I was heading off to Greece with my friends Steve and Rachel (who are cousins). Our flight was out of Logan on Swiss Air at 9:40pm. We grabbed a bite to eat at Boston Beer Works in Terminal E, which is somewhat of a intrenational travel tradition for me, and then settled in to wait until boarding was called. We had a slight delay after boarding while the customs police pulled a couple passengers off the plane and their luggage too due to “cash money problems”. Hmmmm interesting. So the first part of the flight was uneventful. Steve and Rachel sat in the two seat window/aisle combo and I sat across and slightly behind them in a three seat section next to a really nice couple who were on their honeymoon. They were heading to Santorini ... read more

John Knox House in Edinburgh I didn’t wake up this morning until 8am; it was gloomy, dark and kind of drizzly. We decided to just have breakfast at the hotel to save time and it was toast and yogurt for me. We walked down High Street and poked around in the shops until the John Knox house opened. This is the oldest house in Edinburgh. John Knox was a Protestant Reformer in the 16th century. The house itself was built in 1470 and is owned currently by the Church of Scotland. The house features a fine wooden gallery and a hand painted ceiling. The house isn’t large and it only took about 15 minutes to tour. John Knox House Rosslyn Chapel We then went back to the hotel and packed up. We walked down to get ... read more

Stirling Castle I had the arm brace on for 4 hours and I woke up in the middle of the night with my hand totally numb - it really hurts! We had continental breakfast this morning and headed right out to Stirling Castle which is only about a half mile up the hill from the Golden Lion Hotel. The castle is built on a high rocky hill and kind of reminds me a bit of the hill of the Acropolis in Athens. The first mention of the castle was between 1107 and 1115. It was a royal castle. We got there right when the castle opened and at first pretty much had the place to ourselves. While we waited the few minutes for the gates to open there was a beautiful rainbow visible just to the ... read more

Southward in the rain Well - the plan for today was to see the ruins of Dunottar Castle just south of Stonehaven and then Glamis Castle, St. Andrews and finishing up at Crail in the East Neuk of Fife. But it’s absolutely miserable out today, drizzle alternating with downpours and strong winds. So - we drove out to Dunottar anyway in hopes that the rain would ease up by the time we got there - nope! Was pelting down when we got there. We pulled into the castle car park and looked at the long (at least a quarter mile) walk out to the ruins overlooking the sea and didn’t even get out of the car. I thought about jumping out and grabbing a quick photo at least, but it was raining too hard and you ... read more

Kilravock in the light of day… All rightly then - Kilravock Castle was a bit of a strange stay. Mom and I never felt comfortable there. The people running it just didn’t seem all that interested in having guests there or very welcoming. The hotel had a permanent ‘No Vacancy’ sign on the door and at the end of the driveway. We even heard the receptionist tell someone on the phone that the hotel was full up. We only saw 2 other couples there and counted at least 6 or 7 rooms on the first floor alone - weird. (When I was back home and doing some research to round out this journal I went to the hotel website and it says in bold that they are welcoming guests in 2009 so maybe they were just ... read more