Living the retirement dream

Every golfer wants to visit St. Andrews old course someday and Rob is an avid golfer. He planned this day for all of us by finding a private tour guide to take us there. This was definitely a bucket list item for Rob and we all really enjoyed his enthusiasm and delight. “Like a little…

As we have said over and over, the very best part of our itinerant lifestyle is being able to host our family. Edinburgh is another such destination. Rob has been salivating over this Scotland trip and has done a lot of planning for it. And so we relive the first 24 hours of their visit…

Jim planned the last three days of our 30 day driving tour of Scotland at a lakeside resort on Loch Lomond in The Trossachs National Park. We actually drove by Loch Lomond on day one when we were driving from Glasgow to Tarbet on the way to Islay. And so concludes our 31 day driving…

Jim had originally scheduled two nights in Stirling on these dates but we both remembered that we had already been to Stirling in 2016 and had visited Stirling castle which we don’t want to repeat. We changed this part of our itinerary mid trip and tried to book a hotel or Airbnb in Pitlochry but…

Jim wanted to see Carnoustie because of its famous golf course even though he never visited the golf course during our stay. So that’s two nights in Carnoustie with a couple of visits to Arbroath. We did have a very good Thai meal on our first night and then the afternoon seafood meal in Arbroath.…

This is our third and last stop in the Cairngorms National Park and The Snow Road. The driving has been absolutely exhilarating for Jim and somewhat terrifying for Sandy but the scenery and views have been spectacular. And that wraps up the Cairngorms National Park. We highly recommend a visit here if you ever go…

Sandy insisted that she was not leaving Scotland without a visit to Balmoral Castle and promised Jim there would only be one more after it which would be Holyrood Castle when we return to Edinburg. When he heard we could not go in the Castle but could only walk the grounds he reluctantly consented. We…

Ballater is known as a gateway to the Cairngorms National Park even though we used Grantown-on-Spey as our gateway. It has strong ties to the monarchy as Balmoral Castle is only a few miles away. We are here to eat, drink, rest and hike. We would highly recommend a visit to Ballater and a stay…

We are getting off of The Orkney Islands just in time as storm Amy is predicted to bring very high winds to Scotland over the next two days which will definitely disrupt the ferry services. We only spent one night in Dornoch but it gave us a very memorable hike. We have been blessed with…

The history of Scotland and Orkney is so extensive, goes back so far and is intertwined with so many other countries and cultures. It is very easy to become overwhelmed by all that there is to see, explore and learn about. Even though we have five days here we are just barely scratching the surface.…

We continue with our first full day on Orkney as Sandy did so much research and loved getting into The Italian Chapel. We have now had two exhilarating days on Orkney which we would highly recommend to anyone for a visit.

As we have said, we went to the Isle of Islay for the whisky, Skye for its rugged landscapes, picturesque fishing villages and Medieval castles. We are going to the Orkney Islands because Jim liked the name and it is getting near to the farthest north one can go in Scotland. As is our usual…

We were in Inverness for one night in 2016 and Jim remembers it as his least favorite city of the whole trip. We are returning here for a number of reasons. Inverness serves as the most convenient jumping off point for the highlands and northern Scotland. We need to go through Inverness on our way…

We went to the Isle of Islay for the smokey, peaty scotch whisky and we are going to the Isle Of Skye for its rugged landscapes, picturesque fishing villages and Medieval castles. Skye is reachable by ferry and bridge. We are taking a ferry from Mallaig to the Sleat peninsula on Skye and then taking…