Travel Overview

Airways & Roadways

Last summer, my wife and I visited Dublin, Ireland and Scotland. The whole trip was 2 1/2 weeks, too much to cover on this small site, but almost a week was spent just in Edinburgh.

We took a red-eye flight from Boston to Dublin, arriving around 8:30am local time. We stayed in an AirBnB flat, one clearly used only as a rental property, just north of the River Liffey. We went to Trinity College to see the Library and the Book of Kells. We visited the National Museum of Ireland and the Chester Beatty Library. One night we took the DART light rail out of the city, down the coast to Dún Laoghaire to see a play. More than anything we walked around the city, seeing the Spire and the shopping areas around it, St. Stephan's Green, Merrion Square, around Dublin Castle, all over the city center.

After Dublin we flew to Glasgow and rented a car for a week, my first time driving on the "wrong" side of the road. Switching sides of the road wasn't a problem and I've had enough experience with roundabouts (aka "rotaries") in Massachusetts to be okay with them; my problem was with how common narrow roads are, with no shoulder and sometimes high embankments. The first hour was pretty stressful but I gradually got used to it.

GPS

This being my first time driving outside the U.S. (Canada doesn't count), we also opted for another first, having a working cell phone outside the U.S., primarily to have a data plan supporting a GPS app. Before the trip, in Google Maps I methodically saved large chunks of Scotland as offline maps but the SIM card from Tesco's didn't cost much and was reassuring. But having that connection led us astray one day; we were following our planned route to the Isle of Skye when the app said it had a shorter route. We made the mistake of following it all the way to a ferry terminal, for a ferry that wouldn't have a free spot for at least three days. That detour took ninety minutes and another ninety to get back on track. Lesson learned: Tell Google Maps to avoid ferries!

Hiking

While driving was a major activity, our walking wasn't limted to the cities, or call it hiking. We stayed on the shores of Loch Lomond and I hiked up Ben Lomond. On the Isle of Skye our hiking attempts were too often cut short. We didn't get far at the Qairaing as there was a ravine we just didn't feel comfortable getting up the other side of, especially not in the damp. The way up to the Old Man of Storr was far from treacherous but about 2/3rds of the way up to the classic vantage point, a storm rather dramatically poured over the top of the ridge and drenched us. Having underestimated how long the climb would take, we had left our jackets in the car and decided we had gone far enough.

Sea-faring

Water wasn't only our enemy, it was also our transport. A small boat piloted us to an island within Loch Lomond. At Dunvegan Castle on the Isle of Skye, a boat took us out to visit many lounging seals. Our last stop before Edinburgh was Orkney Island which involved intentionally going to a ferry terminal and riding the ferry there and back, with a fine view of the Old Man of Hoy along the way (no relation to the Old Man of Storr). It was a 19th century storm that uncovered Skara Brae, a five thousand year old village that was the impetus for adding Orkney to our trip.