A trip a year in the making, plus another year to write the blog post.

In 2023, Jake and I were planning what was going to be our first international vacation together to Scotland and Ireland. I had been before but this was going to mean a lot to us because he loves Scotch and it made sense that we make our first trip together one that would be most interesting for him, because I’m always interested in just about every country due to my sheer love for travel. Well, instead of going to Scotland and Ireland that year, we bought a house, which likely deserves its own blog post! That was a wonderful alternative to this trip, but still not going bothered me because if I say I’m going to do something, I will do it.

Once we got our feet under us with the home, we started thinking about where we could travel. Naturally, Scotland and Ireland were still on our minds but at that time it was winter, which is a less-than-optimal time to travel to the highlands due to weather. Instead, we flipped hemispheres and went South to New Zealand where it would be summer. That was a phenomenal trip and you can read all about it here. It also ended up being even more special for me because that was the first place I visited outside of the United States and what better way to introduce my significant other to my world of traveling than to take him to the first country I’d been and a place that meant so much to me.

After that trip we learned that we can, in fact, travel well together! That wasn’t necessarily a given—something that I imagine many people can sympathize with. So when it was time to book another trip, we looked again at going to Scotland and Ireland. We knew that August was going to be the most ideal month (the month with the least chance of rain) so we booked our tickets as soon as they dropped under $1k. The other new thing we did this trip compared to other trips was we traveled to one location (Edinburgh) and then back from another (Dublin). Surprisingly, this added very little cost (less than $100) to our airfares and significantly reduced the stress of traveling between countries as flying with a low cost airline can be highly stressful (oh, the woes of traveling with luggage nowadays).

We landed in Edinburgh at 8 AM after a red eye and knew we had to power through the day, which would end up being another 15 hours before we could get to sleep! We picked up our rental car and made our way to… Costco! It’s our thing now. Jake is quite obsessed with Costco (I even surprised him with a Costco themed birthday party last year). Due to this lovely quirk, we always see if there’s a warehouse wherever we travel. We ensure that their hot dogs taste the same and costs the equivalent of $1.50… we’re basically Costco’s self-designated international quality assurance team. As someone obsessed with international marketing, I would like to give huge kudos to Costco. We’ve been to three warehouses overseas (Taiwan, New Zealand and Scotland) and they’re a great example of both maintaining brand identity (i.e., the hot dog) and acquiring local preferences (i.e., more seafood options in Taiwan). Now, if only we could see people wearing the Kirkland brand overseas… (Wow, a whole paragraph dedicated to Costco in a Scotland post, really? Yes, really.)

From there we decided to skip Edinburgh until our return. It was a rainy day and we had quite a bit of driving to do so our stops were limited. We visited The Kelpies, Stirling Castle, Loch Lomond, and Inveraray Castle. The Kelpies are an interesting art installation of two horses that only requires a 20 minute stop. Due to the rain, we didn’t stop to explore Stirling Castle (the outside of castles are much more interesting than the inside to me), and Loch Lomond is simply a gorgeous scenic drive. We did explore Inveraray Castle’s grounds which included a wide variety of vegetation .

We eventually made it to Kennacraig to take the ferry to Port Ellen on Isle of Islay but as we were about to dock around 8:30 PM, the winds were too strong and we needed to be redirected to Port Askaig (another port on the same island), which took an additional 1.5 hours… a painful delay to our already exhausted bodies. This meant we finally made it to our first Airbnb at 10:30 and in bed at 11 PM – a whole 31 hours awake since we left our home in the US. But, we made it and it was an eventful first day!

One reason we had to travel such a long distance that first day is because I failed to purchase the ferry ticket early enough. The ferries book out early if you require car transport and not just your person so we had no other choice but to take the ferry that day, otherwise another ticket wouldn’t be available for 3 more days! Tip – book ferry tickets a month in advance so you have more options on when you travel to the Scottish isles or risk not getting there at all.

