August '26 Scotland Trip-ish Report, lol

Packing strategy:

Suitcase: Osprey Ozone (4.5#). Day Pack: A cheap Chicos foldable day pack I got in Yellowstone a few years ago which is slightly too light for hiking but fine for this (7.5 oz). My purse was the Tom Bihn Everyday Cubelet which I was able to stow in the day pack for boarding my flights. (Yes, the gate agents on the Spokane to SEA and SEA to Spokane flights both insist on no small cross body bags as a “3rd item”. No one else gives a 2nd look for a tiny bag.)

I needed to go light as I was flying a leg on KLM and needed to meet their carry on baggage requirements. I had art supplies which were non-negotiable. I forswore all my cute and colorful Tom Bihn organizers, swapping out my small travel tray/bedside organizer for my tech stuff for one of those small square snack size ziplocks (Actually Kroger brand colorful 4.7inx4.7in). I was shocked I could manage with one charger cord for my Apple Watch and a charger cord with a combo end for my phone and iPad Mini. I had the UK plug with several USB ports. I went back to ziplocks for my 3-1-1 and dry toiletries saving a few ounces here and there. I cut back drastically on the amount of shampoo and conditioner I took as I was only gone for 11 days. I actually just took the leftovers from my April trip to Paris, lol.

I cut back to 3short sleeve tees and 1 long sleeve tee along with a dri-fit quarter zip and a chambray shirt. I cut back by 1 on underwear and managed fine. Actually, this is TMI but I was able to manage with one pair, hahaha, being diligent about taking 2 minutes each night to wash it out. I wore jeans, packed a pr of jeans, and at the last minute added in some lightweight travel pants. Thank goodness for the travel pants as it was quite warm on my arrival day to Edinburgh and the next day too. I had a waterproof rain jacket which I used a lot as well as rain pants which I did not use at all but you never know for Scotland! I had a warm beanie which I could have used on one plein air painting outing which was rainy and cold but didn’t think to grab.

When I left my house my bag was at 17.3# and my personal item was at 5.2# so under the KLM limit of 26.5#. Coming home I had more art supplies (oops😬😂) and I’m not sure what my bag weighed but fortunately noone at the KLM gate batted an eye. I was ready to check if needed inbound. OK, weighed the suitcase and my day pack before I started unpacking and the suitcase is up to 22.7# and the day pack is 5.5…so I gained 5#+ of luggage weight! Yikes. AND that is all art supplies for pete’s sake! OK, 2 cute ball point pens for the older great nephews but they are not heavy!

Weather: It was quite warm in Edinburgh with highs around 80. By the time we got out to the countryside it was much cooler plus it rained so daily highs were in the 60’s. One day we got pretty chilled outside as we sat and tried to paint before the rain started.

Midges: Bought Smidge in Edinburgh but fortunately we had no midges at the venue and none on any of our field trips. I had a head net but it stayed in my pack.

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Communications:

-One of the things I started doing at home a couple of months ago was emptying my email spam folder every day. After Carol NR had issues with her updates from her cruise line recently, I realized how important it is to check while traveling. It is easy enough to click on the spam folder when I’m going thru email in the AM and once you clean it out the first time it’s easy to get rid of all the nasty stuff in there. It’s also easy to see if a non-spam somehow got routed there too.
-The workshop also had a FB group ahead of time and a What’s App group during the program. The people who were not watching the WA group did not realize there were updates to times and some slight program changes. We were a small group and all staying in a compact location so it usually worked for someone to go tell someone else of a change of plan. It’s OK if you don’t choose to do FB or WA at home but when you are doing some kind of group travel this is imperative. If you want to delete the WA app after you get home, fine, but do keep up with your group communication while you are traveling! If your tech skills are not up-to-date so that you are intimidated by What’s App work on this ahead of time. If you have younger family members, have them set up a WA group and get comfortable with it.
- I started out doing the Verizon day pass but realized I needed the data to keep up with WA. The WIFI was good in some areas of the venue and not good in other areas so paying for the month at $100 would have been better and I would have been less stressed about “using a day”....good grief. I was kind of at the break even point on day pass vs monthly as I was international for 11 days. It’s so important to have it on travel days to get airline notifications and next time even for a short trip I’ll just go with the monthly program. I am all for creating less anxiety for myself. In the end I’ve been billed for 6 travel days/$72 so managed to come out ahead.

The workshop itself: The artist is Leslie Stroz who is a fabulous watercolorist. She is currently working with a tiny painting format so that was the focus of the workshop. She was working on 2inx2in squares of watercolor paper most of the time for her demos. She is an awesome instructor having taught art at SUNY Geneseo. The first few days she took us thru basics like color swatching our palettes to see how many colors we could make with the small limited palette of paints she had given us. She gave us the Art Toolkit Demi palette with 8 colors from the Portland-based watercolor company M. Graham that she likes. We had a “split palette” of warm and cool shades of yellows, reds and blues plus 2 earth colors. She also had us do value exercises with graphite putty which works as watercolor as well. As a novice this was SO helpful to me. I loved doing the color swatch charts! I’d seen them done but I didn’t “get” how to do them. I also had seen value studies done and it was really helpful to me to be taught how to figure out lights and darks using a viewfinder with a red filter and then to translate that to paper. Many of the other students were advanced artists so not sure how much they got out of this but for myself, it was invaluable.

