We made it home!

Spotty internet made it so that I couldn't post until now - but we're finally home!

We had a rainy drive from our B&B in Portree through Oban, along Loch Ness and into Inverness. Beautiful though - it was nice to see the different countryside once on the mainland vs. what we had been seeing on the islands. There were actually some fall colors in the trees on the mainland!! :) We all felt like we kind of had been missing out on fall, as most of Europe was "behind" in terms of the trees changing colors. Plus, we felt we had missed out on true "Scottish" weather, as it was gloriously sunny the whole time we were there.

We had our last EasyJet flight from Inverness to London, and were happy to leave those small, slow, budget flights behind us. London's airport experience was excellent - we flew into Gatwick, and then had to transfer to Heathrow for our flight into Reykjavik. We grabbed a taxi, and we FLEW down the highway. Glad we paid a little extra for this convenience, instead of trying to figure out the buses, or otherwise. At this point in our trip, we were done trying to figure out and coordinate more public transport options. Our taxi driver even solved the mystery of what the little mini "coffee cup" symbol was on our rental car dash - apparently, it's a function that will flash a signal at you if you start to get tired and drift on the road. :)

We had several hours to kill in London, but not enough to get into the main city, so we became familiar with the airport... otherwise known as we got very familiar with the Tin Goose Bar for a few hours.

We finally made it to Reykjavik, but landed at 11:30pm at night. Thanks to the tips from the awesome lady at the Icelandair check-in desk in Heathrow, we found out we couldn't sleep in the airport as planned, and ended up booking a last-minute hostel during one of our free 45-minute windows of wifi before our flight. We also found out how to book a bus ticket from the airport to the main town of Reykjavik (1 hr bus ride) ahead of time... so we finally ended up in Reykjavik at 12:30am. Then we asked this burly Icelandic guy in the bus station how to get to our hostel... and wandered the streets for a while wondering if he gave us bad directions. We ended up at our hostel, to find the door locked, and after ringing the bell a few times, the sleepy guy on duty showed up. A few more hilarious incidents later, we were able to crash for a few hours. Woke up the next morning, and took a speedy tour on crappy bikes through the town of Reykjavik (mine had minimal brakes and couldn't shift above 3rd gear). Rode along the waterfront, rode to the local municipal pool, that had a variety of different pools, hot tubs, all geothermally heated, and a crazy fun waterslide that a nice couple at our B&B on Skye told us about. Much cheaper than the Blue Lagoon, and way easier to get to - plus a little more fun! Amy and I had an adventure in the locker room getting told by a no-nonsense Icelandic woman to "get naked" as it's a rule all across Iceland to strip and wash completely before entering any of their pools - since they are all natural (chlorine-free) you have to get completely clean before you use them. Makes sense, but was quite the experience!! After our super fast and EXPENSIVE experience in Iceland, we made it back to the airport, and got on our long flight back home.

Pizza was ordered, and good local beer was had (there was a sad lack of good beer everywhere except for Germany) ... and we all fell asleep by 8:00pm watching Skyfall. Sad for our trip to end, and for our dear friends to go home, but we will have memories for a lifetime! 

From Islay to Skye

Haven't written in a bit because we have been adventuring as usual! we took the 4 hour ferry from Isle of Islay to Oban, on the mainland of Scotland. It was a beautiful ride, super windy and felt like classic Scotland. Everyone has been telling us the nice weather we have had is rather unusual so it was nice to feel the "real" weather a little bit. We stopped in at Oban Distillery, of course, and then headed up the coast to Skye. We got in late-ish to our B&B and Peter greeted us saying "I thought I was expecting French people!" Because of our last name. :)
We are in the cutest little B&B on the harbor at Portree. Excellent full Scottish breakfasts every morning. Our hosts have been super helpful in suggestions for our day trips.
Yesterday we made it to Talisker Distillery, #10! We took in the gorgeous scenery, got a little lost in the hills, literally, and enjoyed walking through the town. We also did a short hike to the Fairy Pools (aka waterfalls) which were beautiful. The clearest water I have ever seen, in a series of waterfalls through a small valley, with sheep grazing at the foot of the mountain. :)
Today we went and hiked up to the Old Man of Storr, among the sheep! Some of those sheep were braver than me with how high they were climbing. Gorgeous hike, cant wait to share pictures! Got lost again trying to find another hike, found Kilt Rock, another waterfall this time shooting over a cliff into the sea. Had a picnic by another harbor town, found a brewery (more on their lackluster beer later) and then came back early to pack :(
Was up to the guys to figure out how to get all their Scotch in our bags for the trip home...
Tomorrow we drive to the Inverness airport, fly to London, then to Iceland for 17 hrs. Then from Iceland home. Probably wont have WiFi in between, but who knows. We get home Sunday eve!

Bunnahabhain is a fun name, but Bruichladdich is better.

