The tail end of the trip was in London. Our primary goal was to see the Harry Potter Studio Tour, but it ended up being so much more! We returned to the Islay airport and took another small plane into London. This one also involved a brief stopover in Glasgow before arriving in London, and we immediately headed over to the Air BnB. It was in such a great location, just off Baker Street (yes, right near Sherlock Holmes’ house) […]

Categories: Travel Tales, Traveling

This post may stretch out a little bit longer than the previous ones, as it’s going to cover the entirety of the time we were on Islay. There will be plenty of pictures of beautiful scenery to break up the text! On the third full day of the trip, we headed to the airport again. It was time to fly to Islay (pronounced Eye-la), a small island famous for their whiskey distilleries, including my favorite, Lagavulin. However, the first step […]

Categories: Travel Tales, Traveling

The day after our full day of Edinburgh sightseeing, it was time to head off to the Highlands! We weren’t leaving Edinburgh just yet technically, this was just a day tour that I arranged ahead of time. The tour’s plan was, among other things to take us to Sterling Castle, Loch Lomond & and Trossachs and a whiskey tasting (which was optional but I’ll get to that later). The morning began with a walk to meet the tour, where we […]

Categories: Travel Tales, Traveling

Back to the grind today… well, really back to the grind yesterday, but I still get to reminisce about my week in Scotland and London! This will be the first in a multi-part series (number of parts still to be determined) about the trip. First off, this trip came about when my friend Michele asked if I wanted to go to the Harry Potter Studio Tour in London. I said yes, but that I’d already been to London several times […]

Categories: Travel Tales, Traveling

“Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life; Whose misadventur’d piteous overthrows Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife. The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love, And the continuance of their parents’ rage, Which, but their children’s end, nought could remove, Is […]

Categories: Travel Tales, Traveling

(The strange title of this post will become clear towards the end.) Our final day of the trip we had a tour planned for Verona for the majority of the day, so on our last full day in Venice we wanted to make it count.  It was time to see all the major tourist attractions starting with arguably the most famous: St. Mark’s.  We also strategically planned our day to attempt to avoid a looming rainstorm, which would be the […]

Categories: Travel Tales, Traveling