My father was born in Glasgow Scotland, served in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and fought in Korea. In 2001 he took the family, my mother, sister and myself for a two-week vacation to Great Britain. My mother was born in London and survived the bombing during WWII, so we landed in Gatwick, rented a car and headed off to Scotland, stopping at many of the historical sites, my father was a real history buff. We stayed in a chalet on the University of Sterling campus just below the Wallace Monument. My sister and I walked the road by the abbey to the monument and climb the tower daily, it was our only opportunity to get some aerobic exercise and a break from the parents. We then visited family in Perth, Glasgow and attended the highland games in Blairgowrie, then took the train to Edinburgh and walked the Royal Mile to the castle were my father was stationed for a few years. The closest we were to Sky was Fort William, then Mallaiag. Unfortunately, our visit to Scotland was a whirlwind trip, I am planning to travel to the highlands again once retired. As an admirer of the single malts, I will be spending a little more time, and hopefully finding a nice place for a little nude hiking, Ben Nevis was too cold that September day!
After leaving Scotland we headed south to London, and Barton Le Clay to visit my mother’s family. While there, we saw the sights, River Theams, Tower Bridge and Tower of London and the lights of Brighton. Then tragedy struck, the 911 attack on New York City, we had flight leaving Gatwick on the 13th of September, so off the airport we went, not know how long the air space would be shut down. We arrive in Gatwick, my parents headed to Paris, they were retired and had no particular place to be, as for me and my sister, we decided to wait it out in the airport as we have jobs waiting and a limited budget. After six days at Gatwick and daily walks to Crawly, we finally had a flight back to Phoenix.
