Final Four: Europa League

With our Around the World ticket coming to its final London leg, we left SE Asia to arrive in London and then took the train up to Perth, Scotland for 10 days of visiting friends and an opportunity to sort our remaining itinerary. The ability to settle into a bit of a routine and have familiarity has been important for us during our planning stages. To think that one can plan an entire year away in advance is delusional (not to put too fine a point on it). It seems like folly to over plan travel for this length of time and certainly, while there may be have been some missed opportunities, planning as we go has worked best for us. Travelling as a family requires that close attention be paid to the ebb and flow of what can aptly be termed “travel energy.” Our children, having just finished some fairly significant culturally different experiences and having been travelling for over 9 months, were starting to show a desire for home.

While in Scotland, we also enjoyed exploring some areas we had not been to prior – the west coast and specifically a visit to the town and surrounding area of Lochgilphead was a highlight. While staying with our new friends, the Doull’s, we were treated to a trip back in history from the crowning of Scottish Kings, the Knight’s Templar, and historical conflicts between landowners and villagers in the late 1800s. Scotland never ceases to amaze and having been in the country for lengthy periods, it has become a favourite and familiar place for our family.

Lovely central Scotland in the spring

Exploring Knights Templar graves near Lochgilphead

Arichonan settlement – sad history around burning out villages in order to take over the land

Given the desire of the boys, the fact that both Kelly and I have new and exciting jobs to return to in the fall and knowing that those jobs would take a chunk out of summer, we decided that we would return one month earlier than originally planned. It is interesting how one’s perspective changes as people plan for months, even years in advance, two to three months of travel in Europe. It took us a week of percolating through possible itineraries, comparing costs for airfares and lodging etc, to create a plan for our remaining 7 weeks.

After what can only be described as bouncing itineraries and activities around and coming up with endless possibilities, a general plan emerged. We selected our “Final Four: southern Germany, the Austrian Alps, Slovenia, and Italy. Ending in Rome, we are returning to London before our final leg back to Canada. Initially, we had hoped to have a stay in Greece and Croatia as well, but after reviewing prices and travel times, these two countries will have to wait. Our commitment to ensuring that we didn’t become embroiled in the desire to “see” as much as possible now that the end was near, was in the forefront. Contrary to what some might think, this experience has not resulted in less future travel plans. Similar to the adage, “the more you know, the more you realize you have to learn,” the same could be said for travel and exploration of countries. We now have many more plans for future travel in the years to come!