As you may know I am currently studying abroad and luckily my family want to visit me! It is our plan to travel through most of Scotland within the 7 days they are here and I want to tell you how I planned the whole trip, what we did and where we stayed. So this will be a little report of my time with my family.
Before we started travelling we had to plan where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do. It was my idea to travel during that time and not to stay at one place, that's why I decided to plan the whole week and make a kind of relaxing holiday for my family - at least I tried!
It was my boyfriends wish to go to Loch Ness and my wish to see the Harry Potter bridge near Fort Williams (unawared me not knowing that I would be there before). And so our route shaped more and more and we ended up with 5 places we really wanted to see:
Glasgow - Edinburgh - Loch Ness - Glenfinnan Viaduct - Isle of Skye
But... because we only had one week in October we thought that it would be to much and to unpredictable to drive to the Isle of Skye and so we withdrew it from our list. We will come back to got there next year! Moreover I decided that I don't want to go to the Glenfinnan Viaduct again because it would take to much time to drive there and I have already seen it.
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| My Bullet Journal spread to plan our trip. |
I'm so sorry that the page is in German but I painted it for my family and my dads' English is not that good. It says "Our Journey Through Scotland” and shows all the cities where we have our accommodations. Additionally I wrote some sights we could visit or recommended restaurants. And this is our plan!
MONDAY
The plane arrived in Glasgow around 3pm and I picked up my family there to go and get our car. We rent a skoda superb from sixt and my dad was our driver for this week! Wish us good luck driving on the left side for the first time! :DOur first stop was my accommodation and then Glasgow. We had a hotel for one night and it was very good. The perfect start for an adventurous week.
TUESDAY
With a tasty breakfast in our tummies we walked to the Glasgow Cathedral and the cemetery to get an overview of the city. Unfortunately it was raining the whole time but we had so much fun walking through the rain.We checked out of the Hotel before our walk so we had no time pressure. We just had to be in Edinburgh after 3pm, because there we had our next Airbnb. So we had time to walk along Queen Street and find some cute shops you don't have in Germany.
After a quick lunch we drove to Edinburgh. It was an easy drive because you just follow one street and then you're there. We had a beautiful flat in the city center and our view was amazing! Because it was only just 4pm we decided to explore Edinburgh and walked to the Castle. On our way we found some Whisky stores where my dad & my boyfriend could find some real Scottish Whisky.
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| Glasgow Cathedral |
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| Edinburgh Castle |
WEDNESDAY
Wednesday morning we startet early and drove to a car park near Arthur's Seat - in front of our flat were enough parking spaces but you have to pay for them and every Morrisons/ Sainsburys/ Tesco offers free parking. The mission was: hiking up to the top of Arthur's Seat!
You have to know that my family is not the "hiking-holidays" kind of family. We are more the "sitting on the pool and chill" type of people... So this hike was a real challenge for us but we wanted to walk all the way because of the amazing view and the beautiful landscape. And it was worth it!
We were so lucky with the weather. It was warm and sunny. It took us about 3 or 4 hours to walk up and down and in the end we were so exhausted but it was the most beautiful day I ever had!
First stepping out of comfort zones and surpass oneself is an amazing feeling. And second: spending the time with my family and not thinking of anything (Uni/ Gym/ Food/ Social Media...) was the best feeling ever.
I will remember this day as the most beautiful day of the year 2018!
You have to know that my family is not the "hiking-holidays" kind of family. We are more the "sitting on the pool and chill" type of people... So this hike was a real challenge for us but we wanted to walk all the way because of the amazing view and the beautiful landscape. And it was worth it!
We were so lucky with the weather. It was warm and sunny. It took us about 3 or 4 hours to walk up and down and in the end we were so exhausted but it was the most beautiful day I ever had!
First stepping out of comfort zones and surpass oneself is an amazing feeling. And second: spending the time with my family and not thinking of anything (Uni/ Gym/ Food/ Social Media...) was the best feeling ever.
I will remember this day as the most beautiful day of the year 2018!
