I intended to post yesterday and then time got away from me.
Indy and I are currently hurtling through the Scottish countryside after a whirlwind two-day adventure in Edinburgh. Everything is green, green, GREEN and dotted with thousands of wooly, white sheep. In every dictionary next to the term “pastoral,” there should be a picture of the current view from our window.
My heritage, on both maternal and paternal sides, is Scottish and I had an odd, yet profound, sense of being at home. I’ve never felt this same geographic connection anywhere else on my travels. To be fair, I live in Nova Scotia which is literally translated New Scotland, so it certainly makes sense. Still, it surprised me. The grassy hills, the tartan, and beautiful vistas felt wonderfully ingrained in my DNA.
The only problem with our trip, aside from the fact that poor Indy came down with a head cold the day we left Cardiff (!!), was that it was too short. We haven’t even left the borders of Scotland and I can’t wait to come back. There is so much to see and explore. I want to visit the Isle of Skye. I want to go to Stirling and immerse myself in the history of William Wallace, one of my direct ancestors. I want to explore the Hebrides and spend a few days in Glasgow. I want to hike Salisbury Crags and Arthur’s Seat
But, despite being limited to two days, we saw and experienced so much of what the city had to offer.
Blog friend Coree and her family gave us the kindest of welcomes—meeting us at the train, helping us organize our stay, treating us to dinner each evening (twice at their home and once at the incredible Edinburgh Street Food).
Much longer recaps of our time in Edinburgh to come, but here are a few pictures from the last two days.
GET MY HEAD IN ORDER
We will be at London Heathrow this time two weeks from now waiting to board one final plane in this epic family adventure. We officially crossed the 3-month mark away from home on 8 June (we left Canada on March 7th, but didn’t arrive in Germany until the 8th).
The time has flown.
And… I really need to start thinking about re-entry.
Belle has been accepted into the leadership program she applied for; next year, she can be part of the official staff. That means her summer is largely sorted. I’ll be responsible for lots of driving and laundry and shopping for a few staples (sunscreen, bug repellent).
Indy has a lot of flex time, but I’m feeling a bit lax about filling it.
We have company arriving mid-August, but aside from that I’m hoping to get plenty of solo time, a few trips to the lake to see my parents, and lots of afternoons spent bridge-jumping.
John has two trips to Europe in July. We’ll celebrate our 17th anniversary, wonderfully timed over the week when both kids will be at overnight camp. I cannot wait. The last two summers, the absolute highlight for me has been our week spent home alone. After 3.5 months of constant togetherness, I think this year it will be especially wonderful.
In the next two weeks in Cardiff, I need to buckle down and get back on top of life ahead of our return. We’ll hit the ground running. We return on Wednesday afternoon, Indy is determined to go back to school for one day to see his friends on Thursday morning.
Friday, both vehicles are due at the mechanic shop to get snow tires switched out since we left when it was still winter, and the car is due for its bi-annual safety inspection! Also on Friday, Belle has to be dropped off to start training!!
There will be laundry though, admittedly, not that much since there is only so much clothing that will fit inside four carry-on suitcases and I might be ready to give all the items we’ve been wearing on a very limited rotation for 3.5 months a wide berth for a while.
I’m behind on work things. I’ve done the BARE minimum while away. I automated a lot of processes before we left (go me), but I NEED to a) get our corporate books up to date and b) make a list of all the things that I need to tackle in early July.
I also need to make a doctor’s appointment for some routine checks and dig into my apnea diagnosis/trial a CPAP machine. There are a few unbloggable things to think through and tackle, and all the normal things involved with running a household, especially after being out of the country for such a long time.
Everything will happen in due time and, while I feel mildly panicked when I think about getting back into the swing of life in Canada, as usual, getting my to-dos out of my head and onto paper/the screen really helps.
PATREON!!!
I tend to forget to plug my Patreon, but I do post a few articles that aren’t paywalled each month. This week it was a realization that buying coffee out is a good ROI (for me).
If you’re inclined to support my work, it’s $8 CAD/month, which works out to a little over $5 USD/month or £4/month (in other words, if you’re a Starbucks fan, it costs less than one fancy latte). I’m hoping to dedicate more time to Patreon this summer and would love to start incorporating some audio components. See above about needing to get my head in order.
Patreon isn’t picture heavy, so it’s definitely a different vibe from my blog, but it’s a good space for me to be a bit more vulnerable and explore existential thoughts bouncing around in my head. I’d love if you joined me there, too.
If a paid membership isn’t feasible, you can sign up to be on the mailing list and receive all the free posts.
