Ready, Set, GO!!!!

I love to travel.

I love exploring a place that is new to me, meeting new people, and experiencing life in a way that might just be a bit different from my normal.

Today, I travel to Scotland.

SCOTLAND!!!!

This trip is significant for me in several ways. It is the first true vacation I've had in eleven years. Sure, I've traveled in that time. I even lived abroad in that time. But most of that travel has been work related or has been trips for a specific reason (weddings, reunions, funerals). This trip is pure fun. I'm not even taking reading material that is work related, and for me that is an enormous change!

I have wanted to travel to Scotland for as long as I can remember. I grew up hearing how my grandfather was born and raised there, the stories of how he came to the US with his family when he was a teenager, and the stories of our family. Our family name, you see, is one of the original clan names in Scotland. We have our own coat of arms, our own tartan, our own history traced back to the early 12th Century. We have our own motto, "Endure Fort", which means "Endure strongly" or "Endure with Strength." A Lindsay was one of the ten signers of the Scottish Declaration of Independence, the Declaration of Arbroath, in 1320. We intermarried with the clan of William Wallace and gave him castles and land to aid him in his quest for independence. Among us we claim James Bowman Lindsay, who patented a system of wireless telegraphy in 1854; David Lindsay, Bishop of Edinburgh, who crowned King Charles I in 1633, and Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, who penned a History of Scotland that is one of Scotland's most valuable documents. My grandfather and brother share a name with this last one, as well as with the current (29th) Earl of Crawford. Another Robert Lindsay, cousin to the 26th Earl of Crawford, was the first recipient of the Victoria Cross. We founded the Lindsay-Crawford regiment...the Black Watch regiment...in 1739, a regiment which still stands watch over Edinburgh Castle. The current chief of our clan, the Lord Crawford, Robert Alexander Lindsay, is the premier Earl of Scotland. His predecessors have held a seat in every Parliament (either British or Scottish) since 1137.

It is a history I do not feel worthy of, but one which I embrace wholeheartedly. I cannot even express how excited I am to finally see all these places to which my ancestors had ties and which they held dear. I will see the big things to which our family is connected...Edinburgh Castle, Stirling Castle, Holyrood. But I will also see the things that, though small to others, are large to me...the village where my grandfather was born and raised on the southern tip of Loch Lomond, the church where my greatgrandparents were married.

Equally exciting, too, is the fact that this trip will reunite me with my very dearest and best friend, Cyndy. Well, Cynthia now...but forever Cyndy to me. We met 23 years ago in the seventh grade, and though we have not lived in the same state in the last 22 of those years our friendship stands firm and solid. Cyndy has been living in Edinburgh for the last 3 years, attending vet school at the University of Edinburgh. Since she's only got one more year, it is high time I take advantage of the free lodging!

It promises to be a busy week. We have plans, though both Cyndy and I are very used to plans dancing out of our way and letting the unexpected rule the day.

I'll arrive in Edinburgh on Saturday morning...Cyndy and her boyfriend, Tim, arrive back from Dubai on Saturday night. We're hoping I get delayed (I almost always get delayed when I travel!) so that we can meet up in Amsterdam on our layovers and spend the day there. Barring that bit of luck, I'll take a bus to her friend Bronwyn's flat to pick up the keys to Cyndy and Tim's flat and then take a cab there. hmmmm...me, luggage, place I've never been and public transport? That leaves plenty of opportunity for mishap!

Our weekly plan looks something like this:

Sunday:
Castle Hill/Royal Mile in Edinburgh, specifically to include the Camera Obscura , the Writer's Museum , and a Literary Pub Tour.

Monday:
Cyndy has a morning appointment, so while she takes care of that I'll head to Edinburgh Castle, and after lunch we have 2pm reservations for horseback riding. YeeHaw!

Tuesday:
We head by train to Glasgow, where we'll have brunch at the Willow Tea Rooms. This was my great-grandma Lindsay's favorite place...after a day of shopping in Glasgow, she would take my grandfather and his siblings here for tea. Then we'll tool about Glasgow for a bit, hopefully taking in St. Mungo's Museum (I know, Harry Potter fans, I know! St. Mungo's!!) Then we'll take the train on to Alexandria, at the southern tip of Loch Lomond. This, ladies and gentlemen, is where my grandfather was born!!! We've booked a night at a Bed and Breakfast with absolutely wonderful hosts who have already been incredibly helpful via email. They've even offered to take us out on their own boat into Loch Lomond, for a more personal experience than the large boat tour companies can provide.

Wednesday:
We'll search the records at St. James, the church where my great grandparents were married. We'll scout out what used to be the home where my grandfather grew up, although we know that the home has been razed and it is now just a bowling green. But still, it's his place, you know? Weather permitting, we'll go out on Loch Lomond, too! And then we head back to Edinburgh.

Thursday:
We'll go to Stirling Castle and then back to Edinburgh for the ghostly Real Mary King's Close tour that evening.

Friday:
A day of rest? Likely not! It's Tim's birthday party, and we're gonna party like it's 1989! Or sometime in the 80's, at least. I even packed a costume, leg warmers and all. Watch out, ozone layer, it's Aqua Net time! We'll spend the day getting ready, and hopefully I'll have some time to do some shopping or to catch some of the action at the Edinburgh Festival or at Fringe Fest.

Saturday:
The day remains unplanned, but we've got 7:30 pm tickets for the Edinburgh Tattoo and then to Deacon Brodie's for dinner and watching the fireworks.

And then Sunday, I come home.

All that, yet I look at my travel books and know that there is so much I'm missing!!!

Maybe I'll have to go twice. :-)