Trip Report: Scotland, a Brave Adventure

[sayhello]

Sayhello, I didn't actually do a trip report for our Scotland ABD. (My first foray into trip reports was the one I did for our Central Europe ABD earlier this summer). I'm pretty sure CaliforniaGirl09 didn't do one either. However, somewhere in the Scotland ABD meets thread, we each posted impressions following our trip. For the Old Man of Storr, our coach actually stopped on the way to Kilt Rock. We all had a chance to get out of the coach and hike around the hillside (which had a creek and the ever-present sheep!), and then the guides took photos with the Old Man of Storr in the background.

We did our scone making at the Isle of Skye Bakery, so maybe the switchup to the hotel for the scone making, plus wanting to provide time to explore Portree, led to the change to the drive-by for the Old Man of Storr.

Sorry, guess I wasn't clear. We stopped for lunch at the hotel, then went directly to the bakery (5 minutes away) to do the scone making.

Did you guys stop in Glencoe for a photo op?

Sayhello

 

[Calfan]

Did you guys stop in Glencoe for a photo op?

Sayhello

Not that I recall.

 

[sayhello]

Not that I recall.

Well, I though that might be part of the answer there, but looking through my photos, Glencoe was on the way to the Hotel on Skye, not on the way to the Quirang. We stopped in Glencoe for a photo op on our way to Fort William. (Glencoe is a GORGEOUS area). Again, I would guess not stopping at the Old Man of Storr was a timing thing.

Sorry for highjacking your trip report, DCPhotoGal!

Sayhello

 

[DCPhotoGal]

Wonder why they switched to the estate day? The setting was so spectacular, it's a shame they did that.

I suspect that it was a timing issue on the Glamis day. It seemed like a long day with both castle stops and then back for the farewell dinner, so maybe fitting the archery in packed the schedule? Our guides did mention that it was such a long day, schedule-wise, and that's why we had to get such an early start. Or perhaps it was to make up a little for taking the horseback riding away from the adults on the estate day.

 

[DCPhotoGal]

Danny did not pick us up after our farewell dinnner.

I didn't mention it in my report, but the bus didn't come for us after our farewell dinner at all. They said Danny was off duty and someone else would come, but it didn't show, so we ended up walking back. It wasn't a big deal for us, though, since it was a nice night and not too bad to have one last walk down the Royal Mile before leaving.

 

[sayhello]

I didn't mention it in my report, but the bus didn't come for us after our farewell dinner at all. They said Danny was off duty and someone else would come, but it didn't show, so we ended up walking back. It wasn't a big deal for us, though, since it was a nice night and not too bad to have one last walk down the Royal Mile before leaving.

It is fortunate that it's so easily walkable (and it wasn't raining!)

I don't feel like I properly said goodbye to Danny. I wish they'd let us know he wouldn't be coming back for us (although it totally makes sense why he didn't).

Sayhello

 

[carpenta]

I feel that ABD should invite the bus driver to the final dinner if that driver has been with the group through out the trip. On our Germany trip our driver Rudy , who was with us for most of the trip, was not allowed to eat breakfast with the group at the castle we stayed. Now how much did a breakfast cost? I felt bad for Rudy. He really was a great personality and added to the trip.

 

[DCPhotoGal]

I feel that ABD should invite the bus driver to the final dinner if that driver has been with the group through out the trip. On our Germany trip our driver Rudy , who was with us for most of the trip, was not allowed to eat breakfast with the group at the castle we stayed. Now how much did a breakfast cost? I felt bad for Rudy. He really was a great personality and added to the trip.

That's a good point. On our trip, especially since we had two American guides, our driver served as our local "expert" in answering some of the questions on the long bus rides as well.

 

[sayhello]

That's a good point. On our trip, especially since we had two American guides, our driver served as our local "expert" in answering some of the questions on the long bus rides as well.

That's true, he did! Plus talking to us about the Vote for Independence, which was very interesting.

For some reason, we had a different driver the first full day (Edinburgh), and Danny joined us from the 3rd day on. Did you, or was there maybe just some conflict on the first day of our trip?

Sayhello