Big Trip Coming Up

When Jay and I went to Italy in 2022, we had hoped to be able to take a "big" trip across the pond on even years and a smaller, closer trip on odd years. That hasn't quite worked out, with job changes and such, but we're both in good, stable jobs again and ready to get back on track.

Our "rules" for travel are:

• we only visit places that we've either never been to, or that only one of us has been. 
• For example, we've both visited Rome (before we were married), so Rome's off the table. 
• He'd visited Fussen, Germany a couple of times before we were married, but I hadn't, so Fussen was a go. Now that we've both been, Fussen is no longer an option.
• we can re-visit a country that we've both been to, but we can't stay in a place that we've already been.
• We loved Costa Rica and want to return, but the Guanacaste Provenance is off the table. Same with Italy (the exception with Italy is that if we're ever able to buy property there, it would be in Radicofani).
• we alternate choosing destinations.
• We both agreed on our Italy trip, because it combined places we both wanted to see. Jay chose to spend a couple of days in Germany (see Fussen, above), and I wanted to go back to the Tuscan region of Italy. Our desires aligned and we were able to do both.
• This year's trip is to Scotland, my choice. The next trip is to the Swiss alps, Jay's choice.

The reason we put those rules in place is because there's a lot of the world to see, and it's easy to keep going back to familiar places. Our travel time and budget is limited, so we have to be strategic in how we do it. 

In just a few days, we'll be boarding the plane for Scotland, and we're both incredibly excited. Scotland was never really on Jay's list, but as we started planning and researching, he got more and more excited. I found a free countdown app that I've been using for the past few years. As soon as our tickets are bought, I put the leave date/time in the app and let it do the counting down for me. It's fun to watch it go from year(s) to months, to weeks, then days, etc.

This countdown app has some
fun "random" options.

With just four days to go, we're in the "what have we missed, what else needs to be done?" stage. After a year of planning and waiting, the trip is right around the corner. One of the best things about sharing property with L.E. is that we each have built-in house/horse/cat/garden sitters. L.E. will let the cats in and out, make sure the horses are safe, and water my garden while we're gone. When she goes on trips, I do the same for her. It works out perfectly. This year, we've made it even easier. Jay and I will put out two round bales in slow feed nets, so she won't even have to worry about putting hay out for the horses.

Our trip is going to be a combination of city and countryside. We'll start in Edinburgh for a few days, then head out of the city to Glencoe for a few days, then Portree on the Isle of Sky. Even though I'm not much of a city girl, I am looking forward to our time in Edinburgh. We've got reservations for potion making at the Department of Magic, bag making at the Islander, and the thing Jay is most excited about, and was the first thing he booked, afternoon tea at the Signet Library.

Typically, Jay books us Airbnbs whenever we travel, and we've gotten to stay at some absolutely incredible places. I know a lot of people are anti-Airbnb, but we've never had a bad experience. However, this time, he chose to book us at actual B&Bs, which made Mom happy as an owner of a B&B herself. The reasoning is that we want to go hiking, and the hosts will have a lot of ideas and pointers for best hikes, something we've learned over the 28 years that Mom has run the lodge.

In Glencoe, we'll be staying at the Fern Villa Guest House. I guess it's technically "near" Glencoe, not in it, but the pictures are amazing. And when we're in Portree, on the Isle of Sky, we'll be staying at the Viewfield House, which is super fancy-looking. Outside of Mom's lodge, I've only stayed in one other  B&B, on my last trip to the UK. I'm looking forward to the experience of staying at others. We all know Mom's B&B gives a rustic experience with fantastic breakfast. From the pictures, I feel like the Viewfield House gives a hunting lodge vibe. 

Needless to say, posting will be nonexistent while we're away, followed by a flurry of posts once we return.