The Halls Fall in Love with Scotland

I belong to this great group called Wanderful.  This is a women’s travel community that supports women travelers, creators, and business owners.  One of the things they offer is what they call “global meet ups.” They pick a place somewhere in the world, book a block of rooms at a hotel or a hostel, and plan one group activity a day. The rest of the time, the women are free to plan their own activities.  The meetups are typically Thursday-Sunday.  I have had the opportunity to attend several of these meetups.    

In September, 2023, the global meetup was in Edinburgh, Scotland.  We decided to plan our family vacation around the meetup.  My daughter, Sarah, my daughter-in-law, Kelly, and I attended the meetup.  The rest of my family was coming in on Sunday, after the meetup, and we were planning to spend another week in Scotland for our family vacation. 

Sarah, Kelly and I left on Wednesday to travel to Edinburgh.  When we boarded the plane, we were informed that all the overhead luggage space was taken, and we would have to check our bags.  Several hours later, we arrived in Edinburgh and went to baggage claim to get our bags.  I saw a backpack that was the same color as mine, but I didn’t think it was mine because it was torn up.  I waited for my bag to show up.  It never did.  The torn up backpack continued to go around and around the carousel.  I finally realized the backpack was mine.  There were burn marks on the bag,

the zipper was frayed, a hole had been ‘”chewed” in the bag, and two of the straps had been shredded so that I could not even put the bag on my back to carry it. 

What was going on in that cargo hold?  I googled cargo holds.  The internet said cargo holds were fireproof and temperature controlled (apparently not), and they can hold animals. There must have been a huge, slobbering, growling, fire breathing dog, chewing on my bag and tossing it around, like a giant dog toy. 

The first few days went fairly smoothly.  Probably because the Halls were not in charge of this part of the vacation, since it was the Wanderful global meetup.  We stayed in a hostel near the Edinburgh castle. We visited the Edinburgh castle, which was very near the hostel.

We went to the market, and we made backpacks/purses at a bagmaking class. 

We went to a whiskey tasting. Other than an occasional glass of wine, I’m not a big drinker, so I tried to hide the involuntary shudder that happened with each tasting.  I did enjoy the chocolate though. There were some other little snacks provided after the tasting.  Which is a good thing, because apparently, I was starving my pregnant daughter-in-law.  As I have mentioned in previous stories, food is not really my focus when I travel.  I tend to get caught up in the activities and kind of forget about meals.  My son, Ryan, sent me a text from the US, telling me to please feed his wife.  She was hungry, but she didn’t want to say anything.  I made sure she had plenty of opportunities to eat after that. 

We went on a tour of Mary Kings close.  We took the tour called the The Real Mary Kings Close Women’s History Tour.  This is a tour that celebrates the women of the closes and how they shaped the history of the city of Edinburgh.  Mary Kings Close was a “haven for independent women.”  Forty five percent of the properties on the street were owned or run by women, which was unusual for the 17^th century.  To be honest, I just went because it was a scheduled event. I didn’t even know what a “close” was.  But I’m glad I went.  I really enjoyed it.  Here is a picture of the group of Wanderful women, plus our tour guides.

We hiked to Arthur’s Seat.  Arthur’s Seat is an ancient, extinct volcano.  It is the main peak of a group of hills that form Holyrood Park in Edinburgh. At the top, there is a great panoramic view of the city.

We went on a tour of the city. This tour was unique.  This tour company, called Invisible Cities, trains people who have been homeless to become walking tour guides.  The tour was called Real Women of Edinburgh tour.  There were several women from the meetup who went on this tour.  We walked through the streets of Edinburgh, with our guide leading us and telling us stories about significant women in Edinburgh’s history. At an intersection, we heard a firetruck siren.  Part of the group had already crossed the street, but the rest of us had to wait for the firetruck to pass.  I stepped out into the street, forgetting that in the UK, they DRIVE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD!! I heard the firetruck horn blaring and I was looking for the truck to show up on the other side of the road.  Turns out, the horn was blaring at me! I was standing right in the path of the firetruck, because the firetruck was DRIVING ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD! After I got over the shock of almost being run over by a firetruck, I felt completely humiliated.  Here I was, with this group of well traveled, confident, solo women travelers, and I had almost been run down by a firetruck because of my own stupidity. I hung my head, crossed the street, and was promptly reprimanded by our tour guide.  I wanted to crawl into the gutter. It didn’t help that Sarah and Kelly were laughing so hard, they could hardly walk.  So glad to have been able to provide a little comedic entertainment. 

The drawing below was done by one of the employees of Invisible Cities.

