Returning From Vacation (A Reprise)

Returning from vacation is always a little rough. There's the travel, the jet-lag, the laundry, and the let-down. I still stand by my original post-vacation practices, to try to abate these a bit, but as I have gotten older and God has allowed us to travel more, I have added some:

1) Turn down the air conditioning. We live in Arizona, and our house gets hot! Coming home to a hot, dank house after vacation is no bueno. Having a Nest thermostat allows us to control our air conditioning remotely, so when we remember, we adjust the temperature when we hit the airport, or a certain point out on the road.

2) Empty the suitcases right away. This is not for everyone. My husband prefers to lounge when we get home. I, on the other hand, play a game with myself to see how fast I can put things away. Life after vacation is overwhelming enough. Adding suitcases of stuff to put away just adds to the burden.

3) Start laundry. I try to move dirty clothes straight from my suitcase to the washer. Maybe I run the washer right away. Maybe not. Either way, I get a leg up on my chores.

4) Hydrate. I tend to get a little dehydrated when traveling, so replenishing fluid is vital. Dehydration is no good for the body, or the post-vacation blues.

5) Consider a vacation-inspired meal. Right away, we are (hopefully) eating food out of the freezer to ease the burden of post-vacation cooking. A little later, though, it is fun to try to find or recreate food from the vacation. That helps relive some of the memories, and adds some variety as well.

BONUS: Give thanks for the comforts of home. Vacations are great, but so is home. A familiar kitchen, bed, and shower are no small thing, and I like to celebrate them when I return from vacation.

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And that's a wrap on this installment of travel posts. Readers, any questions?

How in the World Did We Afford This Trip?

I think there is a part of me that believes I need to write this post to justify taking the trip of a lifetime. Another parts of me appreciates when people share the costs of their vacations. In hopes this post might help someone else (or at the least, remind me of my blessings), I am writing about how we afforded this trip.

First of all, I have to say that I firmly believe that all good things comes from God (James 1:17). This trip was one of them. We simply could not have afforded it nor gone on it without His provision.

Second, God has blessed us in many ways that allowed us to save for this time. We are married and have two incomes. We are blessed that we can mostly live on one of those. Though we really need to save the other for retirement (as one of us started very late to retirement savings), we have some funds we can redirect as needed. We had kind of forgotten about it, but we still had a chunk of money given to us by my parents for our wedding. Besides appliances we needed to replace and a motorcycle we bought for my husband to commute on (which saved us money, because he needed a car, which would have cost a lot more), we basically put all of this money towards vacation.

My mom taught me to budget and save. We learned to live very frugally while my husband was in school, and have mostly continued to live that way. I shop the grocery sales, often going to multiple stores to get the cheapest products. We mostly buy store brand items and cook from scratch, rather than buying prepared products. For the most part, we eat simply. All of this keeps grocery costs small. God provided our condo before the housing market spike. We have not been able to afford to buy a house now, which keeps our housing costs lower that the surrounding area. We keep our house warm in the summer to reduce utility costs. We still share a phone plan with limited data. We try to save whatever we don't spend. 

We skimped even more than usual this year, too. That meant eating out almost never (and we rarely do anyway), eschewing dates that cost very much money, and not going on any other vacations. Sure, we did a few things, but we really limited ourselves, even more than normal.

We bought our airplane tickets and paid for our hotel before the war in Iran. Though still a lot of money, I am certain that our costs were nothing close to what they would have been. Additionally, we worked with a travel agent who was able to help us get discounts on some of our travel and stays. We got the Delta credit card to avoid checked bag fees. All of this helped make the trip more affordable on the front side.

We saved for this trip all year. That meant eating out very little to none, eschewing dates that cost very much money, and not going on any other vacations. Sure, we did a few things, but we really limited ourselves.

On the vacation, the first hotel provided us with breakfast. We ate big and snacked for lunch, saving the cost of a noontime meal. When we ate out at dinner, we enjoyed ourselves, but by no means ordered the most expensive dishes on the menu. Occasionally, we got drinks and dessert, but not every time.

