWS' every time we saw some!" :) I don't know much about sheep, so I'm just going to assume it's our luck, but there were lambs everywhere. I felt like I was browsing cute overload 24/7!
The easy access to fresh, affordable produce. The reason I don't eat as many fruits and veggies as I'd like is because everything that looks good and fresh, is so expensive! Since we had to feed ourselves a lot because we missed the open hours of so many places, I began to rely on these stores. I love Sainsbury!
The open, open landscape. I'm going to miss this one the most I think. Everyone had boundaries to their properties - it just wasn't as loud and foreboding as it is here. Short rock walls and tree lines seemed to be all they needed - and that's what I'm going to miss. If I never saw another chain link fence again - I'd be ecstatic.

Anyhow... So I'm home. I was really home sick towards the end but now that I'm here I feel like I just left and I'm so sad it's all over so soon :(

A few hiccups, but what's new?

2008-04-23T12:21:00.000-07:00

The flight to Dublin was long, very, very long. But was on the whole enjoyable. I wasn't able to sleep more than a half hour or so, and there was this set of little girls that I really wanted to drug, but other than that it was good. We got a full dinner of beef ravioli and a good light breakfast that really refreshed me - maybe I'm just not picky but I liked it a lot! Take off was actually very fun and landing was a breeze, I like to fly!

When we landed we went through the airport and bought our bus tour passes. We were told to meet our luggage in Glasgow - which I didn't even think about but I'm so glad that how it was going to work because having to tug that luggage on the tour would have been a nightmare! The tour was very nice - fast paced! I was shocked by how the traffic worked in Dublin. Pedestrians were not God like - but acted like it. The cars passed so close together sometimes I thought we'd crash! Whenever the doors shut the driver took off like a shot and you just prayed you were in your seat. When we went on the transit bus (different from the tour bus) all the locals looked to take it in stride so I assume personal injury lawsuits aren't nearly as out of control as in the States.

By 2pm local time, I was exhausted and actually began to feel nauseated - so we cut the tour short and headed back to the airport. There I found the one and only bunch of seats that didn't have permanent armrests and slept a teeny bit. We jumped onto the flight and almost directly after takeoff we were landing again as it was only a 45 minute flight. We landed and I was barely able to stand on my feet as we waited for our luggage. Then the hiccup came - our luggage never showed. Apparently it was held back in Dublin for no apparent reason and we'd get it the next day. I'm going to down play it here - but I was pretty broken up about it. I needed sleep, a shower, and I was getting hardly either of both. But I was nice and didn't get mad - only sad - and left with my one carry on that only had my contact case & glasses and Linnet.

Then came the second hiccup. Driving. I don't know what I was thinking - I didn't do nearly enough research. I stupidly thought that it would be the same - other than the driving on the left side of the road thing. It's not. They don't have stop signs as far as I can tell - but rather yield symbols on the road and do not enter signs. Glasgow is so busy - the area we're staying in has a ton of one-way streets which made getting lost easy and getting found very UNeasy. We drove in circles for what seemed like hours but what was in reality only an hour and a half for a supposed ten minute trip. Early on I broke down from no sleep, hunger, a full bladder and then accidentally driving on the right side for a second and Paul had to take over. He's wonderful at taking direction that I'm good at giving and just getting us there. It might have taken awhile but it was so less stressful than me trying to drive.

To top off the hiccups - our phones actually DO NOT work here... at all. I'd be fine with this - but both of our parents were looking to make sure we'd landed all right and since I told them our phones would work I knew that they'd panic. Plus, with us having no idea where we're going - being unable to call our hotel for help was a big inconvenience - to put it mildly. I cant call T-Mobile as they only have a 800 number and 800 numbers are not accepted here. I've tried emailing them but it's been over 24 hours and no matter the time difference that is still surprising. We went to a T-Mobile store over here but they were not very helpful other than telling us to get a phone card. We bought one for £5 that gave us a lot of minutes and so we're just going to use that and buy another later. The pay phones are gross here (the booth I was in smelled like urine and the one next had vomit dripping down the window on the inside - eeeewww!) - I don' t like using them - but I'm doing what I have to.

We got our luggage this morning and tried out the power converter. It works! However it took us awhile to get the laptop working with it. Wouldn't be a big deal if our phones worked but they don't. Tonight I'm going to get DETAILED directions for the rest of our stops and saved them offline to our laptop since we can't print. That way I can just pull out the laptop if we get lost. Oh! And the car is nice, so teeny but nice - and hybrid apparently so I hope that it saves up on gas. We've had to spend a bit more money already in getting some phone cards in order to contact our families - so I hope to make that up on the gas.

Hiccups aside: We're doing great. I'm excited to get out of Glasgow and the busy city though and continue on! We leave tomorrow morning for Fort William and this will likely be my last post until Edinburgh because I'm assuming we wont have internet connection at any of the B&Bs and my phone is unusable. I've uploaded some pictures - but not many - more later I promise!!!

On the plane!!!

2008-04-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

I took the window seat!

Day 1: LAX

2008-04-21T15:30:00.000-07:00

We woke early on Monday to start packing in the hopes that having the whole process fresh in our minds would keep us from forgetting anything. I was also hoping that by waking early we'd be exhausted for the plane ride - I was still skeptical that I'd sleep even though everyone said that's what would happen. We had plans to leave around 11am because our flight was scheduled for 4:15pm and we knew it would take us about an hour and half to two hours to get to the airport. We also built in plenty of time to get through security as I had no idea what to expect. I'd never flown and we were also traveling internationally.

Paul's parents had volunteered to take us to the airport and they showed up close to 10:30am. I was running around at that point because I'd forgotten to print out our paperwork (not tickets, just planning paperwork) and also get all these last minute things done. His mom started building this list of things that Paul needed and of course he hadn't packed any of them. I really wanted to make sure the house was clean too, and I was worried we'd forget to take out the trash and run the dishes and whatnot and come back to a rancid smelling apartment. That wasn't the welcome home I wanted! My own parents showed close to eleven and together we still got out of the house just fine, and on the road easily. Saying goodbye to my parents was hard. I've never really "traveled" and all I remember is when I was a little girl and went to a Christian camp for a week. I don't remember being home sick while at the camp but I remember running frantically to my brother once they came to pick me up. My mother did surprisingly well in the goodbyes to me - though she broke down a bit when saying goodbye to Paul and telling him to keep me safe. I have to admit that if she didn't show a little bit of concern I'd be concerned :)

Once we were in the car, I felt I could sit back but at the same time I was anxious for the two hour drive to pass. Paul pulled out the video camera we'd borrowed from his parents and started filming, which I hated. I hate myself on camera and I wish I didn't. I wish I could have the entire trip on camera - but my self-consciousness kept me from being myself when the camera was on. Besides, traffic was boring and there wasn't much to talk about on the way there. It was on the way there that I realized I'd forgotten my toothbrush - but I knew I could just buy one there. We actually had wonderful luck with traffic, and we were there within an hour and a half. We stopped in a loading zone and popped out quickly and grabbed our luggage. There wasn't any long goodbyes here - as traffic was building behind us - and we started into the airport pretty clueless. We knew which terminal we needed to be in, and we saw our airline listed on the signs outside, however that's where our knowledge stopped. I'd never been to this airport before, and it was confusing. Our airline was listed at one end of the terminal but international departures was listed at the other. Plus, there was a second story that was for security checks - so we didn't know where we needed to go.

