So recently, we traveled to Scotland (baby, husband, my mom, and my mother-in-law). We were there for 14 days so I will write separate blogs for each place we visited.

We flew into Edinburgh via Dublin during the first week in June with Aer Lingus. We had flown with the airline before and enjoyed our experience. There was ample leg space, very good in flight entertainment, decent food, and friendly staff. However, we had never checked any luggage before. So I will just say, this is a great airline if you don’t need your checked luggage for almost a week. You read that correctly folks. We got to Scotland with no sign of the 7 pieces of luggage we shipped…not a single piece! We were disappointed to say the least. We had a cranky 16 month old toddler (he slept a grand total of 3 hours in a 18 hour period and none of the adults had slept in the last 22 hours), none of our clothes, no stroller, car seat, or pack and play. When we went to the baggage claim customer service, we were told our stuff made it to Dublin and then the airline lost track of it. There were 3 other people who were all on our flight who had transferred in Dublin as well. We all had a 2 hour layover before reaching Edinburgh so we understood if the luggage didn’t make the connection and would show up on the next flight.

I called the baggage recovery service twice the following day and was finally told that some of our luggage had been located and would be delivered by 3 PM. I kept stressing the fact that we would not be staying in one place during our trip and would be moving around and we needed our luggage within the next 48 hours or else we’ll be moving around almost daily. Well, 4 of the 7 pieces showed up at 9 PM. Alright…now we had clothes at least.

I called luggage recovery again first thing the next morning and told them we would be checking out and leaving within the hour and asked if they’ve found the remaining luggage. Big shocker, they had not. So I gave them the forwarding address in Fort William and the saga continues.

Moving on from the horrible luggage experience. We decided to rent a car since we had so many people and so much stuff. We rented from Sixt car rental which was pretty reasonable. However, we didn’t realize how small their reasonable cars were so we had to an SUV (BMW 520) with navigation. In retrospect, we were smart to get the navigation system because it was an absolute lifesaver! We had to rent a car seat too 😒. Let’s just say the car rental companies there are not very big into child safety. The car seat did not strap down tightly to the car even though we followed the instructions exactly.

PRO TIP: BRING YOUR OWN CAR SEAT! If you check your car seat with an airline, you need to put it into a box with bubble wrap. The bags sold to transport car seats do not provide enough protection.

We have never driven in a country with traffic on the left so this was a new experience for us. Beware that roads in Scotland are narrow. In the large city areas, you have a little over a foot on each side when driving in a SUV.

We checked in to Airth Castle Hotel and Spa. I have never met friendlier people in any country and our first experience was really in the hotel. The staff was very accommodating and sympathetic to our travel woes. They allowed us to check in a little early so we could wash up and sleep.

At Airth Castle, you can choose to stay in the castle or in the guest lodging area. We chose the castle because…well, it’s a castle. The castle rooms seemed a little outdated with older windows (read drafty windows), older plumbing and infrastructure. However, the beds were comfortable and the heating worked well so we were comfortable. The castle was interesting to explore as well. There was a separate room with a bar used for functions, a parlor for functions, as well as a couple of banquet halls. We were fortunate enough to bump into someone working a function. He brought us over to one of the paintings (see below). It’s just a picture of a lady…big whoop right? Look closer.

Do you see it? The creepy face to the left of the lady? It makes me wonder if there was anything else in the castle we missed.

My mom and I went to afternoon tea when the baby was napping. Although it’s a bit pricey, it was totally worth it. Why do we not do afternoon tea in the US all the time?

We did not go to Stirling Castle. It was opened but under construction when we were there. Also, the driving up the hill to the castle was…tricky. There were a lot of roads with 2 way traffic but with cars parked along one side, it was only wide enough for one car. If there was a car approaching, you had to find a gap to pull into. Well this did not bode well with my husband who became increasingly frustrated and anxious. We did, however, make it to the National Wallace Monument.

Have you seen Bravehart? Well, Hollywood dramatized the character a bit but Sir William Wallace was a real guy and he was regarded highly. Historians don’t know much about his life or what he looked like but they do know that he was born around 1270 and was a war hero who was later tortured and executed by the English. He was also thought to be a “giant” standing at around 6’7″ (estimation based on the length of his sword). You have to purchase your entrance ticket and you can either hike up the hill or take a shuttle to the monument. You are not allowed to carry bags on your back. You will be asked to carry everything in front. The monument itself is a tower with a spiral staircase to the top (246 steps…feels like 800 when carrying a 26 lb. child). There are 3 different rooms that branch off of the stairs to give you a bit of a breather on your way up. The first room (The Hall of Arms) has a video and different information on Sir William Wallace as well as his sword.

The second room is the Hall of Heros that have busts of men and women considered to have made a big impact on Scottish history.

The last room is called the Royal Chamber and it contains a depiction of how the landscape looked in the time of Sir William Wallace. It also contains information on the battle of Stirling Bridge. The summit of the tower is called The Crown. You can see the landscape of Stirling from the top and it is truly breathtaking.

We decided to take the trails down to the parking lot from the monument so we could take a walk through the woods. There are different options depending on how long you are willing to walk. We took the intermediate route which was a nice walk down.

For dinner, we went to The Stables in Stenhousemuir, Larbert. The restaurant served bar food but it was delicious and filling. I would definitely recommend the restaurant if you want something quick to eat.