Saturday, August 24

Soundtrack: “The Skye Boat Song”

In the morning, we did the last of our packing and tidying up of the Airbnb. I swear that somehow, dirty clothes gain mass because it was way tougher to get all of my stuff back into their packing cubes  (the whisky, cashmere, and woolen goods I had accumulated didn’t help matters).

The entire trip, we didn’t post any driving photos so we wouldn’t jinx ourselves. After returning the car to the Hertz lot, we finally took celebratory photos of our two fearless drivers, Adrienne and Elizabeth, who took us across Scotland and back with nary a scratch in a rental Mercedes. I don’t think the Hertz employee who checked us in had ever witnessed such a lengthy photo sesh in their parking lot.

At the airport, I perused whisky in the Duty Free shops for too long, and ran out of time to fill out my VAT forms. This was a Big Mistake (see my travel tips below). We boarded our first plane to Heathrow and said our final goodbyes to Scotland.

Obligatory airplane window shot

As we descended towards Heathrow for our layover, I serendipitously spotted Windsor Castle on my side of the plane. Gahhh I’m dying for season 3 of The Crown.

Windsor Castle

On the long flight to Chicago, I watched two Harry Potter movies, feeling a little zing of happiness each time they showed the Glenfinnan Viaduct and Scottish countryside. What a magical trip we had. My heart was bursting with love for my friends and the week we got to share together. And now, I was grateful to be zooming home towards Kurt, hoping he’d bring our dog when he picked me up at the airport.

He did!

River!

In my final post, I typically share a few tips for anyone traveling to the same destination:

• Driving: Everyone asks what it was like to drive on the left side of the road. Since I didn’t get behind the wheel myself, I can’t comment, but I think all four of us agreed that our plan worked out for the best. Having two drivers allowed for trading off throughout the trip, while also giving them both enough practice to get confident at the varying challenges (city traffic, narrow winding country roads, all the roundabouts, driving in all kinds of weather, etc.). Whoever was riding shotgun took an active role in assisting the driver by navigating and letting them know if the car was drifting too close to the left side of the lane. Renting a car allowed us lots of freedom to create our own schedule, but it added a sometimes stressful element to the trip. If you’re considering renting a car, definitely balance out the pros and cons of driving vs. taking trains and make whatever is the best choice for you.
• VAT tax refund: gah, so I ran out of time to fill out the forms that I had been given in shops where I purchased whisky and cashmere. My best advice is to fill these out ahead of time, and allow extra time to find where you need to submit your claim at the airport in case of a line. If I had had my forms ready at the Glasgow airport, their process was quick and simple, but instead I filled them out on our first flight thinking I could take care of it at Heathrow. Once we got there, I had to track down the VAT window, which had a looooong line. They also required you to have the goods you were claiming with you, and I had checked all of my stuff in my luggage back in Glasgow. You can’t claim the refund once you’ve left the UK, so I missed my chance to get about £30 back. Ah well. Learn from my mistake!
• Packing: The week before we left, the four of us had an ongoing text thread as we figured out what to pack. Be prepared for rain every day in Scotland. However (at least on our mid-August trip), it tended to be the kind of light rain that comes and goes throughout the day, and I preferred wearing a light rain jacket over carrying around an umbrella.  Wearing layers is definitely the way to go, as mornings and evenings are cooler and it warmed up quite a bit when the sun came out. Packing for outdoors activities like hiking, camping, and horseback riding is easy for me, but I struggled with figuring out a second wardrobe for city nightlife while still trying to travel as light as possible. Thankfully, people dressed pretty casually in the cities we visited, and I never felt underdressed in a pair of black jeans with a nice jacket. Here’s what I brought, which fit into 4 packing cubes and in my carry-on suitcase (I ended up wearing every single item at some point):
  • rain jacket
  • fleece layer
  • sweatshirt
  • flannel shirt
  • thin thermal wool camping shirt
  • water-resistant camping pants
  • 2 pairs of jeans (1 blue, 1 black)
  • 1 “going out” v-neck top
  • 4 t-shirts
  • 1 black long-sleeved shirt
  • 1 pair olive cotton capri pants (worn on plane)
  • black faux leather jacket
  • black short boots
  • waterproof hiking shoes (worn on plane)
  • stocking hat
  • pajamas, socks, and underwear
• I also brought a small backpack which fit beneath the airplane seat, in which I carried my device chargers, universal converter, Kindle, notebook, sunglasses, and toiletries. The backpack has a lot of room to expand, which helped for the return trip and all of my souvenirs.
• Just do it! This trip all came about because my friends and I first starting talking about going half-jokingly after I got everyone into Outlander, but then grew more serious over time as we started thinking, why not make it happen?. If there’s a place you’re dying to visit, do it–start putting aside money when you can, start doing your trip research, pull the trigger and buy that plane ticket, whatever it takes to make it into a reality. It will be worth it.