WE MADE IT!
After what seemed like three days of flying, we have arrived in Scotland. I only lost Dad once in Melbourne airport when he wandered off and although he thought he left his wallet in one of the plastic tubs at Dubai airport security, turns out, it was just in a different pocket to where he normally keeps it.
I’m running on fumes, so I’ll keep this post short.
Today after arriving in Manchester, we visited my uncle Harry (Dad’s younger brother) and aunt Jenny, for a far too short stop on our way north. The last time we met was almost 25 years ago! It was great to see them again and to hear a few stories about my dad and grandfather, who passed away when I was 14.
This adventure to Scotland is more than just a whisky drinking trip, it’s a chance to connect with my dad in the country of his birth (not entirely true but I will spare you the details for now) and see if we can learn anything about our family history on my grandfather side which has been extremely difficult to trace in the past. We have three documents to go on, an incomplete birth certificate with two parents that no one else in the family knows anything about (he was adopted at a young age, unbeknown to him) a marriage certificate and a death certificate. But more on these later, since my brain is barely functioning.
We are spending our first night in Motherwell (south east of Glasgow) and will head to Mossend in the morning before driving to Ardrossan via the Robert Burns Monument in Kilmanock, then a quick stop on the Isle of Arran and finishing at Carradale on the Kintyre peninsular.
I’m exhausted just thinking about it. Click here for day two.