Week in Review: Week 22

We have completed our first full week in the UK, and we are having a great time! We wanted cooler weather, and England and Scotland have definitely delivered. It has been a cool 8-15 degrees C each day, so we’ve busted out our jackets, pants, boots, and are embracing the cooler weather after 5 months of hot sun.

This week marked the beginning of our Scotland adventure. We will be in Scotland for two months, and plan to see as much as possible. We’ve already had great experiences and we are looking forward to seeing more of this beautiful country in the coming weeks. 

Highlight of the week

Sharleen: Housesitting. Housesitting and pet sitting is a great way to save money, make some furry friends, meet locals, and live in some beautiful houses while travelling. It’s a great option for us because we get free accommodations, and every opportunity to save money is awesome. Our travel pace prior to the UK was quite busy, so it was hard to find housesitting opportunities that aligned with our trip. Before arriving in the UK we only had one house sit in Germany. It was back in May, and only for a short weekend. When we knew we were coming to the UK we applied for quite a few, and have been accepted for 6 so far! Between October and Mid-January, we will have 60 nights as house sits, which is 2 months of free accommodations!  

So far the people we have met have been really awesome, and we’ve really enjoyed our time making new furry friends.  

Darrell: The Old Course at St. Andrews. When we planned on coming to Scotland I was set on making sure we were going to stop by the Old Course for a visit. We arrived at St. Andrews and were surprised to see the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship was taking place this weekend, so not only did we get to walk around the course and see the venue, but we got to see some professional players playing practice rounds with celebrities. I got to see former Open Champion, Louis Oosthuizen putt around the practice green and playing a couple holes, which was super cool. I was totally nerding out! A couple of other players who were neat to watch were Tyrrel Hatton and Tony Finau. The field for this tournament is really strong because this is one of the last and highest paying tournaments of the European Tour season. It was a really neat experience to visit and walk around what is considered the Home of Golf. I felt the same way here as I did when I was a kid going to my first hockey game, like a giddy schoolboy. I can definitely see myself returning to play there (and all the local courses) someday!  

Sharleen also enjoyed walking around the course. One of the celebrities was Matthew Goode, who was on Downton Abbey and The Crown - two of Shar’s favourite shows. In the picture below, he is the guy on the far left.

Least favourite part of the week

Sharleen and Darrell: Driving on the left side. This has been a pretty huge adjustment, and definitely something we are not use to yet. Every time we get into the car we need to remind ourselves “left, left, left – stay on the left!”. Darrell has been driving like a pro, and thankfully we haven’t had any issues or close calls. But it is so much more stressful than everywhere else in Europe. It is a real shift from something that is so engrained in your motor skills! Highway driving is pretty simple, but it’s the small roads in towns and driving around parking lots that take a lot of focus! 

Favourite city/town/village visited

Sharleen: Glasgow. This was the first stop in Scotland, and it was everything we hoped we’d find in Scotland: old buildings, gothic architecture, lots of history, friendly people, and cool hipster shops. We are still adjusting to the pound – the conversation to the Canadian dollar isn’t so great and we are finding it quite pricey in the UK so far. However, there are a bunch of museums in Glasgow that are free which is a huge plus!

One of my favourite things was the University of Glasgow. It’s a huge gothic building, on top of a hill that overlooks the city centre. The views are awesome, and the buildings were gorgeous. It was really a fun place to explore.

Darrell: St. Andrews. Although the golf course was my main highlight of the week, the little town itself was really nice. The streets are lined with large stonewalls and houses. There are a bunch of small golf shops and little restaurants on each street. The small town center has cool shops selling local Scottish products, from tweed, to scotch, to amazing cheeses. Although there were a number of touristy stores selling knick-knacks, it definitely never felt like typical tourist trap. The town also sits perched up on the cliff overlooking the coastline, and being on the coast tends to create a slower vibe in towns or cities. I am pretty confident that I will come back to St. Andrews for one of the many golf courses that are near by, but I would also love to spend more time in this small town.

Best meal of the week

Sharleen: Thrussington Afternoon Tea. While we were in Thrussington, we visited the Thrussington Village Store, which is a deli and bakery. We couldn’t resist ordering the Proper Thrussington Afternoon Tea when we saw it on the menu. We had been looking so forward to a tea in England, which includes some cute sandwiches and some sweets.

The tea, sandwiches, scones, homemade jam, clotted cream, brownie and sticky toffee pudding bits were so delicious! My favourite part of the assortment was the scone with homemade jam and clotted cream. The scones were warm, and the jam was bursting with strawberry flavour.

Darrell: Steak dinner. In most of the Airbnb’s we stay in, we have almost everything needed to make solid meal, but there always one or two things missing that make it a bit difficult to cook a great steak or steam various vegetables. So, I was pretty stoked that during our house sit in Thrussington we were going to have a fully stocked kitchen! It was a really simple meal of ribeye steak, broccolini with garlic, and a small salad. Nothing really complicated, but super delicious! It’s always great to have a super tasty meal and also keep costs down at the same time. We had a bunch of great meals this week, but sometimes a simple home cooked meal and a nice glass of wine is super comforting.   

This next week we are exploring Aberdeenshire and making our way down to Edinburgh. We plan on seeing lots of castles, the coast, and maybe an additional golf course or two. We are also so excited to be experiencing the gorgeous fall colours throughout the countryside. Right now we are so fortunate to be doing a pet sit in a beautiful Douneside House, which is surrounded by gardens, woods, and beech trees. The colours right now are out of this world, so we will probably be taking a bunch of pictures during our dog walks!