I had a general idea of the things I wanted to do and see in Scotland but it had honestly never occurred to me exactly how much there was to choose from. I wound up searching for things and landed on the Atlas Obscura page and that particular rabbit hole gave me over 700 choices.

I think rather than try to nail down every single thing I want to accomplish, I will choose the broadest possible categories and narrow down my must-sees to things along our road trip itinerary. My preferences include natural features, old architecture, and art of all types, and it would seem that Scotland is jammed full of this kind of thing.

I imagine rugged landscapes that stretch from vibrant green prairie land before falling dramatically to the sea on jagged cliffs. The images in my mind are cobbled from what I remember about the countryside in Ireland when I took a bus ride across the island. Time will tell if it is an apt comparison but my gut tells me it’s gonna be pretty spot on. I’ll just get to see a hell of a lot more of that kind of thing this time and with the incredible bonus of spending the whole time with my muse.

The many attractions around Scotland have been visited by countless folks before us and many of them have shared the pictures they took. I know from lived experience that these photos will help me make decisions but that the real thing will make the photos seem like a sick joke. The reality is always so much more intense in the moment that I will reserve my judgment until I’m standing there.

Spoiled for choice certainly applies here and we won’t get to see it all to be sure, but we may have a ready-made excuse to come back in the future.

Just like that, I remembered that in 51 days we are going to Scotland.

All of the major booking concerns are out of the way and now I need to sit down and focus on exactly what I’d like to try and see while we are there. My muse is busy plotting out the entire course of the trip down to the most minute details and I am reminded of our polar opposite styles when it comes to travel.

Whereas I spend time up front arranging the logistical concerns to get there and back, it is important for her to have a well-detailed plan for every day. She will orchestrate this incredible series of events and I will enjoy higher levels of comfort than I might otherwise if I were flying solo. She helps me see the most things possible in the brief time we will get to spend abroad, and I’ll make sure that she can actually enjoy the things by providing my typical calm and level temperament.

What matters most to me is the adventure itself. To have the distinct privilege of going on this adventure with her makes it a success to me and we haven’t even gone yet. I am overjoyed that it’s so close, but my focus continues to narrow on the first couple of travel days that I know will be rough.

Softening the blow of international travel takes almost an entire day of your time when you arrive. When you come back, you don’t even care how much of your time gets lost to exhaustion, you just want to get home. During both of these times, it’s important to try and stay present and aware of how you are treating your company. I will try and keep this in mind while we are in it and as always do my best to keep her near me in the calm.

I am confident that Scotland will be a place I love, but now I must do some research to discover the exact reasons I already know that is a fact.

Last night we pulled the trigger on a couple of round trip tickets to Inverness, Scotland for a week-long journey. Now the work of planning a trip can begin, and it reminds me exactly how many pieces there are to international travel. It is also the first time in as long as I can remember that the planning will be for two instead of just little old me. That adds a layer of excitement in the form of the anticipation we both feel to go on this adventure together.

As is my style, I am focused on the big picture of getting there, getting around to see as much as possible, and getting back in one piece. After years of this part of my mind laying dormant, it has fired back up in dramatic fashion. The possibilities are incredible and only limited by the constraints of the amount of time we have to explore.

Our plan is ambitious and will see us covering a lot of ground in a week. It will be a proper road trip filled with the requisite and frequent changes in landscape you’d expect. The distances look small on the map but I know they will feel gigantic because it is in a different country. It’ll also be the first time either one of us has driven on the left anywhere legally, so that adds an exciting layer of novelty.

It is still months away but I am filled to the brim with anticipation and excitement to finally get back out there and start seeing more of this big beautiful blue planet of ours.

In order to keep this space on track, I have made all of the previous posts private while I weed through the ones that were not about travel.

This is no longer just a place for me to talk about anything and everything, that space is over here: https://deviantrambling.com/

Travel has been put on the backburner over the past couple of years as I have experienced some pretty major shifts in day-to-day life and priorities. But finally, it’s time to get out there again and get back to the task of visiting just as much of the planet as I can.

The next trip has been planned and it will be Scotland in late September/early October. This time I will be adventuring with my love and it is a chance to experience the joys of travel together. I will be posting about all of the elements of the trip here starting with the planning through to a summary of the experience after it’s said and done. It has been entirely too long but it’s better late than never.

