“If I know Mary as well as I think I do, she’ll invite us right in for tea and strumpets.” – Lloyd Christmas

In the United Kingdom, our first stop was London! Jack’s siblings and their significant others met us there, where we tried all sorts of different foods, enjoyed some site seeing, and even attended a football (don’t call it soccer!) match. 

On our first night in London with everyone, we dressed in our wedding attire and took the tube downtown for a night out. We started at a pub where we tried a variety of gin cocktails before dining at an amazing Michelin Star Indian restaurant that fed us some of the best pappadum, chat, tikka, biryani, you-name-it, that we have ever tasted (sorry, Kabab and Curry; we still love you!). This may have been the BEST MEAL of the trip. During our five days in London, we cooked a few family meals since there were 10 of us at this point, but we also indulged in local Caribbean, English, and Scottish restaurants.

We checked off all of the major tourist spots in London for those who had never been: we stopped by Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abby, The Eye, Kensington Palace, and Platform 9 3/4 among others. We did some shopping at Camden Market, enjoyed High Tea that included all sorts of tasty treats and finger sandwiches, and some of us went to the Museum of Modern Art. 

The football match between Chelsea and Leicester City was a blast! This was our first time at a Premier League game and we got to witness firsthand how seriously the English take their football. Chelsea won the match 2-1 and what seemed like the entire stadium celebrated at a nearby pub afterwards, singing song after song at the top of their lungs while spilling beer all over each other.

Next up: Scotland, where the scotch flows and the meat pies are fresh out of the oven! We began our journey around Scotland in Edinburgh where we walked to the top of Calton Hill to get a view of the city, hiked Arthur’s Seat for a panoramic view of the city, enjoyed local delicacies including haggis and steak pies, took a bus ride around the city, and partook in the Johnny Walker Experience which was an immersive tour where there was a show and we got to mix our own cocktails based on our favorite flavor profiles (SO cool!). 

After Edinburgh, we ventured to the countryside where we stayed in a literal castle by the coast. The drive out there was absolutely gorgeous and the views from the castle were not bad at all – lush fields of bright green grass and colorful flowers gently blowing in the breeze, farm animals looking exceptionally majestic (some even taking over the extremely narrow two lane roads, making their way from side to side to eat), and the beautiful loch sprinkled with sailboats and kayakers enjoying the smooth waters. The Scotland countryside IS something to write home about! 

Not only was rural Scotland stunning, it was also rich in culture – we went to the Highland Games! What a site to see with all the events, the traditional outfits, the music, the food, and the enthusiasm of not only the athletes but the fans. There were at least four events happening at once, so we could watch track racing, tug-of-war, bag pipping, Highland dancing, etc. all at the same time. But the events that we found most fascinating were the heavy weight competitions. These big, burly men where chucking 25 lbs balls across the field in the Stone Put, slinging 3 foot, 15 lbs hammers in the Hammer Throw, and hurling tree trunks that were upwards 20 feet tall and 175 pounds in the caber toss. Unfortunately, none of the men were able to flip the pole over completely, but several were very close. The Caber Toss is such a big event at the Highland Games that even the Royal Family joined (everyone except for The Queen)! 

Everything about The Braemar Gathering was exciting and definitely worth the eight hour drive – our favorite activity in the UK!