Ten Days from Scotland

How am I ten days away from another international adventure???? I feel like I’ve barely unpacked (metaphorically) from Ireland!

I know I haven’t talked a lot about the Scotland leg of my 2024 adventuring. That’s because, I think, it still doesn’t feel real. I spent a lot of time earlier this year thinking I might have to cancel Jeff’s part of it, either if he got a California job or didn’t get his passport in time. So I kept, I guess, not emotionally committing to Scotland like I did to Ireland because I didn’t feel I had a concrete plan. Y’all know how I am about needing A Plan. Well, he didn’t get a California job, and he did get a passport, but! Then our voyage on the QM2 accidentally got cancelled (the stroke I nearly had over that!). But! We were able to book passage again on the same sailing date, so that’s back on now. Good lord.

So our tentative plan looks like…

July 25th, fly to New York
– stay in “voco The Franklyn New York” (yeah, I don’t get the name either, but whatever, it’s walking distance to The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
– plans for our one full day in New York include going to The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Alice in Wonderland statue in Central Park

July 27th – August 4th, sail on the Queen Mary 2 from New York to Southampton, England
– if you think this makes me want an old-fashioned steamer trunk and a very sharp hat, YOU WOULD BE CORRECT

Now, check this part out – when I was in Ireland, I stumbled across this company called DayTrip. They’re like Uber or Lyft, but for long distances, AND they have suggested stops if you want to add those on to your trip. So when we disembark the QM2 we will be taking a DayTrip ride from Southampton to London, with a side stop at a place called Milestones. It’s a living history museum, and it might be awesome, and it might be awesomely awful. Either way, I will love it, and Jeff will love making fun of me for loving it.

Aug 4 – Aug 7, London
– we’ll be staying at The Counting House (look at that fucking BAR, y’all! Reminds me of the pub in Belfast that I loved so much!) and we don’t have concrete plans for the two full days we’ll be there other than going to see Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre. I wanted to see, well, really, ANYTHING on the stage in London (you can take the girl off the stage but you can’t take the stage out of the girl), and when I saw Hamilton was playing….? I wasn’t going to throw away my shot. Jeff has never seen Hamilton (although he has graciously tolerated me singing along with it in the car) and I am about to change his life. Awesome! Wow!
– our hotel is walking distance to some cool things, so we’ll probably just walk around and play tourist. The Cornhill Water Pump, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Leadenhall Market, the Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, and so on.
– on the 7th we take a train up to Glasgow

Aug 7 – Aug 13, Glasgow
– we’ll be there for the WorldCon, Glasgow 2024. So mostly we’ll be doing that… but I do want to sneak away here and there to see things like the Necropolis, the Botanical Garden, and the Clydeside Distillery (I mean, come on, it’s like two blocks from our hotel).

On the 13th we take a DayTrip to Inverness, with a stop at Queen’s View.

Aug 13 – Aug 19, Inverness
– we’ll be staying at The Glen Mhor… because how could I not book a hotel that is also a distillery? (Yes, I booked a tour!) Speaking of tours, we’re taking three while we’re there… one called Whisky Journey (this one’s for Jeff), one is a Wildlife and Whisky tour (this one is 50/50 me/Jeff) and the one I’m most looking forward to, because the Isle of Skye was really the only thing on my Scotland Bucket List, “The Ultimate Skye Tour” (Jeff doesn’t know it yet but he’ll enjoy it, too).

On the 19th we take a DayTrip to Edinburgh, with two stops – one at Loch Ness, and one at Glen Coe.

Aug 19 – Aug 25, Edinburgh
– mostly we’re doing this one so Jeff can try to make some contacts at Fringe. I haven’t planned any tours for this leg… I didn’t want to interfere with Jeff seeing what Fringe is about and I don’t need to go on a whisky tour solo (honestly I’ll probably be all whiskeyed out by then!). So I’ll probably just walk around and be a tourist for the week. I see that Edinburgh has a zoo, a botanical gardens, of course the castle, and I’m sure quite a number of cathedrals and graveyards.

August 25th we fly out of Edinburgh to Washington DC, with a layover in Boston (only about two hours, Jag and Antony, sorry!).

Aug 25 – Aug 29, DC
– Museums and memorials (Jeff has never been). No need to set up tours for this one, lol, I know DC enough to get us around (plus I have a gazillion friends there).

We fly home August 29th, and the next day we break the puppies out of Puppy Jail and I plan on being smothered with puppy kisses.

I think I’ve pretty much got everything planned that needs to be planned. The dogs have a reservation at Poochie’s for the whole time, and I’ve hired a housesitter/petsitter (and have a couple friends who will fill in here and there). Writing all this out actually really helped me remember what I hadn’t done yet (pre booking tickets to The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Air & Space, booking the distillery tour in Inverness).

So. Anyway. Yay? Scotland, ho?