After a lot of walking around we found that we needed to check in with our airline desk where we'd also check our non-carry on bags, head up to the security checks for ourselves & our carry on bags and then to the other side of the terminal for our departure gate. Everything went pretty smoothly, though it grossed me out that when we did our security check we were forced to take off our shoes and walk around in our socks or barefeet. I could smell the odor on the ground - which completely disgusted me - but I wasn't about to cause a scene so I just did it. Frustratingly, you could tell who had done this before and who hadn't and no one was there to direct you. I just tried to follow what everyone else was doing - and at one point this man grew so impatient that he just cut in front of us and a bunch of others. Whatever, we got there with plenty of time. It was a mad dash to throw everything into these trays that would be scanned as they were pushed down this path of rollers, then a mad dash through the metal detectors, and then again a mad dash to grab your things before they were pushed off the path by all the others being pushed through. It seemed very unstructured, like they needed someone there to meter how many people were being checked at a time.

After everything, we sat down outside our gate with about a half hour to spare before they would begin boarding. We took this chance to munch on some snacks, drink some soda and generally catch our breaths. It was exciting to be sitting there, knowing that soon I'd be on my first plane :) I was a bit nervous, but I just kept remembering that I'd done a lot of other things that were much scarier - like when I went on the roller coaster at Wild Bills in Nevada. This would be tame in comparison.

LAX... waiting to x-ray our bags

2008-04-21T14:16:00.000-07:00

The line is long. I hope I haven't brought anything I shouldn't have...
:(

We're on our way!

2008-04-21T13:08:00.001-07:00

We're in the car, on our way to the airport! I hope that we've
remembered everything... I know I've already forgotten my tooth brush -
but we'll just buy one there :)

Our last night

2008-04-20T21:28:00.000-07:00

We took Ripley (dog), Junior (cat), & August (fish) over to my parents house tonight. It feels very still and quiet in the house now. I spent all day cleaning as I was determined to leave it as clean as I wanted to come back to it. Without the animals to make it messy I know that I've succeeded. We've got everything plugged in charging which include; two DS Lites, my sidekick, Paul's dash, PSP, Zune, laptop, video camera and still camera. I hope we don't break a circuit :) I've got my clothes in the wash, and soon in the dryer, and then tomorrow I'll fold and pack everything.

I have a plan. My plan is to wake up early so that once I get on the plan I'll feel tired enough to sleep as I'll need it. So if I wake up early I'll need something to wake up early for - and that is going to be packing. Plus then I don't forget anything thinking I'd already packed it.

Yesterday we had some of our money exchanged into Euros & Pounds. They only have fives in euros - so we have a hundred eruos in fives. They had appropriate dominations of pounds though. It was so cool to have it in my hands!!! I just hope I've gotten enough to start with.

Anyhow... I'll post more tomorrow before we leave but after 4pm PST I'll be out of contact!

Five days!

2008-04-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

I was telling Paul the other night that I didn't even notice when it went from double to single digit - but suddenly we only had six days! Now I can't seem to keep my eye off of it for more than an hour. I'm so shocked - I thought this would never happen! We've been planning for almost a year I wonder what we'll do once we get back :)

I'm a little concerned about how well our money is going to hold up. Despite all the talk about the USD going down the crapper, we're actually getting a slightly - and I mean slightly - better return on our money now than when we started. I think that'll probably just even out the rise in gas prices.

I just hope that I've done all my calculations right. I've calculated and projected almost every cost I can - I just hope that I'm right. I take comfort in knowing that I've over calculated a bit and I may just plain be wrong for what we're going to need. Maybe we wont need to fill up so much. Maybe we wont have to eat out so much. Maybe we'll have to skip on an activity or two - who's to say?

Everything is going to go just fine...

Give me SOMETHING!

2008-03-25T19:09:00.000-07:00

We got our myguideBritain travel package today, and I was disappointed to find that they still have not provided us with street addresses for 4 out of our 7 accommodations. Some of the directions are pretty straight forward - but most are not. One place simply says Bruce Gardens - but that place has more than one B&B in it so how are we to know which one it is?

I emailed the person I'm working with at myguideBritain and told them that if they can't give me street numbers - that's fine. But I need some longitude & latitude coordinates or something. I'm not going to go tramping across half of Scotland looking for one B&B. Sure, that'd be a story to tell and I'd see some cool stuff but in the process I'll be wasting time I could be spending seeing places I've been dreaming about for ages.

25% off is throwing me for a loop

2008-03-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

Awhile ago I posted on my Scotland blog about me wanting to purchase a different toiletry kit as the one I have now is just a tad bit too small and it took me ages to pack it so that everything fit - the very thing I was trying to avoid. So I went onto Amazon and bought another bag through one of their merchants. Two weeks later and I'm still waiting for A) The money to be taken out and B) For the item to be shipped. After many emails asking for a status I get an email that says the item is actually out of stock. Nice. However, as an apology they'd like to give me a 25% discount & free shipping to use at their online store (not Amazon). Looking around I've found a few options and I'm having trouble deciding.

First we have two Eagle Creek (I've come to love them!) toiletry kits that are essentially the same however one is larger. The reason I'm debating is because I don't want to get a monster kit - but I don't want to do what I've done with my current kit which is get just enough. Their sizes are 10" x 6.5" x 4" for the medium and 11.5" x 9" x 4" for the large and the price difference is about $10 which bothers me a bit... In fact, as I'm writing this I think I've decided to just go with the medium. For one thing, I don't like paying $10 for a total of 4 inches more. Plus, the inches are height and width but not depth which is where I think I'd find it most beneficial. So, now we've narrowed down which toiletry case to get :)

Second we have two shoulder bags. The reason I'm considering these is because as everyone knows, I'm taking Linnet with me and I want to have her as my carry-on and in a proper bag that will keep her safe and protected. These bags drew my attention because I can't have her stretched out due to carry-on baggage size limitations so I need something that will allow her to bend at the waist but not have to bend at the knees too. These bags are perfect in size, they have a stiff bottom, and the bottom has those metal numbs that will prevent the bag from resting directly on the floor which I think will protect her even more. The decision to be made here is which color/pattern to choose.

Once I choose between which tote, then I have to decide between the toiletry case, or the tote! I might be able to find a good tote, and for cheaper (though, not as cute) else where though I know I've been having trouble finding a good toiletry case. However, once I'd found out I wasn't getting the case I wanted I did another packing and decided to just make do. So, should I buy another toiletry case even though I have one - or should I buy the tote even though I could find these at a dime a dozen?

Run one, learned a thing or two

2008-03-05T12:20:00.000-08:00

I ended up ordering two packing folders & four packing cubes from an online store that will allow me to return them if necessary (got free shipping too!). They arrived on Monday and last night I did a run-through packing to see how well they worked. Though I didn't have a list in front of me, I packed everything I wanted to bring. I also found out a lot about my suitcases and I'm even more glad I bought them :)

I found that my smaller second suitcase was divided into two levels (with a wide flat pocket on the outside) and that one level was a perfect fit for my hiking boots (as I'll be wearing my comfy flats to the airport and when we're not hiking). That same level also has a semi-removable lining so it can be cleaned to an extent if my boots are dirty. The next level I haven't really decided what I want to put there - but that's a good thing because I want to leave room for souvenirs.

