My Dream Vacation

If I could go anywhere in the world, where would I go? What would be my dream vacation?

That’s a hard question. There are so many places I’d like to go. When I had the chance to travel during university, I went to Australia. It was a fairly easy place to visit for a first-time traveler and while there are many places there that I’d love to return to—and many places I wasn’t able to see during that summer that I would like to see—I don’t think that would be my first choice of vacation.

My husband and I have been on two cruises now and would love to do another. Both of those trips, however, were determined not so much by where we wanted to go as where we could go in the time that we had to travel and the budget we had for traveling. I do like the convenience of a cruise ship (aka floating hotel) and the food (om nom nom), but again, I’m not sure that would be my dream vacation.

I think the place that would top my list right now (if I somehow had an unlimited travel budget) would be Scotland. My maiden name is Scottish and there’s a chunk of land up in the highlands with that name on it, which I’d love to visit. One of my distant ancestors was related somehow to King Robert the Bruce, and during university I wrote a paper about King Malcolm III Canmore of Scotland (who would have been very hard to research if he hadn’t been married to Saint Margaret of Scotland). Then there’s movies like Brave and Braveheart,  and books like Michael Phillips’ Stonewycke trilogy and Celtic Stone series, that fuel my interest more.

Every year since moving to Victoria, we’ve gone to the Highland Games at Topaz Park on the May long weekend. I love hearing the bagpipes ringing out around the fields, seeing the kilts swirling around long legs, browsing through all the Celtic ware at the vendors’ tents. This year, Sunshine and Lily started Highland Dance lessons with a local instructor (whom we found out about from friends who are also in the class). It would be amazing to attend the bigger festivals in Scotland, to see the dancers there and to learn more about this part of my heritage.

If I went to Scotland, there are many places I’d wish to see on foot. Recently, as I drove from Victoria back to Alberta for a visit, I thought about how much scenery we miss by traveling through it at 100 km per hour. I’d be snatching quick glimpses of waterfalls and mountaintops while trying to keep my eyes on the road too. Part of what excites me about Scotland is the idea of hiking the highlands—exploring those places on foot and looking for the remote areas that still look like I image them from the books I’ve read and the movies I’ve seen.

And yet I’d also like to sit in a busy Scottish pub, listening to the sound of Scottish voices around me. I love a Scottish brogue, though I can’t pick up an accent to save my life. I’d like to eat some real haggis (I’ve tried a bit at the Scottish Days in Edmonton) and oatcakes (which I’ve baked) and whatever other fare Scotland has to offer (except the beer—I don’t like beer). I’d like to explore castles and cathedrals.

And if I made it to Scotland, then it wouldn’t be too hard to head down to England too…

I’m linking up with the Canucks Content Carnival for this post. Dream along with us about where you’d like to vacation!