When it came to activities, my husband saved us big bucks! He figured out how to use the bus in Ireland, and that meant very few Uber or taxi rides. We walked as much as we could besides that, so we did not even use bus fares a lot of the time. Our Pohlberg Lighthouse and Glendalough treks provides days of activity with only transportation costs.

In Scotland, I ate in the room for breakfast, avoiding the hotel breakfast fee. (My husband ate downstairs on breakfast coupons his parents gifted him.) I also ate in the room for some dinners, not the best idea ever, but it worked.

We walked to Coatbridge for free. We did souvenir shopping mostly at Aldi. We splurged on airport transportation, but took Scotrail to Edinburgh. Basically, we could have spent a lot more, but we did not.

All in all, the "average" cost of a two week trip for both of us to go on this adventure. That was still quite a large cost, but God provided for it. I think it will be a while before we could possibly afford such a trip again, but we are also investigating more ways to save. Funds are never endless, and we want to stretch the ones God gives as far as possible!

What We Cooked and Ate (Week 42)

This Week's Eats:

Chicken and chickpea soup (Kalyn's Kitchen)

Chocolate pumpkin muffins (Sally's Baking Addiction)

Relief society casserole (365 Days of Slow Cooking)

Sourdough granola bars (Sourdough oat bars) (Somebody Feed Seb)

Southwest spaghetti squash bowls (Budget Bytes)

Noteworthy Repeats:

Egg bake casserole (Food 52)

Freezer Pull-Outs:

Soft pumpkin sourdough bread (Drive Me Hungry)

Sourdough gravy (The Pantry Mama)

Ireland and Scotland Trip: Cultural Differences and Parting Thoughts

This was certainly the trip of a lifetime AND I am glad to be home. I am drinking my own water (albeit less nice than the fresh tasting tap water we had in Scotland), having ample access to toilets (ahem, bathrooms), sleeping in my own bed, and navigating my own shower with more ease. Adventurous as travel food is, I am thankful to be back home eating regular "normal" meals filled with fresh fruits and vegetables. Europe was not that different, but it was. Let me share some interesting things I noticed on our travels:

In Ireland

Ireland seemed to have a focus on sustainability. Many homes had solar panels on the roofs, but I thought it was rarely sunny? Most restaurants used bamboo silverweae and gave cardboard (instead of styrofoam) containers. There were a lot more cans than bottles. Bottles had a hinge built it to hold on the water bottle cap.

Kids were going to school after 8 AM. Most wore uniforms. Lots of people rode busses, but I also saw lots of foreign automobile brands: Peugeot, Renault, and Skoda, to name a few. People drove very close. (The streets are very narrow.) I saw no accidents, however.

Servers at restaurants did not really come back after taking orders and delivering food. We learned quickly to ask for pitchers of water for the table when we sat down. No one offered to split checks at the end of meals. Ever.

I saw sourdough twice in Ireland. Once it was the sourdough doughnut. The second was bread for our "toastie" sandwich.

Thought Ireland seems healthier than the US overall, many people in Ireland smoke and vape. I didn't think that the cigarettes smelled as bad, but still. Neither of those are good for you. Is this habit because it's cold there, or culturally accepted, or ?? I did not smell a lot of marijuana, as I do in the US, but I was told drugs are still an issue.

Walking paths are ample. I saw few e-bikes and scooters. I did see a few, though. Most bikers wore neon vests or shirts of some sort. Most walkers wore headphones, more over the ear than discreet like AirPods or earbuds. I saw lots of people running in Ireland. Most ran with their phone in their hands. I saw Asics shoes the most. Most people in Ireland do not wear sunglasses. Most dress warmly, and wear sturdy shoes (NOT tennis shoes, though I am glad we had our Hoka Cliftons).

Language was definitely different. "Biscuits" were crackers and cookies. Chips were fries. Takeout was "takeaway." Bathrooms were "toilets." Towing was "rescuing." Parking lots were "car parks."  The "f" word was common. The city was very multicultural, but in some parts of town, it was obvious who was out of place.

