Day 1 - Edinburgh, Libby's View

Sunday's/Monday's travel was a little rough. Pain was a bit more intense, but made it through and today was beautiful, tiring and fun.

Edinburgh, Scotland. Cool, Gray, sunny, gray, sunny, breezy...repeat.

Our hotel includes full breakfast of cooked-to-order as well as buffet. We ate a little later this morning because I slept a total of 9, yes 9 hours last night! We have figured out the process that will help me sleep - travel!

After breakfast and a little unpacking and sorting, we headed out for a walk up Arthur's Seat. It's the main peak of the group of mountains in Edinburgh which form most of Holyrood Park. It is in the center of Edinburgh and rises about 822 feet above the city. Tim climbed to the top. I didn't make it to the top.

After this, we walked to the Royal Mile mostly because of our memories of our visit here last year. We only had one full day in Edinburgh and we were typical tourists and had a blast. So, we returned to it again. Still fun. We ate lunch Deacon Brodies pub

and enjoyed an afternoon break at Amber Whiskey bar, where I had a Smoky Hot Chocolate that was delicious.

We began our trek back to the hotel only to notice that we were passing a Nando's! If you don't remember or didn't know, Tim and I love Nando's chicken. So, though it was early for supper, we stopped in and picked up food for Take-away to eat later in the room before finishing our walk back. We also procured some beverage to keep in the room too.

One full day back in Scotland and we both feel almost at home. There are only a couple things keeping us from feeling fully at home here, and those reasons may surprise you. It isn't the opposite driving or language accent or money differences. It's simply that the rest of our family and some friends are not here with us. If we could bring them along, we wouldn't mind living here.

Once in a lifetime...

"I'm so excited for you. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

When people said this to me last year, I felt it to be true. Spending 4 weeks abroad was likely not an opportunity that would repeat itself. Until this year. We're doing it again and we leave in 4 days!

1st week - Edinburgh Scotland for both of us.
2nd week - Edinburgh Scotland and surrounding area for me and
                   Beijing, China for Tim.
3rd week - Budapest, Hungary for both of us.
4th week - Oxford and London, England for both of us.

Due to delays in getting my passport renewed, I wasn't able to get a travel visa to China in time to go there with him. Well, technically I could still get it, but I'm unwilling to pay $500 for a rush to get it.

So, I've been searching around trying to decide what to do while spending a week alone. And, I've decided that this is where the once-in-a-lifetime really applies. How often will I have the opportunity to spend each day, for 7 days straight, exactly how I want to in Scotland?! Not very often.

I could take the Jacobite train ride (Harry Potter train), visit Isle of Skye, visit Loch Lomond or Loch Ness, Stirling Castle, Dunnottar Ruins (Tim and I might do this one together the first week), Leath harbor (oldest or one of the oldest in Scotland), haunted underground in Edinburgh or so many other options available to me.

You might think I'm excited to be separated from my husband for a week, believe me, I'm not. Any and all of these things would be much better with him. However, I refuse to allow the separation to keep me from enjoying the sights around me. I'll walk through Dean Village in the Fall. I'll shiver along the coastline of Leath and see the Forth of Firth bridge (without having to cross it) and stroll through a cemetery surrounded by trees of yellow, orange and red leaves. And I'll be grateful for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Mackinac Island Annual

This past weekend, Tim and I traveled on our now annual adventure to Mackinac Island, MI with our dear friends, Steve and Bunny. This was our fourth trip there with them and no less great than the first one!

We have our spot on the retaining wall at the base of the park below the fort. Well, really it's Bunny's spot, but we all claim it now since we all sit there together after arrival and before departure and often during our stay.

The views are spectacular and the feel of the island is relaxed. There are no motorized vehicles (with the exception of emergency ones) on the island, unless they are doing road repair. They have horses, horses and carriages, and bicycles if you don't want to walk. We walk. We sit. We eat wonderful food and sometimes we shop.

 Where we stay (every time) is called The Inn on Mackinac. It's a beautiful Victorian B&B that's painted green with accents of purple and yellow and is fronted with a beautiful patio surrounded by a well-cared-for flower garden.

 The views from practically anywhere on the island are gorgeous. The weather this time round was perfection. Low 70's each day, a little rain one night and fluffy white clouds in a stunning blue sky during the day.

 There are a couple forts (Mackinac and Holmes) on the island, the Grand Hotel (where Somewhere in Time was filmed), many shops and eateries, a gold course, intriguing cemeteries, Arch Rock, Sugar Loaf and Devil's Kitchen to name a few things to see/do there.

While we have and do still take walks to see these thing, the best part of this trip is having time away from the stresses of work and every day life and to enjoy this time with friends. We laugh so much sometimes until we cry. We let go of the things bottled up. We are able to just be ourselves with no pretense or egg-shell walking. 

Tim and I were talking about how odd it is that we do this each year, because he and I generally want to see other parts of the world and even other areas in the states instead of return to the same place each year. However, this place with these friends has become so special to us, that we can't imagine not having this annual trip. 

