On The Road Again: Edinburgh

I had planned to spend Memorial Day weekend in Maine, I had a family shoot planned with a high school friend (now scheduled for this weekend, stay tuned!), maybe some boating.  Definitely had some eating planned, mostly just low-key.

While that was more or less my ideal long weekend, when I got the semi-last minute opportunity to travel to Scotland with United Airlines on their inaugural flight from Chicago to Edinburgh, it took me approximately a half second to ditch my weekend plans. We were treated incredibly well on the five day trip, from flying business class both directions to five star hotels and all the food and drink we could handle, it was an amazing introduction to Scotland.

We spent two nights in Edinburgh, half of us at the Balmoral, the other half at the Hotel G&V.  The other two nights were spent at the Gleneagles Resort & Spa, host to the upcoming Ryder Cup.  We visited the Royal Yacht Britannia, learned more than I ever thought I cared to know about Scotch whiskey, went to dinner theater, and saw towering metal horse sculptures.  Let's not forget the falconry, castles, real horses and shooting.  Oh did I mention all the bagpipes?  Because there were bagpipes at every turn, including our walk all the way through terminal B at O'Hare.  I could write pages and pages of all the things we got to do but I'll let the pictures do the talking.  Even though the weather was classic UK (drizzle and 50ish degrees most of the time), we had the best time.

A huge thanks to all the people at United and Visit Scotland for hosting such a great weekend.  Everyone should get on a plane to Scotland immediately!