Back in the saddle: Early days of Scotland

JUST catching up after a little over a week back across the Atlantic. This trip was oddly far more challenging a trip than the launching of this general adventure back in May, and proved a nice test of my rediscovered-and-still-developing ability to roll with punches... Those first days after the jump!


Aberdeen and Inverness... a little video to get started before I dig into the wackadoodle journey that got me there.

As I've mentioned, this trip was made possible by a return flight to Stockholm that made my trip back to the States at the end of August about $200 cheaper than a one-way flight would have been. But I knew I wanted to hop from Stockholm to points beyond, either revisiting some of the areas I'd most enjoyed last summer or (ideally) striking out for new horizons. Cheap flights dictated a shape: to hit Scotland first, fitting in some Highland exploration that eluded me in August and visit some UK friends, and then to wing south to Barcelona.

Aberdeen by the light of the early morning! The prize at the end of a journey.

Despite having left a substantial window for transfer in Stockholm, my connecting (separately booked: foreshadowing!) flight was scuttled when my SAS flight across the ocean was delayed by two hours. I scrambled to find an alternate means of getting to Aberdeen while huddled over my phone at O'Hare, eventually deciding to throw out some points I'd accumulated in last summer's travels. A disappointing double-dip, but it would get me there. I then settled in for the flight, and my seat companion's dubious decision to spend all night watching movies with his overhead light on. Oof. An extended layover in Stockholm (and an unplanned layover in Frankfurt) later, I was on my way... after the total failure of my third plane's computer system sat us on the tarmac for an hour. I finally arrived in Aberdeen at midnight, promptly missed the last bus from the airport while trying to convince an ATM that I really did have cash to withdraw, and split a cab into the city with a young Scottish couple. Arrived at my hotel about 1 AM, was given a key that didn't work, and eventually just had management let me into my room, where I promptly drew a bath and passed out in bed thirty-six hours after getting up in Chicago.

Library study carrels or Swedish airport terminal?

Woof. (And yet: a minor miracle to get to my destination on the night, given the slim options, and glorious to start my trip the next morning as planned.)

I swung up to Inverness the next morning, and spent a few days in that lovely town, getting translations worked out while doing a little sightseeing during the few hours of daylight each day (the sun was up roughly 9-3:30, a good limit to my time out and about). A few days in I picked up my car for the duration of the journey, only to find that I'd been "upgraded" ... into a gigantic full-sized silver van. In a country whose highways are quite narrow, and in many places have no shoulder, and in most places have a curb. Welp. More time to learn how to remain flexible/expand my horizons! After my first day in the beast, I swore up down and sideways that I'd only use it to get to Skye and back to Glasgow, but I started inching out a bit and eventually made peace with it.

So. That's the disjointed first chapter. When things really start getting fun is when we get to the Isle of Skye. All that, and probably a few dribs and drabs more, next time...

View of the River Ness from the front of my hotel. THIS TOWN WAS PRETTY.

Precious little street art in Inverness but I'll take what I can get...

Clava Cairns. Ancient ancient stone stone. A beautiful window of late-afternoon sunlight on a dreary rainy day. A quiet field with remnants of what came before.

Culloden Battlefield. (Can't get rid of the annoying panorama watermark. Thanks, Google!) Site of the last hand-to-hand battle on British soil. Now as often as not used for an off-leash dog park. Beautiful and bleak and quiet and grey. A good last visit before heading of to Skye...