Wanderlust Journey

On our month-long trip to Europe last year, we made stops in a lot of different countries with a lot of different tipping customs. We started in England, went to Ireland, then German, Switzerland, Italy, Scotland, and then back to England again. The United States custom of 15% for good service and 20% for great [...]

[Read more →]

After the Glenlivet Distillery Tour, we grabbed some lunch from a little shop called Fresh in Aberlour, and headed to our scheduled 2PM “Precious Tour” at The Macallan. The Macallan Distillery tour was very similar to other distillery tours, in part because the process of making whisky is mostly the same at every facility. You [...]

[Read more →]

The first tour we decided to attend was to The Glenlivet, one of my favorite scotches. Whenever I think of scotch and an easy drinking, affordable one, I think of the Glenlivet 12. It’s inexpensive, yet good, and probably one of my most frequent go-to scotches. When I feel especially luxurious, I go to the [...]

[Read more →]

The Whisky Experience is an attraction where you can learn how whisky is made and how to best enjoy whisky. They have two tours, a forty five minute 11# show and an hour and fifteen minute, £18, tour. We didn’t go to either one, that would be reserved for another day. (The events of this [...]

[Read more →]

Shopping! What would a trip be without shopping? Just joking, but really, Edinburgh is a great place to purchase cashmere since it is one of the main exports of Scotland. During our time in downtown Edinburgh we were able to get some beautiful cashmere scarfs for Christmas gifts. This was the first time during our [...]

[Read more →]

Every August, Edinburgh plays host to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. We didn’t know it when we planned our trip but it certainly made for an entertaining few days in Edinburgh. They called it the Edinburgh Festival Fringe but this year it went from August 7th – 31st. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the biggest arts [...]

[Read more →]

After our wonderful time in sunny, hot, and absolutely beautiful Cinque Terre, we made our way to Pisa for our flight to Edinburgh. We were able to make an early train from Vernazza to Monterossa. From there it was a direct train to the central Pisa airport. One word of advice, always leave with plenty [...]

[Read more →]

The photo above is of a cigarette package we found in the Jekyll & Hyde pub in Edinburgh, Scotland. Note the huge warning: Smoking seriously harms you and others around you That’s one of the tamer ones too! On one side of the pack, it says “Smoking kills” or the note above. Then on the [...]

[Read more →]

In mid-July of 2009, my wife Martha and I (Jim) embarked on a nearly four week vacation in Europe. She was going to start her doctorate in the fall, which is a four to five year commitment, so we felt that this summer was our best opportunity to take a vacation like this one. Our [...]

[Read more →]