Final days in Inverness
Day 11: I learned long ago while traveling solo that it is OK — in fact, recommended— to take a day off. Traveling is exhausting, mentally and physically. And when solo, only you make the decisions, deal with the unknown…
Days 9 and 10: Reindeer ARE real!
Day 9: It almost seems silly to say this, given what I usually value and enjoy, and given all the amazing experiences I’ve had, but seeing these reindeer may have been my favorite part of the trip. They are wild…
Days 7 and 8: Simply monstrous. I mean marvelous: Loch Ness and Beyond
Day 7: For my first full day truly solo, I had booked a small-group tour of Loch Ness, which included many stops for photo ops, commentary from our lovely driver from Glasgow, a walk about Urquhart Castle, and a journey…
Days 5 and 6: Lambs and Lochs, Wind and Rocks
Day 5: The weather for our last day on Skye made itself known. All of us ended that day’s hike headed into the wind, with horizontal rain peppering our faces. Some did the “long option,” an end-to-end 8-mile hike. I…
Days 3 and 4: Sun and Skye
Day 3: We had a second day of spectacular weather, fit for a 9-mile hike from Torridon to Coulags (and one might insert a bunch of Gaelic place names here, like Maol Chean-dearg, Ben Dàmh, or Liathach, but I really…
Highlands and Islands
The first half of my trip has begun: hiking the Highlands and Isle of Skye for 5 days. Met all the people. Not one person who doesn’t call the US home. Barely any who aren’t from California! I’d hoped for…
First day in Scotland
Three flights. 20 hours in transit, plus an 8-hour time change, plus taxis and waiting for my room to be ready, meant I woke up at 3:00 am on Friday and am finally at rest in my hotel room in…
Hiking the Scottish Highlands
I am about to embark on my next adventure, and it is one I have been planning since before the pandemic. In fact, I had reservations in 2020, before everything changed. Now, four years later, I am finally leaving. But…
THREE WEEKS IN SPAIN BLOG: Final days, final photos, final thoughts
We are on the last day of our trip, and I need to note a few things I don’t want to forget! Name that nationality.This was a game I encouraged—Barcelona is such an international city that we encountered many, many…
French food, French language
I might have made a mistake going to France just as I was feeling good about my Spanish. I felt like I had turned a little bit of a corner with my Spanish. I was having real mini-conversations with people….