And we're off!

We've had a bit of trouble with the internet connection and finding wireless hotspots in our accomodation so we've been delayed in uploading. Hopefully this is the last of it and we can now catch you up on what we've been doing....

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As at 17 April

Well. Our flights were delayed several times – late leaving Sydney, then again at Singapore, resulting in missing our connecting flight at Heathrow. They’d booked us onto a new one but we missed that one too, by just 5 mins! So back to the lounge we went… all I can say is Thank God for Qantas Club lounges! The flight staff were very nice about it tho – as it was their fault we missed our connecting flight, we got champagne and chocolates and both walked away with Morrissey PJ’s to make up for it. Who said flirting with the stewards doesn’t get you anywhere? Finally got to Glasgow 6 hrs late and decided to stay two nights rather than the one we’d intended.

It’s been quite cold so far, about 10c each day but today it warmed up a bit up to 12c, positively tropical and only one jumper required! We knew it would be cool but somehow managed to miss the fact that Scotland is a very cold place most of the year and I for one only brought one jumper and one jacket. Oh well, gives me an excuse to shop!

Yesterday we did lots of walking around Glasgow,

exploring the city streets, Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery;

we hung out at Glasgow Necropolisand visited St Mungo’s Museum of Religious Life and Art, all of which unfortunately left me with an injured foot. I think it may be the gout!

That has definitely affected my time in the house and has stopped us (me) from doing

too much walking for the next couple of days as I rest it. Luckily, there isn’t much to do at the moment as we wind our way up through the

Scottish Highlands in our rental car.

The countryside is beautiful, lots of babbling brooks, snow capped mountains and wide open plains, but as for anything to do – forget it. Lucky there are plenty
of pubs around!

After leaving Glasgow this morning we drove a few hours North, stopping at the villages of Luss on Loch Lomond, Inverary and Glencoe and are now at Fort William for the night. Tomorrow we’ll keep driving North and hopefully spot Nessie before reaching the top of our journey at Inverness and winding our way back down the other side to Edinburgh for a few nights.

So far it’s been quite the journey of self discovery. In just 2 days, we’ve learnt that:

• cotton doesn’t grow on sheep, even when it’s organic;
• there are lots of paintings on the walls when you’re in an art gallery,
• everyone is able to sound Scottish simply by putting the word “wee” in front of any object you’re talking about, and
• everything seems really cheap when you see all prices as dollars instead of pounds. That sandwich for 4.95? Bargain! Ring it on up!

We hope to grow our list of learnings as we go and if these are anything to go by so far, we’ll be able to write several books by the time the trip is over!!