Christmas gifts

Merry Christmas.

I received some travel gifts for the trip to Scotland.

One daughter gave me some travel paraphernalia including an adaptor and an inflatable neck pillow for that long flight. How long is that flight, anyway?  I'm expecting it to be somewhere between 8 and 12 hours, so I'm thinking I'm going to be pretty thankful for that blow-up pillow during that time.

Another daughter gave me a lovely RED vest I can pack for those hikes along the countryside and the third gave me the newest Diana Gabaldon book "The Scottish Prisoner" which I'm sure I will blaze through in no time.

Diana Gabaldon's writing about Scotland is the reason I am going on this trip.  I first read "Outlander" about 10 years ago and was immediately caught up in the richness of her writing.  I feel as though I know the places she is writing about and know her characters. I don't think I have ever been pulled in so strongly by a story and believe me I have read plenty. At one point I figured I had read about a thousand books - and Gabaldon's are always in my top ten reads.

I got my first questionnaire from the trip coordinator the other day as well.  She wants to know if I'm in reasonably good shape so I can walk the hills of Scotland and, I assume, fit into a regular seat on the tour bus.

The tour I'm going on also includes a night's stay in a castle.  How cool is that?  It's something I've dreamed about for a long time.  Years ago, friends of mine went to Europe and stayed overnight in a castle.  Knowing how I've fantasized about it, they took dozens of pictures so I could see every part of it.  I only hope the castle I stay in will measure up.  My friend told me she said to her husband as they walked around "This should have been Dolly staying here."  I couldn't have agreed more.

The closest thing to a castle that I've been in is Meadowbrook - which technically is an English country house - despite the fact it has a ballroom, a courtyard and acres of grounds.   My friend Jody first took me there for a Christmas walk.  Then it was decorated to the hilt for the holiday and every corner was a storybook setting.

Jody wasn't ever too impressed with Meadowbrook, she was more interested in the decorations but I loved the corridors and chambers and hints of Europe throughout the structure.

On a roll

Things are on a roll.  I've cleared with my supervisor at work that I can take the time off to go to Scotland in May.  Not that I expected her to say "no" but, well, she could have.

I've only been there a year and since I am part-time I don't have that much time bankrolled.

What could I have done had she refused?

I'm now waiting for further instructions from our tour guide.  All I know is that Spring in Scotland is the most beautiful season ... lots of wildflowers and bluebonnets on the hillsides and less rain than there usually is in the Fall ... or at least that's what they tell me.

Hiking around Scotland in mid-May should be easy to prepare for ... a pair of jeans, a sweater and hiking boots.  The boots I already have - generously donated to me by my daughter. I'm holding off on getting new jeans until closer to the trip though ... I always hope that 40 pounds or so will magically disappear.

I'm in

I'm going to Scotland.

It feels great to say it out loud after thinking about it for so long.

The trip is something my friends and I have been talking about for five or six years and I've been taking on extra freelance to cover the cost.  

It became real earlier this week when I made a deposit on a tour, so I'm in.

It's both exciting and terrifying to think I'm actually going to go to Scotland.  It's been the setting for some books I love and I'm looking forward to seeing the cities I've read about and the lovely countryside.