My larger suitcase is working out wonderfully. I used two of the packing cubes; filling one with socks and the other with underwear and my extra bra. I also used the packing folder - but only put my t-shirts in it. The size is larger than I thought it was going to be - perhaps a bit too large. Having only my t-shirts in it is not enough to justify bringing it so on my next round of packing I'm going to make sure to pack my pants in that as well (I just folded kind of rolled them and put them in the case this time) to give it some bulk and stiffness. It'll also keep my pants (particularly my cargo pants - that wrinkle easily) in fairly presentable condition - SCORE! The large suitcase has this really nice pocket that is in the top (lid) and it holds my all-weather jacket perfectly! There's also this small inner pocket that fits my slippers perfectly too! All in all I'm just really excited and happy with my travel purchases so far.

The only downside I've found so far is that my toiletry case is just not big enough. I don't want to have to pack it so carefully in order to fit everything because it's time consuming and I don't want to spend a lot of time packing and unpacking. I just want everything easily accessible. I've found one on Amazon that I like that is cheap - so I think I'm just going to pass this one off to Paul :P

Power conversion; to charge - or not to charge.

2008-02-28T15:29:00.000-08:00

Recently we started doing some serious investigation into power converters / adapters. A few facts that we've learned:

USA is running at 110/120 voltage
Europe is running 220/240 voltage
Converters are either made for high voltage items (hair dryers), low voltage items (laptops) or both - but not all are both
Converters are not the same as adapters

After looking at my hair dryer and discovering its not dual voltage we realized we're either going to have to buy a new hair dryer or a dual converter in order to use my hair dryer and my laptop while in Scotland. I've found quite a lot of dual converters online - and we purchased one from WalMart for about $20 - a damn good price in comparison to other sites. I found one blog that gave the converter we bought a thumbs up! Then I went onto Amazon and read the comments left by other users - only three reviews and the final count was one 1star, one 2star and one 5star rating. I've decided to return the converter once we get it. But, while I was at Amazon and able to read the reviews I hunted around for another converter. What I found was that every dual converter sold on Amazon has a general 50/50 review (or no review at all). Half say it was great - half say it blew up and stopped working a few hours in.

So what should I do? I don't want to damage my precious, precious laptop with some shotty converter but when all the converters seemed to work well for some and not for others - what do I choose?

THE LIST! ... Thus far.

2008-02-26T15:44:00.000-08:00

NOTE: This is all on the stipulation that we are washing our clothing half way through.

OUTER:

3 Pants (1 jeans (1 blue 1 black) & 1 cargo)
5 Shirts (3 short sleeves & 2 long - for layering)
1 All weather coat (light, water resistant, removable inner liner)
1 Zip up sweater w/hood
1 Pair of hiking boots
1 Pair of comfy flats

INNER:

8 Pairs of underwear
8 Pairs of socks
2 Bras (1 sport)
3 Sleeping bottoms (1 short & 2 long)
3 Sleeping tops (2 short sleeve & 1 long sleeve)
1 Pair of slippers

TOILETRIES:

1 Bottle of shampoo #1
1 Bottle of shampoo #2
1 Bottle of conditioner
Face wash
Body soap (bar)
Face lotion (w/sunscreen!)
Deodorant
Brush
Comb
Contact case w/solution
Glasses w/case
Eye drops
Chapstick
Q-tips (ear swabs)
Tooth brush w/paste
Floss
Mouth wash
Nail clippers
Nail file

ELECTRONIC/PHOTO:

Power outlet converter/adapter
Laptop w/charger
Phone w/charger
Camera w/charger w/extra battery
Camcorder w/ charger
Zune charger
DS Lite charger

CAMPING/HIKING:

Compass
Water bottle
Map
Flashlight
Pocket knife

PURSE CARRY-ON:

Wallet w/ the following: Passport, Debit card, Driver's License, CASH
Gum (FLIGHT)
Pen
Small Notebook
Sun glasses
Tylenol
DS Lite
Zune
Book(s)

Packing, a serious consideration.

2008-02-26T10:25:00.000-08:00

I've been looking at travel sites a lot recently and considering a lot of the packing aids advertised. However, I'm not quite sure if I want to put out the money. On the other hand I want to make packing/unpacking (we are stopping in six different places) easy, quick, and reliable. I don't want to have to unpack everything to find one thing - I want to be prepared. But at what cost? Below are a few items I've been considering:

Clothing Folder. The reason I'm attracted to this is because the clothes we're bringing are not wrinkle-free and we don't have the money to go out and buy wrinkle-free shirts, the average price I've seen so far (I might just be looking in the wrong place, correct me!) is $40 for one shirt. No thank you. This folder holds up to six shirts and has a folding guide (that doubles as a stiff insert to keep the folder as stiff as possible during travel). The other reason I think its nice is because I can take out all of my shirts at once - if I have to rummage through my bag. The large (which holds 6 shirts) is about $28.

Toiletry Kit. I'll be the first to admit that I need a lot to be clean & ready. I need two types of shampoo, conditioner, face wash, body wash, deodorant - the list continues with less than important items. I don't want to have to find all of this stuff rummaging around in my bag in order to take a shower and I don't want to make a million trips to my bag while trying to get ready. What's more, airlines now require that you have liquids in a clear plastic bag. The kit shown unzips to lay flat when placed in luggage, but zips into an easy to carry & compact size that hangs on a door. Price is $29.95 (of course, doesn't include bottles).

Packing Cubes. This concept seems simple and unnecessary - but again the idea of being able to find as well as unpack/pack quick & easy is what draws me to this. They have half ($10) & full ($12) sizes as well as tube shapes in half & full sizes (appears a bit more rectangular than tube-ish to me). Both shapes feature see-through mess on the top, zippers and handles. In theory I could use them for socks and underwear as well as clean & dirty separation.

Before I order anything, I'll do a run-through packing. Pack everything I want to bring and make sure that weight wise I'm even within my limits - then see where I can improve. Luckily we're only going to be there for two weeks and not longer (plus we're planning on washing our laundry half way through). We're not going to be in situations where we can't shower or use a proper bathroom. We're not going to be carrying our bags on our backs across country. We can keep it simple :) Hell, with these aid we might even be able to pack only one bag each!

60 days

2008-02-21T07:50:00.000-08:00

Today is the two month mark before of our trip - and I think we're doing well for two months. We make our final payment for the hotel/car portion which was booked through MyGuideBritian on Monday - which I'm very excited to do. Once that's made I know there is no going back.

We found me a different jacket, as the one we bought when we bought my boots was just too bulky and not great for our type of traveling. The new one is much lighter and not as bulky, longer, more versatile and less money too which is nice. Now all we have to do is return the other one :) We went for a long walk yesterday and tried out my boots and jacket and I was happy to know that my jacket was very warm and yet not sweat inducing or uncomfortable to hike around with. The wind was strong and very bitting and I was comfortable in my jacket and ergo comfortable with my purchase. My boots were comfortable, but after wearing them for a good two hours I started to feel the effects of "wearing them in". I hope that this is just the wearing in process and not a bad choice in boots. I have realize that I might want to buy some gloves though - as my hands were frozen by the time we got back. I'm preparing for cold, wet weather - I wonder what's going to happen if we're blessed with mild, dry weather? I suppose that "blessed" is the right word.

