Started at 3:30 am. Fairly smooth flights into Miami and then onto San Juan. HOT - 88 degrees and humid... really humid. add a couple of rain storms... did I say humid?? Found hotel after short diversion by cabbie.. (drive like in Santo Domingo) While i was writing under the pretext of getting info, Elke went to the bar and the casino and brought back some blood orange and basil mohitos. Very helpfull staff at Sheraton have directed us to 2 restaurants... 1st - Raices authentic Puerto Rican food - an appetizer featuring plaintains. 2nd - Barrachina, again with local food and flamenco dancers - the home of the pina colada. They claim they invented it - yes i did try one and it was ok - more pineapple than coconut. Main course was a mofongo ... read more

Our last day and the weather feels the same way we do.... overcast, misty, foggy, rain.... Now this is what we expected from Scotland!!! Earlier we mentioned the roadkill of pheasants, well Elke spotted a whole flock on the side of the road... Driving on narrow roads exciting - add rain and fog... priceless. Made our way back to Edinburgh for the last night and Elke couldn't stand it any longer so we went to an Italian restaurant. This just didn't sit well so after dinner we stopped at a pub for beer (mmmm), scotch (double yum) and STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING (yahoo!) Next morning we got lost 2 or 3 times trying to get to the airport ( damned roundabouts) but were sucessful with not adding any gas and arrived on fumes. I will add ... read more

First i must apologise that we have not kept up to date with our travelblog installment.. due to circumstances beyond our control - mainly... no internet service in the north of the Isle of Skye... go figure... Left the Glengarry Hotel and drove to Isle of Skye, stopping at Eilean Donan Castle for pictures and a visit to the gift shoppe. Crossed over the causeway bridge on to Skye. Our adventure takes us to Elgol where I was trying to take a Kodiak ride to see wildlife. Bad news… due to the weather the tour has been cancelled. Good news… we found a tea shop run by an aging hippie. He was really happy that we ordered a machiatto (he could disply his skills with the espresso machine) and had some cheese and garlic scones. These ... read more

First excursion heading west into some unexplored sea coast areas. We were looking for the sea coast and the small villages there. Things of note... there are no sugar maples here so the colours are very muted, shades of yellows and browns. Also the skies were over cast and very grey. Combine this with all of the exposed rock and photography becomes very challenging. We drove some.... hmmmmm interesting roads (yeah that's the right phrase). The roads are roughly 8 feet wide (less in some points) and certainly not in a straight line. Throw in some hidden driveways, blind hills and switchbacks - makes for some excitement. Finally made it to the end of the road in Mallaig (no really the road ended) and stopped for a seafood lunch (smoked salmon, mussels in white wine sauce ... read more

Well we made it! Flight was fairly smooth, only a couple of bumpy spots and even they weren't too bad. However... neither of us slept very well. I watched 2 movies and 1/2 of the big bang theory. We have found another HUGE airport (also under construction) and of course we had to walk the entire length to connect to our flight to Edinburgh. A quick ride up and then down again and Bob's your uncle we were back in Alba. A short walk to find the car park (yeah right) (made even longer by hauling all of the luggage). OK here we go - wrong side of the road, wrong side of the car... hey it's not so bad... With some excellent navigation (by memory) we got to our hotel. Short rest, deep breath and ... read more