There Can Be Only One

There has to be a reason I’ve not booked any portion of The Tracy Extension Trip; my theory is that, to quote the song, I still haven’t found what I’m looking for (or, to make it grammatically correct, I still haven’t found that for which I am looking—but that’s not very catchy).  So I continue to research, and as of late have come up with a very un-me-like idea: a guided tour.

I realize that I have no idea how to use public transportation and that, particularly in Scotland, public transport does not go to all of the places I’d like to see.  I’d like this trip to be more than just another country’s worth of cities and museums.  I want to see these highlands that everyone is always talking about (though I can’t say this to my husband, not because he’s opposed to the trip, but because he immediately starts speaking in a terrible Scottish accent and repeating the phrase ‘There can be only one!)  So I googled ‘tours out of Edinburgh’ and found The Haggis Adventure Tours—a scary name, I know.  The concept sounds both amazingly fun and kind of scary—a small bus filled with 20-something kids (I can say that now that I’m 30!) driving around for five to ten days, staying at predetermined hostels along the way.  I get the idea that it is kind of like summer camp on wheels…in Scotland.  I think it would be way less lonely than traveling on my own, and way more adventurous—though I’ve yet to determine if ‘more adventurous’ is a good thing or a bad thing.

Highland Explorer Tours are another option—this company seems geared towards an older crowd, as you can tell as soon as you click on the website, which is less flashy and cartoon-y.  The price of the tour is exactly the same—around $300—but the accommodations are a bit more expensive, as you stay in Inns and B&Bs rather than hostels.  This does sound more ‘up my alley’ so to speak, and I think I’m REALLY leaning toward this plan…which brings me to my next post, wherein I discuss the new term I learned that fits my travel style perfectly.  Stay tuned.

An edit with an update:  This is what I want to do–the Orkney Raider 5 Day Tour with the clearly-for-the-younger-set Haggis Adventures.  I realize I am thirty (though the website states that the tour is geared towards people from 18-35) and I realize it will be more of a ‘party’ atmosphere than many of the other tours that I’ve looked at, but really, if I’m going to be by myself, I’d much rather hang out with 20-somethings looking for a good time than with 60-somethings complaining about having to walk up a slight incline.

Also–it is the cheapest option.  And I am, above all else, cheap.  Because less money equals more time to see and do whatever I want to see and do.  And that, really, is my goal.  I’m off now to read the three hundred Scotland pages of my thousand page Great Britain guide book!