Back to it, still so much to see.

After over a year of waiting for COVID-19 to settle a little, I finally made my way to Alaska in August. This was the 49th state I have seen, with only Hawaii remaining on the list. Although for the purpose of inclusivity, I’m going to make it a point to also see our neighbors in places like Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, etc. Because honestly, who needs any sort of excuse to see a tropical island?

We arrived in Anchorage in the early afternoon to overcast, what I would label as “moody” skies. Turns out that sky is a prominent feature in much of Alaska and I have to say I loved it. Any time the backdrop is a giant mountain range, it’s always a weighty view. Add some dark to light grays and it is often overpowering. I don’t mind being overpowered by something that is, frankly, more powerful than I am.

The first leg of our stay was near Talkeetna, which is something of a tourist spot. Our cabin was a proper retreat though. An a-frame in the middle of the woods, the second we stepped in the door, the world outside fell away. Time stood still as the world outside. It was quiet magic.

The town of Talkeetna is a charming little village with some of the old roots still visible. I believe it would be a completely different place during the winter, and would thus have a completely different feeling to it. Probably won’t ever see that but I can imagine it from the folks I met.

While in Talkeetna we made the trek up to Denali and although our time in the park was short, it was staggering to see so much untouched wilderness. It was the same week that another Hoosier was mauled by a bear in the park, but we didn’t see any, no landslides either.

Upon returning to Talkeetna for our last day in that region, we chartered a plane ride to land on a glacier and I can honestly say it was one of the most humbling experiences I have lived to date. To stand on ice as old as recorded history and know I was near eons long processes was incredible. To be at the base of Denali reminds you of how small you are, and how little your shit matters. It was an honor worth the price of admission.

We made our way south of Anchorage for a change of scenery and stayed near the town of Kasilof, directly on the Cook Inlet. This was another peaceful retreat from all that we know. Since we were close to Homer we spent most of a day there and checked out the “Spit”. The views are 360 of the sea and the surrounding mountains and glaciers. Despite it being a busy tourist area, it still felt completely primal. Like we had gone somewhere far reaching, because we had.

On our last day, we spent time in Anchorage and walked Kincaid Park. We saw a moose grazing on the side of the road on the way in and a giant bull moose in the woods while walking. Just another humbling sight to behold in a state chock full of them.

Truth be told I know we didn’t have nearly enough time to spend in Alaska and we had to grab all we could for our memories while we were there. It may not have been once in a lifetime because it’d be nice to go back, but having just this glimpse made me want to go further and see the even less traveled areas. The kind of places only accessible by boat or plane.

It put me close to 50, with plans to finish the list in 2022. It was a reminder of what all is out there to be seen, and that there isn’t enough time in 1,000 lives, let alone this one, to see it all.

But I’ll be damned if I’m not gonna try…

My last stop of a 5 day island hop was to the island nation of Vanuatu. All I knew of Vanuatu is what I had seen on an episode of An Idiot Abroad. In the episode, the titular “Idiot”, Karl Pilkington, finds himself doing a bucket list item of staying on a deserted island. Since I was on the main island it was not deserted at all. In fact it was busier than I suspected an island of that size could be.

There were several anxious drivers waiting for lost people like myself to take me wherever we were staying. Luckily for me, the money matters had been 100% sorted by now and my card worked fine at their ATM. The drivers here would only take the local currency and the exchange rate was something ridiculous like 1,000 VUV being worth around $8. My ride cost me 2,000 VUV which was a bargain to not have to think about the details.

Arriving at my AirBnB it occurred how early I was when I saw the sign on the front that effectively read “Open at noon” and it was about 10:15. The gate was open, however, and I went and sat near the beach and waited on the owner to show for the day. When I heard some activity near the main dining area/bar, I went and introduced myself and was greeted by a warm Australian man.