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We did 3 field trips for plein air painting. On separate days we went to Stirling Castle, St Andrews and Loch Earn. We were also free to roam about the property and paint wherever we wanted as well as a lovely studio where we could set up and leave our paints/gear. Stirling Castle is cool BUT is not a good place to try and do plein air painting with a group as it is simply too crowded. St Andrews was perfect even though it was the longest drive. It was the sunniest day, not crowded and such a gorgeous setting right beside the water. Leslie easily had space to do a demo with all of us crowded around her to watch her composition, pen and brush strokes. She also gained a few new fans from passers-by including a dang juvenile gull we named Herman, lol! We went to Loch Earn at St Fillians. She got her demo in but by the time the rest of us were set up to paint the rains came. Fortunately we were able to retreat to a cafe for a snack and hot drink before we headed back to the “Farm” at Logiealmond.

There were 14 students and Leslie. She usually drove herself to the venues as 15 did not fit in the van. The first couple of days her husband was with her and came along.

The food at the venue was provided by a private chef, James, who was fantastic. He easily managed vegan/GF diets and other dietary needs and produced delicious food. In fact I did get his recipe for the Asian noodle salad he produced one day for lunch. It was SO GOOD that another person and I asked to have left overs for dinner. James and the host, Steve, were kind of shocked that we wanted leftovers but it was that delicious. The next day as we were leaving, one of the folks who was going to rent a car and continue around Scotland asked for a to-go container of it for her dinner that night, lol.

Venue: Rachel’s Farm at their location west of Perth in Logiealmond (which does not show on their website??). We were the first art course held at this location but it worked out fine. They do have other art courses at their other locations and some are used by the art workshop company UpTrek. In fact, some of our folks got mixed in with the Uptrek folks when we were waiting for pick up from the airport as both groups were in the same area near the parking garage.

Pre and Post workshop: I spent 2 nights ahead of the workshop meet up in Edinburgh at the Ibis Styles St Andrews Square and 1 night after in the same hotel. I love that location…just so easy to walk to nice restaurants and down to the Princes St Gardens/Scottish National Gallery. The staff is quite young but good and in fact on my departure morning the person on the front desk kind of insisted she get me a breakfast go-bag so I could put some pastries and a bagel from the breakfast buffet in it for later. That was so nice and yes, it was handy!

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Side observations:

-Airplane announcements: KLM has so many battery related announcements it made me wonder if there was an incident. At least 3 times before takeoff and, of course, in perfect English. On the Edinburgh to Amsterdam flight they also announced that the safety instructions would be in English only.

-Health-wise….I wore a mask on the way over. Coming back I had not packed smartly and had to dig into my suitcase to pull out a mask as people were coughing and hacking in the Edinburgh and Amsterdam airports. I did not notice much coughing in Seattle or on the plane.

-Under the “It’s a Small World” category, when I was in line at Stirling Castle to get lunch, I thought the guy ahead of me looked familiar. When he finally turned around so I could see his face, it was one of the ER Docs from St Joes in Lewiston where I worked until retirement. He, his wife and I were laughing about the coincidence and another guy stepped up and said…Did I hear you all say you are from Moscow? I’m from Moscow (ID) as well, hahah. So 5 Idaho panhandle folks in the same small cafe in Scotland, hahaha. Funny!

-Under the OMG-how-could-you-embarrass yourself category….I went all fan-girl (or is it fan-crone at my age??) and asked for a selfie with the artist’s husband who is David Knopfler (Dire Straits and subsequent solo artist and poet). He is just SO nice. We bonded one of the first nights over case stories as he was a social worker in Inner City London for 2 years before the band took off. Pretty funny!

Conclusion: I had a fantastic time! The trip was slightly more spontaneous than my normal way of travel and a way shorter trip than I usually do but oh-so-much fun. I met wonderful people in my art group and saw some of their amazing art. I loved watching Leslie create! I am in awe of these new friends. Scotland as always was awesome and the cool, damp weather was such a huge relief from the hot, smoky conditions we’ve had in North Idaho this summer.

PS For anyone that is interested in art…DO a workshop with your favorite artist. You will learn so much and be so creatively challenged!

30 years ago when I was still young and getting started, travel further than Disneyland was just a dream. While I read your trip report I kept thinking how lucky we are that we can travel further for a specific purpose like to take a painting class. I have no hobbies and so I can't relate how much that probably meant to you, but I think on some past and upcoming trips and how lucky my wife and I are to be in a position to be like you and find something that interests us and then build a trip. For example last November we decided to go to London just for the Christmas lights and built a whole itinerary about just that.

I'm not sure if I'm explaining myself as well as I'm thinking the thoughts in my head. I hope I'm making sense.

