Rick Steves'
Best of Scotland
Fáilte!
We invite you to explore with us as we journey through the land of Braveheart, whisky, castles and kilts! Majestic landscapes, ancient fortresses, and fuzzy farm animals await you! As a couple of newbies to the world of touring, we hope to convey the joy, awe and flat-out fun we experienced during the Rick Steves' Best of Scotland in 10 Days Tour. Happy surfing!
David and Tamara DeNavarra
Who we are
We are David, who works as a mental health therapist, and Tamara, who is a registered nurse. We met in college and have been married for almost a decade now. Exploring as much of the world as possible is one of our biggest passions and our favorite way to decompress from the busy day-to-day.
Why this tour
We have an enormous bucket list of dream destinations, and we thought there was no time like the present to start chipping away at it! We have always been interested in beautiful scenery, interesting architecture, and history, so Scotland seemed like a fit for us. We were a little nervous about choosing to do a tour, as we had heard horror stories of large bus groups, long waits at tourist stops, and obligatory shopping trips. After much research, we decided Rick Steves' travel philosophy perfectly matched our personalities, and we couldn't be happier with our decision! We were already planning our next tour with Rick Steves before our Scotland adventure was over! We couldn't believe how many amazing experiences were packed so efficiently into 10 days, and we were totally taken by surprise by how much we grew to love our guide and tour mates.
Where we went
About our site
Photos: Tamara is a bit enthusiastic (possibly obsessed) with documenting everything on film. She defends this behavior by arguing that digital pictures are cheap souvenirs. David is ever the patient subject for these photography experiments. There will be slide shows on each page, just use the arrows at the sides of the photos to advance to the next one, or click on the pictures to see a bigger version. You can hover your mouse over the pictures to read the captions for further descriptions.
Back door experiences: We love Rick's philosophy on experiencing places "through the back door," and we did our best to do just that. These sections will highlight those experiences.
History in the making: It was an exciting political time in Scotland at the time of our visit, including a vote for Scottish independence, so these sections will showcase what we learned.
Speaking Scottish: Although the Scottish people primarily speak English, we learned a lot of interesting Gaelic words and Scottish colloquialisms that we will share like the following example:
Navigation: You can navigate to the next section by using the button at the bottom of each page or by utilizing the menu bar at the top of the page. Each tour day will have its own page, and additionally there will be a page for each overnight destination featuring a bit about the location and the hotel.
Use this button to follow us to the next page to read about the beautiful city of Edinburgh!
Speaking Scottish
In Gaelic, fáilte means welcome!