“Gonna travel, gonna travel wild and free I’m gonna pack my bags because this great big world is calling me” ~ Elvis Presley – Harem Holiday
Traveling is exhausting. Don’t get me wrong, it is wonderful and exciting and amazing and I am grateful to be able to travel, but it does seem to suck the stuffing out of me when I miss a night of sleep. We left JFK and traveled to Edinburgh Scotland on an overnight flight. Losing five hours of time and a night of sleep did not make for a happy Linda despite the beauty of the scenery as we flew in.
Our trip through passport control was longer than most Disney line waiting queues but we made it, found our driver, (apparently everyone who drives for this company is named Kenny), and made it to our hotel. The rest of the day felt like a blur. Jet lag kicked in and the rooms were not ready at the hotel for a few hours. We had delicious breakfast in the hotel, took a walk to see some sights and returned when it began to the rain. We stopped for coffee and tea at the Elephant House, which is where J.K. Rowling spent time when she wrote the Harry Potter series.
We eventually caught a brief nap and shower and were on our way for a Scotch Whisky tasting tour and dinner at “The Scotch Whisky Experience.”
Here is what I leaned. If you make Scotch, in order to call it Scotch, it has to be made in Scotland. Scotch Whisky is spelled without the “e” as other whiskey’s are spelled. There are five regions in Scotland where Scotch is made, the Highland Region, The Lowland Region, The Speyside Region, The Islay Region and the Cambeltown Region.
I also learned that you should look at the color, swirl the glass to see the “legs” of the scotch, put your nose in the glass to smell it and then taste it on your tongue and mouth.
I also leaned or rather confirmed that I do not personally like scotch. No surprise there. But based on the number of people on the tour who did not make the “this stuff tastes awful” faces, there are a lot of people who enjoy the amber liquid. I also had a small vision of what heaven might look like to some people, for example, to Skip.
“A glass of whisky in Scotland in the thirties cost less than a cup of tea.”
Catherine Helen Spence.
Slainte Mhath!
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