FINAL FEW WEEKS
After arriving back in Cardiff, I need to organize the last stretch of adventures. John will be working each week day. The next few days, we all need a chance to just… do nothing (translate: I’ll plan/read/work and the kids will watch videos).
Rachel is kindly sharing her Castle Pass with us, so I definitely want to see some of the famous castles in the area. I’m hoping to make it to Caerphilly Castle this weekend. At some point, I’m also keen to check out:
- Insole Court
- Raglan Castle
- Castle Coch
- Roath Park/Lake/Lighthouse
- St. Fagan’s
- The Senedd (maybe do a free tour?)
- Wales Millennium Centre
- Llandaff Cathedral
- Cardiff Central Market
I’m eyeing day trips to:
- Bath (looks very cool and is fairly accessible by train, though the Roman Baths are EXPENSIVE, eeks) or Bristol.
- Stonehenge. The kids are especially keen; I’ve read it’s underwhelming. We are here over solstice but I think it would be too much for everyone to attempt to go for sunrise on literally the busiest day of the year at Stonehenge, though it’s definitely the most iconic time to visit…
- Maybe a week-day trek to Barry Island Beach if the weather cooperates?
- Penarth or Tenby?
I know we won’t have time (or energy) to cross everything off the list which just means we have fodder for our next trip to Wales.
Your turn:
- What’s some random potpourri from your life lately.
- Have you ever been to Stonehenge?
- Coffee out has been a great ROI for me on this trip; what’s something that you like to spend “out” on?
- Where’s a location in the world where you’ve felt oddly at home?
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I recommend Bath – skip the baths but do the free (donations accepted) walking tour that starts in front of them and also the cathedral
Thanks, Linda! My eyes watered a bit at the price, though the baths do look stunning!
I’ll bet it’s so hard to think about the logistics of returning home!!! Now it seems surreal that you’ll be back in NS in a couple weeks. Do you feel ready, or do you kind of wish the trip could continue?
I’ve never been to Scotland- it looks really beautiful. I don’t think I’ve had the experience where I’ve gone somewhere new but felt at home- but every time I go back to the midwest I’m surprised at how much I feel like “this is the place I belong.”
I’m scooting over to Patreon to get caught up!
I think I feel ready. I’m sad because it truly does feel like reaching the end of an epic, once-in-a-lifetime adventure. But I’m relieved because I just can’t keep up this pace much longer.
It IS hard to believe, though. It does not feel like 3 months.
Scotland is stunning. STUNNING. I literally cannot wait to go back.
Enjoy the last few weeks of your adventure. I think you’d love a day trip to Hay-on-Wye – the town of books. Just to add to your list!
Ahh i bet they would LOVE Hay-on-Wye! I always forget it as a recommendation because you need a car to get there, but now I am thinking I need to take a day off work and go to Hay-on-Wye because it is adorable.
I’d never heard of it!!! The pictures do make it look ADORABLE.
Oh no, Nina! My list is so long! You know how I feel about books. Decisions, decisions. I looked it up and it looks adorable.
I imagine re-entry is going to be a bit rough! I hope it goes as smoothly as possible. In a way, it’s kind of good that Belle has something lined up to do right away to kind of force her to get back on the AST time zone? I am glad the coming months are sort of quietish! And hooray for the kids being away around your annivsary! We’ll have 2 kid-free weeks this summer, but we’ll do depositions during one of the kid-free weeks so that will not exactly be a fun week for us. But the first week of Sept we’ll be kid free and have nothing going on. I really like time alone in our house without the kids (disclaimer: yes, I love my children but time alone is wonderful for an introvert).
Coffee is something I spend out on as well. I treat myself to one/week. And right now I’m working in the basement while the cleaners clean our house which is another great way to spend out because we just don’t have time with full time work + kid schedules + etc. Or we could make time to clean our house but our precious free time is worth to much! They only come every 4 weeks so we have to clean/tidy in between cleanings but it is so nice to get the house deeply cleaned once/month.
I struggle coming home from a short trip, so I expect this re-entry will feel harder. But, maybe easier, too, in some ways. We have the same amount of stuff coming home that we do from a shorter trip (I mean, our carry ons are full when we go for a week to 10 days).
Belle is SO excited for her summer and Indy is so anxious to see his friends, so I think their excitement will make the re-entry easier, too.
I also love my children and I also LOVE time alone.
Hooray for a clean house. You have such a busy life and can spend out on this sort of thing. I 10000% support you having a cleaning service and I hope Phil continues to be supportive of it as well. Enjoy the clean house!
“Green, green, GREEN and sheep everywhere”! Ah yes, the Scottish landscape is amazing!
