stuff Scotland does well, and stuff they do "weird"

consider this a pro/cons list, lessons learned, or things to be advised of for future travel/travelers Should you choose to go to Scotland, just know that: Pro's 1. green - if you like the outdoors, they have it in spades. everything that isnt rock has grass or trees on it. and some of the rock has moss on it 2. architectures - bear in mind, I work in teh building business - the construction or modification of buildings - so I see alot of them. America spends tons of money on marginally built buildings that are relatively easy to take down. Stone constructed castles that are 800+ years old is simply shocking to me 3. fuel stations - while rare, are in good shape and ALL pay inside after you pump. it would appear that the average Scot is more trustworthy than the average American 4. fish and chips - this meal is everywhere and average in all locations. it had to be the inspiration for Long John Silvers, but LJS does it better, with more fish and a chicken option to boot 5. history - by comparison, America is a 7 year old schoolboy (and often acts like it). Scotland is LOADED with old stuff/history/etc 6. more reasonable vehicles - and I say this as a heavy duty truck owner - Scots have vehicles that are appropriate for their lifestyle. Most drivers of F-150's would be better served with a car that got 30 MPG, cause they dont really "haul" stuff. I saw less than a dozen "light duty trucks" in Scotland, and I think it works fine for them, and it'd work fine for most Americans, were it not for a need to make up for testosterone atrophy 7. in fact, most campers (aka Caravans) are single axle, and likely, just fine for the job. 8. blackout curtains - most places in Scotland are equipped with these so you can sleep past 6am in the summer. win 9. general lack of land development - most folks in Scotland live in town, even if they are out in the country. seems like rare's the man that owns much land. public land, or at least.... public access a plenty in Scotland 10. whiskey ice cream - never heard/seen this before and a 120% win. well done, brothers Con's 1. yes, they drive on the "wrong" (left) side of the road. it's more than a little weird to do, and it'd be pretty easy to get in a wreck if you're doing "a lot" of driving on your trip 2. rain - in late June - we got rain in some form on about 60-70% of our days. not the end of the world, but if you were planning an extended event outside (say....... golf, or a hike) you were pretty likely to deal with precipitation 3. road configurations - from roundabouts, to no stop signs, to 1 lane 2 way roads, their roadway infrastructure "wants" a bit by American standards. that said, we rarely encountered traffic that impeded flow, so maybe it's fine - just different... 4. the pound to dollar ratio is not favorable to us. stuff is more expensive in Scotland than it is in TX - but then again...... good luck finding fresh caught salmon in north TX... 5. public toilets - a real issue. if you're going to Europe...... pee first. public toilets are rare. 6. signs - holy moly, from the "Otter Crossing" to "Give Way" to the total lack of Stop signs, this takes some getting used to. 7. "a dram" of whisky - how they measure a shot is really not enough, and grossly overpriced. a drams worth of whiskey is 25ml, looks like a single ounce, and is around $6-8, which is just silly. fail all in all, thats more wins than losses, and a beautiful land populated with friendly people who genuinely want you to enjoy their homeland. I cannot say Americans welcome foreigners at all like Scotland does, and for that, I'm a bit ashamed. I am very glad to have visited this place, and feel blessed to call them "my people", even if "my people" left 4 centuries ago... until we meet again, Scotland, Slainte! :)

travel home - sadness.....

our travel home was relatively simple. dropped off car with Hertz, then went to the insanely long British Airways "checked baggage" line. we got to the airport nearly 3 hours early, but it took forever to check bags. After that..... I got to go thru TSA checkpoint in one of my new kilts. Based on the pat-down process that followed, I think I may be legally married to the individual doing the pat-down, and may owe "support" payments now that we have seperated.

Landed at London-Heathrow on schedule and had a couple hour layover before flying to DFW on AA, so I hit the "duty free" shops to pickup a couple more handles of single malt. The 10 hr flight to DFW got a little spicy when there were two seperate "medical emergencies" on board, but both got resolved without further injury, or flight diversion. Amanda picked us up at the airport and had flowers for Deanna - next day was her birthday. Well done, young lady.

the day of Blair(s) stuff

Alright - this post is going to be long, and it'll probably take awhile to be written, compiled, and then shared. Too much important stuff to convey here, and I don't want to miss any of it. I had mentioned this previously, but we've got decent records on the "family tree" on the Blair side (mom's mom) of the family going back a while. Turns out- a while - is about 25 generations and nearly 900 years of data. It's a lot. We left Glasgow and headed to Largs, Scotland to look at a kilt, and I bought it.

It's not a "correct" kilt tartan - but it has the right colors in a reasonably close pattern, and it was a great deal, and it included a sporran, for ~60pounds. Bargain. if you are not familiar with what a sporran is.... it's like a purse to carry your stuff (cause you dont have pockets on most kilts) but to make it manly....... it hangs in front of your privates and is often fronted with hair. Just watch this video as it's an exceptional summary of scottish attire, and also the scottish-english dynamic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwBB1Izls1w After that, we headed to Dalry (prounounced dal-rye - which is quite a bit different than the more redneckish- "dal-ree") Took us a bit to find the Blair Estate, but wow. once we did, it was just crazy how cool it was. We parked the car and went for a (this is okay- they dont have trespassing laws in Scotland - or so I'm told) walk on the property. they have a sign out front that summarizes the castle history too.

We got pretty danged close to the castle, and met a "volunteer" caretaker who was weed-whacking around the property to make things look sharp for a couple international dignitaries who would be here soon. The folks that get to stay in the castle today are very high profile (ie not me). Names you would recognize, but never have a shot at meeting.

we ran into several old "home improvement" projects around the property, some dated, most not..... allowing me to put more pieces into place. this creek crossing/bridge was built in 1849 by William Fordyce Blair. Thats before our Civil War happenned!

We saw deer tracks on the property, and eventually got a bit of rain, pushing us back to the car, but it was cool knowing I was walking on land last visited by "my people" about 399 years ago. I'm fairly confident this stone fence around the garden was built to keep deer out of it. pretty robust....

There are huge "old growth" trees on the property. Chance some of them were alive when my Blair folks were there.

Leaving there, we were hungry and looked for local restaurants - no sh$t- there's a local restaurant called "the Blair".

we stopped and ate a fantastic meal. Deanna had Cullen Skink (haddock/potato soup) while I ate a huge seafood patter intended for two. :(

I got away with a menu, half a dozen coasters, etc that will soon decorate the family Ranch.

The day manager was a lady who had married into the Blair family, and one of the employees recommended we visit the Robert Burns memorial and infomration center in Kilmarnock, just a few miles down the road. I really wish we'd have had a couple days to spend at this place. TONS of local Scottish history, including old newspaper articles on the estate, one story of a shooting involving the family, and lots of other data.

I felt like Indiana Jones doing project research, but less snakes or drama. it was awesome. Eventually, it was time to migrate back towards Edinburgh, and along the way, we stopped at Glasgow, (Mr Bens antiques) where I bought an additional kilt - that puts me at 4, lifetime - nearly one for every workday! We made it to Edinburgh and spent an hour playing luggage-souveneir-crap I didnt need anyhow-jenga) before heading to our last dinner at Ye Old Pub. Deanna had scampi and shane had steak pie with mashed taters - both of which were awesome. Sad to see it come to an end, but we have to leave soon before I buy all the kilts in central Scotland. I started compiling ancestry data, and I think we have 25 generations between young James Blair (born just last year) and Jean Francis back in 1138. Crazy. shane