Why I’m Going to Scotland and You Should Too

Scotland: It’s not all kilts, whisky, golf, and Mel Gibson in blue face paint – though I did have a surreal moment at the Flattie Bar one night in Stromness watching Braveheart with the locals.

But it’s forgivable if that’s the breadth of your Scotland knowledge; we have popular culture to thank for these generalizations, but all too often they overshadow the complexity and wonder of the real country.

After announcing Traveling Savage’s new focus on Scotland, many readers were excited because Scotland is a place they either know little about or haven’t considered for their own travels. It can be difficult for me to express why I love Scotland as much as I do, so I decided to challenge myself and describe why I’m going to Scotland and you should too.

I hope this post will serve as a reference for new and old readers about the mission and forthcoming content of Traveling Savage.

Scotland Is Mastering Green Tourism

Scotland is rife with green spaces. Almost 70% of the population live in a lowland belt that includes Edinburgh and Glasgow, and much of the highlands and islands are lightly populated. Thankfully, Scotland and the greater United Kingdom have been prodigious in their efforts to retain its wilderness and natural beauty. The nation has implemented a green tourism business scheme (GTBS) that rewards businesses for adhering to a set of green principles that help protect and bolster the local environment, like conserving natural resources, reducing waste, and supporting the local economy. The GTBS is also linked to VisitScotland, Scotland’s main tourism Web site, which makes it easy to book accommodation and activities with green businesses.

Protecting indigenous species and habitats goes hand-in-hand with reducing the human impact on the environment. In conjunction with VisitScotland and the GTBS, a variety of protective organizations like the Forestry Commission and the Scottish Wildlife Trust are keeping a watchful eye on how tourism interacts with wildlife and natural spaces. I’ve seen the power and effectiveness of this system during my trips to Scotland, and I can’t help but cast a wishful eye toward the United States’ lagging green efforts. I feel comfortable visiting Scotland’s ancient forests, secluded lochs, and cliffs and crags knowing that such a thoughtful system is in place to mitigate the damaging effects of tourism.

History Is Everywhere and It Is Being Rewritten

With standing stones, roman walls, and medieval castles, Scotland’s past is on display wherever you roam. People have inhabited the land for 10,000 years, leaving monuments like Orkney Islands’ Skara Brae, that are older than the Great Pyramids at Giza. For thousands of years the land has changed hands from prehistoric iron age peoples to Picts to the Caledonians who warred with the Romans to the Britons, Scotti, Dalriatans, Norwegians, and English. Each culture left its mark on modern day Scotland and together they form a deep historical record.

I can’t help but feel excited when, cresting a hill, a ruined castle appears in the valley below. A few years ago I visited Maeshowe, a neolithic chambered cairn in the Orkney Islands. The walls inside the cairn were carved with the runic graffiti of Norsemen who had plundered the cairn more than a millennium ago. The confluence of cultures is fascinating to follow, and today archaeologists are still discovering new insights into Scotland’s historical record. Recently, a study concluded that ancient Pictish stone carvings are in fact the written language of the Picts!

The Whisky Industry Is Evolving

There’s a popular misconception that single malt Scotch whisky is the domain of old fuddy-duddies, and while I’d be happy to let this linger (more whisky for me!) I can’t help but explore the developments in the industry and share them with you.

Whisky is near to my heart and crucial to Scotland’s health. It’s in the UK’s top five exports, it earns billions of pounds in duty each year (bummer), it’s an integral element of many communities’ economies, and it’s closely linked to tourism. And the product is experiencing a boom. While distilleries like Annandale and Falkirk that have long stood moth-balled and bereft of equipment are in the process of reopening, long-established distilleries are experimenting with new styles of whisky: wood finishes, cask strength, single cask, unchillfiltered, vintage editions, and multiple malts represent some of these new styles. The range of flavors and styles is only becoming more vast as worldwide demand increases among Americans, French, Spanish, and Japanese. These are optimistic developments in an industry that has a significant wait for return on investment; by law, the product of distilleries is not considered Scotch whisky until it has aged for at least three years in barrels in Scotland.

