Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Aince awa, aye awa

Right now I wish I were back in Scotland.






Our honeymoon was so great: Edinburgh, Jedburgh, Melrose, Drybugh, Stirling, Doune, Inverness, Loch Ness, Glen Nevis, Glencoe, Loch Lomand, Glasgow and a quick trip to England.
All on the left side of the road.
With the Gaelic radio station playing The Bangles.
Making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with fancy souvenir spoons.
Abbeys and castles and mountains and glens to climb through like little kids without a care in the world.
It was beautiful and relaxing, and everywhere we went we got this:
Where are you from?
Near Chicago? Well, what brings you here?
Honeymoon! Congratulations!
May I ask, why Scotland?
(At this point I would look down, cover my eyes and confess that a large reason we picked Scotland is because Braveheart is my favorite movie.)
Oh - that's alright. Brilliant movie but the history's completely wrong!
Well, thank you for coming. Enjoy your time!
Now I have been to England, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Italy and Canada, along with time in New York City, Seattle, San Francisco and Denver. No one has ever thanked me for visiting their city or country before. Truly Scotland is filled with wonderful things: the food (yes, even the haggis and blood pudding), countryside, history, places to visit, road signs (our favorite was the one with 2 elderly people on it crossing the street). But their greatest asset is the people. The Scottish people are just amazing.
Right now I would give anything to be back over there, just me and Travis, walking up some mountain or hunting for another ruin as I quote dialogue and he laughs at what a dork I am.
William Wallace killed fifty men. Fifty, as if they were one...
a hundred men...
and he cut through them...
like Moses and the Red Sea...

*The title of this blog is written in Scots and translates to, "Once away, always away." It means more that after you travel for the first time you'll be ready for more adventures.

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