This is not a sponsored post (this blog really isn’t popular enough for that), but I was the very lucky winner of a trip for two to Scotland through Lynott Tours‘ Facebook contest. The trip was specifically an escorted 3 Day tour of the Isle of Skye starting in Edinburgh, which after arriving in London on May 9th – we had 3 days to figure out the London Underground (or in my case, remember how to use it). Fortunately, my cousin had a couple Oyster cards for out of town visitors and getting to each destination was just a matter of planning when to leave.
The actual escorted tour was provided by Rabbie’s Trail Burners. I copied over some info on our stops below from their website:
3 days to explore some of the most dramatic and beautiful places in the Highlands and the romantic island of Skye. Highlights also include Glencoe, Loch Ness, Eilean Donan Castle and the 5 Sisters of Kintail.
Stay 2 nights in the picturesque harbour town of Portree on the Isle of Skye.
My previous knowledge of Scotland was rather limited, I’d watched movies like “Braveheart” and “Highlander” (though more the TV series) – so a lot of what I’ve seen of Scotland was the Highlands. There’s a Facebook game called Ghost Trappers, which kind of introduced me to some Scottish geography and location names – but it’s nothing like being there! Of course, I could think of a huge list of bands from Scotland that I love, but that could be a whole separate post (or series of posts) in itself.
Our tour guide Graham gave us a lot of interesting info and stories about Scottish history, without delving too much into the local rivalries between Glasgow and Edinburgh. The first day of the tour was really nice: sunny, bright, and probably warmer than the other 2 days of the tour, which were drizzly rain and cloudy overcast skies. I took a ton of photos that day, which are all on Flickr. I took a bunch the next day too. Here are some of my photos throughout Scotland, including some of the excellent B&B we stayed at:
Something I kept on my phone during my travels through England and Scotland was BuzzFeed’s Definitive Stereotype Map of Britain and Ireland, it was mostly for personal reference though it amused our tour guide too. As a Glaswegian, the “Perpetually Drunk” stereotype was especially funny to him with whiskey distilleries being such a popular part of our tour groups’ visit to Scotland. The escorted tour was a great way to see the country. We didn’t see Glasgow at all, so I’m sure another trip is in order.