Overall, people were very nice, though!

In Scotland

What is it with smoking? Aer Lingus sold cigarettes on the flight there. Passengers were not allowed to bring hot drinks on board, I don't know why. 

Our hotel, well, left something to be desired. It smelled a bit dank. We did not get a washcloth. There was only a furnace (with no temperature gauge) for heat. We had no refrigerator. The king bed was very firm and seemed to be made of two twin mattresses put together. The hotel was also far from most things we wanted to do, not the worst, but not the best. 

Every time I visited a website in Ireland or Scotland, I got a popup asking me if I wanted to reject cookies. The Walmart app worked, but not Safeway. Wordflower stopped working.

There were very few toilets, and those available required paying. The toilets we did visit mostly had hand dryers instead of paper towels. Many of the restrooms did have lotion with the soap. What does that say?

I saw sourdough twice here. Once, I saw it for sale in a gift shop on our Discover Scotland tour. The second was at lunch for my mother-in-law's tea. Both times, it had old grains and/or seeds and nuts in it.

Language was still different here. Everyone used the word, "wee" a lot. Potato chips were "crisps." Lines were "queues." Sweaters were "jumpers." Windshields were "wind screens." Semis were "lorries." Wide load was "abnormal load." I saw a little more aggressive driving, traffic, and honking here, but still no accidents.

We saw a lot of wind farms in Scotland. (I understood that more after our cold, wet day in Edinburg.) The history is very gruesome. The culture was very superstitious overall. The country as a whole seemed more melancholy than Ireland. Although I did not see it, our tour driver also told us drugs as a big problem, especially in Glasgow.

Parting Thoughts:

Given that I did get sick in Scotland, I think the travel time was a little too long (or at least for my stamina at the moment(. It is easy to hop from country to country in Europe, but is it worth it if I am exhausted? Many people in our family loved Scotland. I favored Ireland. Maybe it was the weather and my experience. I will only know if I go back.

Europe was cool, but I still want to visit all fifty states. That also seems like more accessible travel. My husband loved traveling internationally, however, so I would guess both will be in our future.

While I have lots of pictures and memories from our trip, now that I am back, I do wish I had picked up a few more little things to enjoy once we got home. Sure, the food and snacks are great, but those will run out. A few mugs or something might have been nice. Will I think that in a few years, though? Who knows. For now, we need to settle back into this life and figure out how to save for future adventures!

Churches (or Not!) of Scotland

I am used to identifying churches by their steeples. Well, in Scotland most of the buildings I identified as churches were not. 

This first one, Church of Scotland, Calder Parish church was.

And I spotted a church next to what we thought was a church (One Church):

But it turned out to be a funeral home, and we sort of crashed the funeral, jumping sidewalks just as the bagpiper started to play to release the hearse. We jumped sidewalks quickly and I didn't get a photo.

And then we saw these church-looking buildings housed apartment homes.

We didn't make it over to see if this spire was on a church, or something else.

We saw a few spired buildings on our Highlands tour.

Our tour bus parked near Sts Peter and Benedict Roman Catholic Chapel.

Edinburg had lots of spires, but I only identified some as churches:

St Giles Cathedral

St Columba’s Free Church

We saw a very small chapel (St Margaret's Chapel) up at Edinburg Castle.

And then a few churches walking home from our ride on ScotRail:

Bellshill St. Andrew’s United Free Church of Scotland

Bellshill and Bothwell Parish Church West Halls (but the actual church building was for sale?)

I stopped taking pictures of churches repurposed for other things [like The Hub in Edinburg-gorgeous, but no longer a church (Edinburg International Festival, n.d.).

Props to Scotland for repurposing famous buildings, but is this indicative of spiritual decline in the country? Because that would be even sadder than letting some church buildings go into disuse. Building won't last forever. Souls will!

