Inverness – Erin of the Hills

My Fellow Countrymen

Posted on December 5, 2015March 11, 2019 by Erin of the Hills

“Moments like this act as magical interludes, placing our hearts at the edge of our souls: fleetingly, yet intensely, a fragment of eternity has come to enrich time.” – Muriel Barbery

I’m going to use this post to weigh in on a subject that anyone who travels a decent amount seems to have a very strong opinion on: Whether running in to fellow-countrymen while abroad is good or bad.

First of all, I would like to question why this is even a debate. Unless you are from the tiniest village on the tiniest island in the middle of the Pacific from which no one ever leaves – you will probably run into at least one person from your home country at some point in your travels.

If your reaction to this inevitable encounter is to scream and run in the opposite direction, well…that’s a bit dramatic.

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Crazy Eights and Scottish Independence

Posted on September 30, 2015March 11, 2019 by Erin of the Hills

“How maps may look stationary, but boundaries shift, worlds open up, other worlds and civilizations pass away. And none of us is stuck or alone, because coursing through us is everything that brought us to where we are.”

-Elizabeth Hay, Alone in the Classroom

Kristen by the Locks — Discovering Inverness with only the best of travel partners.

This is a much-belated account of one of the odder experiences Kristen and I had while gallivanting all over the UK and Ireland.

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From hence to Inverness

Posted on September 3, 2015March 11, 2019 by Erin of the Hills

“But signs of nobleness, like stars, shall shine

On all deservers. – From hence to Inverness

And bind us further to you.

– William Shakespeare, Macbeth (1.4.47-49)

The Scottish Highlands – Wild, Untamed, Extraordinary

Summer hiatuses from routine are almost mandatory for Canadians. When half the year is filled with bitterly-cold winter and all you feel like doing is curling up with a mug of tea and writing the long, dark night away…the late summer nights heavy with Ottawa’s saturated humidity are meant to be spent out-of-doors, soaking as much of the heat in as possible – however suffocating it can sometimes seem.

Now that September has suddenly begun, and in anticipation of a late-October early-November trip to France which I will undoubtedly wish to write about, I’m going to try and finish chronicling the tales of the Great Gurski UK and Ireland Trip of 2014 as soon as possible.

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