Turns out that Vanuatu was a off-season haven of sorts for lots of expat Australian and New Zealand people. What ensued was one of the most social evenings I experienced on this entire trip. Tonight was a big rugby match night for the expat crowd and I learned enough about the sport by the end of the night to finally be able to follow it. Prior to this I honestly just assumed it was a reason for guys to huddle up and beat the piss out of each other. That made it as valuable as any sport in my eyes, but it turns out to have more nuances that I was ever aware of. It was good to know that even on the other side of the world, people can get worked into a frenzy over their supported team. Our similarities really are numerous and entertaining.

By the end of the evening, or really, the start of the morning, the host and I were both well and truly drunk. Fortunately in the more sober hours of the night, I had asked for him to arrange a ride to the airport for me. Another early morning was fast approaching and despite the lack of hours I had to rest, I popped up the moment my alarm started to sound. Honestly I believe I might have still been a little drunk but someone else was driving so that’s what matters. Safety first kids.

This morning, the rain was just pissing down but it felt refreshing so I stood in it, looked up and smiled. By the time my ride arrived I was pretty well soaked but felt fine. After a quick ride I found myself standing in the queue for customs, which hadn’t even opened yet. Unlike most major airports in the States, this one had operating hours. Since there were only 3 or 4 flights the entire day, however, I was positive I would not miss this one.

After clearing customs I look over to see a convenience store of sorts and grab myself some caffeine and notice they also sell Tusker OP, the beer I had been drinking the night before. “Sure, what the hell…” I thought to myself and grabbed one. A little breakfast before the flight. Since that one went down without notice I found myself back at the counter and the woman just laughed and said “Thirsty?” to which I joined her in laughter and said “That’s why I’ll be getting two this time.”

The island itself and locals brought my mind back to Jamaica. And the language was a similar one as well. Sort of a language you could understand based solely on contextual clues and the proximity to words in English. Oh and island time is a real thing here. Not as real as it was in Tonga but it was definitely a similar “Fuck it, there’s time.” pace. That alone is worth the price of admission in the normal GO GO GO world.

If I have more time to spare for Vanuatu I will get lost a little more but this round was a placeholder. Sad if it was a one-off but life is too fleeting as is.

Back to Australia now for day of recovery before my flight(s) home.

Fiji was the shortest of all my island hop stays, clocking in at 14 hours. This was a bonus of sorts because it was one of the principal airports in the area that can service a full sized aircraft. Whatever idea you have of scale and proportion gets blown out of the proverbial water when you are flying around the pacific. You’ll be in a plane for hours and not see a single sign of life. It is alarming but oddly peaceful.

In any matter, I arrived in the early evening and had to play the SIM card game again. By this time I had just decided to stick with the company Digicel that I had used while in Tonga. It worked fine, had a boat load more data than I would have the chance to use, and allowed me to let home know I was alive in some sense.

My hosts for the evening were a lovely couple. He was a Cuban native who had moved to Fiji to work, and she was a Fijian native who had lived and worked their her whole life. They took time out of their evening to pick me up from the airport and deliver me to their home. What’s more, I was served dinner and shared drinks with them as we discussed Cuba at great length. Cuba is, of course, on my list of must see places, and it interested me a fair deal to learn all I could from my host.

It was an honor to hear someone so passionate about his homeland. To say that I would always feel welcome there and that the things that are shown by the media are not always what one might consider entirely true. The sad fact of the matter is, Cuba is a country that has suffered in poverty for years. And it pains me to know that my country had even the first thing to do with it, but we just did. All out of our usual playbook of being afraid and letting it guide our decision making. Now an island of perfectly wonderful people feel isolated from the rest of us and rightly so. I will go to Cuba, I will dance in the streets and meet the people. We must be the same in some ways, and our differences fascinate me.

My host showed me who Cuba is, and it’s the kind of person I want to revel with. We made plans to drink together in Havana and I sincerely hope that we can.

Before I knew it, the evening was up and I was off to sleep for a few hours. Vanuatu was on the itinerary tomorrow and it was an early flight. Luckily I was close to the airport and my hosts were taking me TO the airport as well. My good fortune seemed to have no bounds on these days, aside from the occasional money issue. (But who is anyone kidding… that isn’t an issue worth worrying about when you’re on a island that is a giant beach resort.)

As the plane descended toward Tonga I had a gander out the window to see as many palm trees as I had ever seen in my life in one place. It honestly looked as though they had planted rows of them in an effort to remind people where they were in the world. I needed no reminder.