Postscript: Indeed, the above is true. In 2022, the Census showed that 51% of Scotland's population claimed "no religion" (Carrell, 2024). Catholicism, Church of Scotland membership, and Christianity are all falling. Sad times for a nation with such a rich history of seeking after and following God-or is that what it was? Maybe it was religion, not relationship, which once again is very said in terms of eternity.

References:

Carrell, S. (2024, May 21). Majority of people in Scotland have no religion, census shows. The guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/21/majority-of-people-in-scotland-do-not-believe-in-any-religion-census-shows

Edinburg International Festival. (n.d.). History of The Hub. https://www.eif.co.uk/festival-guide-2/history-of-the-hub

International Travel Adventures: Day 11

I woke up this day feeling much better than I had any day in Scotland so far, but...I had almost lost my voice. I still don't know what took me down. Was it something in the room, as I originally thought? Or did I catch a bug? I don't know. It started with a scratchy throat and nasal congestion at night Sunday, then progressed to that headache that woke me up Monday night, left me achy Tuesday, questioning if I could go on Wednesday, and then moved to laryngitis. So strange. I think I was just run down and needed to get home, and homeward bound we were.

I started the day with a walk on the treadmill. I never did figure out how to do anything more than quickstart, so I walked three miles at six kilometers an hour and went back to the room. I got ready and didn't feel like breakfast, but knew I needed something, so chugged some water and ate an apple and a protein bar. Those protein bars were lifesavers, and since I ate so many of them on the trip, my outgoing baggage was much lighter than my incoming baggage (even with a few souvenirs added). Win!

We departed the hotel at 8:30 AM in a chartered van. We could have tried to take a cab to ScotRail, ScotRail to a tram, and the tram to the airport, but that would have taken hours, and been a lot of luggage hauling. The van was expensive (I don't even know how expensive, because my father-in-law generously booked it for us), but worth it. It meant a calmer start to the morning and much less energy expenditure to start a long day.

It took us a little while to get through security and we had about 40 minutes before our flight started boarding. This flight was not too bad. We got two seats together in row 43, and we had our carry on bags this time. (I would have rather checked, or gate-checked them, but they did not give us that option, and we did not want to spend more money.) The food was not what was on the menu, but it was decent. My only complaint was pasta salad with a pasta entree. I gave my husband the pasta salad and gladly ate the three cheese tortellini with tomato creme fraiche, peas, and leeks. Thank goodness for some vegetables. I tried to see where the tiramisu came from, and I think it was from Italy. I am generally not the biggest tiramisu fan, but I figured I could use the energy, because I hoped to try to get my body back closer to US time, and would therefore need to extend time between this "lunch" and dinner. 

The airline served Mediterranean pizza twist and and cookie squares dessert shortly before landing, but I saved that for later. I did drink a cup of coffee at 5 PM Scotland time/12 PM Boston time. I hoped that would keep me awake for the afternoon and evening so I could try to sleep when we finally got back home to Arizona.

My cellphone SIM card turned back on once we touched down on US soil, and my phone blew up with something like 64 text messages. I had been getting iMessages on WiFi, but not text messages. In the future, I think it was worth the $20 or something we paid for my husband to have a e-SIM. We were trying to save money, but that is pocket change compared to what we spent on the trip as a whole, and would have been worth it to keep up with our group, text, etc.

We walked a long ways to get to passport check at Boston airport. They asked if I had agricultural products. I honestly admitted that I had one apple. I offered to throw it away, but they said, "No." Instead, they directed me to the next man, who wrote, "apple" on a sticky and sent both my husband and I to another checkpoint. Again, I offered to throw away the apple, but they gave me the, "You can't bring this in," lecture, told us we had to scan our bags again, and then finally took it from me. Sorry. But...I was honest. If I had forgotten the apple or lied about it, would they have caught it?

After that debacle, we had to recheck our bags to Phoenix, and then get from the A to the E terminal. After getting turned around, we finally got there, after walking 0.75 miles. I know because the auto-track on my watch turned on. At least this walk was above ground so that we could occasionally see Boston sights out the windows.

