It Could Have Been 1826 - A Trip To Scotland
It's hard to wrap your head around the beauty of Scotland. Wherever Josi and I wandered for a while we seemed to have traveled back in time. It could just have been 1826 if there wasn't an app that led us along barely visible trails. It's fascinating to decelerate like that and watch my busy mind syncing back to the task at hand, syncing back to life. No to-do-lists and goals, just putting one foot in front of the other watching the untouched roughness around us. It's painfully beautiful.
Seriously, we had a four hour car drive from the north of the Isle of Skye to our Airbnb close to Oban and never once thought: oh that's just a mediocre view. Not one. It's ridiculous. And don't get me started on how fun the roads were in our rented Mini Cooper.
Obviously I wanted to take a few of my bags with me and take some nice photos. In the past I probably would have obsessed over preparing shot lists and carrying a ridiculous amount of gear which would have resulted in completely missing the fact that I'm in Scotland for holiday. That would not be holiday, and I'd probably shoot worse stuff. But a few months ago a switch flipped in my head: life first, not work. With the weird result that my work got better. I guess especially with creative work life is the source of inspiration. I don‘t sit down anymore in front of a blank piece of paper without life hitting me with a clear motivation. I finally trust (again) that my subconscious deals with problems as well as my conscious mind, if not better.
The bag in the photos is the JIRO. I designed it to be my perfect companion for carrying essentials. A secure sleeve for the phone, a compartment for a wallet (in my case a small one and a little power bank), another compartment I use for keys, a sort of envelope for glasses or other small items, and a zipped pocket perfect for a passport or other flat items you don't need to access constantly. I want to film a proper walkthrough of all those features soon and post it on Instagram and the upcoming website.
A few spots we visited in Scotland and highly recommend checking out or staying at:
Bone Caves Trail - Inchnadamph
Fir Bhreugach Trail - Flòdaigearraidh (Isle of Skye)
Nutwood House in Strathpeffer
Perfect. Cozy stay, enchanted village. And close by breakfast and dinner: Unwined Cafe
Roost Hayloft in Oban
A bit pinteresty (if that might kill the authenticity for you) but so nice to switch off for a day or two. Yes, that's a bath tub in the living room.
I think it doesn't matter though, just go to Scotland and you'll be fine.
The original reason we went to Scotland was to go to Edinburgh Castle to watch a Harry Potter movie accompanied by an orchestra. Well, they made it sound like you'd watch it somewhere in the castle which would have been a beautiful environment to experience the film. We imagined it like sitting inside Hogwarts. Nope, directly next to the castle is a proper stadium that fits thousands of nerds like us. The Royal Scottish National Orchestra was fantastic and the Prisoner of Azkaban is amazing anyway, but you couldn't even see the castle beyond the stadium which was very disappointing. I just double checked: apparently we sat too close to the stage. Way in the back was a "spectacular view". Well...
Have a great summer!
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