Before I had even boarded the plane, several natives to the island had asked “Is this your first time?” To which I could only respond candidly, of course it was. What followed was almost uniform in nature: It won’t be your last. I can say without a doubt they are correct. Tonga is many things, and to say I know them all is arrogant and absurd. But my observations were brief, so it should be expected.

But I will return to Tonga. This was a series of islands, and I only visited one of them. The people were warm and welcoming as was the island life. This was apparent early upon arrival.

My phone didn’t work (as I should have expected) and a friendly driver greeted me upon walking from the brief customs check. “Do you need a ride?” He asked without a hint of what I would call… pushiness. “Trying to figure out my phone, but maybe.” I was actively trying to get my phone to work. After about 5 minutes I punted and gave him a knowing nod. He laughed and affirmed what he already knew of his home: There is no phone service here… Unless you can get a SIM card. But this is where Tonga started to show me who they were. The first man I met was my driver and he brought me into his life.

A drive that would have been a 20 minute trek from the airport to my AirBnB turned into an hour. My driver stopped at a favored “convenience store” of his and even bought me a giant bottle of water and offered me some of his dessert cake that he picked up. I honestly assumed he would charge me for all of this at the end of the ride but I was thirsty so it was all good. After this brief stop he asked if it would be alright if he stopped by home and talked with his family to which I was amenable. It’s all good, just happy to be on a random island in the Pacific. We pull up to a home and he gets out and shows me his home and his dogs. One of his kids came out and waved and said hello. For real. It was a strange scene by any standards on my side of the world but I was honored.

Once I had been delivered to my AirBnB, my driver offered to pick me up the following day for my flight out to which I agreed. If some twist of fate ever shows him this then I’ll just apologize now. I couldn’t be on anyone else’s time on a day when a flight was leaving. I had already paid for the flight and the island had 3 flights a DAY. So it was nothing personal.

I walked through the yard gate of where I was staying and saw an old home in relative disrepair (normal for Tonga). Just behind it was a small (not quite tiny) home with a shed-style roof and full of windows to let all the brilliant sunlight in. A sliding glass door was the entire front of the home and there upon a couch sat my host for the day. I greeted my host with a handshake/hug combo, one of those “bring it in” kind of things and he asked how things were. I told him the truth: Things were blurry and my time in Tonga would be all to brief. He was a consummate professional as a host and invited me out with another one of the “tenants” for some drinks and food at his favorite spot. I could not turn down an invite. I was hungry, thirsty, and knew this was about all I could see this time around.

Since this would be a minute I had time to sort out the SIM card logistics. A store was about 500 feet away that could sell me $5 worth of service which would suit me fine for the ~30 hours on the island. Upon inserting said SIM card, my phone screamed to life. All of the bullshit from the other side of the world started streaming in and I quickly dismissed most of it. To my great joy, however, my mother had contacted my local bank and got my debit card functional again. <3 you mom.

Once I had shaken some of the jet lag and mosquitoes off, my host stopped by my room and said they were about to head out. Wasn’t out to impress anybody with my appearance so I hopped up and headed out.

What followed was a brilliant evening with a couple of awesome guys. My host was originally a native of New Zealand and had become a professional level rugby player. He was only a few years younger than I am and had already retired from the sport and started an organization to teach young men to become professionals in rugby. It was obvious in the way he spoke that he was extremely passionate about what he had achieved and what he helps young men do. Very cool. He was about to become a father for the first time and was nervous and excited. As we were chatting through the evening some friends of his had children and he held an infant at one point and the child was simply enamored with him to which a couple of us said “Oh he’s ready…” almost simultaneously and had a fine laugh.

The other man with us was from London and was on Holiday/residency of sorts. He had traveled to Tonga to do a portion of his med school training and was also using it as a holiday. We discussed American politics as well as British politics because I was honestly curious. I was happy to share my view of things as they had been occurring and he was happy to share his. It was a great conversation and I hope I did well to represent us as more than the stereotypical “gun-toting-freedom-loving” douchebags we no doubt look like sometimes. I know you aren’t supposed to discuss religion or politics while drinking but we discussed both and got along fine. Maybe that old rule just needs some modification. Know your company and steer clear when it seems obvious that those conversations will end badly. I read the room and felt it would be fine and it was.

