Scotland scene – photo by Barnyz on Flckr CC

Exploring Scotland 2024:

My Two-Month Travel Plan

In January I announced my 2024 world travel plans in this article. The gist of it is that after I finish my two-month cat-sitting assignment in Juneau, Alaska, I will head over to UK and Europe to explore the region from mid April through November…and then fky on to Dubai, UAE in December.

In the meantime, here in Alaska during February and March, besides exploring the Juneau area, I’ve been mighty busy planning & preparing for my upcoming adventures around UK and EU. That has entailed researching each country I plan to visit in rather great detail to figure out which places I most want to visit. And, equally importantly, I’ve been searching for pet sitting opportunities and applying for relevant ones that come up.

As I explained it my previous article, both UK and EU are so very expensive that the only way I can actually afford to visit them is by cutting out accommodation costs, more or less entirely. The best ways I know to accomplish that are by pet / house sitting and through work exchange programs.

For this year’s explorations of UK and EU, I’m trying to do as many pet sitting assignments as possible. Besides cutting out accommodation costs, that gives me the great reward of taking care of many wonderful dogs and cats. As a full-time traveler, I can’t have my own pets, so pet sitting is the next best thing.

In January, I joined Trusted House Sitters and promptly began looking for opportunities. That’s how I ended up here in Juneau, Alaska for two months! Yeah pet sitting!

While here I’ve been checking the platform daily, searching for pet sits all over UK, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. Turns out, it’s a lot of work! Something like a part-time job. I’ve been searching several times a day for options in various destinations. Applying to dozens of pet sits; having video calls with potential hosts; and keeping track of all my confirmed assignments as they come along. Juggling the schedule.

But the results are well worth the effort! So far, I have six confirmed pet sits that total three months of time.

Since I’m dependent on pet sitting assignments, my travel agenda is more or less dictated by what I can get. And this year, that means my UK/EU travels will start in Scotland!

Scotland is perfectly fine by me! I have visited England three times, but have never been to Scotland, Wales, North Ireland nor Ireland. I want to explore them all this year.

My pet sitting search has paid off so well in Scotland that I have thus far secured four pet sitting assignments. They’re scattered around the country and take up nearly two months, from mid-April through June 8^th. Yippie! Here’s what I have lined up so far:

My Scotland Itinerary

Two months from mid-April through June 8^th.

In brief: I will get to spend time in Scotland’s two main cities, Edinburgh and Glasgow; a small village on the rather remote north coast near Inverness; and an even tinier village in Scotland’s far western loch region.

I still have 5-6 days in mid May to fill in with one more pet sit. So I’ve got my fingers crossed that I’ll find a pet sit in one of several regions of Scotland that I’m dying to visit. I’ll keep up my daily search!

Step 1: Edinburgh

On April 17^th, I fly from NYC to Edinburgh, arriving on April 18^th. The following day I start a 17-day pet sit, looking after a lovely dog named Bonnie. In addition to taking Bonnie out for daily walks, playing with her and keeping her company, I’ll be able to explore Edinburgh for over two full weeks.

Ever since I secured this assignment, that old song has been playing through my head… “My Bonnie lies over the ocean…” hahahhaha!

There’s LOTS to see in Edinburgh! To kick things off, in late April-early May, tons of Japanese Cherry trees (Sakura) will be in full bloom! That’s in addition to all the other spring flowers and spring-green trees sprouting.

Edinburgh has famous castles, fantastic museums (most free!), beautiful parks and botanical gardens, a Medieval old town area, a 19^th Century historic district and several other significant historic attractions (such as Arthur’s Seat). I can hardly wait to see it all! I’ll be writing lots more about Edinburgh after I arrived, so stay tuned.

Nairn Beach – photo by Ostaleri on Flckr CC

Step 2: Nairn – Scotland’s scenic north coast

In early May I head up to Scotland’s north coast on an overland bus trip through the stunning Highlands area and Cairngorms National Park. I’m as excited about the bus trip as my stay at the remote north coast.

I’ll be staying in Nairn for about 10 days, looking after an adorable senior dog named Looby. Besides giving company and snuggles to Looby, I’m really excited to walk out on the wild, empty beach at Nairn for days on end.

Nairn also has a regional museum, a quaint downtown area, nearby castles and a famous golf course (though that has no appeal to me). Apparently, various world-famous actors visit Nairn from time to time (!) so who knows, maybe I’ll befriend an actor or two.

Nairn is close to Inverness, one of Scotland’s major cities. Hopefully I’ll have time to visit the city once or twice to take in its museums and botanical garden.

More famously, Loch Ness is located just 30 minutes south of Inverness. Hopefully, I’ll get down there at some point. There’s a famous castle ruins, great views over Loch Ness (‘loch’ = long narrow lake) and potentially spot the notorious water ‘monster’. Lol

Lochcarron – photo by Noelinho on Flckr CC

Step 3: Lochcarron at Scotland’s far western shores

The west coast of Scotland consists of a series of very deep, narrow fjords running east-west all along the coast. One of them is called Lochcarron. It’s situated almost due west of Inverness. Quite luckily, a train runs between them.

Lochcarron is a long fingerlike bay running southwest to northeast. About halfway down the western side is the little village of the same name. It features a line of adorable wood homes along the shore of the loch.

I’ll be staying there about 10 days, looking after an adorable dog, Molly, and a beautiful green-eyed cat, Betsy. Besides looking after my two wards, I’ll mostly be wandering along the waterside, through the countryside and relaxing in the quaint village atmosphere.

Step 4: Glasgow

At the tail end of May, from Lochcarron I’ll head down to Glasgow on the same beautiful inland route I took up from Edinburgh. It seems that’s the main transport route between the north and Scotland’s two main cities.

I’ll be staying in Glasgow about 10 days, looking after two adorable fluffy Lhasa Apso doggies, Douglas and Rosie.

Besides taking them on walks and keeping them company, I’ll have some time to explore Glasgow. Like Edinburgh, the city has historic districts, great museums, beautiful parks and a riverside.

I also hope I’ll have time to visit Loch Lomond, one of Scotland’s most famous and beloved lakes. It’s located just north of Glasgow, so I should be able to get there easily by train or bus from my pet sit home.

This pet sitting assignment takes me through June 8^th. My host has invited me to stay on a couple more days if it fits into my schedule. Let’s see how things unfold!

June 2024

While traveling around Scotland, I’ll be living on money that I earned reviewing luxury hotels in Mexico back in September/October and in Florida during November. Unfortunately, I do not have any hotel assignments in Scotland. So by June, my funds will be running pretty low.

That’s when I need to head over to Brussels, Belgium and Amsterdam, Netherlands, where I have two large hotel assignments.

To date, I don’t have any pet sitting assignments in Brussels, where I’d like to start out my 90-day EU travels in early June. But I’m waiting to hear from one Brussels host who’s planning to travel in June and will inform me of the dates soon so that I can, hopefully, take on the assignment.

In the meantime, from now until then I still have three months to continue my daily search for new pet sits in Brussels, Holland and Luxumbourg. I feel quite hopeful that things will all fill in eventually and I’ll get to explore that region of EU June through August.

I do already have two confirmed pet sitting assignments in Amsterdam, taking up one full month from late July through late August, so part of my European explorations are accounted for,

I’ll be writing much more about Scotland and then Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and possible western Germany as my travels unfold. Stay tuned!

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