Less than 48 hrs to go. Packing has started.

Ready to go!

Starting our journey to Scotland. Amazing how the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport has changed over the years.

Prepping entertainment for the long flight. \240

Mystery KLM sandwich. \240Some form of egg salad and cheese for breakfast.

Beautiful morning in Edinburgh

Walk down The Royal Mile and then toured the Holyrood Palace.

Wrapping up the first day with a city bus tour that was in and out of the rain.n Plan for tomorrow is to visit Edinburgh castle and possibly a few other spots before checking out on Thursday. Long day with the overnight travel but we were still able to make the most of the day and enjoy some fish and chips/sticky toffee for dinner. A little after 8 right now. Not sure we will make it past 9 tonight.

Spent several hours today touring Edinburgh castle. Saw the cannon shot at 1pm and a few other things I do not remember from our last visit almost 20 yrs ago. Totally packed today in the city. The Fringe festival starts on Friday so lots of people making their way to Edinburgh.

After the castle we grabbed lunch at an Italian restaurant that had some tasty gelato. Nice break being off of our feet for a bit. \240We then wrapped up by touring St Giles Cathedral and headed back to the hotel for a bit of a break.

This evening we hit Princess Street Gardens and heard the Edinburgh Military Tattoo practicing. Wrapped up by picking up some snacks at a local grocery store for our road trips over the next few days. \240Ethan said ‘why are there not more snacks’. \240Obviously spolied by the massive US grocery stores.

Weather was as expected. \240Varied between sun, light rain, cold breeze all in the same hour. \240We are still getting used to the time change and the fact it is almost 9.30pm and still light outside.

Tomorrow we pick up the rental car and meet the family around lunch and then head to the Highlands to check Into our base for the next several days.

Edinburgh Castle.

Our hotel in Old Town.

Busy day today and even busier tomorrow. Left Edinburgh this morning to pick up the rental car and head to outside Dundee. \240Driving was definitely nerve wracking getting out of the city and then getting used to all shapes and sizes of roads. \240One way streets where there is no clear direction on who gets the right of way for example.

We arrived around lunch time and spent several hours with various members of the Farquharson family. Really amazing meeting everyone and sharing stories. \240We plan on meeting with Valerie and Sandra next week when we head back to Edinburgh to spend some more time with them in Dundee

We left for an adventure filled ride through the highlighands. \240We were given fair warning that the roads would be ‘interesting’. \240Beautiful country. Some photos below.

Checked into the Craigendarroch, got settled and had some dinner at the hotel. We then walked in the town of Ballater to pick up some groceries. Awesome little town that has a lot of character and more owls than I have ever heard in one place

Tomorrow we are up bright and early for almost a 3 hr ride to Ft William for the Jacobite train. Should be an interesting day.

Some random observations:

Really surprised at how many places take Apple Pay. Way more than we see in the US

The public restrooms have these awesome Dyson combo faucet/hand dryers. Why do we not have these in the US?

Seagulls in Edinburgh are super aggressive. Had one fly and touch the top of my head at the castle and watched them harass people at Princess Street Gardens

Roundabouts are not nearly as bad as a combo one way streets where you have to figure out who gives the right of way

I still hate parking when I am driving on the ‘right’ side of the road...

I only got in the wrong side of the car 2 times today

Something is different!

Town of Ballater.

Our Hilton resort in Ballater looks like a mini castle!

Busy day again today. Hit the road at 6am for \240a 3 hour ride through the highlands to Ft William where we picked up the Jacobite train.

The drive involved some extremely tight roads, lots of elevation changes and avoiding birds, sheep, rabbits, cyclists, random hikers in the middle of the road and an old man riding his bike up a hill with no helmet or any gear. \240Interesting to say the least. \240A beautiful drive, but stressful.

The train to Mallaig took a little over 2 hrs with a slowdown over the Glenfinnan Viaduct(famous for appearing in several Harry Potter movies). \240There were hundreds of people out taking pictures as the train went over the viaduct. \240Beautiful scenery along the way and a nice lunch of fish and chips in Mallaig. Mallaig is on the top western side of Scotland. \240Not a place we would have been able to visit unless we took the train.

Made it back to the hotel in time for a late dinner and some unwinding. Tomorrow will be a slower day with our only plans currently to visit Braemar Castle(seat of Clan Farquharson).

More random observations

Krispy Kreme seems to be popular for some reason. In all the stores and we have seen several delivery trucks

Scotland does not seem to have a lot of rest areas. \240Or any at least along our route. \240Plan accordingly if you visit

We saw more rabbits this morning on our drive than I have ever seen in my life. \240Hundreds of them all over the place.

Interesting road signs telling you to avoid sheep, cows, deer, elderly people and rabbits.

Asking for water refills at a restaurant is a thing. I remember this from previous trips and have always thought it was odd. Our bill for dinner included 4waters at a zero charge.