2 down, about 100 more to go :D

2008-02-14T14:37:00.000-08:00

Last night, we finally went out and got me two things I've really been wanting for our Scotland trip; a jacket that didn't have a fabric shell and a pair of hiking boots. We first went into Chicks Sporting Goods, and was a bit disappointed when I asked the sales people if they sold hiking gear. They said no, but asked me to specify what I was looking for. I said boots - and a jacket. They said they carried a very small selection of hiking boots and I could look through the snow gear for the jacket.

They weren't kidding about the very small selection of hiking boots - and the one pair that was waterproof in the woman's section was actually a kids boot! They said that since kids had such a small section and was closer to womens in size, they just mixed them in. I asked to try them on anyhow and was surprised to find that they fit - and fit well! Apparently, I'm a size 4 in boys. They're Hi-Tec brand, and they fit really nice - wide in the toes which I love. When I wear them though, my feet look so small - almost peg like - and I felt toe-less. Interesting feeling, I must admit.

We looked around at their jackets and I found one I feel in love with almost instantly - despite the high "sale" price. I even succeeded in talking Paul into it! However, when I pulled it on I discovered that snowboarders must not have any boobs because even the large couldn't close comfortably over the bust. So we left, me dejected and Paul promising we'd stop at a Burlington's Coat Factory while at his parents this weekend. However, I wasn't prepared to give up on the jacket yet - I was on a mission.

Our next stop was Big 5 Sporting Goods - which I originally had ruled out because their prices are really high. However, having seen the competition's prices I decided to give them another shot. We browsed their boots and discovered I'd lucked out at Chicks, and their jacket selection was small too. However, I found one I could live with, a Columbia Sportswear brand. It's a good color, light weight, had a hood and is not too tight but still snug. I'm not married to it yet though because the price was high and compared to all the bells and whistles the other jackets had for the same price I feel I over-paid even though it was on sale. So we're still going to go to Burlington Coat Factory and if we find something better we'll just return the one to Big 5.

Anyhow, all in all I felt I was successful in my shopping quest :)

10 weeks!

2008-02-12T07:41:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness, in two weeks our final payment for Scotland is due - and that's 8 weeks before our departure date. We have 10 weeks until we leave!

I'm freakin' out man!

Daylight Hours

2008-01-22T13:26:00.001-08:00

Paul added some stuff he wanted to see in Edinburgh, and I finally decided to plan out our day according to our daylight hours. I'd heard a lot of websites warn against the fact that the days can be very short during certain times of year and to be prepared for that. So I went hunting for a website that would tell us when the sun was rising & setting during our trip - April & May of this year.

I found a great site called Date & Time, and I was so happy to see that I'd actually been underestimating our daylight by about three hours! This makes me so happy because I'd been prepared for the worst and we're actually going during a really great time :) Granted, it's not light until 10pm like in July - but 8pm is much better than 5pm.

Now that I've planned Edinburgh, I'm going to move onto the rest of our cities.

Don't forget, you can see our entire itinerary -->HERE<-- courtesy of Yahoo! Trip Planner.

Whoa.

2008-01-21T09:04:00.000-08:00

As I'm sure everyone can see, Paul & I have 90 days until we leave for Scotland.

Three months.

Three months!!!

I have so much to do before we go. For one thing, I want to start making a list of everything we need to do before we go, like remembering to do the dishes & take out the trash. You wouldn't think that - but someone pointed out that it's not fun at all coming come to a sink full of dirty dishes that have been sitting for two weeks. Luckily, our flight out doesn't leave until 4pm in the afternoon on Monday so we don't have to be ready to walk out the door at the crack of dawn and we'll have the entire weekend to do that kind of stuff.

I also have to go clothes shopping. We're keeping the baggage count low (one large & one small one for each of us, not including carry-on) but I'm still very aware that I only have one pair of jeans - one. I usually wear them for an hour or so each night after work if we go out, wash them before Friday, and then again on Sunday. But I wont be able to do that while we're in Scotland so I really must buy a few pairs more. Plus, I told Paul that we'll be taking a lot of pictures of each other and I don't want to look back at everyone and cringe because I'm wearing dirty, ill-fitting clothes that I'd never wear where people I knew could see possibly see me. I may be on a holiday - but I'm not invisible.

As far as the trip planning has been going, we've kind of filled our days as much as we want to and so the planning is pretty much done. I'm debating between making a "backup" itinerary - so far as activities for us to do if one of them falls through - but then I think that I'm sure we'll find something to do if something falls through. There are one or two things that I have to start making tentative reservations for - like our boat ride on Loch Coruisk.

I still feel like I'm forgetting something though :(

Three weeks!

2007-12-04T15:42:00.000-08:00

I never posted, but we got our passports! It only took three weeks, and we're now free to leave the country :) My photo is a bit pink which bums me out - and my sister commented that I didn't smile and asked if they made me keep a straight face. I then had to explain that ages ago I watched a show about how they were asking people not to smile in their passport photos because their face recognition programs they were beginning to use could not pick up facial features through a smile.

However, I was never actually told that and now I feel like a doofus for just believing it. My passport is good for ten years (I think) and I want to be smiling now. If it didn't cost so much to get a passport (almost a hundred bucks) then I'd just buy another. I don't want the world to think I don't like to smile. I do, I do! I just watched a show ages ago and never forget stuff like that :(

Fiction or non-fiction

2007-12-04T15:30:00.000-08:00

I was talking to my Mom last Friday night - excited and running a mile a minute about Scotland again. She asked if I was going to the stone circle out of our book and I said that we weren't going to any stone circles because most are not in our area. I also said I didn't think that the stone circle in the book, a place called Craig na Dun, was even real. However, she had me thinking. So she handed me the companion book (because the books are so large, span over so much time, and have been published over such a long period of time - there is a book dedicated to characters, places, events & such for easy reference). I've been reading the book but it has almost no maps and so I'm at a loss as to where Craig na Dun is. I know that it's supposed to be near Inverness - but when I search I find nothing.

I did find a site that said the place was fictional - and considering the book brought widespread recognition to just about everything listed in the pages - I'm inclined to believe.

It makes me a bit sad though. This series of books was it. It was the start to my fascination turned obsession of Scotland. I already had a feeling that most of it was fictional but that small amount of hope I got at seeing the author on the back of the dust cover standing beside a stone circle was really enough to make me dream of being there. To be able to think to myself, "I'm going there!"

Will this sudden realization change Scotland for me? Not in the least :)

The woes of petrol prices

2007-12-02T21:00:00.000-08:00

Okay.

So if they sell gas by the liter in the UK, and it's currently 105.9p (I'm assuming that means pence?) per liter and there are 3.7854118 liters in each gallon then that means that each gallon of gas is going to cost 4.01GBP (or, $8.12). If the average compact car has a gas tank of about 14 gallons - and the average compact car gets 25 miles to the gallon than that means we'll get 350 miles to the tank. If we're traveling approximately 1,000 miles that means we'll have to fill up approximately three times. If each fill up costs us approximately $113.68 - than that means we'll be spending about $341.04 in gas alone.

