Now that we are home from Scotland, I have unpacked and I am mostly caught up at work, I wanted to offer up some thoughts about our recent Brave Adventure. I truly appreciate the feedback and input of those who took this trip before us and would like to pass on the favor to those yet to go in 2013 or eagerly awaiting their 2014 trips.
The overarching message I would like to communicate is that this was a phenomenal trip. I would not hesitate to recommend it to others and also would not hesitate to do it again myself if there werent so many other places still on my must see list.
Our Adventure Guides for the Aug. 4 trip (Hanneke and Zoe) were terrific. Their handling of all of the logistics was amazing, and they never failed to do it with enthusiasm and a fantastic attitude. They also did a great job at interacting with all of the adventurers, checking in regularly to make sure we were doing ok and whether we needed anything. Since this was my first
ABD, I have no basis for comparison, but they also seemed to go above and beyond in offering to pick up hard to find souvenirs for people, for example. And their interaction with the kids was outstanding.
There are too many highlights on this itinerary to name them all, but my favorite day is still our full day on Skye, as mentioned in a previous post. It was a jam-packed day, and from start to finish, I thoroughly enjoyed all of the activities (the visit to Kilt Rock, the hike, lunch, scone making, Ceilidh dancing). The highlight of the day, though, was absolutely the hike. The scenery is just so breathtaking and it is so invigorating to be out there experiencing it. The day on Lewis is also outstanding (as are pretty much all of the other days, in my opinion). The Highland pony ride through the heather on the Rothiemurcus estate was amazing, canoeing on Loch Ness was a fabulous experience, the visits to Dunnotar and Glamis castles; just all of it.
Since this was our first ABD and first guided travel trip in over 10 years, I am still processing the pluses and minuses to this type of travel. I do feel confident, however, in saying that for this trip, the pluses far outweighed the minuses.
Probably the biggest plus in my mind was the way this itinerary (and I suspect most, if not all, ABDs) integrate fun/cultural/physical activities into the trip to supplement the sightseeing. While I might have been able to replicate much of this itinerary (but I suspect probably not all; certainly not within a 9-day timeframe) on my own, it would almost certainly have taken the form of a forced march sightseeing trip through Scotland, which would not have been nearly as enjoyable for our family, especially DD 11 and DS 9 (or, frankly, for myself). I am not sure I would have had the knowledge or wherewithal to plan activities such as scone making, whisky tasting, tapestry weaving, mountain bike riding, Highland pony riding, Ceilidh dancing, etc. on my own, and they were truly an invaluable add to the overall experience. I have to laugh at myself because, looking at the itinerary before we left, I was not particularly excited about the stop at the Dovecot Studios for tapestry weaving on our Edinburgh day. And while I enjoyed all of our activities in Edinburgh (our local guide, Davey, was terrific, and the private tour of Holyroodhouse was a definite highlight), my favorite activity of the day turned out to be the tapestry weaving. The other huge plus was the ground we covered on this itinerary and the hassle free way in which it was covered. Then of course there are the special Disney pluses, like special access to venues (launching our canoes from Urquhart Castle, anyone?) and the ABD surprises (which as others have said, I will not spoil by revealing here).
The minuses are just inherent to this type of travel, I think, and are not specific to this itinerary. The one exception might be the time spent on the coach on this itinerary. I really dont think it could be avoided with the wide scope of this itinerary, but I will admit I was not sorry to leave the coach behind after our final day. (I was, however, very sad to see the whole trip come to an end; I could have kept going for at least another week or two!) Other minuses would be that I did feel a little rushed at a couple of the castles, where I would have liked more time for further exploration and a leisurely pass through the gift shop (versus speed shopping). And a little more down/on our own time would have been welcome for time to explore Portree or Inverness, for example, or to go to the seat of Clan MacDonald on Skye (our last name is Donald), but Im not sure it can really be accommodated on this itinerary without sacrificing some of the sights and activities, none of which I would want to give up.
I also want to address some of the concerns expressed previously about this being a Brave and not a Braveheart trip through Scotland. I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed the tie-ins to the Brave movie and the special surprises on this theme, and I did not feel short-changed in the history department. I thought both our Adventure Guides and our local guides shared quite a bit of information about historical events, local facts and customs, etc. It might have helped that I came in with a bit of a base of knowledge of Scottish history through reading books, etc., but I did not feel that this was lacking on the trip. We also took advantage of the opportunity to be dropped off at Culloden after our day at Rothiemurcus, so we added a little history to the itinerary that way.
For anyone adding on time in Scotland either before or after the trip, I also wanted to mention a couple of other non-ABD highlights. The first is the Military Tattoo, which we attended on one of our Edinburgh pre-nights. This is a fantastic show, and I highly recommend it for anyone taking one of the August trips. The setting is dramatic and majestic, the performances are entertaining and colorful, the fireworks were an unexpected bonus, and the lone bagpiper playing on the parapet of Edinburgh Castle at the end is truly moving. Another highlight was hiking up Arthurs Seat. It is another invigorating hike with the reward of panoramic views of Edinburgh from the top. I would also recommend our day trip to St. Andrews and the fishing villages of Fife through Rabbies Trail Burners. We had a top-notch guide for this tour who also imparted a fair bit of Scottish history, as well as political commentary, into the tour.
I will stop here, but I am happy to answer any questions fellow DISers might have.
it was great meeting you and the family; it definitely was a blast.