In less than two weeks we'll have already arrived in Edinburgh Scotland for the start of our 4 week journey of 2016. I'm no longer stressing about it. This little annual get-away was just the thing I needed to get my mind back on track and in the right set, that now I'm fully excited for our next adventure together. My husband and I.

Raising my glass to another great year on Mackinac Island with great friends. Cheers!

Simply Remembering

I'm excited! I'm nervous. I'm excited! I'm stressed. And I'm excited!

The gambit of my emotional state as time draws close to departure for our month-long trip to UK, Hungary and China is unnerving. Mostly, I'm excited, but I'm also a little nervous and a little stressed. In an effort to ease some of this nervousness and stress, I decided to look back at some of our photos from previous trips and remember the excitement and calm that those experiences provided.

Here are some of those photos:

A Macaron welcome to St. Ermines - so delicious!

Is it Big Ben?

Tower Bridge

Christchurch Cathedral

Stonehenge

The Royal Mile, Edinburgh

Again?!

It looks like we're doing it again! It's still a little unreal, but very exciting!

With personal plans started, then business plans adding on, it looks like Tim, Minion and I will be traveling for approximately 26 days this coming October!

Currently, our plans are shaping up as follows:

Edinburgh, Scotland for a week
Beijing, China for a week
Budapest, Hungary for a week
Oxford, UK for about 5 days

Can you believe it?! Me either! I'm so excited to visit 3 places I've been before AND explore somewhere new!

Want to know the best part? I get to do all of this with my best friend, my husband. He is the best travel partner too! We both get giddy when we get to experience new foods, new sights and meet new people. It makes the drudgery of airport waiting areas and long, leg-cramping flights worth it.

Just under 2 months to get a lot done. Yikes, I'd better hop to it!

Was it a dream?

Lightly working on Spring Cleaning at my house and was thinking of our trip while taking a break.

In hindsight, it is almost like a dream.

London, 5+ days to eat delicious Fish~n~Chips, Indian food, Scones, Biscuits, Sticky Toffee Pudding and full English Breakfasts. Have afternoon tea then walk a couple blocks to see Buckingham Palace or Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, Parliament and Trafalgar Square. Take a tour to see much more such as St. Pauls, Tower Bridge and Tower of London.

Dover for a day: toured the castle, Tim drove a standard transmission car on the opposite side of the road for the first time.

Oxford for 6 days: walks along the Thames, Christ Church Cathedral and College, so many colleges, Fish~n~Chips, Pubs, Eagle and Child, Stonehenge, oh my!

Scotland for 5+days: Edinburgh Castle, The Royal Mile shopping and sightseeing, cathedrals and other fabulous architecture, the highlands, B&B's, distilleries, scenery you wouldn't believe without seeing it for yourself, spectacular drives, scary drives, mountains, lakes, valleys, high-dessert, islands, amazing fresh smoked salmon, scones, haggis, whisky fudge, and full Scottish breakfast complete with blood sausage.

Night and morning in Paris: Eiffel Tower, Crepes, shopping, macarons, pastries, bread, cheese, chocolates.

Eurorail high-speed train and connection in Munich, Germany. It was akin to a homecoming. We love Munich and have fond memories of time spent at the Haptbahnhof train station. Hot chocolate, bratwurst, pretzel - mmmm.

Budapest, Hungary for 6 days: church and fellowship, amazing food including Chicken Paprikash, Roast Pork Knuckle, Chimney Cake, Kremes, Dobos Cake, Stuffed Cabbage, Goulash, Chicken Crepes, Cheese Noodles, Fried Cheese, Flodni, and so much more. Shopping at the City Market, and along all the roads surrounding the hotel. Sightseeing: Parliament, Castle, Fishermans Bastian, Cathedrals and Churches, Parks, Monuments and Memorials, Hillside Monastery, Danube boar ride, Easter Market, sidewalk cafes and more.

When I think of all the new things I've seen and tried just in those four weeks, it boggles my mind. Most people don't get these experiences in their lifetime, let alone a four-week period.

This is all made possible by the work my husband does. He travels, a lot, for his work. This means that he is building up airline miles, hotel reward points and car rental points. We get to use these for me to travel with him sometimes and to make vacations more affordable. When you don't have to pay for hotel or rental car, and get your airfare for a small fraction of the cost, this kind of thing is possible.

I don't take it for granted. Probably because I don't enjoy when my husband is traveling away from me. He doesn't like being separated when he has to travel. It's just something we deal with because it is his job. I'm glad that he likes to travel and that he likes teaching and coaching, because it makes it easier to accept this lifestyle. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Just setting the record straight. Since this is the type of work he does, we use the benefits the best we can, including organizing a nice vacation once in a while.

What a life! I thank the Lord for it.

Just pictures.... Tower of London (Tim)

We didn't get to spend very much time at the Tower of London.

Now, I'm an American, and we aren't very good with geography, foreign language, and European history. Sometimes we just don't know things that are obvious to others, especially about famous landmarks.

The tower of London? A huge medieval castle. Huge. Impressive. Monstrous. Gorgeous. 

We didn't have the time to go inside and check things out before our River Thames tour, but we walked around it and took pix from the outside.

So, forgive (or enjoy) my ignorance, and enjoy these pictures...