Travel Advice & Tips
The Highlands and Edinburgh
Scotland ended up being very different than what I had expected.
The Highlands are a peaceful and gorgeous part of the country filled with endless rolling hills, mountains (or munros,which are mountains higher than 3,000 feet) and lochs (lakes). If you travel far enough, you will find small towns with 300 people or less among these mountains. Most of the people who live in these towns have never left them and have spent their entire livelihood within the highlands, there is something very romantic about it all.
Edinburgh is a very old and windy city. It has the ability to take you to another era, with large castles sitting on the edge of cliffs which over look the modern and bustling Edinburgh.
One of my favorite memories while in Scotland took place in a small Whiskey shop in a 300 person town within the Highlands. My aunt and I had stumbled in to look for possible souvenirs and we ended up trying a few whiskey samples while in the shop. The two men working there said they had one special barrel of whiskey, which was propped up on the counter, that was a mix of all their whiskeys. Every day they added a new and different bottle to the barrel, so whenever you poured a shot from the spout it would never, and could never, taste the same as the previous shot poured. If you ended up not finishing the drink, they asked you to pour the whiskey on the floor, because the rug soaked up the scent and added a nice "whiskey smell" to their store. It may have been a simple memory, but it made one of the largest impacts.