The rest of my family-Greg, Ryan, and Ally- arrived on Sunday, and we started our family vacation.  I had planned a very busy schedule, as usual.  We were planning to spend a few more days in Edinburgh before leaving to see some other parts of the country. I had booked an Airbnb in Edinburgh.  The owner of the apartment was an author and had left copies of the book in the apartment to purchase.  We thought that was pretty cool, so, of course we bought a few copies of the book.  We really enjoyed exploring the Royal Mile, and walking up and down Victoria Street. Victoria Street is said to be the inspiration for Diagon Alley in Harry Potter.

We found some great restaurants, and we did some shopping.  This is what Greg would look like in a kilt.  He did not buy the kilt.  I think that was best. 

We rented a van and left Edinburgh.  Kelly had bought Ryan a 5ft. x 5ft. plot of land in Scotland for Christmas, making him a Lord in Scotland. 

We were on a mission to find Lord Ryan’s land.  We put the coordinates in the GPS and set out to find the land.  Greg started out driving.  Did I mention they drive on the other side of the road in Scotland?  Maybe at our age, our brains are less flexible, but Greg had a hard time remembering this fact as well.  The trip to find the land was a little scary.  I’m not sure we were even on a road the whole time.  We finally found the place where we thought the land was.  Kelly had bought Lord Ryan a little rock, and we all signed our names on the rock.  Lord Ryan placed it under a little tree on his land. Hopefully, it’s still there.

Ryan took over the driving.  This is not intended to be an insult to Greg, but since Ryan is younger, I’m thinking his brain was more flexible.  He adjusted very quickly to driving on the other side of the road, and the ride became much less scary. 

Our next stop was Peebles.  I had booked rooms at the Barony Castle.  It is a 16th century castle that has been turned into a hotel, conference and wedding venue. It’s on the southern border of Scotland, in the town of Peebles. Peebles is on the River Tweed.

It was Ally’s birthday and I wanted to make the day special.  The Barony Castle advertised a delicious dinner and a spa. What a great birthday surprise!  A nice dinner and a massage.  When we arrived, they told us the spa was closed.  Of course it was.  We settled for walking the grounds of the castle and posing for some pictures. 

We discovered some sheep on the property next to the hotel. I wanted to get up closer to the sheep to get a better picture.  I seriously considered climbing the fence, but I was afraid there might be a sheep dog that would not appreciate my intrusion. 

Plus, Lord Ryan discouraged the idea.  I don’t think he wanted to have to jump the fence to rescue his mom.  He probably thought that would be undignified behavior for a Lord.  We did have a really nice birthday dinner for Ally in the hotel restaurant. 

We left the next day to continue our adventure. We were very close to the border of England, and Kelly had never been to England, so we crossed the border and went to a little town in England called Berwick-upon-Tweed. Berwick-upon-Tweed is a historic town in Northumberland, England, located just south of the Scottish border. The River Tweed enters the North Sea at Berwick-upon-Tweed.  They were having some sort of a little festival, so we walked around the town, visited a lighthouse, and grabbed a little lunch.  It was a nice little spontaneous stop.  

We continued on to reach the Airbnb in Nairns.  The house was near the beach.  Nairns is located on the Moray Firth, a large sea inlet of the North Sea.  Since we had made our spontaneous stop, we were running a lot later than we had planned.  The kids had tucked me and Greg in the back seat, turned up the music, and taken control of the van. 

As we were driving in the dark, a large hare started running in the road ahead of the van.  Ryan tried honking and trying to scare the hare out of the road.  The hare was certainly scared, but it just kept running in front of the van, rather than getting off the road.  Sarah decided to take matters into her own hands.  She told Ryan to stop the van.  I was protesting from the back of the van.  Somehow, I didn’t think running after a hare on the road in the dark was a good idea.  But what did I know. Sarah did manage to scare the hare out of the road, but I’m afraid that hare may never be the same again.

We finally made it to our Airbnb in Nairns, without running over any hares or any other Scottish critter.

We got up the next morning to take a walk on the beach. 

Then we set out to go to Loch Ness and the Isle of Skye.  We stopped at a gas station in Nairns, and Greg and Ryan got out to put some gas in the van.  They loaded back up and off we went.  We had been driving for several minutes when we heard a clunking sound.  That didn’t seem right.  Then the van wouldn’t accelerate.  That was not good.  Ryan pulled over and Greg called the rental company.  He told the guy on the phone about the clunking sound and the stalling of the van.  Somehow, the man immediately knew to ask what kind of fuel we put in the van.  When Greg told him they had put regular fuel in the van, the man, sighing very loudly, informed Greg that the van took diesel fuel.  Oops. The man told Greg that he would come pick him up, tow the van, and take Greg to the rental agency to get a new van.  However, he only had room for one person.  So the rest of us got out of the van and began to walk the rest of the way to Inverness. 

