Scotland

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So. Scotland. First international trip in a while. Since 2007, which is a long time for me. It's nice to be traveling again. Seriously travelling. Like, taking a long flight over a large body of water to get there type of traveling.



Why has it been so long? Well, a few things. I had to pay off my big '07 trip and my law school loan, keep my nose to the grindstone so as to not lose my job during the recession, and endure a year of cancer treatment (there's s whole other blog for that story -- Google "Doug 2.0").



But, in the past year, I left my private law firm gig for an in-house position that offers a much better Work/Life balance, (one where I can leave for two weeks, not feel guilty about it, and not be required to remain connected by an electronic umbilical cord to work while I'm gone); I finished paying off my debts; and, most importantly, I seem to have my health back. In January, I passed the three year mark of being cancer free. My life is now back to the point where I get to once indulge in making such decisions as where to travel to next.



Why Scotland? (Well, why not?). I purchased and borrowed from friends travel books for at least ten different countries and the more I researched, the more I wanted to come here. I love the outdoors and from everything I've heard, seen and read, Scotland's got plenty of the good stuff. So that's why I'm here -- to explore the Highlands. I'm here for a fortnight and for more than half of that I'll be playing outside. There's plenty else to do here, to say the least (Whisky? Why yes! Don't mind if I do! Golf? No thanks. Not my thing. If I have time to play golf, I've got time to do something else.).



Plus, any country that has the courage/attitude/balls to name the UNICORN as their national animal ... I want to meet the people who would do that.



There's other reasons too, why I've chosen to come to Scotland. Let's face it. It's easy traveling. Everyone speaks English (well, mostly -- I got into a conversation with an older Scot gentleman in a pub last night and understood half of what he said, maybe). And, after cancer, this is an important consideration for me now, the availability of Western bathrooms is first rate. Cancer takes. And for me, what cancer took was the last two feet of my digestive tract. One thing that means, is that in order for me to live the way I prefer to live in my post-cancer world, I need access to hot water and 45 minutes alone in a bathroom after day and a half or so. So, a country where I know I'm going to agree with the food, won't catch a stomach bug, and can expect to have some bathroom privacy is a good first step back on travel circuit for me. Next year, I'm hoping to venture to a more exotic locale, like rural Southeast Asia, where running hot water and porcelain toilets aren't always available there. So, this is a bit of a test run.

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