This is all just approximations of course. This is if we don't get lost and drive in circles. This is also with mapping to the center of each postcode rather than door to door because hardly any of the locations we're visiting give complete addresses. Most are, "we're ten miles southwest of the A90" (<--- um, I don't know if there is an A90 or what is ten miles southeast, so no jokes). This is also with the current gas prices - it will more than likely rise dramatically (if it's anything like here) within the next five months.

Yikes. Oh well. We'll figure it out. We're going to SCOTLAND!!!

Exchange rates suck!

2007-11-27T13:56:00.000-08:00

Jeez. I just went through and converted the prices for our "activities" while in Ireland / Scotland and let me just say, the US dollar sucks. It also sucks that Ireland uses Euros while Scotland uses Pounds. I'm nervous about converting my money once - let alone twice.

Here's a question for anyone who can answer, why when I see Ireland addresses (mainly in Dublin) does it say "Dublin 1" or "Dublin 8". What is the number? Like a zip code? I know that Dublin is "split" into two different areas, but not eight...

Edit: I've been told that the numbers in the Dublin addresses are like postcodes eight being further away from the center of the city and 1 being the closest.

Yahoo! Travel Trip Planner

2007-11-16T10:33:00.000-08:00

I'm not surprised, but Yahoo's Travel Trip Planner is coming through for me. When I first started using it - it was great for schedule organization - but I never took full advantage of it. Now I've begun to do that and it's becoming extremely useful and dependable.

I love the schedule view because I'm able to see everything at a glance, and it's very well organized. I've also begun to use the address/phone/URL/description fields as I'm finding it indispensable to be able to go to one place (My Trip Planner) and find all the websites I use in relation to a location. I can also point anyone to this Trip Planner and they can see where we're going and stuff - great for family.

You can upload pictures (which of course links with Flickr) and there's also a trip journal too - where you can add the pictures to your posts. Though I'm keeping a journal here, I think I'll also keep a journal there (once the trip starts, until the trip ends) as perhaps it'll be able to help someone else who is planning a trip that's similar.

The only downfall? You can't use the driving directions (or Map View) for any place outside of the USA or Canada :(

What to do... What to do...

2007-11-14T12:10:00.000-08:00

Now that we've bought our tickets, ordered our passports, and placed the deposit for the trip - we have to figure out what we want to do! I feel so overwhelmed and I really don't know where to start. There are a million things we can do in the bigger cities like Glasgow and Edinburgh - but what about the smaller ones? I'm worried I'm either going to overbook our time or underbook it and we'll be in a standstill for a lot of our time.

Because we'll be in some cities for two days and others for only a single day - I've made a deal with Paul that we'll relax on the days we have an extra day. That means I need to find stuff for us to do on the following days:

Apr-22, Dublin (from 11am until 8pm)
Apr-23, Glasgow
Apr-24, Fort William (I want to visit Glencoe, but will that be an all day activity?)
Apr-26, Portree [Isle of Skye] (I want to visit Storr, but again, is that an all day trip?)
Apr-28, Inverness
Apr-30, Aberdeen
May-2, Edinburgh
May-3, Dublin

I feel like such a bad international traveler-planner-person, here we are gladly spending all this money and we don't have any idea where we want to go?! Panic!!! There are so many travel sites, so many options and yet... I feel limited. Why is that? I wish I could just find a website that knew what kind of adventure we was looking for. I want this to be a trip I'll never forget. A trip that lives up to all my expectations of a country that I've been dreaming of going to for as long as I can remember.

I need some suggestions. Book or service or website that isn't going to suggest flights, cars, trains, or hotels - just things to do. Any suggestions?

Keeping Connected

2007-11-05T14:21:00.000-08:00

I called T-Mobile today and talked to them about the cost for making calls internationally. They said it's going to be $.99 a minute for voice, $10 per MB for data (though they do not charge in $10 increments thank the good Lord), and $.35 sent/$.15 received for text messaging.

Shocking.

The woman was nice enough to explain that I really wouldn't find any better price no matter which carrier I was with because its the country where the call is originating from that is setting the price. Looking through a few of the countries, I'm glad we're not traveling to Russia where its a whopping $4.99 a minute and there is no data coverage.

I've been looking into some other options such as calling cards and wi-fi locations. The calling cards are a little tricky because most of them are based on originating/destination landline calls and the fact is that not all of the people I would call are on landlines. The other option, wi-fi, is a much better option. I found this site, Wi-Here, that is going to be a great source. I'm tempted to try and find locations along our way right now - but the fact of the matter is that all of these locations may or may not change in the next six months. With an internet connection I'd be able to use my webcam, a skype phone, and also your basics like email to keep connected to my friends and family.

The most important thing I got out of calling T-Mobile is that they have excellent coverage through all of the UK so I really have nothing to worry about when it comes to being in an emergency and being able to call for help.

Luggage

2007-11-05T08:45:00.000-08:00

After booking the flights, the woman explained their luggage policy. Two pieces for each passenger - combined weight can be no more than 70lbs. We can have one carry on weighing no more than 15lbs - and women can have the biggest purse they want :) I have no luggage. I've never traveled to where I needed "luggage" so all I really have is a duffel bag. This weekend I went looking for luggage and found a lot of options.

Here's some of my requirements:

Not Black or Blue. All of the websites I went to about the best luggage to buy all said that buying blue or black would be easiest in the beginning, but it would be difficult to spot in a sea of luggage that is also blue or black. I figure with four different luggage claims in our future I didn't want to make it any more difficult.
If possible, matching set. Having a matching set would be the best for baggage claim and also for traveling in general. Hardware, colors, and fabrics would all be the same - consistency is the key!
Wheels. Duh. In fact, I don't think I could have found a luggage set that didn't have wheels. Though a lot of people made it seem like the wheels were the wave of the future and explained the HUMONGOUS price tag.

I went to Overstock.com, where they had some really good prices, selection, and their policy is "no matter how much you buy, your entire order ships for just $2.95" - which was perfect for me because I hate, hate, hate paying for shipping & handling and I could only imagine how much it would be for large pieces of luggage. I found this set I was interested in, and bookmarked it.

I also went to Macys.com and found this number. I wanted it instantly - but finally my reasonable side got in control and I talked myself out of being so spontaneous. I told Paul though, "We should buy it! Then when we have kids, they'll eventually travel, and they can use it!" But of course, I didn't buy it.

Next I went to Target.com and found they had a decent online selection, but I thought that with the Target across the street I wasn't about to pay for shipping & handling (which average about $25+). We drove over the Target and their selection sucked in store - so I vetoed that.

Since we were out, we headed down to the mall. Paul remembered that there was a luggage store there. On our way off the freeway I noticed the TJ Maxx and decided to slip in there. I found that they didn't have a great many options so far as "sets" go - but they did have a lot. I found something that was perfect - though definately more expensive than the Overstock.com set I was looking at. As you can see, it's not blue or black, it's a set, and both pieces have wheels. The smaller one stacks easily on the bigger one, the fabric inside is removable (to an extent) to allow for cleaning, and it has a removable nylon drawstring pouch. The only thing I'm not wild about is how "stylish" it is - even if the style is old. I would have preferred something in more of a pea green and without the pink - but I'm willing to let that slide.

