September trip to Scotland

Well, I'm going! Plane reservations made, accommodation arranged, rental car reservation made, etc. As you can probably tell I am so excited.

The last time I wrote on here I was going to be visiting Scotland by myself but plans do change. I have invited my brother along since he's never been outside of the US except for Mexico but I don't really think that counts.

We will be gone Sept 4 - Sept 18. Sadly, not long enough as far as I'm concerned. Normally, I try to travel on a small budget and I still am but there are just some things that I will pay a little more for my peace of mind and comfort. One is the airline I will be travelling on...American and it has to be Boeing 777. I've been on those cheaper flights and they are fine for short trips but when you're spending 8 to 9 hours on a plane comfort is priority. Besides I am claustrophobic and those smaller planes make my anxiety level sky rocket! So, I'm paying a little bit more but really not by much. I chose to make our reservations on AA.com directly and spent a lot of time checking the rates daily. Round trip cost will be $2,600 for two adults which I thought was pretty good. Especially since I've checked more recently and the cost is up. All in all I did good.

The next thing I did was searched high and low for great accommodation and man oh man did I find it. My brother wants to be immersed in the local flavor so a typical hotel room was out and bed and breakfasts can be a bit pricey at this time of year. I found a self catering apartment on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh that will actually cost us less per night so I grabbed it up for 3 nights. The website is called Edinburgh-self catering and the apartment is called the Advocate Suite. It's a two bedroom, 1 bath with a full fitted kitchen. Check it out...it looks great! This way we can enjoy the sites and live like a local (kind of) and we can buy groceries to help supplement our food costs. This will definitely keep us on budget and allow us to spend on the more important things, you know the sites you go there for.

Once we leave Edinburgh we will be picking up our rental car at the airport and head up to Aberfeldy where I've reserved a cottage on the Bolfracks Estate. It's called Croft Moraig Cottage and it's right across the road from the ancient Croft Moraig Stone Circle. There are some great walking trails on the Estate that will definitely be taking advantage of. I reserved this cottage through Unique Cottages. We will be staying there from Sept 8 - 17. Again, this is another way of cutting costs. A lot of people rent a car and then travel throughout the countryside staying in bed and breakfasts, which is okay. But I prefer to have a home base so that I don't have to live out of my suitcase. Aberfeldy is centrally located so driving to the places we want to see won't really be too difficult.

As I've stated on previous pages, driving over there isn't really difficult once you get the hang of "stay to the left". It's kind of a mantra I repeat over and over again in my head! Having the luxury of rental car allows you freedom to do as you please while your there. You are on Vacation after all.

We've got a few things that are must see and the rest we'll just take it as it comes. If you try to stick too tightly to a schedule then I feel you take the fun out of it. We will be going to Doune Castle for the Monty Python festival. My brother is a huge fan and knows the words to the movie like a song. Me...not so much but I know he's going to have a blast. So, I'll go along and try to immerse myself into the scene right along with him. We'll also be going to Glencoe and Loch Ness. My brother would also like to play gold while we're there since it is the birthplace of the sport. I think while he's doing that I will just enjoy some peaceful walks on the estate and take loads of photos. I'll be sure to post some when we return.

If you have any suggestions for things we should see or do while we're there please feel free to comment.