Also, that feeling of Scotland feeling like “home” is so interesting. I was born in St. Andrews and spent my early childhood in Scotland, and I know exactly what you mean about feeling at home there.
And isn’t Edinburgh an amazing city?? I’m looking forward to your next posts on it.
Oh, and I get the “get my head in order” feeling! Re-entering normal life after being away so long is no joke. Enjoy the final weeks, Elisabeth!
Edinburgh is such a lovely city. So much to see and explore and yet it still feels very cozy and charming.
I had forgotten you were born in St. Andrews! Yet another place in Scotland I really want to visit.
Oh my goodness, my ancestors are from Scotland too, and when I visited Edinburgh I had that EXACT same feeling too, of being home. It blew me away. I’ve never felt it anywhere else. My brother felt like that too on a separate trip. So interesting, and this is coming from a non superstitious person. Must be in our genes indeed.
Your summer sounds great. Hooray for Belle getting accepted into her leadership role for camp, and some solo time ahead for you.
Twinsies? Jinx?? How crazy is it that we both had the same response??? I wonder if it’s impacted at all by the fact we have ancestors AND we both live in Commonwealth countries? It was such a wonderful and bizarre feeling that felt hard to describe so it was SO special that you knew exactly what I meant.
I can imagine there must be so many things running around in your head to do with your re-entry. You know we visited Stonehenge on our last trip to the UK and did do the sunrise tour which was definitely worth it because you go inside the stone circle, but it is not cheap. If you’re not gonig to do that I think your day trip time would be better spent elsewhere.
Noted. I’ve heard it’s quite underwhelming for most people, UNLESS you get to go inside so I will pass this information along to the members of our party who are especially keen to go.
Scotland *is* incredible. I have been to Edinburgh so many times and still get a *yay* feeling whenever I go there. Edinburgh/Leith are so so lovely to walk around and explore. I’m glad you got to visit and go on a gorgeous cross country train ride!
I can’t imagine life admin of re-entry. I am glad you get to carve out bits of time for real life & quiet. and COFFEE!
It is a lovely, walkable city (though SO MANY HILLS!). And so green.
Sipping a coffee right now, right up the street from you (yay!), and giving my nervous system a bit of a break after continuous activity lately!
Can’t believe your epic adventure is in the home stretch already! Hopefully re-entry will be smooth and easy. Planning ahead for it like you are will definitely help! I also suspect having something each kid is really excited about will be incredibly helpful in terms of their re-entry, and not having a huge let down feeling going from 3.5 months of adventure to being back home.
Scotland sounds lovely! I heard once that when some of the settlers in Cape Breton who were forcibly sent there arrived, they actually thought at first that it had been a big trick and they’d been
just sailed around then brought back to Scotland because it looks so similar!
It’s great that Belle has a plan for the summer, and I know the pieces will fall into place for Indy.
Scotland was gorgeous and definitely reminds me of Cape Breton and other parts of mainland Nova Scotia. I can see why people saw geographic similarities.
I also recommend visiting Hay-on-Wye if you have the time. It is worth seeing it, imo. My husband and I honeymooned in Ireland and Wales, and one of the towns we stayed in was Hay-on-Wye. Years later we brought our children there. They loved it as well. Certainly never imagined that would happen when I was honeymooning with my husband!
Thanks for the recommendation. We don’t have a lot of time left, but I am making notes of all the options and will try to fit in as much as energy and time allow.
What a fun full-circle moment to get back there with your kids.
It is impossible that this adventure is nearing its end. Time is so very fast. I love that you are extra excited about your anniversary alone time this summer. Travel does such a great job of forging and strengthening bonds. (Or breaking them, I have heard!)
I have been to Stonehenge! I was eight, though, so my recall is quirlte hazy. I would love to go back.
Time really has flown.
TIME ALONE IS MY OXYGEN, Suzanne. I am suffocating-haha.
Yes! Come to Glasgow next time! West side is best side! 😁 I love Stonehenge, one of my favourite places in the world, but if you can travel by car, I’d really recommend Avebury Stone Circle as a (free) alternative, plus there are a few other ancient monuments nearby. Not a big fan of Bath and prefer Bristol, but if you’re happy with smaller and quainter and were already in Avebury then Marlborough is lovely. Although I imagine the cream teas in Polly Tearooms are £££ these days. Very tasty though.
There is SO much to see. One of the hard things about travel is that feeling of knowing just how many incredible things you’re missing out on seeing. But I will definitely be back to Scotland, Lord willing.
I’ve heard good things about the Avebury Stone Circle!