Scotland day 1: arrive to Scotland

We nervously went to the airport for a 455pm attempt at delta one Msp to ams. We were 3/4 with 3 seats open. Got to the airport and check in one hour and two minutes prior to departure. Dropped my commissions checks off at the wings financial in the ticketing hall and headed to our gate. Within an hour there miraculously was one more delta one seat that appeared! We were 3/4 with 4 open. And we got it! Delta one across the pond on Matt's benefit. We each ordered a 12year mccallan to commemorate the scotch tour we were planning on doing. We also each ordered the lamb chop. Yumm yumm. Slept for a few hours and before we knew it we were in ams 1 hour early. We landed at 730. We were planning on taking the 9 to Aberdeen or the 10 to Inverness; both however were red. We noticed on the departure board the flight to Edinburgh was leaving in 20 minutes and just down the hall. We got to the gate and te agent said if we could list for the flight we would have a seat. So 17 minutes prior to departure we listed and had seats to Scotland! We were together too. Quickly booked a car so we had some sort of plan ($140) One hour and a half after 7 hours to ams and we were in Scotland! We deplaned on an exterior stairwell and waited a bit for customs to open. Got through no problem. Matt changed and I booked a hotel near a few northern highland distilleries.

We got our car, it was 930am Scotland time or 330am Msp time. The lady recommended pitlochry as a small town for lunch on the way north to Inverness. About an hour from the airport. So we were on our way. Driving on the other side of the road and a stick. Made it to a distillery Blair athol. Looked around the pretty setting and stopped by the visitor centre before continuing onto pitlochry. Pitlochry is a small town with a river and dam. It had a cute Main Street. We found a car park but had no small change to pay the meter. 15 minutes free. So we walked down to the dam, checked out the fish ladder and then back to the car. Reupped the 15 minutes and then went to the toilet and checked out a few shops before continuing our way up to speyside. We stopped at the dalwinnie distillery, the sister of Blair athol which is also the highest distillery in Scotland resulting in only losing 1% evaporation where most others lose 2-3% evaporation. Pulled up to dalwinnie and we were exhausted. We both tilted the chairs back and took a solid half hour cat nap. I ordered a tasting tray. Not knowing much about scotch, it was scotch. We then continued our way to a hotel near the glenfiddich distillery. We arrive about 330 only to learn the distilleries close around 5 and taxis are super expensive. The hotel was a small bed and breakfast and we were the only guests. And it was quite a sleepy town, we decided we had time for two distilleries. Per the hotelier recommendation we went to glenfarclas. They had some bottles dating back to 1920. There were some rowdy tourists that took over most of the tasting room. We sampled a couple and then went on to glenlivet. Being hungry we were hoping for a little something just before we make it back to our hotel for dinner. Arrived about 20 minutes prior to closing. No bakery items looked appealing. But we sampled a twelve year executive which only is available in Asia. It was pretty good. Matt picked up a couple minis to bring back and we were on our way to the hotel for dinner. He ordered a steak pie and I ordered a venison sausage and mash. The food was delicious. Before long we were ready for bed at 8pm. 930a breakfast the next morning and then continue to check out the distilleries.

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Scotland day 2: distilleries and Jens!

Work up to the alarm at 9am after sleeping all night. Showered quick and headed down for brekke. Ham bacon eggs were ordered (typical Scottish breakfast). T was very good then we were on our way. Distillery list includes dalmore, benromach, glenfiddich, and mccallan. It was an hour twenty north to dalmore. We passed signs for Loch Ness, didn't realize it was so far north. Made it to dalmore and went into the tasting room. The 12 year was very smooth. We joked with the server she used to be a nurse practitioner onboard ships off the coast of New Orleans. Sampled the king Alexander 3. 5£ of deliciousness. So good. A 750 is only £160. Then we were off. Next stop benromach, SWANNY's favorite. The visitor centre there was very new. It also happened to be whiskey weekend so the malt whiskey trail had events at different distilleries. We picked up some items from the distillery and then continued onward. Glenfiddich was next. We ordered a 15 year and their IPA cask scotch. Super good with the bodes of citrus from the hops. We stopped at balvenie who's grounds are very pretty and tucked away in the woods. Then made it to mccallan. Ordered a couple drams from there before returning to glenfiddich as we wanted a 200ml to welcome Jens with. 3 hours drive to dunfermline; a city that popped up on Edinburgh within a half hour to the airport with cheap hotel rooms. Drove through Aberdeen and Dundee (but not in time to see the Antarctic ship discovery). Picked up our typical gas station grub food and continued. And then got some premade sandwiches from a coop that was pretty good eating on the coast of Aberdeen. By 830 we arrived to our hotel. And got checked in. Jens to arrive about 10pm. We walked the Main Street looking for food and found a döner place enjoyed the döner in the car and then were off to find Jens. Filled up at a gas station. Managed to find Jens and back to the hotel. We stayed up chatting until 130 and split the glenfiddich

Peru day 6: return home

Woke up at 8am for quick brekke consisting of an omelet and toast. Did a quick finally walk around the town and then we were in our taxi to the airport to catch a noon flight. Made it to the airport by 1030. Checked out bags in and went through security. Got seats and we were off. Made it to Lima 10 hours before the first flight we could try to make. Only got 30minutes of free wifi. I ordered some Chinese dish and matt ate a bite of leftover chicken sandwich from the train the night before.... which after smelling it was wretched. So then he bought a Peruvian burger. Then we walked around the airport and found a cherry berry with free wifi. Got a 3$ dessert and the wifi code and were set. We eventually moved outside the place but just outside the place and connected to the wifi all day.

Missed the United ewr flight by 3 seats. Then we're deciding beteeen delta (frequently payload optimized) and united coach coach to Iah. Listed on both as we had a shot at first to atl but got a row to ourselves on Iah so we called that good enough which good thing we did because the delta flight weight restricted and only 7 people got on wii 27 open seats. We were 10-11. Settled into our row of three and passed out. Oh yeah, matt got food poisoning from that bit of sandwich he ate. He puked his brains out before we got seats to Iah. And his dinner. Then had some anti nausea meds. Anyway. Landed in Iah, caught a forty five minute connection and were home by noon