Day 47–Scotland

I do not wish to be on the computer all that much on vacation, so stay tuned for our updates when we return

- Michelle

Day 46–Zero Days!! Naught! Nothing!! 0! Bubka!

Now we are counting down the hours, not days. So excited! Canada must know we are leaving for a cooler country today because we woke up to a frigid 7 degrees! That is so much cooler than the normal 20+ temps we have been experiencing for the past few weeks, and sometimes even much, much warmer. We are all packed and thanks to both of our forward thinking and applying all the lessons we learned from last year, we are enjoying a very relaxing few hours before the trip. Last year at this time we were racing around getting a million last minute things which is really a ridiculous way to start a vacation. It almost makes me think that I have forgotten something but I am pretty sure that I got everything covered.

One of the cool things about this trip is that we are leaving on the exact same day at the exact same time as we did last year! We left for Scotland on the 15th of September at 7:30 PM. I am even wearing the same “Grumpy” shirt as I did last year! (For those who read my previous post, yes I decided to go with the Grumpy shirt) Today, the 15th of September, we are leaving at 7:30 tonight.

To our new Friends Kevin and Brenda Thank you!! Thank you for putting up with our little zoo at home while we are gone. We must repay you my letting you have a couple of cats when we get home. Honestly, it would be our pleasure!

So, our next post we will be in…..

- Will

Day 45–One day until takeoff

• Bags packed – check!
• Apartment cleaned – check!
• Pets looked after – check!
• Airport limo booked – check!
• Boarding passes printed – check!

Next time you hear from me I will be in Biggleswade, England!

- Michelle

Day 44–two days until we fly!

There are really so many fantastic things to do, see, and experience in Toronto and all of Canada for that matter and so many of these things are lost on the very people who live in them! I am no exception to this I’m afraid. It is sad really. I’m not sure what the reason for this is but perhaps its that, for example, the CN Tower is right beside us (we can see it outside our window), the Skydome (sorry, ROGERS centre) is just beside the CN Tower, Centre Island is just a short ferry ride across the lake, and countless more events and other attractions that draw people from all over the world; Toronto is a world class leader in tourist attractions and it is well deserved. And Canada? My God what a country! We are home to some of the greatest mountains, lakes, parks, and farmland. My inability to name hardly any of Toronto’s and Canada’s awesomeness makes me a little ashamed to be a Torontonian and only aids my point. Yet I find a little consolation in the fact that I know I am not alone in this. This city is filled with people who don’t even appreciate the place they live in. I also think Toronto is not alone in this; my guess is the world is filled with cities, towns, and places in general that are not fully appreciated by their own people. Who knows why? Perhaps its local marketing targeting only those who don’t live in a particular area or perhaps its the attitudes of the locals who assume they will visit any time they like as they do live so close and then, as a result, never ever do visit. Or perhaps its because it cost over $100 to go up the bloody CN Tower!!

One of my own personal piss-offs of a massive city like Toronto is how impersonal names that are given places and streets can be. Many streets are named as numbers!! More so in the States than here but are you kidding?!?! Has someone become so complacent in their job that they have deferred to a calculator rather than a dictionary when naming streets? Corporations have now gotten involved too. The once aptly-named Skydome is now blandly called the The Rogers Centre! This stuff drives me nuts. There was a proposition a few years ago to help our money strapped subway system by renaming the stations after fortune 500 corporations. I just can’t get on board (pun INtended) with a station called Coke!

So what brought this little rant about? What on earth does this have to do with moving to Shetland??

Well, for one, I’ll will put money down that after we move I will be itching to go up the CN Tower!

One of our first stops is to my Uncle’s. I am really excited because I don’t get to see him much and I have only met his wife and two kids once and very briefly. Michelle and I get to finally see where they live. And where do they live I hear you asking? Biggleswade. BIGGLESWADE!! It sounds like a place in which a Hobbit would live. If there were a town called Biggleswade here, it would be converted to Rogersville in a heartbeat! Ok, perhaps I exaggerate just a little and if anyone thinks even a little that this actually plays into any part of any one of my hundreds of reasons why I want to move to Scotland, I will call you Rogers. And believe me that is as bad a swear word where I come from (my apologies to anyone out there named Roger). To be clear, Biggleswade is in England not Scotland, but the entire UK is filled with cute little places with similarly cute names.

This blog was brought to you by Rogers; sucking the originality out of the world one name at a time.

- Will

Day 43–London

I am sure London is a place that we will visit a couple times when living in Scotland but for right now it is so exciting to me knowing I get to go there for a day next week!! We will actually be staying with family outside of London for a couple days but we will spend one day in the heart of the city doing the touristy kind of things. Cameras and a map in hand we would really like to see these places..

Buckingham Palace (yes, I even hope to see the furry hat men! I was so disappointed to not see them last year at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh)

Westminster Abbey

London Bridge

Trafalgar Square

Big Ben

The London Eye

And finally, I would LOVE to find Abbey Road…

Stay tuned until next week to see how many of these we get to see and our first hand pictures!

- Michelle

Day 42–four Days until we fly!!

And there is a small part of me that is a tad nervous. Today marks the tenth year anniversary of the twin towers attack in New York and we fly in four days! The actual event ten years ago has been permanently turned into one of those “Where were you when…” stories and I have heard some interesting ones. Although the story of where I was when it all went down (poor choice of words I suppose) isn’t all that interesting (waking up and making coffee in my apartment), where I was six hours before I think was; I was on a plane coming back from Cuba. I could still smell the recirculated air and I still had the taste of cheap airline food in my mouth when I turned on the TV to those horrific images. Very surreal.

Security is probably going to be the most fun at the airport. I am sure its going to be a little tighter than it was even last year. I was stunned when Michelle and I went through security and the man in front of us was allowed to go through with climbing equipment in his carry-on which included spikes and a pick-axe! And here I was worried about my good pen thinking that they might construe it as a weapon! We plan on being at the airport 3 1/2 to 4 hours early just to be sure. I am going to assume that security will be slow.

That will be us in a couple of days, off to see our new future home. I think I may wear my grumpy shirt again. Or maybe not. Oh, I don’t know. You will just have to wait and see. The excitement of it all.

- Will

Day 41–It’s my birthday!

Just wanted to start by saying that I am excited it is my birthday! The big 2-4! We are just having a relaxing day at home after going for a delicious breakfast. We are going to save the celebrations and fun for my birthday until we get to Scotland.

We I am sure will have a couple nights out at the pub, The Lounge, in Lerwick but my favourite nights for sure are the nights drinking and having a great time on Rona. The taxi drivers that would be lined up on the Victoria Pier every morning would get a good chuckle at our expense every single morning. As Will would carry the empty bottles of wine and scotch up to the skips to recycle, he would be greeted with smiles, probably wondering how so much alcohol was consumed each night for about a week and a half straight. What no one knows it the amazing memories that those nights created.

From the reminiscing between Will and his father about Will’s childhood, to the funny times that they again two nights later reminisced about the exact same things. Even just the good laughs we had and the talks of getting to know each other that we found out just how much Becky and I have in common! Each night was crazy and different and usually involved a lot of eating also.

At the end of our time on Rona, Jim and Becky happily let us know that we were the longest staying guests on Rona. Let’s hope this year is just as much and more fun and that we make a lot more memories.

- Michelle