We traveled to the Isle of Islay because it is home to some of the most famous Scotch distilleries. Laphroaig, Ardbeg, Lagavulin, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, among others are all from Islay. Furthermore, Jura Scotch, located on the Isle of Jura is only accessible from Islay. We booked four separate distillery tours at Bunnahabhain, Jura, Bruichladdich and Laphroiag. Each tour took about two hours and included the whole distillery process from receiving of raw ingredients to barreling.

At the end of the tour, they provided several drams for tastings. I, personally, don’t care for Scotch so I took home “driver drams”, which meant that Jake had even more tastings for later. They varied in age, single caste vs. a large batch, and type of wood used for the caste. Our last tour of Laphroaig was called Past and Present, and it included a dram of 35 years! That bottle would be thousands of dollars so it was a special treat getting to taste it. Plus, the tasting guide was an incredibly knowledgeable lady that completely made the experience.

Islay is home to 3,200 people and the largest industry after agriculture is the whiskey industry. Each tour guide had a story of their family history on Islay and Jura and it was clear this is a family affair, which added a lot more sweetness to the tours.

Upon leaving Islay, we stayed in the Stonefield Castle Hotel. It was gorgeous from the outside and yet, maybe to many people’s surprise, it looked like a normal hotel inside. I’m grateful for that because I love modern amenities like air conditioning and heating… electricity and running water. It was nestled against a beautiful Loch and the meals were exquisite.

We headed North, stopping at roadside castles, Oban for another quick whiskey distillery stop, and then to Glencoe. Glencoe is famous for its waterfalls and dramatic valleys. It’s home to the tallest mountain, Ben Nevis, and it’s where we stopped to stretch our legs and hike to Steall waterfall. The weather was… well, Scottish. Drizzly and wet, with a touch of waterfall mist.

From there we drove to Isle of Skye and we encircled a portion of the little island before sundown. This included a stop at The Fairy Glen (an adorable walking area with grassy mounds), Quiraing (a scenic overlook) and an attempt to see The Storr (the most famous rock formation on Isle of Skye). We had gotten lucky with weather on this trip except for the very moment that we hoped to see this formation. It was completely covered in clouds. It’s Scotland…

The next morning we circumnavigated Loch Ness – Nessie’s home. I visited Loch Ness once before when I was in my early 20s and I distinctly recall thinking if Nessie lived anywhere, it would be here. It’s a dark and gloomy lake, but still one of those boxes that must be checked when going to Scotland. The first time I visited it, I walked 8 miles from Inverness on the way there, and hitchhiked back with a lovely Scottish curly haired redhead. I couldn’t understand a lick of English coming out of her mouth! She drove me 20 minutes and told me all about her uncle, I think? I couldn’t believe that I was in an English speaking country after that dizzying experience. This most recent visit was less eventful but still lovely all the same.

We stopped briefly in Inverness for a classic Scottish breakfast, then to Balvenie and Glenfiddich (more famous distilleries). Unlike Isle of Islay where Scotch is made there due to its water, this area (Dufftown/Speyside) is where the bulk of barley is grown due to its dry and warmer climate. It has the densest grouping of distilleries.

_{Source: https://www.scotch-whisky.org.uk/discover-scotch/enjoying-scotch/scotch-whisky-regions/}

We took the scenic route through Cairngorms National Park on our way to Edinburg for our final evening in Scotland. Maybe considered a traveling faux pas for some, instead of eating our last (rather bland) Scottish meal, we opted for a super flavorful favorite of mine – Georgian food! I could rave about Georgia for hours and it’s rare to be in a city large enough to have such a niche restaurant, so we capitalized on the fact that Edinburg had one and we had ourselves a Khachapuri. With happy stomachs, we walked off (some of) the carbs by exploring the Royal Mile and the Edinburg Castle.

Scotland was a dream and given the short amount of time we spent there, I think we explored as much as was humanly possible. Up next, Ireland! Hopefully the next blog post doesn’t take me another year to write…