Pam, what a wonderful trip-ish report. You covered it all: travel info, packing report, reminder of the importance of data in today's travel environment, great writeup on the workshop (although as an untalented nonartist I had to read it several times to get a hint of an understanding) and a bonus celebrity meetup! Welcome home.

Are you going to share the recipe with us?

I have no interest in doing any painting myself, but I really enjoyed reading about your trip.

Pam, great trip report! And very quick, too—I am impressed!!! I love that comment about going through Global Entry. I have a feeling that biometrics have expanded and now just catch you as you walk along. But you're right, it's probably better not to know. 😂

And your class just sounded so great! I love that you did this, and I think it's such a fabulous idea. As you know, you inspired me to sign up for a sewing retreat in England in 2027, so hopefully mine will turn out to be as wonderful as your's was! And I'm salivating over your description of the food. That sounds so good. Honestly, you really packed it in for such a quick and short trip! I am amazed at everything you got done and how much fun it looks like you had!

@Allen - Yes, I know exactly what you mean! And doing Christmas lights or having some other focus is spot on! ANYthing that is of interest and can provide an anchor point for a trip is a fun way to structure things as we are no longer novice travelers. A few years ago when there was a huge Vermeer Exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam many of us structured a trip around seeing that exhibit.

@jeanm - Thanks for the comments! Go look at some watercolors at the Art Institute! And my artist is from just south of Chicago and may have a workshop there next year when she comes to visit her mom. And yes, it was an Asian noodle salad!

Thai dressing (which he laughingly said he googled how to make!)
Roasted salted Peanuts, rice vinegar, lime juice, maple syrup, soy sauce, a little sugar for balance, sesame oil, sriracha to taste

cooked Glass noodles
Baby Bok choi, chopped fine
Carrot shreds
Sesame seeds
Green onion

I'm going to add:
Water chestnuts
steamed broccoli
sugar snaps

@Cala - thanks for reading!

@Mardee - In thinking about it, there is a very long hall from the jetway along to the start of the Arrivals hall. I'm sure they have multiple cameras there as well as perhaps when you come down the escalator. If it can get me thru faster, the cameras don't bother me! You are going to have so much fun at your sewing workshop! I think you are going to have to take an empty bag to check to bring your projects and your fabric home! At least watercolor stuff is "fairly" small, lol!!

Yay!! So glad you could take this trip. I'd love to send my daughter on something similar someday. And I like that it wasn't something you had to plan ahead for years for..sometimes short notice works out.

Wow, sounds like an amazing trip Pam!! I'm so glad you jumped in and went for it as soon as you realized she had an opening. I had been wondering when you'd tell us all about it, but so surprised you got to it so quickly. I get that about the color wheel /charts, it's an effort, I probably need a refresher, LOL.

It's a great way to accelerate your technique, in a beautiful setting with wonderful food!
I've done 2 one week-long landscape oil painting courses in Tuscany, the first one I did without knowing anything about painting & I learned a lot.

The trip was slightly more spontaneous than my normal way of travel and a way shorter trip than I usually do but oh-so-much fun. It's certainly spontaneous when you book a workshop & have your hotel and flights booked the next day! I'm glad you had such fine weather, it's really not a given & carrying the rain pants but not needing them is PERFECT. AND that you managed to pack so lightly, I know it took some time and energy to figure it all out. Thanks again!! PS, thanks for the noodle recipe!

Nice report, Pam.
I always enjoy reading yours as they have just the right amount of information without getting bogged down in too much detail. 🙂

OH!!!! TOFU! He had pieces of fried tofu on top of the salad...how could I forget that. He said he made a slurry of soy sauce and cornstarch to dredge the pieces in before he fried them. They looked just like Croutons but tasted great!

@pbscd - Oh I am sure your daughter would love a workshop similar to this one!

@Sandancisco....thanks for your kind comments. You are the one that inspired me!

@S J - thank you! I am a detail person but try to slim it down for forum consumption, hahaha!

This sounds like a really wonderful trip. I am so glad the opportunity arose for you and you were in a position to jump on it. Everything about this sounds so fabulous. I am just jealous that I haven't done this !!

Thank you for your trip-ish report. Even with the shocking news that you left your Tom Bihn travel tray (and other Tom Bih items)at home !!!!!

Your additional five pounds on return sounds well worth it.

Pam, I just loved your trip report, your encouraging your painting talent and your spontaneity. I have no artistic skills & my slight tremor in my dominant hand discourages me from attempting it. I do like adult coloring books sometimes & I always make a photo book of my trips. That's how I try to be artistic. I'm a retired project manager, so administration, time management & time engineering are my natural forte. That's probably why I still use an Excel Workbook for my trip planning rather than a tool like Wanderlog. I'm coming to the meet-up next month with Lynn from Boise & we are driving from there so I look forward to seeing much of eastern ID. I also get to meet Jean from ID tomorrow during her long layover at MSP. I already know Andrea from Sacramento & Mardee from MN so I'm really excited about the meet-up and getting to know more Forum friends.

What a great trip! Both for the purpose and for the spontaneity!