After a couple very brief days in the Netherlands it was back to Edinburgh for a one night stay then on to Glasgow by train the following morning, Saturday. It seemed that the rain from the Netherlands may have migrated a little bit and as we left Edinburgh the skies were pretty dark to the West and there was the occaisional light shower beginning. Before we left Edinburgh we had a chance to have one final coffee with Jesse at the fair trade organic coffee shop. It was one of the few places where we could actually get a cup of [View Full Entry]

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After getting back to Edinburgh Tuesday was spent doing a bunch of blog entries at an internet cafe while Heather and Jesse did another bunch of errands. We were up and at it fairly early on Wednesday 'cause we had a flight to catch to Amsterdam and we had to return the rental car on the way. Things were seeming to be going nicely, thinking of being at the airport about 8:00AM for our 10:00AM flight, when I just happened to check the paperwork for our EasyJet flight and boy, did things hurry up!! The flight was actually scheduled to arrive [View Full Entry]

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On Friday, the 3rd we began our adventures by driving on the left (wrong) side of the road by driving North from Edinburgh across that long suspension bridge and on through to Perth. From Perth it was North-east to Aberdeen, then North-west to Inverness. Inverness is definitely in North Scotland but we still had to go further North. By-passing Wick we continued North and on to Thurso on the North Coast. From Thurso it was West about 20 miles to Strathy Point, then a right turn and a little further North to Aultivullin where we ended at the gate to [View Full Entry]

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On Sunday the 29th we met up with Jesse for coffee then toured the Princes Street Gardens before she went to work. Then we did one of the 'hop on / hop off' bus tours to get an overview of the City of Edinburgh and a little 'guided' information. But first, the Triumph Street Pipe Band won 1st in the North American championship competition on Saturday, August 4. Congratulations Robb, and all the band members. Next year, Grade 1 and qualifying at The Worlds, maybe ? After the tour which took just a little more than an hour we were off [View Full Entry]

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Well, the adventures of 2007 started about April when the decision to go was made and the search began for flights and fares. The leader of the expedition scoured the internet and found 'the deal'. Not just a charter or any airline but a Scottish airline beginning a new service from Canada with direct flights to Glasgow. We've all heard of Globespan haven't we ? Neither had I but tickets were booked in mid-April and I was about to become a Globespan flyer about 4:00PM on August 26th. /we even got an e-mail saying thanks for flying Globespan and confirming our [View Full Entry]

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Hello all - - I see from my e-mail that at least a couple of you have been looking for something in your mailbox. Well here it comes, direct from Edinburgh. It has been a hectic but fun and interesting tour from YVR through Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness, Wick, John O'Groats, Antiluvian (on Strathy Point), the Orkneys and back here today in Edinburgh for a short break before heading off to the Netherlands for a couple of days then 'The Worlds' , (the pipe band championship) in Glasgow and back home. And this is just the first entry to this blog. [View Full Entry]

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Today (Aprıl 13th) was a fairly quiet day spent in Selcuk. Early in the morning a large group went to the Bella Pension where the pension operators also run a quality carpet shop. Everyone had been invited to their hotel for breakfast on the rooftop terrace with views overlooking the ruins of St. John's Basıllıca and Selcuk. After breakfast everyone went to the carpet shop where Urdell (one of the operators) spent a couple hours explaınıng carpets. Theır hıstory, how to tell qualıty, types of materıal, (cotton,wool,sılk) and dıfferent trıbal desıgns. The next few hours were ''spent lookıng at carpets''. Those [View Full Entry]

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Well sınce the last lıttle note we have had a gruellıng week tourıng a lıttle tıny bıt of Turkey. Some long days, some long drıves, and many, many, ıncredıble sıghts. I hope to be able to share some of the sıghts wıth you today or tomorrow. Sınce arrıvıng ın London about a week ago here ıs the dıary. I hope my wrıtıng ıs up to the task. Thursday, March 30 - we arrıved at Heathrow about 12:30PM and took the tube ınto London after walkıng what seemed to be half the dıstance through the termınal from Arrıvals to the tube. I [View Full Entry]

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We'll date the dıary Aprıl 6 but you know by now that I'm tryıng to do a lot of catch up and famılıarızatıon wıth a Turkısh keyboard -- actually gettıng quıte used to ıt now. The narratıve wıll be pretty short 'cause I thınk you really have to experıence Istanbul. Besıdes beıng such a huge ancıent cıty there ıs so much goıng on ın terms of modernızatıon and ınfrastructure development. Some sımple thıngs we take for granted lıke the gas stoves and furnaces don't seem to exıst here. There are an awful lot of questıonable propane tanks though and gas lınes [View Full Entry]

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Today ıs the begınnıng of the ''Turkey Tour'' and what a marathon ıt wıll turn out to be. Sıghts, adventures, smells, and tastes. A juxtapostıon of the old, new, and ancıent. All Aboard! and we all pıle ınto the ''Blue Tour Bus'' whıch ıs my name for the 8 person van that Reggo has managed to rent to move all of us about. As we leave Selcuk, on board are me and Heather, Beth, Al & Scott, along wıth our ''guıde'' Reggo and hıs brıde Jacquelyn. We make ıt about 2 blocks before the fırst stop -- breakfast sandwıches for all [View Full Entry]

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