Ryan was not happy about the situation.  He was mad at himself for putting the wrong kind of gas in the van, even though we had tried to convince him that it was not his fault.  It was a while before he got over it. 

We finally made it to Inverness. Inverness is the capital of the Scottish Highlands and is the closest city to Loch Ness. The area on the way to Loch Ness had several restaurants and shops, so it wasn’t a bad place to walk around. We set on the path to Loch Ness.  Ryan was hoping to see the Loch Ness Monster….  We didn’t get to see the monster.  We couldn’t even figure out how to get down to the lake.  We considered running through the grass to the edge of the lake, maybe spinning around with our arms out, like we were in the Sound of Music, but it looked like we would drop right into the lake if we went past the line of trees.

We decided we better stay on the path.  It looked like maybe there was access to the lake on the other side, but by that time we had been walking for several hours, and no one wanted to walk all the way around the lake, knowing we would have to walk all the way back.  Besides, what if Ryan’s wish of seeing the monster came true and one of us was snatched off the side of the lake and eaten by the Loch Ness monster?! We were able to see some Highland cows up close, so that was fun.

At that point, we really weren’t sure where Greg was.  We had left him on the side of the road, by himself, in a foreign country, hoping some stranger from a rental agency would pick him up.  In hindsight, that doesn’t sound very caring or responsible, but at the time, it seemed like a good idea. We walked back to town.  Good news.  The rental agency guy did pick up Greg and he gave Greg a new van.  We found him walking toward us as we came back from Loch Ness. We bought some ice cream, go in the new van that was filled with diesel fuel, and continued on our way to Isle of Skye. 

Driving to the Isle of Skye took a little longer than we had planned.  The Isle of Skye is the largest of the Inner Hebrides. We finally made it.  Greg decided he would stay with the van rather than take the hike to the Fairy Pools.  The rest of us hiked down to see the Fairy Pools.  It was so much fun and it was so beautiful! 

After the hike, we were all starving. I’m not naming names, but some of us were hangry. 

We loaded back up in the van and went in search of a restaurant.  Unfortunately, most of the restaurants on Isle of Skye were closed for the evening.  We did find a pizza restaurant that was still open.  We excitedly went to the door, only to be turned away because their kitchen was closing.  We ended up eating really bad gas station food for dinner.  Yuck.  But it was better than dealing with the unnamed hangry people in the van.

We got up the next morning and drove back to Edinburgh, where we stayed the night at a hotel near the airport so we could catch our flights the next day.  We all had a wonderful time, and most of us decided Scotland was one of our favorite trips.

Tips:

1. I had never considered staying in a hostel.  I always had the impression that they were only for young travelers. I thought by staying in a hostel, you would have to sleep on dirty pillows and cots, running the risk of bed bugs and lice.  But since attending the Wanderful meetups, I have a whole new outlook on hostels.  If you do your research, you can find some very nice hostels.  The hostels where we have stayed for the meetups have been very clean and have very nice accommodations.  They have a friendly atmosphere, with places for groups to gather, or where you can work or make travel plans.  The cost is very reasonable. I would definitely consider a hostel stay if traveling alone or with other adults. 
2. For those of you who do not know what a “close” is, here is a definition.  The closes are narrow, steep streets or pathways that branch off the main streets off the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. The closes had homes, shops and other businesses.  If interested in booking a tour, you can go to bookings.realmarykingsclose.com/book to find their complete list of bookings. 
3. THEY DRIVE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD IN THE SCOTLAND!!!
4. One thing I did not get to do is a multiday hike in the highlands.  I really wanted to do this, but I could not find a guiding service when I was planning the trip.  This year, I worked with WHOA travel adventure group to plan a hiking trip in Scotland in 2026.  WHOA has many adventure trips available for women.  However, I knew there was no way I could go on a hiking adventure in Scotland without Ryan.  I contacted WHOA, and found out that they plan private trips as well.  So in September of 2026, my kids (including my grandson, Remy, who will be almost three at that time) and I are going to do a multiday hike in the Scotland highlands!  If you are interested in joining a group of women for an awesome adventure, check out the choices at whoatravel.com.  There is contact information on their website if you are more interested in a private trip. 
5. If you are going to eat on the Isle of Skye, plan to eat early.  The restaurants close early there. 
6. Check out sheswanderful.com if you are interested in joining an amazing community of women who love to travel.  They have so many things to offer, whether you are a creator, business owner, or just love to travel. 
7. Be sure to check the little sticker where you put the gas nozzle on a vehicle when you are in a foreign country.  It will save a lot of time and money.
8. The airline did reimburse me for my bag. It took some effort and persistence, but they reimbursed me in full for the cost of my bag.
9. Watch out for hares when you’re driving at night in Scotland. Apparently, they would rather race a vehicle than jump off to the side of the road. That is, until Sarah gets out to chase them.