All in all, it was a great evening, and a primer at best to show me what Tonga was. I will go back in a heartbeat, given the opportunity.

As the first in my series of island hops, New Zealand did indeed look like some kind of fairy tale land. Upon arriving I was greeted by rolling hills flanked by beautiful seascapes and trees that seemed of an entirely different world. Rest assured it was just southern earth, not the Middle.

First thing’s first, walk off the plane and get a SIM card for whatever country you’re in. You can accomplish exactly fuck-all without one of those. Luckily within about 100 steps you are greeted by 5+ companies who want nothing more than to sell you one of these fine cards.

“How long will you be staying in New Zealand?” a friendly associate asks.
“One day.” I respond without blinking. “So the cheapest one.” I smile and she laughs. It really would just be the one day, so the $15-20 would be worth it for convenience’ sake.

… That is unless of course you are rolling with a debit card from your bank.

After sorting out the SIM card and responding to a few messages of playing “catch up” with the other side of the world, I stepped out into a cloud of mist which had enveloped Auckland. I closed my eyes and let it cover me for a minute before returning to the shelter of the canopy to try and sort a ride. This is where things began to get interesting… Because it wasn’t entirely clear who would be providing this ride. After a confusing few minutes talking with one driver I settled on what appeared to be a 3 wheel golf cart to get me the 3 miles from the airport to my AirBnB. Evening was on its way and I was hungry so I attempted to Uber my way to a nearby restaurant. The ride was denied. It would seem that things were not well on the other side of the world with regards to the aforementioned debit card. In the time since I had arrived, the ball had begun to roll that would crush me the next day. I switched apps to get a ride and found the app Zoomy which was a lifesaver for the evening. It is for New Zealand only but they saved me having to walk a few miles just to get a meal. Good looking out Zoomy.

By the morning I was ready to go see Auckland for the day. Thinking all would be fine, I hitched a ride once again with Zoomy. Straight down town and I was dropped off directly adjacent to the Sky Tower. Then I grab my phone to take a quick picture and see that my ride from Zoomy had been denied… Thankfully I had some currency in my pocket and got to the best view in Auckland:

The scenery did well to help push doubt out of my mind for the entire time I was standing near the windows of the Sky Tower, seeing Auckland for the first time on a brilliant sunny day. Panoramic doesn’t seem to do the view justice but it’s the closest word.

Upon returning to the ground, I made my way to an ATM to attempt to withdraw some local currency, but more as a test of my debit card. Turns out it was now temporarily closed due to the fact that there were charges on it across the planet. Now before the conclusions are drawn I should mention the caveat that not only did my bank unlock all of the countries I would visit, they did it for the entire two weeks. Turns out the automated “fraud prevention” system doesn’t have any fucks to give about the overrides that were put in place. In a word, I was screwed.

…But only temporarily.

I had a working phone, access to my computer at home, and a Western Union office one block from where I was standing. The solution was simple (and convoluted): Send myself money. So I message a friend, make the arrangements, and make my way to the Western Union office. It was Sunday so they closed within a couple hours. I had time, but not a lot. I walk in, explain the transaction to the woman at the counter, and then she asks to see my passport since I am a first time customer and not from the country. Naturally I didn’t have my passport, because, you know, I had already passed the port. Luckily my brother came up in the clutch and let me use his credit card to put on my Zoomy account. It paid off the earlier trip and let me get back to my AirBnB to get my passport. $50 worth of rides later, I had enough cash to eat and drink the night away.

Since I was in Auckland, steps from the sea, I wanted seafood. After a quick glance at TripAdvisor I found my way to the Depot for some oysters and a delicious pasta dish with clams. Having expressed the kind of day I’d been having to the bar tender, he bought me a beer. And then another. And then a free meal came from the kitchen that someone had sent back. And then a round of appetizers with the same story but this time with the addition of “He seems really chill, let him have these.” By the time the third meal arrived that I didn’t have to pay for, I was offering food to everyone sitting around me. Night had fallen and so had my sobriety. But it was a quick ride back and turning in for the night.