What a day! We enjoyed a lovely breakfast here at the B&B, full Scottish country breakfast with eggs, potato cake, beans, bacon and sausage, coffee, tea, OJ and toast. Kept us fueled for our morning of exploration.
We drive to the wildlife sanctuary and saw the thousands of Barnacle Geese who have come down from Iceland. Never have seen that many birds at once. Was quite the experience to hear them and see them take off when startled...there is a Golden Eagle that likes to dive into them and Jeff and James saw him startle he geese a few times but I didn't catch it. We walked out to a hide closer to the Loch they were all on, and the hide overlooked a cow pasture and the cows came straight up to the windows of the hide. It was super fun and relaxing. Beautiful skies and weather again! Drove through the countryside, seeing the other side of the Island, toward the Atlantic. Gorgeous blue ocean, ended up near a sandy beach! Grabbed some lunch from a distillery's cafe and picnicked beside the water. Gorgeous. Then I got a chance to drive so the guys could enjoy their Scotch freely. Easier on the small one lane roads, eased into it before we made into some bigger towns, but it is really quite easy on this island. Never-ending stunning views ... Learning a lot about the scotch whiskies, finding several new favorites. At Bruichladdich Distillery, Jeff decided on a type of Scotch to get, and he got to fill his own bottle straight from the cask! So exciting. Then we stopped by the Islay Woolen Mill, the smallest textile mill in all of Britain. We met the owner, and he showed us around, from his old spinning machines, to the weavers. He makes all the wool tartans for the distilleries on the island (they each have their own) and has made wool items for 17 movies, including Braveheart. I found my wool blanket! He grabbed it from upstairs and stuck a label on just for us. Now enjoying our last evening on Islay, before our 4 hour ferry journey to Oban and drive up to Isle of Skye tomorrow. I left out details of some of the other distilleries we have gone to, because we officially hit all 8 on the island in these 2 days! Big check off Jeff's bucket list.

Bunnahabhain and other fun things

We are officially in the hills of Scotland. After an early call this morning, and a confusing boarding (backing onto) of the ferry, we arrived on the Isle of Islay. Drove around and saw lots of sheep, some new birds and some fun small small teeny tiny villages, we ended up at our first distillery, which happened to be Bowemore, the first distillery on the island! We enjoyed generous complimentary tasters, except for James who was our DD for most of the day. We enjoyed the accents and listened to Gaelic radio without understanding a word of the DJ. Next stop, Laguvulin, and we got an amazing tour from Marjorie. Got to see and smell the varying stages of the whisky distilling process, and learn how they smoke the malt with peat from the island. We can see the peat bogs as we drive along, and smell it burning in the distilleries and some homes use it in their fireplaces too.
Next stop Laphroig, Jeff's favorite. We tasted some, and got to hike out to "his" plot of land as he is a "Friend of Laphroig" and they mark out his 1x1 square foot plot, then we got to wear boots and go tromp through the peat bog to place a little mini American flag. Jeff was skipping with excitement through this, as he had been waiting to do this for 3 years. Stopped in quickly at Ardbeg and did a small tasting, then went back to Bowemore as it had our favorite scotch from today that we aren't able to get in the States.
Today's weather was unusually beautiful, all the locals are telling us how strange it is to see blue sky and sunshine. We have certainly enjoyed it, as the drives through the fields and along the water have been amazing.
Staying at a cute little cottage B&B, and about to head to dinner where our B&B owner phoned his friend to get us a reservation!
Dinner was amazing! The only dinner place nearby that is worth it, at another hotel. They have a restaurant and bar, and this tiny place has over 250 malt whiskies available. Adorable and full of character, we enjoyed some local scallops and lamb and venison. Chatted with an older couple from England and they told us about the flock of 30,000 geese that came down on the North wind from Iceland last week, and we will go look for them on the nature preserve at the north end of the island tomorrow, find some more distilleries, hop over to the Isle of Jura with 150 people and 5000 deer. :)
Oh, and this eve James and Jeff were sheepdogs and herded the famililys sheep towards me in their field so I got to see them hysterically running and bleating and jumping all over the place. I got my sheep pictures!

Mont St Michel

Today was a crazy day of travel on.the France train system. Finally here on.North coast.of.France, Mont St Michel. We woke up super early and James' uncle took us to the train station and helped us make reservations...except they booked us on later trains, and because the reservation counter didn't.open till.7 and.our train didn't leave till 706, we missed our first.train. long day, and we were supposed to.be picked up by the hostel guy at one train station and we ended up.changing our route and.arrival.time, but we ran into a nice Columbian couple who let us use their phone.to call the place, and they came and picked us up at a later time. Phew. The couple that runs this place is from Britain and they have an amazing 230 year old house they have turned into a B&B. They were so welcoming today, and we met a few other people staying here at the local English pub. This area has been heavily influenced by the British, and there are a lot of people from the UK here. Amazing night at the cute local pub meeting people here from France, and Germans hiking the coastal trail, a Brazilian staying at our B&B.
Pics later... Will have a few busy days with travels in between cities, so not sure.how much we will post but we had a great time with James' family and are enjoying our continued adventures! :)

12 weeks away!

We are finalizing all of our lodging for our whirlwind trip to Europe... and as we nail down multiple details, we figured a central place to jot down the memories and things we do on this trip would be fun to share with you all.

We leave September 28th - that is less than 12 weeks away. Just 3 "month" clicks ahead on the calendar! It's been a long time coming, but now it seems there is so much to do before we leave.

We are traveling with our best buddies James & Amy, and look forward to this crazy adventure!

We will be starting our trip in Germany, heading into Switzerland, then to France, Scotland, and ending in Iceland. We'll literally be traveling by trains, planes and automobiles, staying in hostels, hotels, B&B's, a castle, and a night train!

Stay tuned as we figure out exactly where we'll be, what we're bringing, how we're packing, and how we're not-so-patiently waiting to board the plane!