However, the price was more than we had anticipated in spending. We decided to buy it since it was the last set (so far as, they had a lot of the large piece but only one of the smaller piece) and return it if we found something better. We looked in the luggage store and realized that since they were "specializing" they were also "ripping us off" - $298 for one piece?!!! Hell no. We checked inside of JC Penny's and did find something there - but I think that Paul could tell that I liked the one I'd found and he decided to just let me keep it.

Passports!

2007-11-05T08:16:00.000-08:00

This weekend was so productive when it comes to the trip.

I had a sudden realization and then panic because I remembered we'd been waiting to buy the tickets before applying for our passports (because of the cost). Plus, I couldn't seem to find one of my two copies of my birth certificate which you have to send in with your application. This is all on top of the fabled 10+ week waiting period for the actual application. I was panicking.

So on Friday night (after falling asleep in the early afternoon and sleeping for two hours) I spent the night rummaging through our newly, slightly better organized guest closet for the paperwork I stashed somewhere after our marriage certificate applications. I found it, finally, along with a copy of Paul's birth certificate too and finally we were ready!

Saturday morning I woke early and filled out Paul's application while he slept, and got directions to the nearest photo center that took passport sized photographs and also to the local public library where we could submit the application. We first went and got Paul's hair cut, then got our pictures taken, then went over to the library.

I'm so glad we left as early as we did because when we got to where the internet directions sent us, it ends up that the library had moved (though the building was still labeled, "Public Library"). So we drove around the complex thinking that with no note in the window as to where they moved, maybe they were still close by. All we could find was a bookstore so I popped in there and asked. Ends up the library had been moved for a good YEAR and they just didn't bother to update their directions on their website. Nice. When we did get to the library it was 2:30pm and the passport staff closed "promptly" at four. I was panicking a little when I saw the large line (where the hell is everyone going?!) and even more so when the volunteer who prepared the paperwork turned out to be sweet, but elderly slow and hard of hearing. Plus a family of four went into the passport office before us and since I had no idea what exactly they were doing in there I had all these crazy fears they would kick us out promptly at four.

I didn't need to worry though. The family of four did take awhile, but not too long. Ends up all they do in the passport office is take down your ID information, have you sign, and take your money. We were in and out quickly because I made the check(s) out while we waited.

Best news? Ends up this is the slowest time of the year for the passport office and the woman assured us it wouldn't take 10 weeks, it would take 4-6 and she said we might even get it earlier than four. GREAT news, and a real weight off my shoulders.

Okay, so tomorrow wasn't the day

2007-11-02T13:04:00.001-07:00

My last post on September 19th was not the day but today is! That's right, I bought our tickets! Just now. JUST NOW!

I'm so excited I could burst and it doesn't seem like anyone is as excited as I am, I wonder why that is? The price was almost $200 less than I thought it would be, we're still traveling on the dates we were intending initially, and I found out that we get a full beef dinner :) Isn't that great?! Beef! I've never been on a plane before and in the span of two weeks I'll be on four.

I emailed our travel agent and told her we're ready to put down our deposit. I think I'm going to put more than just our deposit down though, because the plane tickets were less than expected AND we're getting a bonus for signing our lease again at our apartment.

I'm so excited. I feel like I'm going to BURST!

Buying the tickets was strange through. The woman who helped me was really nice, but she was strange too. She told me I was paying $308 to "Uncle Sam" and how the people of this country are going to riot soon. She was very well informed though. She confused me because at the end she kept asking if I had gotten it yet, and I though I wasn't sure what she was talking about, I assumed she was asking in regards to an email so I kept checking my email. She asked if my printer was on. I asked, "Why?" she said that everything would start printing. So confusing. In the end she said to just call her back if I didn't get the email and a few minutes later I did get it.

I'm so excited!!!

Tomorrow's the day!

2007-09-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

After a few financial set backs - we've finally gotten the capital to purchase the plane tickets (oof, what a price tag!) which means we can put down the deposit for our hotel/car as well! I'm so excited! What's even better is, that with the plane tickets & 20% or our hotel/car paid - we've got the remaining balance in a very manageable state which means no stressing about saving! We can save as much as we have to - and probably more - with ten weeks after final payment is due to save even more for all those many souvenirs I'm going to buy :)

I'm so excited!

In other news, I've purchased a new camera - a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8 - that will be such a fantastic treat in Scotland! I even got a wide lens attachment so that I can take some breath-taking landscape shots. I'm feeling very renewed about this whole trip - just as I did at the beginning - and I hope that nothing gets in our way... Where's some wood to knock on?!

I think we're going to buy the tickets and put down the deposit this weekend - so on Monday I'm coming to work and telling them I need 12 days (or 96 hours) of vacation and if they don't give it to me then I'm going to raise some hell! Just kidding, I know they'll give it to me - I am giving them a six month plus notice.

I'm so excited! I don't know how else to say it! Oh! And I'm also thrilled to be going to Scotland and having someone to meet up with! Karen, you best not back out now :P

New plan - hopefully the final one

2007-08-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

I called our travel agent and asked about getting to Dublin in order to fly out. She says the best way is to fly from Edinburgh to Dublin. In order to do that and still make our flight from Dublin to Los Angeles, she's recommended that we stay overnight in Dublin instead of trying to fly in and back out in a short duration (our Dublin to Los Angeles flight leaves at 11am). The price hasn't changed and this is basically GREAT news as it means we'll be able to do this trip after all and all we're going to have to give up is a night in Stirling and now we also get to stay in Dublin :)

So here's the new itinerary:

Mon- Apr-21
Leave LAX via Aer Lingus

Tues-Apr-22
Arrive in Glasgow
Pick up rental car
Stay 2 nights

Thur-Apr-24
Travel to Fort William
Stay 1 night

Fri-Apr-25
Travel to Portree (Isle of Skye)
Stay 2 nights

Sun-Apr-27
Travel to Inverness
Stay 2 nights

Tues-Apr-29
Travel to Aberdeen
Stay 2 nights

Thur-May-1
Travel to Edinburgh
Stay 2 nights

Sat-May-3
Fly out of Edinburgh & into Dublin
Stay 1 night

Sun-May-4
Fly out of Dublin & into Los Angeles

Mon-May-5
Arrive home!

Maybe for the best?

2007-08-16T15:44:00.000-07:00

I called Aer Lingus and apparently they've scheduled their flights in such a way that the Glasgow to Dublin flight just misses the Dublin to Los Angeles flight. Our new strategy? Fly in and out of Dublin and then travel to Scotland. It knocks about $300 off our my original budget so in essance we could spend $300 on getting to and from Scotland & Dublin and still be where I thought we'd be money wise.

Now, just to figure out how...

On a completely related rant: How the HELL is it the same price to fly ROUND TRIP between LAX & GLA as it is to fly one way?! You guys think I kid - I DO NOT! Go onto Travelocity.com and price out the difference between a one-way flight to Glasgow from LAX and a round trip flight.

It'll blow your socks off.

This is likely the sign

2007-08-16T15:04:00.000-07:00

Since Aer Lingus told me to call back in two weeks in order for them to get their LAX schedule together, I've been checking pretty much every day. This afternoon I logged on and the search took a little longer than usual which I felt was a good sign.