My time in New Zealand, however brief, taught me a few valuable lessons that I’ll share gladly:

1.) Debit cards are bullshit, don’t travel with them.
2.) When life hands you lemons, squeeze them on your 2nd free meal of the day.
3.) Flexibility when you travel is the most important trait you can possess. Roll with the punches and you get to see some amazing things.
4.) Gratitude and a sense of humor go a long way in this world. If you can make light of your shitty day, it will naturally get better.
5.) 8% beer shouldn’t taste that good.

In early February I received an email about a flight deal from Scott’s Cheap Flights. It was round trip to Sydney, Australia for essentially any amount of time for a few dollars under $500. This was one of those times where there was simply no need to think it through. I booked a flight with two total weeks of time on that side of that planet. This was not the only flight I would be taking but more on that soon enough…

Let this serve partially as a cautionary tale, though. Jet lag is all too real when you’re human. After the short hop from ORD>LAX came the longest flight I had ever taken by a long sight. The flight from LAX>SYD departed Saturday evening on the west coast and arrived at 7:00 Monday morning in Sydney. The total is just shy of 15 hours in the air, and I don’t really sleep on planes. When the plane landed, I crashed hard at my AirBnB. I woke up around 3:00 in the afternoon and took a look outside at my surroundings for the first lucid moment of the day.

This was one of the moments I had no choice but to pause and reflect on how grateful I am for the life I get to lead. It is humble, but in so many ways, it is truly awe-inspiring. Nothing lights me up quite like a new place to explore but the aforementioned jet lag would be a weighing force for at least the first couple days of my journey.

Monday consisted of my first ever visit to the Sydney Opera House and the beginning of my familiarization with the public transportation in Sydney which was all super simple due to the Opal program. A quick swipe with a contact-less style card and you were on your way. It was a breeze and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a cheap way to get around Sydney.

Sydney is a super modern, world class city. Everything you could possibly want or need is within walking distance and if you’re feeling lazy or have been walking for hours (which both happened to me) the Opal card gets you where you wanna go.

Two weeks on the opposite side of the planet meant that the opportunity for exploration was brief but necessary. See it would be simple enough to go and spend every single one of those days in Sydney and you wouldn’t possibly see everything there was to see.

I wanted to collect more flags… So I did.

During the second week, I visited New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, and Vanuatu in the space of 5 days. I consider these exploratory flights, to see where I might want to return in the future. Truth be told, though, I’d return to every single one of them. The adventure itself was the goal this time around, and it was in full supply. As such, each of those beautiful island nations will be self-contained posts to do them what justice I possibly can.

Erstwhile in Sydney…

After coming to a basic understanding of how the city was laid out, I started to venture further out and around. This led me to take the Sydney Harbor Ferry several times, which was also part of the Opal program. This could get you out to some other beaches as well as the Sydney Zoo, which I can say from experience is one of the best I have ever visited.

…Sure I’m almost 40 and still love zoos, what of it? It’s the closest I wanted to get to the dozens of species of venomous things that live down under anyway.

During one of my adventures outward I wound up on a several hour walk/hike through Lane Cove National Park. There was all sorts of non-venomous wildlife just out and about doing their thing. The birds in particular were spectacular and proud of their voices, which I was all too happy to listen to. It is rare to find peace but walking the shores of this park brought me as close as I can come to it. It was a disconnect from any world I knew, but it was tranquil, and that made the world inside me quiet down too.

At the end of any day, this is what travel gives me: Peace. And a belief that the world is as beautiful a place as I imagine it is. So far, that has rang true in my humble opinion. But there is so much left to see… So I must forge ahead.

After my week of island hopping, I returned to Sydney for the long flight(s) home. I believe on this flight I dozed off a few times but in between bouts of insomnia I was fortunate to be sitting next to a great conversationalist who originally hailed from New Zealand. He regaled me with stories of his life as a private maritime captain and gave me travel goals to strive for.

Sydney scratched the itch but like any time I come home, the itch returns. And the mind wanders to the next adventure… Which was planned shortly after arriving home in early June.

What follows will be a series of stories about the island nations of New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, and Vanuatu. Each will have their day in the sun, as they shared some of that equatorial goodness with me. The real highlight, as always though, was the people.