The Rising Cuisine Scene

It’s true that Irn-Bru and fish and chips are staples of Scottish food, but foodies need not despair. Scotland is shedding its (perhaps unjustly earned) image as skippable in the cuisine category. More chefs are trending toward local, seasonal, fresh foods and showcasing local ingredients like salmon, shellfish, whisky, and venison. Nick Nairn, perhaps Scotland’s most famous chef (move over Gordon Ramsay) describes Scotland’s cuisine as a “a poverty-driven cuisine, using what’s left over,” in reference to universally detested dishes like haggis and black pudding. “Only now are we discovering what we have on our doorstep,” he said. “Modern Scottish cooking is being forged as we speak.”

I’ve had haggis both under a bridge and at high-class restaurants. Personally, I’ve enjoyed Scotland’s generally reviled cuisine, but I’m also eager to see what a new generation of creative chefs will do with the bounty of local produce available to them. And if I want some damn good fish and chips with malt vinegar, shepherd’s pie, or neeps and tatties, I know I can just truck down to the local pub and get that, too.

The Sound of Scottish Culture

Celtic music has a haunting air derived from unique instruments: tin whistles, bagpipes, fiddles, bodhráns, and a host of other hard to pronounce instruments. Each country in the British Isles has its own style of Celtic music, and the pubs throughout Scotland are home to many ad hoc sessions with their style on display. For me, listening to run-of-the-mill patrons come in with their instruments and start playing songs together is the closest you can get to living history.

The music is not the domain of grizzled whitebeards; on the contrary, many of the sessioners I’ve seen in pubs on my visits to Scotland have been people in their teens and twenties, a fact that highlights the importance of the music to the people. Folk music festivals dot the countryside throughout the year, like the popular Shetland Folk Festival, Orkney Folk Festival, and Celtic Connections in Glasgow. Pubs, whisky, and traditional Scottish music represent a beautiful confluence of interests.

Researching the Roots of Scotland’s Diaspora

Scotland has a little over five million residents – about as many people as Wisconsin – yet its worldwide footprint is immense. There are some 21 million people of Scottish descent in the United States, five million in Australia, four and a half million in Canada, and two million in New Zealand. South Africa, Ireland, Brazil, Netherlands, and Poland also have sizable populations with Scottish ancestry. One thing Scottish emigrants did really well was assimilate into their new culture, often loosening ties with their mother country, but interest in genealogy is rising among people of Scottish descent today.

My father’s family is 100% of Scottish descent and I’ve recently begun digging into our origins with the help of Ancestry.com. It’s a bit murky, but I’ve already found tons of information that could lead me on a chase across the country to towns where my ancestors lived. When I run into dead ends, I plan to use the Scottish government’s online resources and stop in at the National Archives while I’m Edinburgh.

But It’s Cold and Wet and Costs a Lot!

Is that right? Or is that just the other side of Scotland’s pop culture image? Let’s at least get some facts on the table.

Scotland’s temperature exists in a narrow band of about 30 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the year, between 32F and 62F on average. The weather is highly changeable but rarely extreme. This winter’s snowstorms are wholly out of the ordinary. While there are frequent rains, they often blow through quickly. I find this predictability to be a good thing. Pack layers and some rainproof gear and stop in for a pint at pubs to warm up. To be honest, this is my type of weather. I love it. But you might get lucky, too. On my last trip to Scotland in the summer of 2009 we had two straight weeks of pure sunshine.

Scotland uses the Pound Sterling (GBP) as its currency and the US Dollar has not matched up well against it in the last decade. That said, there are ways to reduce the damage on your bank account while traveling in Scotland.

• Consider renting a car for transportation. Petrol (gas) is more expensive in Scotland than it is in the USA, but the country is highly drivable and the cars seem to be way more fuel-efficient than their counterparts in the States.
• Stay in B&Bs and enjoy the enormous Scottish breakfasts usually included. These meals can power you through the whole day and a night in a B&B can cost as little as 25 pounds.
• If you’re in to seeing castles and monuments, consider becoming a member of the National Trust for Scotland and Historic Scotland. These memberships last for a year and can get you into over 100 sites free of charge or at a heavily discounted rate.

Now you know why I’ve chosen to focus on Scotland, and I hope it’s given you some food for thought when you plan your next vacation. It may lack the exoticism of some other destinations, but I’ll test that idea in a later post.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear about your experiences in Scotland and whether you just might consider visiting it in the future!