We got to our A gate about three hours before boarding, and I once again sat in the Boston airport and worked on writing vacation blog posts. I did this in 2024, but this time hoped our flight would not be delayed. We would have been traveling over 17 hours if the flight departed as planned. But alas, we faced delays, two hours to be exact. Two hours too long. I was drowsy and tried to sleep before drink service, woke up and couldn't sleep, so started listening to my audiobook, only to fall asleep and need to rewind the next day to catch what I missed. 

Thankfully, our luggage came quickly, as did our Waymo. We arrived home shortly before midnight UK time. We unpacked. (All of our breakables survived. Thank you Lord!) We showered off the 20 hours of travel and tried to sleep. I got a little less than four hours, and my husband a little less than six. I felt very thankful we came back with a few days to readjust before heading back into the work week.

Scotland Adventures: Day 10

This was a rainy day (and I underestimated it)! We caught a cab to the train stop, and from there, took ScotRail into Edinburgh. Once off the train, we stood in awe of the architecture. Look at this Sir Walter Scott Memorial! (We learned what it was later.)

We met a tour guide at St Giles Cathedral, and from there traversed up the hill to Edinburgh Castle. We learned on this trip that most castles are built on old volcano plugs. That was the case for this one. And as is the case for things on a hill, it was cold and windy up top. Although I was wearing a long-sleeved dress and a jacket, I was more than happy to receive and wear my husband's rain jacket. What I really wished for was a hat and a scarf!

The castle was interesting. Basically, we learned that the queen had a lot of power. Queen Victoria said that the castle did not look "castle-y" enough, and so they added the front gate in 1887. She also did not think the castle had enough power, so they brought in naval cannons, cannons that were never even fired. The only firing gun is a gun shot off at 1 PM every day to help ships keep time. (Well, it was in the old days, but now I think it is just for remembrance sake.) The castle's governor's mansion houses the major general of the Scottish military. The castle is also home to military barracks. (We saw multiple uniformed soldiers walking around.)

The oldest building at the castle is the Chapel of Edinburgh/St Margaret's Cathedral built in 1130. The newest is the National War Memorial, built in 1920. The latter is a very somber place, housing the rolls of all members of the military who have died. No pictures were allowed here.

The great hall houses a ceiling built only of wood (no screws or bolts). It was pretty fantastic. The castle also houses Scotland's crown jewels. No photos were allowed there either, and we skipped this due to the lines.

Our tour guide was quite the hoot. He thought that Sheboygan was in Michigan. (It's in Wisconsin.) It seemed pretty clear that he was giving a scripted talk. He laughed at his own jokes. I learned some history, but really would have rather heard more talk about the castle.

After the castle, we walked to the Caledonian Hotel for afternoon tea. This was the one thing my mother-in-law (MIL) wanted for her birthday, and boy, did we jump through hoops to get there. First, they could not find our reservation. Then they said they did not have afternoon tea and could only bring us lunch. Finally, after we got seated and I pointed out a tray of what looked like tea sandwiches going by, My MIL again asked for the tea menu and they gave it to her. She was so excited, and I was so happy for her!

I was feeling under the weather, so I got soup instead of the full tea service. My MIL was nice enough to share a few of her treats, however. The staff even brought her a "Happy birthday" plate at the end. It was special to see a table of three ladies next to us celebrating one of their birthday's that day as well. September 30th is a good day to be born, I guess!

We stopped by a Starbuck's (hoping my MIL could get her free birthday drink--no such luck--she needed the UK Starbuck's app). Then we walked back to the ScotRail stop. We went up, down, and around to find our platform. Thankfully some ScotRail staff told us not to take the first train, but to wait for the second. After about an hour, we were back the Bellshill station, but no taxis, and no one to call them.

We walked into town, but saw the traffic lines and decided walking would be faster than calling a cab, waiting for it to weave through that traffic, and then take us back to our hotel. Plus, we didn't even have the taxi service number. It was about a 1.4 mile walk back, and we were tired, but we made it. I stayed in the hotel room the rest of the night, consolidating, packing, and repacking because Thursday was departure day.