The tour took off from downtown Edinburgh, just a few blocks from my hotel.  The guide/driver clearly loved his job and was endlessly entertaining and full of stories about Scottish history and culture (shout out to David Hartley!).   Not only that, but he took the time to personally chat with every person on the bus throughout the tour.

The day started out with rain and fog, but quickly cleared up and by the time we were out of the city it was a perfectly clear, sunny day, which allowed us to fully enjoy the sights along the way that are sometimes shrouded in fog, castles and mountain peaks.  

I love cities but sometimes there's nothing better than unplugging for a while and spending a day in nature.  I didn't even touch my phone except to take pictures and I could almost feel my mental health rapidly improving in real time.  Scotland takes land preservation very seriously and the highlands are absolutely pristine.  Rolling green hills, crystal clear lochs, not a trace of pollution or litter.  

Fun spots along the way for history and/or movie nerds (I'm both).  We saw places where some of the James Bond and Harry Potter movies were filmed, and visited a rail car that was in a Mission Impossible movie (it's been converted into a diner).  We passed the castle where Mary Queen of Scots died,  and visited a perfectly preserved historic Highlander house.  Disappointingly, the movie Braveheart wasn't actually filmed in Scotland (one of many historical inaccuracies) but David the guide talked about the true stories of William Wallace.

We made many stops along the way, both 'official' tour stops and spontaneous photo ops.  We stopped in a town where I had the chance to try Scotch flavored ice cream, which was uniquely delicious.  I'm not much of a drinker but I do like a good scotch occasionally and it was very interesting in ice cream form.  We also stopped at Loch Ness, where you can buy tickets to take a boat tour, of course I did it.  Sadly there were no monster sightings but it was still a fun tour within a tour.

Tour ended on a high note as we returned to Edinburgh and David encouraged everyone to sing along with The Proclaimers 500 Miles, or just clap for those who didn't know the words.  What a fun experience! If/when I go back I want to take another tour they offer that's a full 3 days of hiking and camping, I can only imagine how beautiful the highlands must be at night.

The highlands deserved their own write up, but stay tuned because I have to talk about the city of Edinburgh too, which I also loved.