Off to See Scotland with Haggis Tours!

Please note: I did not take this photo

A 5 day bus adventure with the guys in the big yellow bus. You know it's going to be fun with road tunes pumping, good natured guides who tell you they will win because they cheat, who tell lots of stories and joke.  Be prepared to head to the Highlands for fun, laughs.  Caution: Some may find DSL aka Deep Scottish Luuuuuv.

First off - we're going to play a week long game THE TRACTOR GAME. My fellow tour buddies, how many of you found yourself screaming Tractor Red in the following weeks? It's a fun road game of spotting tractors with each colour worth different points. Vintage and working also got your extra.  Our guides declared they'd win. 2 vs 40..you'd think we'd knock 'em over easy.  Another one was counting white horses. Ever think of Prince Charming on a white horse? I think that's where it was from, one white horse for each of us = love for each of us.

We head westwards bright and early on a Monday morning, on our near capacity tour towards the Wallace Monument.  Our tour starts with a good bit of Scottish history about clans and battles, as well as important historic figures such as Rob Rob. One of which the story of the Campbell's who slaughtered their hosts in their sleep. Now the clans were a very hospitable bunch - they still are today - so when the Campbell's  rode up needing food and shelter, that's exactly what they gave.  Only to receive bloodshed in return.

Next a visit to a famous friend, Hamish.  He's famous and he's been in a lot of movies.  Loves the ladies and often the butt-end of our jokes.  As our guides described, he's quite horn-y. Well, with horns like those, yup.

The road then leads towards the highlands, as we pass beautiful landscapes and stop off for photos. Sadly I've forgotten many of these place names, too many lochs and glens.  If Haggis folks are reading please help.  Be careful on Scottish roads though, we lost our side mirror and our driver had to run back and retrieve it, making us all wonder what had happened when we heard the THUD. All was well, but perhaps it was calling it into the office that helped us realize that we were heading in the wrong direction of the tour. Instead of Oban, our hostel was the haunted Carbisdale Castle that was "on the other side of the country".

Thankfully Scotland is a small country, but it was another 2.5 hours of a drive.  Our guides kept up the fun though, and after we grabbed dinner at the castle, it was off to the pub in the middle of nowhere, in the dark where there are no lights.  Note to anyone who goes on future tours, BE ON TIME, otherwise you'll find yourself traversing near pitch-black roads.  Thankfully, I ran into 2 of my tour mates and we were able to make it together across the fields and bridge and road.  Coming back we almost got lost, and you could almost feel the eeriness in the air. Nonetheless, fun times at the pub. It was really tiny and cozy =)