The most relaxing vacation I had (before my recent jaunt to Coachella) was my trip to Scotland with my mother. A co-worker at the time, Patricia, also went with us. Since my mother was paying for my ticket with frequent flier miles (business class – SWEET!) Patricia and I did all the planning. After a consultation of the major sites to see, Patricia researched and planned the Bed and Breakfasts and I researched and came up with smaller tourist stuff in each city.
We purchased a Eur-rail pass for transportation and off we went. My mother and I had learned our lesson from that first Europe lecture tour and took one small roll-away bag each. Patricia, who’d traveled to France before, apparently hadn’t learned this lesson. Watching her wrestle a huge roll-away, a hand suitcase and a big duffel over her shoulder onto a train was embarrassing. Especially during rush hour! She bonked several people down the aisle and I realized she had no real concept of her space. She was a tall and large woman who had (for some unknown reason) illusions she was petite.
Anyway, we took the train out to Bath and spent a day there taking a tour of the Roman Baths and saw Stonehenge along the way. When we got to the train station for Stonehenge we just hired a taxi and had him wait while we did the tour. Not only did we trust him with our luggage we paid him for the 2 hours he sat there and waited for us. Stonehenge was roped off and you didn’t get to wander inside the pillars. As disappointing as seeing the Mona Lisa. (Small and roped off so you could barely experienced it.)
But we didn’t care too much. We got to see it. After Bath we took the train back to London and headed up north. We stopped in York (there is a really cool underground dig of an old Viking settlement.) Patricia was all about visiting Cathedrals and Mom and I just wandered about the city and saw what we could see. Then we hit Edinburgh at the tail end of their month-long music festival.
We spent 4 days there and after 4 days of traveling we were ready to stop jumping from city to city and settle. We did a concert of Pipes and Drums (OMG.. me and drums.. I was in heaven!) Patricia and I tried the Haggas and my mother had the Whitefish at this fancy restaurant with a Scottish show. Guess who got sick! My mother! She had food poisoning for that entire night and when we woke up that morning she told us she’s spent the night in the bathroom, but said, “I’m fine now.. lets just not stray too far from a toilet!”
Toured the Edinburgh castle, bought a felt cape and tried a pub here and there. I love a man with an accent. But on that trip I was afflicted with a case of Tourist Shyness.
Oh pick up your jaw off the floor! Yes, I got shy. TRY to wrap your head around that! But I was a different person 15 years ago. Looking back I realized I was in a mental space of husband shopping. And I’d already started conversations with the man I eventually married.
But the romantic in me loved the idea of meeting a Scottish man with that sexy accent and falling madly in love. And for some reason I couldn’t go into the pubs with my vamp sexuality AND want the romantic connection at the same time. So since I was accompanied by my Mother and large Patricia, we didn’t “party” in any of the pubs.
Ah, but today is a different day! Sometime in the next few years my girlfriend Eithne and I will take a trip to Ireland. See, she’s from Ireland and wants to visit family and I want to pub crawl through that county to my hearts content. Irish accent, Scottish accent makes no difference to me!
Lets see if I can invent some American stereotypes to live up to!