Posts Tagged With: trip

fairy pools, standing stones, and (perhaps even) a monster

Our friends Mike and Josie are celebrating twenty five years of marriage this spring. They’ve decided to celebrate with a trip to Scotland. They invited us to come along.
Um, yes please!
We’re making our lists (and you know I’m checking them twice) of all the things we’re hoping to do.
Some are touristy, some not so much.
I will say we changed the dates of the trip for an opportunity to ride the ‘Harry Potter’ train, so there are definitely some touristy things.
Mike is an Outlander fan, has read all the books, and is hankering a trip to Inverness to find some standing stones.
I want to go to the fairy pools and fairy glen at Isle of Skye. (and about eleventy-million things in Edinburgh)
Josie is interested in all things literary, and perhaps Skara Brae.
The only thing YBW said so far is he’s hoping to catch a glimpse of Nessie in her lake. Of course, that means he’s game to do pretty much everything.
We plan to drive some of the (north coast) 500.
I’m hoping for gorgeous grave yards and cemeteries.
Josie and I are interested in finding good quality Scottish cashmere.
We’ve chosen dates.
We’ve booked flights.
I sent an email Monday afternoon with miles of links to explore.
We’re meeting tomorrow for brunch to continue planning.

May is whiskey month, an unexpected a bonus.
I’m sharing this with all y’all and asking for assistance.
If you’ve been to Scotland, or otherwise know it well, and have tips, ideas, suggestions, recommendations, warnings, etc. please let me know so we can add them to the list.
Thanks, y’all!

Categories: travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

t-minus two(ish) days

YBW and I leave early Wednesday morning for our trip.
I have taken my sweet time to get ready.
I’m stressed about the packing organization and prep more than I knew. I’ve been clenching my teeth for about a week now. The discomfort it causes is actually severe, but it took me until Saturday to realize what I was doing. So I’m paying much more attention to my body right now. When I find myself clenching my teeth I stop and take a few deep belly breaths in an attempt to settle myself.

It’s not just the trip, the packing, etc. each of my girls is going through a troublesome emotional place right now and I’m having a hard time knowing I’m about to go radio silent. I know they’re strong and capable women, but I also know I just want to be available in case somebody needs their mommy.

Today my teeth clenching is better, I’ve only had to stop myself twice since I got up at 7:30!
I spent the better part of Saturday organizing and beginning to pack.

Everything but undergarments in this stack of rolled clothes.
I was feeling pretty accomplished.

Sunday morning I went to get my hair done.
When I got home, YBW was in full on packing mode. Y’all, I love to watch him work! His process is so different from my own that I can’t help myself! He wrote down what clothes he’s wearing together on what day. I LOVE this! I would never think to do that! I just roll up stuff and put it in my bag. Of course, wearing dresses is much simpler than wearing pants and shirts…
Anyway, he inspired me to finish the task. I was feeling pretty confident in my choices, and in the way I packed them, and then I checked the weather in San Francisco again.

Temperatures dropped another ten degrees.
This changed everything! I would not be warm enough, especially on the visit to Alcatraz (which I have consistently, and in all sincerity called Azkaban each time I’ve said it)
I immediately began to unpack.
Oh how that irritated me.

However, I knew I was over-packed, and not over-packed by Roby standards, but really and truly over-packed, so this gave me an excuse opportunity to handle that situation. I was able to remove things I knew I wouldn’t actually wear which left me at the perfect level of Roby over-packed.
And my jaw relaxed.


Removing these things provided enough room to pack warmer (and therefore bigger) things to ensure my comfort in San Francisco.
I created more room for toiletries, protein bars, and my writing and reading materials.

The spiral notebook and The Immortalists will go in my carry on so I’ll have access to them on the plane.

I completely organized the bathroom stuff, meds and supplements, all the other last minute things and it’s ready to go into my suitcase first thing Wednesday morning.
And my jaw relaxed when I wrote that.

I got this!

Categories: me | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

three weeks in November

YBW and I decided to celebrate 10 years of us by going on a three week trip.
We’re doing a full-transit Panama Canal cruise.
We’ll spend three days in San Francisco before board the ship.
Over fifteen days we’ll visit five ports of call and spend Thanksgiving day going through the canal.
On day three, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Four days later, San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
The next day, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Two days later, Fuerte Amador, Panama
Canal day
The next day, Cartagena, Colombia
Three days later, we disembark in Florida.

We were delighted when we realized this trip was on each of our lists for years. I think it’s fun we get to do together what we’ve each wanted to do before we even knew each other.
I’m most excited about exploring Cartagena!

Actually, this trip came about quite by accident. One sunny afternoon about 18 months ago, YBW got it in him that he wanted to stop into a travel shop on the way to the grocery store. He was like, let’s just see what’s up. I was game, so in we went.
Turns out Princess Cruise Lines was having a fantastic deal and we were able to capitalize on it. Our room got upgraded to a club level mini suite, we each got a full drinks package, all our gratuities are being taken care of, and there’s a laundry list of other amenities I can’t even think of at the moment.
For so long, it felt like the trip was so far away, but in writing this I just realized we leave in nine days!

YBW is already making lists…I need to get it together! I haven’t even begun to make a list.
I have an idea about what I’m going to pack, but no real organization as of yet. I’ll spend the next couple of days creating a list and getting pre-organized.

We decided to embrace the opportunity to be ‘unplugged’ and made the choice not to purchase wifi access on the ship. We know this will be tricky when it comes to keeping up with the news in the world, and with our family and friends, but I’m actually kind of excited to shut out the world and just be with my Sweetheart for fifteen days.
We travel well together.
YBW gets a bit of travel anxiety about getting to the mode of transportation in a timely manner. I get a bit of travel anxiety if we don’t have enough of a plan.
But we know this, so we know how to plan for and accommodate to ease each other’s anxieties. In all honesty, I’d much rather sit at the gate for an hour with a book than be running to board a plane at the last minute anyway.

Speaking of books, YBW has loaded up all his books from his kindle to his ipad so he has his music and books all in one place.
On the other hand, I only read ‘real’ books so I’m having to be mindful about packing. Only paperbacks so they won’t be too heavy. I’ve planned ahead as I read my TBRs, trying to knock out all the hardback books first and saving the paperbacks to pack.
Perhaps I’m a teeny bit organized.
Not at all as organized as I normally am, or would be.
I’ve been distracted by the girls and baby being here, and Halloween.
But they left yesterday, so I’m giving my all my attention to getting organized and packed.
I’m actually going to create my first list as soon as I finish writing this.
Then call my doctor for some scopolamine patches…just in case.

Categories: me | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

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