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| Arthur's Seat Edinburgh |
THURSDAY
On this day we started the real road trip through Scotland. We left our flat at 10am and drove to Perth. It is not a famous city and doesn't have that much to offer but a cute little coffee shop called the Bean Shop. My boyfriend loves coffee and I saw on Pinterest that they sell really good coffee.
Our next destination was Dundee where we just stopped to buy something to drink and go to the toilets. After this it was the plan to drive along the coast to Stonehaven but what I did not know was that even if you take the closest road to the sea, you still can't see anything. I was a bit disappointed because we saw nothing from the landscape and a bit angry about myself that I chose this road. But we found something to eat (Fish & Chips for the first time!) and drove on to Dunnotar Castle.
The castle was so beautiful. We didn't went into it because of the price but even the look at it and the coast next to it were amazing!
It was good to walk through the sea air and stretch the body after a day of driving because it was already 4pm and we were still not even near to our next airbnb, which was in Inverness.
Because of the time we decided to drive directly there and go without Aberdeen. And it was totally fine!
The last part of the drive was through the Highlands. And I mean THE HIGHLANDS! Driving up to 2000ft (ca. 600m) and down to 300ft was slightly dizzying but the landscape was more then stunning beautiful! This was the landscape I expected to see.
Our next destination was Dundee where we just stopped to buy something to drink and go to the toilets. After this it was the plan to drive along the coast to Stonehaven but what I did not know was that even if you take the closest road to the sea, you still can't see anything. I was a bit disappointed because we saw nothing from the landscape and a bit angry about myself that I chose this road. But we found something to eat (Fish & Chips for the first time!) and drove on to Dunnotar Castle.
The castle was so beautiful. We didn't went into it because of the price but even the look at it and the coast next to it were amazing!
It was good to walk through the sea air and stretch the body after a day of driving because it was already 4pm and we were still not even near to our next airbnb, which was in Inverness.
Because of the time we decided to drive directly there and go without Aberdeen. And it was totally fine!
The last part of the drive was through the Highlands. And I mean THE HIGHLANDS! Driving up to 2000ft (ca. 600m) and down to 300ft was slightly dizzying but the landscape was more then stunning beautiful! This was the landscape I expected to see.
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| Dunnotar Castle |
FRIDAY
After the long drive on Thursday we wanted to reduce the time we spend in the car. Our main destination was Oban where we had our last Airbnb for this week and we drove "directly" there. That means we drove alone Loch Ness and stopped at some beautiful observation points. We had lunch in a cute restaurant in Fort William and saw the other coast of Scotland. We arrived in Oban at 4pm and my family visited a distillery and a few Whisky shops to buy some alcohol as a souvenir.
Unfortunately our for-last and last Airbnb were not that beautiful and it felt a bit disgusting, but I could live with that for one night.
As always we spend our evenings with playing cards and watching Netflix. If was so cozy and I felt like I was at home even if we were far away from home.
Unfortunately our for-last and last Airbnb were not that beautiful and it felt a bit disgusting, but I could live with that for one night.
As always we spend our evenings with playing cards and watching Netflix. If was so cozy and I felt like I was at home even if we were far away from home.
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| Loch Ness |
SATURDAY
Now we had seen most of the country and only Loch Lomond was still on my list, which was perfect for the way back to Paisley. It was raining the whole day but this so typical Scotland that it was the best weather for this drive.Back in Paisley we ate lunch at my favorite Pizzeria and then it was time for shopping in Glasgow!
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| Loch Lomond |
SUNDAY
Honestly, for me the weekend was difficult. Knowing that you will be alone again in a few hours is so hard, because you know that you will miss them and you can't do anything against it. I know that in the time of Skype and Whatsapp you're never that far away from someone... but it's not the same!During this week I was as happy as I have never been before in Scotland and it feels so sad to let them go...
All in all it was the best week I ever had since I am here! The landscape was amazing and all these impressions were stunning beautiful! We drove more then 500miles (800km) and it feels like we have seen most of the country!
If you have some advice where I still have to go or what I should see, feel free to tell them in the comments below!
See you next time!♥
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