Vacation in England, Scotland, and (almost) Wales was lovely. Gorgeous weather. Light crowds. Amazing AirBnB hosts. Great travel companions.
Some things got cancelled - like our Wales v Scotland rugby match, and our flights home - and some things got closed - like all the distilleries in Scotland - but we still had an amazing time.
The trip ended when Virgin Atlantic told us they could get us on a flight tomorrow from Heathrow... when we were in Inverness, Scotland. So we did a 9-hour blast straight from Inverness to Heathrow Airport, crashed at the Airport Hilton that is actually INSIDE Heathrow, and got upgraded on our flight back across the Atlantic to JFK. Then flew cattle class on a mostly empty plane from JFK to Seattle.
Home now. Rested.
And starting my work-from-home-and-2-weeks-of-mandatory-quarantine period.
Life is interesting during the Apocalypse!
Well if you try gluten free yeast bread, the best tasting results I've had was about 1 cup rolled oats to 3 cups of some gluten free mix that was mostly rice flour and had thickening gums in it. First cook the oatmeal like normal, then add the flour yeast and salt. Add a little more water to get to play-doh consistency - it's never going to be stretchy like wheat dough. Let it rise, sprinkle some more oats on top, and bake. The oats help it taste more bready and help the crust brown.
Good that you made it back. We ended up going from this to "fuck we need to get out, I really don't want to get stuck" in less than an afternoon. Then we booked the soonest flight that we could reasonably get back, and waited anxiously for 48 hrs hoping we wouldn't develop symptoms in the meantime and hoping nothing got cancelled in the meantime.
Oof. Not much of a vacation for you, it seems. More stress than relaxation! I just saw that Boris closed the UK today. Everything is on lockdown, no in/out. We kinda/sorta debated about staying in Inverness. The hotel was basically empty, but had to stay open. So we would have been the only people there, and the four staff that we had gotten to know. That's a pretty safe environment... Inverness doesn't see a lot of international tourist travel, but has the National Health safety net in place. So if we were asymptomatic, and in a place with no documented cases, and a quality health system... were we better off just bunkering there and waiting out the epidemic? Or come home - through at least 3 international airports - to a city/state already on lockdown, no effective healthcare system in place, and a Cheeto soaked in Mountain Dew leading the country? I will always wonder if Inverness wasn't the right decision to make...
Well, everything before Monday afternoon was wonderful and phenomenal. So I still have had three awesome weeks of relaxation and hiking and Edinburgh exploration. You’ll never know, but at least you’ll be near family and friends who can support you in times of need. My choice was a bit easier when it came to comparing health systems, but that was almost secondary to the desire to be near my people again.
I did! I brought three bottles of whisky: - Talisker 6 single cask, - "Big Peat" a blend of Islay's finest, - and another bottle of Ailsa Bay that I can get in the States. I also got a plushie Highland Cow in a tartan hat for my mom, as well as MacGillivray and Buchanan tartan fridge magnets for her.
It was like living two weeks in the past, honestly. We were walking around like time-travelers, seeing the Brits all being nonchalant about the virus, gathering in pubs, hugging, not doing the basic hand-washing/no-face-touching stuff.... all while back home, our families can't get toilet paper, can't go outside, and people are literally dying. Then, by the time we left, the UK is fully two weeks ahead of the US. Everything is closed. No public gatherings. Our last hotel forced people to sanitize before touching the door handles or entering the the hotel.