From Tennessee To Texas to Saudi Arabia

Home leave is a concept expats grapple with. The idea is to visit your home country; Point-of-Origin in HR terms. Fact is, home is wherever I’m with you (thanks Ed). This year, home leave would involve 7 airports (18741 miles), 6 AirBNBs, 3 rental cars (2752 transit travel miles, plus side trips), 2 train stations, … More YILGDIALIIY, Act 1 Scene 1 – London (Family)

London weary and on the mend, we hopped a train to Edinburgh. The advance ticket price for first-class was only nominally more expensive than coach, so we traveled in style. The train ride was phenomenal. Sitting on the East facing side of the car afforded perfect views of the coastline as we sped north to … More YILGDIALIIY, Act 1 Scene 2 – Edinburgh (Family)

I walked across Edinburgh early to pick up the rental car. Monday morning traffic was already starting to pick up, and many pedestrians filled the streets on their way to work. The rental went off without any problems, and I was on my way back to the flat to pick up the rest of the … More YILGDIALIIY, Act 1 Scene 3 – Scottish Highlands (Family)

Our time in Whitebridge was pretty flexible. We had a few day trips planned, but no set schedule for when those would occur. We decided to make our first day the loop around Loch Ness. Groceries were needed, and the Explorer Pass we bought from the Historic Environment Scotland and activated with the Edinburgh Castle … More YILGDIALIIY, Act 1 Scene 4 – Loch Ness Loop (Family)

We decided the following day to make the trip to Isle of Skye. We woke up early and made one of the most beautiful drives on the A87 from Invergarry to our first stop at Eilean Donan Castle. This is one of the most photographed castles in Scotland, sitting on a jutting piece of land … More YILGDIALIIY, Act 1 Scene 5 – Isle of Skye (Family)

I was lucky enough to spend my birthday in the Highlands. Our plan was to check with the stationmaster in Fort William to see if anyone had cancelled their reservations for a compartment on the Jacobite train. It runs from Fort William to Mallaig, crossing the Glenfinnan viaduct. This was made famous (well, more famous) … More YILGDIALIIY, Act 1 Scene 6 – Glenfinnan and Highland Games (Family)

We made the beautiful, and at times harrowing, drive to Glasgow the next day to fly out to Dublin. The A82 runs through Glencoe and the Trossachs, narrowing to a choke point along Loch Lomond that is somewhere between single and dual track, full of tour buses and standstill traffic. It’s 135 miles from Whitebridge … More YILGDIALIIY, Act 2 Scene 1 – Dublin (Family Plus)

I awoke early the next morning and made the walk across Dublin to the car rental agency. We would be renting several cars to make the drive to Killarney for the next few nights. I arrived and received my car, driving back to the AirBnB to retrieve the family. When we returned, the rest of … More YILGDIALIIY, Act 2 Scene 2 – Killarney (Family Plus)

A four day weekend for the kids meant a long anticipated trip to Cairo could be planned. Flights worked out to where we could only spend two full days and fly back early on the third, but we had always planned on two days in Cairo and then another trip for Luxor and beyond, so … More King Tut – He’s My Favorite Honky