A slower start to the day today. We have enjoyed some great weather so far but that appears to be changing tomorrow through the end of our trip. Wednesday is the day Ethan and I are supposed to play golf but that looks to be the worst weather day.

Spent the morning at Braemar Castle - home of Clan Farquharson. Great to spend time touring the castle and talking to people. Found out the head of the Clan will be there Monday for a celebration of his 100th birthday and we were invited to stop by. Also found out that he will be opening the Farquharson Bar and Kitchenl in Braemar that day as well. We are going to try to go.

Had lunch in Braemar and walked around the town and then decided to go Balmoral. You cannot much other than see the gates at this point since the Queen is there.. \240Does not look like she will be going to Carthie Kirk tomorrow so I think we will end up going to Dunnottar Castle and possibly Aberdeen. \240Wrapped up today by touring a distillery. Interesting place that is neighbors with the Royal family and was built in 1848.

Fun day with a lot less driving. Came back to the hotel and did some laundry(some challenges figuring out the equipment) and going to get some Chinese takeaway(takeout) in Ballater this evening.

Photos from the day!

Busy, challenging and fun day today. The morning started with us heading out to the Carthie Kirk church parking lot to see if we could get a glimpse of the Queen arriving for church. Turns out she was attending so we waited in the rain for about an hour to watch her drive by. Jenny and I were surprised at how casual it all was. We were chatting with the police and there was surprisingly little security. The police mentioned the Queen did not want to disrupt the area when she was in town.

After we left Crathie we were headed to Dunnottar/Stonehaven but we got a tire pressure warning for one of the tires. Unlike the US there are not gas stations on every corner so we had to drive 25 minutes to put air in the tire and hope we did not have a leak. We had lunch at the same place we did yesterday(the Brothy) and set off again for Dunnottar.

Not sure why there are so many single lane roads with switchbacks and blind turns but we hit our fair share on the way to Dunnottar and ended up behind a super slow truck. Took much longer than planned, but we made it to Dunnottar and it was worth it. Photos below. Drive back was still eventuful but not as long and enjoyed a nice dinner at the hotel. I will have to say our hotel has the best fish and chips we have had. Jenny and I are enjoying a few drinks while I finish this post.

Tomorrow is back to Braemar for the ceremony for the Clan chief and then possibly to Craigievar castle. If the Farquharson Bar and Kitchen open we will have to try it out.

Weather was not great today but I think we were lucky the last few days. Golf is still TBD for Wednesday.

Random observations:

Do not assume water and condiments will come with your meal. You need to ask.

The people we have interacted with have all been super helpful and patient answering our questions. One of the employees at the gas station helped me figure out how much air I needed in our problem tire.

The road in the highlands are crazy. Will leave it at that. It takes a long time to get from point a to b.

Availabilty of Apple Pay(contactless) continues to amaze me. Very few places do not accept it.

Started today off with a nice breakfast at our hotel before heading off to Braemar for the ceremony celebrating the Clan’s chief 100th birthday.

We arrived a few minutes before the ceremony and chatted with several of the people there. Drams of whiskey and apple juice were passed out to everyone to toast the chief and he made a brief speech about why he selected the Hawthorne tree. Cool event to be part of and we got to meet the chief at the end of the ceremony and have our picture taken(below).

From there we headed to Craigievar castle and enjoyed a nice afternoon tour. Interesting to walk through these castles. This one was turned over to the Scottish National Trust in 1963 and it still did not have power until 1970.. Hard to believe a family lived there that long without any power.

We left Craigievar and headed to Braemar for the opening of the Farquharson Bar and Kitchen. We were there a bit early and they are not serving food for a few days so will try to go back Wed or Thursday on the way out. We did get a preview tour after we explained we were Farquharsons from the US. Looking forward to going there this week.

Dinner at the Balmoral pub in Ballater tonight where I enjoyed a tasty steak pie with a nice pint and Jenny/Ethan split a pizza. Walked across the square to an ice cream place and enjoyed it in the Green(square). Weather started off not great but turned into a nice afternoon and evening.

Early start tomorrow as we head to Loch Ness/Inverness and Culloden. Lots of drive time tomorrow. Hard to believe we have been here for a week and leave on Friday. We have seen a lot but feel like there is still a lot we have not seen.

The day started off with a trip to Loch Ness and the visitors center. A bit quirky but fun to learn more about the Loch and the various sightings and theories that have come up over the years. A few photos below. It was surprisingly crowded in the area much like our next stop Culloden battlefield.

We spent a few hours touring the exhibit and then walking through the battlefield. I did not understand much about the Jacobite uprising but this was a great museum. The battlefied is treated like a cemetery and there are memorials to the various clans that participated. Photos below are from the memorial Cairn and a memorial for a number of clans that included the Farquharsons. We counted at least 5 Farquharsons that died during the battle.

Headed back to the hotel for some relaxation and enjoyed what will probably be our last Fish and Chips for this trip.