Well it was a sign. They have a flight available TO Glasgow but not from - as all of their returning flights are completely booked. I pushed my return date in and out a good week (not even possible - but I just wanted to check) and nothing.

I'm so upset. Its not fair. How can it be all filled up already?! I think this is the sign that Paul & I shouldn't go. If we have to spend an additional $400 on the flights - we can't stay any more than a week - if that. I don't think I even want to go if I can only go for a week. I'll be able to see next to nothing and that would just disappoint me.

Tester book: Ordered

2007-08-09T09:14:00.000-07:00

I decided to give Blurb a try anyhow - and so proceeded to fight with their program to create a mock up of what my book would look like so I could get a feel of how the quality of the pictures and the pages were. I published only the posts I had currently created - but that only equaled to ten out of the minimum of twenty pages - so I added in another ten of nothingness. Three chapter pages, seven maps of our stops, and one page full of clouds - just because :) Those twenty pages cost me approx $25 so averaging about $1.25 per page when ordering soft cover. I can't remember how much the hard cover was. I'm thinking that I'm going to be keeping the blog for about 8 months, 3-5 posts a week, one post per page so that equals to...160 pages at $1.25 per page...so about $200. That's definitely expensive - but if it's a book about 8 great months of my life then I don't mind :) I'm a story teller - what can I say?

It should be here within two weeks, and I have to admit I'm excited. The more and more I used the program the easier it became (not better, just easier) and I learned to adapt and edit my posts where it was needed. I'm excited because if this prints out as nicely as I'm hoping it does then I'm going to be even more encouraged to keep the blog up as we're planning the trip. If it doesn't work out... well I'll be very active right before the trip and right after.

Money, money, money

2007-08-08T09:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a very depressing and discouraging day in regards to the Scotland trip.

The fact of the matter is that we don't have $1,600 to spend all at once on the plane tickets - so I decided to open a Discover card. The card's limit wasn't enough for us to put the entire cost of the plane tickets on it - and that started a lot of my woes. I'm so disappointed in myself in regards to my credit right now. I keep trying to make it better but I know that one $60 Verizon bill is going to haunt me for a very long time. I also know that I have too many credit cards and I need to just combine them and get rid of half. I feel I manage my balances pretty well though, so it frustrates me to know that me having too many - even if they aren't in trouble - is backfiring.

Moving on. So I decided I would just put as much as I could on the Discover card and then the rest we'll pay out of our savings. Then I go to the Aer Lingus site and I see that they - like many - do not accept Discover cards. Argh! So I called and canceled that card and tried to open an America Express card. I don't know what I was thinking with that move. American Express has some pretty high standards - so of course I was declined for that. Instantly I regretted closing the Discover card and also applying for the American Express card. I'm not stupid and yet I did a very stupid thing. I had been making too many inquires within a 12 month period on top of credit that is not perfect to begin with. It's a never ending circle and that frustrates me so much!

So last night was pretty hard and I became very discouraged about the whole trip. I thought to myself maybe we shouldn't do this at all if we can't do it the way I want to. Maybe we shouldn't do it because of the cost. Maybe we shouldn't do it because of the stress!

This morning I'm in a much more optimistic mood. I've realized that I'll just reopen the Discover card (they said I had a period of seven days to reopen it), transfer some of my balances from my other cards onto the Discover (enjoy the 0% APR for the first year!), use the space on the other cards that are accepted by Aer Lingus and then use our savings as I had already planned.

This is going to work out. We're going to Scotland, even if its only for a week rather than two. I'm not going to ruin my credit anymore than it already it is with this trip. I'm going to pay off the Discover card long before my one year of 0% APR is up and I'm going to make it work for me!

I feel so defeated!

2007-08-03T14:24:00.000-07:00

The whole reason I started this blog was so I could dedicate a space to my Scotland trip but also so I could eventually use Blurb to publish the blog into a book. I thought, "What a great idea! Two birds with one stone!" Well I have news for anyone who has been considering doing this: Blurb sucks. Sure, the idea was nice but the execution of the idea was so half-fulfilled. A blog is supposed to be full of writing, right? But it's also supposed to have photographs, right? Well how the hell do you expect me, a long-winded, picture posting self to fit onto one page when you have margins the size of NEW YORK?!

Seriously?!

To top it off, all of my pictures are either too big or too small for their template so I either get a message that says "this photo will print poorly at this resolution" or a get an image the size of a postage stamp.

Who is this blog-to-book supposed to be for anyhow? People who just write? People who just post images? Where is the happy medium?! And why can't I move the text boxes or make the bigger?! I HATE WASTED SPACE COMMONLY WRITTEN OFF AS MARGINS!

Stoer Point

2007-08-02T15:41:00.000-07:00

I've done some very fancy investigation (all right, I simply read the caption on the photo I used as my banner) and have found out that the picture was taken at Stoer Point. I now want to go there desperately. I've found that it's 2 hours away from Inverness & 3 hours away from Portree - so very obviously we'll likely go there from Inverness. That actually works out perfectly because we'll be in Inverness the longest (aside from Edinburgh) so we'll be able to take the time and go out there.

clipped from www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk

One of the best walks in the area begins at the lighthouse car park and heads north above
the cliffs for two miles to the remote Point of Stoer. The coastal scenery is spectacular, and the
views still better if you head a few hundred yards inland to the summit of the 141m high Sidhean
Mor.

But the highlight is the Old Man of Stoer, a 200ft high rock stack just offshore, a
little south of the Point of Stoer. You might even see climbers swimming across the 30ft wide
channel to the platform at the foot of the stack or scaling the stack itself.

When do they shear the sheep in Scotland I wonder? Will I even be able to see any fluffy ones? Are sheep nice? If I see one will the Scots let me pet it? Paul always says I should just open a petting zoo or live on a farm.

Finally, a bit of color on this blog

2007-08-02T15:21:00.000-07:00

I got bored with my blog and changed a lot of the layout. I wanted the blog portion wider as I'm a very long-winded writer, so in order to do that I basically had to change everything. But it looks good now, so I'm pretty satisfied :)

Realizing that I could a photo behind the title made me go hunting for pictures of Scotland. I thought I had decided on one and had edited with the blog title and whatnot until I realized I didn't take down the photographers name in order to give credit. Giving credit has been a hot button recently on a lot of the photography based sites I go to so I couldn't very well be a hypocrite and not credit even if I didn't know who to credit. So I had to reopen my search and I went looking for the picture again. Then I ran across a different one.

Lazy Day, originally uploaded by valsworld98.

The photograph above (and my new banner!) is the epitome of what Scotland has always been for me. That is what I want to see when I go. That is what I'm spending all this money on. I just hope I'm not disappointed. I'm so worried that I'm going to miss my opportunity to see what I want to see in the quest to try and see everything. I'll only have this one chance - I better not screw it up.

Photograph taken by Valsworld98 of Flickr

Kumquats!

2007-08-01T12:50:00.000-07:00

Now that we've decided we're going with myguideBritain for the travel reservations and we decided to fly Aer Lingus - I called Aer Lingus today to get a final quote on the flights so I knew how much we need to save before we could make the flight reservations and therefore make the travel reservations. Well apparently Aer Lingus has not "loaded" their LAX times yet and so I'm to call back in two weeks.

