By Yon Bonnie Banks

Soon!

And it will be just a little later when I am standing by one of the bonnie banks of a Scottish loch. 

 

I had a wonderful time visiting England last summer -- many thanks, again, dear Sybil -- so that the thought of a return trip to the British Isles was in my mind when I stepped on the plane at Heathrow to come home to New York. My college friend Betsy had scouted out a cruise to Scotland that included both Shetland, the top of her "to-see" list and Iona, a long desired location for me. Even though it means skipping BookExpo this year, I happily said yes. This particular itinerary only sails once a summer and since the timing (mostly) worked for both of us, we made our reservations last summer. 

 

Now a almost a year has gone by since our first discussions and after much planning and reading, we're only ten days away from our trip. A definite bonus is that our ship leaves from Liverpool. I'd long hoped to get there to see my blog friends, Sheilagh and Ralph -- any good holiday includes blog buddies! -- but it never seemed work well into an itinerary. We've scheduled an extra day in Liverpool and I look forward to seeing Beatles' sites, Sheilagh and Ralph and perhaps a few other blog friends. You know there will be pictures.

 

    Liverpool to Shetland!

 

I've been to Edinburgh and Shetland but the other stops are all new to me. As an Outlander fan, I'm excited about our stop in Invergordon and very excited about visiting Iona, a center of Celtic monasticism. It's not an especially easy trip -- Tobermory, Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides, and then a ferry to Iona -- but I'm excited to see where the Book of Kells was created.

After our return to Liverpool, we had a change of planes in Dublin. As long as we had the time, it seemed a shame not to visit Dublin. So we will spend a long, long weekend in Dublin. I was there five years ago and enjoyed it very much. We have a number of activities planned, including a tour of Abbey Theater. The days will be very long and there will be lots of time for sightseeing and enjoying Dublin. Any blogger friends in Dublin?

Now I'm making lists and buying a few last minute things, as well as downloading books to read. I'm just about ready and of course, Liverpool can provide just about anything I may have forgotten.

Besides the excitement of the trip, life is pleasantly quiet. Weight Watchers, time at the Y and my Monday water aerobics class have been the high point of the week. What are your weekend plans?

As ever, thanks for visiting and have a great weekend!