Ethan and I are supposed to play golf in the morning but the weather does not look great. Hopefully we can get a decent window to get 9 holes in.

We are set to meet Valerie and Sandra on Thursday morning and then head to Edinburgh for our last night. \240

We have seen a lot over the last week but feel like we have only scratched the surface of what is available to see.

Well, unfortunately the weather was as predicted - cold and rainy. We were only able to get 7 holes in before they closed the course because of how wet it was, but still 7 holes. The Ballater Golf Course looked like a nice layout and the holes we played were challenging. Long par 3s and 4s. We had rental clubs and it was hard to grip them the last few holes. When we turned our clubs in at the end the pro said “well at least some Americans will play in the rain”. I think he was impressed we stuck it out for as long as we could. Various pictures below.

We had lunch in Braemar again, but unfortunately the Farquharson Bar and Kitchen was not open. Went to the Bothy again and had a good lunch. We went there 3 times this trip and it was good every time. Nice selection of soups that Ethan enjoyed. Maybe next visit we can get to enjoy the Farquharson Bar and Grill. Saw a guy today in a Braemar riding his bike with his golf clubs and shoes on his back. \240Hard core.

Still raining this evening so we have been packing our stuff up and finalized plans to meet with Valerie and Sandra tomorrow on our way to Edinburgh. Hard to believe we are close to the end. The Hilton Craigendarroch has been great. We will miss this place.

Random observations

Lots of good baked items almost every place we go. I have become a fan of good scones

Make sure to find parking with plenty of room to backup. Some of the spaces are incredibly tight

I will miss good fish and chips

I will miss CoOp stores. Handy stores that have almost everything and have been in every city we have gone to.

Weird American shows like NCIS and Law and Order seem to be on every night. Why?

I like stuffed baked potatoes. These are baked potatoes you can get everything from chicken/tuna salad to vegetables. Makes for a compete meal

Always saw lots of sheep on our drives. This group had just crossed the road and I got him looking at us as if he was saying “Hey, what’s up!”

Last day in Scotland was spent with Valerie, Sandra, David and Linda in Dundee. We checked out of the hotel this morning and made the trek to Dundee where we spent some time with Sandra and her husband David at their house before we headed out for a few hrs to visit various sites across Dundee. We visited the areas where my 3x and 2x great grandparents lived and then visited the cemetery where my great great grandparents are buried.

We had a nice lunch back at Sandra’s and spent some time visiting before we made the drive to the Edinburgh airport. Dropped off the rental car and checked into the hotel for our last night. Great time over the last 10 days. \240It really flew by. Hard to believe we fly out tomorrow. Weather does not look great but hopefully we do not run into any major delays so we can make it home.

Photos from today. Alex will write the summary of the day.

That’s a wrap. Made it home around 10pm last night. Relatively uneventful travel day yesterday. Our only delay was in JFK where we had around an hour delay leaving, but we had plenty of buffer in Atlanta. The Edinburgh airport was crowded but they did a good job moving people through. More than I can say for JFK and some of the convoluted ways you have to get from point A to B.

Great trip over the last 10 days. We knew the time would go by quickly. We hit almost everything on our original agenda and were able to add a few things in along the way. The biggest disappointment was the golf rainout and then not being able to get to the Farquharson Bar and Kitchen while it was open.

Great experience getting to spend time with our family in Scotland and learning more about our history. Everyone we met in Scotland were friendly and helpful. Although stressful at times I am glad we were able to drive around and see so much of the country. I was surprised with how many people we met were tuned into American politics and all of the craziness. Granted they have their own set of issues with Brexit. Will be interesting to see how that plays out over the next few months.

So that is it for this trip. Our next big adventure is next June when we are scheduled to go on an Alaskan cruise for our 20th anniversary and 50th bday.

Wanted to highlight a couple of travel tech/gear items that worked great for us on our trip:

Verizon travel pass - I was pleasantly surprised at how connected we were during our stay. We had some coverage gaps in remote areas, but overall we had solid coverage across the country.

Google maps - offline and online worked great. I downloaded maps of the areas we were traveling to and the offline capability and accuracy were awesome. Jenny did a great job navigating us around. \240This was definitely a 2 person job.

Jenny and I both spent some extra $$ on travel clothing this past year and it was worth it. Jenny purchased Kuhl pants and I purchased several pairs of Bluffworks pants and tee shirts. They held up great(even in the driving rain on Wednesday). We also purchased some Salomon shoes that were light, comfortable and held up in the weather. We got Ethan several pairs of pants that converted to shorts that he really like wearing. Definitely worth the extra money we spent and will be able to use these next year.

Mobile Passport and TSA Precheck - great time savers that helped us move quickly through airports and customs at JFK

Apple Pay - widely accepted everywhere made paying a breeze and easy without having to fumble around with a wallet. Hopefully we can see this technology more widely adopted in the US.

Great video Valerie put together with highlights from the trip.