ARGH! I just want to make the plans so I know what's going on and I know we're getting the best deal we can by booking as soon as possible. Now we've got to wait another two weeks - and hopefully then Aer Lingus will have their LAX times in order. I suppose I should just stop my bitching. Beggers can't be choosers - now can we? I did go onto Aer Lingus' site and put in some dates for March - and have estimated our final price for the flights to be around $1,600. Wow that's a lot. It also sucks monkey butt that we'll be paying over $400 for the fuel surcharge & taxes. I thought that's what the tickets were paying for - fuel. Why are we now paying a surcharge?!

I've also decided, without speaking to Paul, not to get that British Heritage Pass (the pass that allowed us free access into individual sites). I've realized there is a lot of stuff we can't see that's on their list and a lot of stuff we WANT to see that's NOT on their list. Not worth the $15 a day when we wont be doing stuff every day. I promised Paul that if we went for two weeks we'd relax and do some non-site-seeing days too. I figure we'll be resting in Glasgow, Portree, Inverness, Aberdeen & Edinburgh because we'll be there for more than one day. Our other two stops will be purely for site-seeing enjoyment!

I've chosen some stuff I want to see, I'll post it soon!

Two Weeks?!

2007-07-30T13:00:00.000-07:00

As I posted earlier this weekend - I was considering getting some pricing information on a two week trip since I was feeling very rushed with our one week trip. Also, I wanted to move it later in the year. So I talked to the woman I was working with at myguideBritain and she created us a new itinerary with prices based on end of April beginning of May. So the cities we're thinking about visiting now are:

Arriving in Edinburgh
1st two nights in Glasgow
1 night in Fort William
2 nights on the Isle of Skye in the town on Portee
3 nights in Inverness
2 nights in Aberdeen
1 night in Stirling
3 nights Edinburgh
Leaving from Edinburgh

The trip costs has doubled - but considering we've moved slightly into the "high season" I don't think that's too bad. I'm thinking that Paul and I are still going to do it and just be very, very budget conscious for the next six months. We're only going to do this once! We need to make it count.

To save some money we are going to fly with Aer Lingus and we're going to take advantage of this Great British Heritage Pass where you buy a pass for a number of days and it'll get you in free to a lot of attractions. It's going to be $15 a day for Paul and I (combined!) so that's pretty good considering that a few places are 11GBP per person. I'd like to do all that stuff off of the beaten path - but I also want to be able to say I've seen those places everyone talks about when they talk about Scotland. Plus we pay ONE time and know where our budget is after that instead of getting to the 8th day and realizing we can't see anything else.

One question for anyone who lives in the UK: I've priced out everything but petrol and food. Can someone tell me the average cost of a meal when eating out and also the average cost of petrol? I know that the petrol prices will likely change by next year - but I'd still like to get a rough estimate now...

Aer Lingus & other questions answered

2007-07-28T23:28:00.000-07:00

After much investigation (their website kept "redirecting" me) I've found that Aer Lingus will be a perfect way to save some money - though I'm going to have to change our plans a bit. First off, during the season we're going - they only fly three days out of the week. Second, we will have a stop off in Dublin - but I've made sure it's only a stop off - we'll be flying into Scotland the same day in a matter of a couple of hours (kind of excited about flying into Dublin!). Third, I still haven't priced out the difference between flying in and out of the same location (such as Glasgow) but I was a bit excited about seeing two airports so I had planned it that way for a reason.

I've never flown - have I mentioned that yet? I suppose a part of me is simply excited and anxious to see as many airports as I possibly can in one trip :)

As for the driver's license - I haven't confirmed it yet - though from the sounds of everyone comments it seems as though because I'll only be there for a week I wont need to get a license. That'll make it all the easier and cheaper though I'll certainly have my head buried in the Highway Code that Lithian was kind enough to link for me. I'm actually a big "driver" here - and I love to know the rules of the road and shout at people who don't follow them :) Though no worries! I won't be brave enough to shout at the Scots - even if they shout at me.

Sadly, as both Lithian and Princesskasren have pointed out, out 8 days wont be nearly enough time to see everything. We're making a circle but at the same time we're planning on going inside and outside of the circle as well. I wish we could stay longer but on top of my work allowing me only so much time for vacation (We haven't even fathomed Paul's work as they haven't offered him any kind of "paid vacation" and he's been there for six months) there is also the cost! We're bursting our budget as it is - I can tell you that much. Though, if we save as much as it looks like we'll be saving on the airfare, we may be able to stay a day or two more.

On another note, I'm slightly considering bumping our trip forward a month. Most of the books we're looking at say the weather turns at April and we're planning March. My only concern is the price. The reason I chose March was because they said that the prices begin to turn at April. I'm so conflicted! This may be my one and only chance to A) see any place that's not in the US and B) see Scotland - a place I've dreamt about going for quite some time. I've already promised Paul that this trip wouldn't bankrupt us - but all I want to do if stay for as long as I can in some weather that allows me to see all that beauty I've dreamt about.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

While We're Young, Scotland 2008

2007-07-27T14:30:00.000-07:00

I think this is it! I found this site called myguideBritain where you tell them where you want to go and they plan it for you - and as far as I can tell - for free! So, I emailed them and told them Paul & I were going to Scotland and that we wanted to go see the castles & stuff (meaning, no golfing and more than just whiskey tours) and then someone sent me a plan and told me how much it would cost! I went onto Yahoo! Maps and mapped our suggested hotels/B&B locations and the above is what you get. We'll basically be circling the island. I know that some of you out there might think it's silly that I needed someone to say, "make a circle" - but it was very daunting and now I feel like I have a starting point. The plan/cost they gave us was just for hotels/B&B and a car for the trip - but that kind of makes me happy because now Paul & I can just see what is around each area and plan that way.

If anyone is interested or maybe want to make some suggestions or anything - I've opened a "Trip Planner" from Yahoo! - here's the link to our trip so far: While We're Young, Scotland 2008. It shows where and what days we'll be there and also what places we're planning on staying. Most of the hotels/B&B we are thinking about weren't registered with Yahoo! so I have yet to put in addresses for them.

Some questions I'm going to throw out there though, anyone who can answer please do so!

Has anyone heard of a airline called Aer Lingus? Airfare was not included in the quote that the travel planners gave us, so I was price hunting for one way tickets (because we're starting in Glasgow & ending in Edinburgh - I thought to just use two separate airports) and they quoted me less than half of every other airline! I don't know what to think because apparently they ONLY fly to and from Ireland/UK so I think that's maybe why they're so cheap but then I'm still concerned.
Is it hard to drive on the left side of the road? Do they park on the left side too or do they cross the street to park? 'Cause I'm a bit scared and we'll be driving for the whole trip. The plus side is that they've quoted us for a VW Golf which I'm actually pretty familiar with. They've also included insurance in the price of the rental - thank the good Lord.
I know I can find out this kind of stuff from a tourist book (which Paul & I will likely be picking up tonight!) but - do they have different electrical plugs in Scotland? Will I know how to pump gas? Do I need a special license to drive? Is everything I want to see going to be closed because its close to the off season? Will they get angry at me for being so happy with their accents?