We awoke to an absolutely beautiful day. The sun was shining (sunrise is at 4:45am here, thank goodness for thick curtains on the windows), the sky was clear and the temperature was a balmy 51 degrees. Looking out to the bay, the water reflected the blue of the clear sky and was still and tranquil. The sheep were grazing out in the back field and as we ate breakfast we looked out the dining room window saw a deer running across the top of the hill to our west/southwest. Birds were singing and the sheep were "baa" ing. We had several [View Full Entry]

---

---

Cindy awoke with the cold still hanging on to her (despite taking the "wee dram of whisky" that was actually about 3 fingers worth the night before), but she wasn't about to stay in the house on her vacation. Since Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is on the opposite coast from where we are in Oban, we thought it might be a good idea to take the Scottish Rail from Oban to Glasgow and then Glasgow to Edinburgh rather than drive. Also, the weather forecast was for cold rain and thunderstorms in our part of the country, while the forecast for [View Full Entry]

---

---

Happy Birthday, Amber! The day began beautifully with the sun trying to shine through the clouds covering the sky around the bay. Cindy prepared an excellent breakfast of scrambled brown eggs, which have a slightly stronger 'egg' taste to them (fortunately mine was covered up by the cheese) than regular white eggs, with toast and jam. Today we're taking the car on the ferry across to the Isle of Mull and driving around the inhabited portions of the island to visit some restored castles (what else?!) and the coastal town of Tobermory. The ferry ride will take 45 minutes across the [View Full Entry]

---

---

We awoke to no rain this morning but the skies held the possibility of showers in the heavy clouds that were rolling in from the ocean. After breakfast and showering, we drove into Oban where I was dropped off at the Internet Cafe (hope you all read the posts that day) while everyone else went to the bank to exchange money (Yikes! The 1.94 exchange rate gave us half the pounds we had in dollars) and stopped by the Tourist Information Center to get tickets for the ferry trip on Wednesday and the rail trip to Edinburgh on Thursday. Then we [View Full Entry]

---

---

When I woke up this morning, the first thing I did was get my little mini-Maglite out of my suitcase and put it on the nightstand, just in case I have to get up in the middle of the pitch black night again. Though I awoke at 7:10am, I remained warmly ensconced beneath the thick covers until 7:45. Today is to be our "easy" day of staying close to the cottage and village of Oban so as to shake off the last vestiges of jet lag and weariness. That was a decision we had made prior to leaving because we expected [View Full Entry]

---

---

5:50am-Iceland time. After the flight from hell, which lasted 6 hours and 40 minutes and took us through several time zones, we have arrived at Klefavlik Airport in Reykjavik, Iceland. The flight was packed solid with passengers and, of course, behind me was a crying, screaming infant. The seats themselves are fine for passengers who are 5' 8" or shorter and weigh less than 160 pounds. Anything taller or heavier than that and the discomfort level increases exponentially. Thus you can imagine how wonderfully uncomfortable they were to a 6'4", 260 pound person such as myself. Adding to the fun [View Full Entry]

---

---

4:36pm - Well, we are currently situated in the International Lounge of the Orlando-Sanford International Airport awaiting the call for our flight which is scheduled to depart at 7pm, so we'll be waiting for a while. Rebecca picked us up at 1:45pm and then we drove over and picked up Cindy's parents at 2pm. We drove up the Greeneway to Sanford and had a late lunch at Sonny's BBQ. We are all very grateful to Rebecca for taking the time to drive us so far and for be available to pick us up when we return in 2 1/2 weeks. Security, [View Full Entry]

---

---

WELCOME This is the first entry of Jeff & Cindy's Travel Blog, WORLD QUEST. One week from now at this time we will be airborne and about 3/4 of the way through the first leg of our flight to Iceland. From there we fly into Glasgow and we will be spending 2 weeks exploring Scotland. Our home base in Scotland will be at a servant's quarters cottage attached to a 300 year old castle in Oban. Then we fly to London where we will spend a whirlwind 3 days trying to see all the usual tourist attractions we can in that [View Full Entry]

---

---