Hey there! Sorry for the silence, but it’s been for a good reason (and, once we returned early Thursday morning, a not-so-good reason). We’ve been on our most ambitious trip yet: 12 days in Berlin, Scotland and (briefly) Potsdam during a long layover on the way home. It was everything I hoped it would be!

By the way, if you are wondering why we went with Berlin and Scotland on the same trip? Flight availability, basically. There were no decent options for getting to Scotland from Catania, so I’d been trying to come up with Frankenstein-esque itineraries that involved us flying into various London airports and then flying/driving/taking the train to get up north. This idea appealed to me somewhat if we were going to stay in London for a couple days; Chris and I have been there before but the kids haven’t, and obviously there are tons of things to do in London. Still, doing that would have meant wasting a lot of time in transit and having fewer days for Scotland, so Chris suggested we check to see what the choices were from Berlin. Since Berlin was on our list for this year, he figured that it could be a two-birds-one-stone situation. As it turned out, they had direct flights to Edinburgh for about 40 euro. SOLD.

So, I’ll get into individual posts on our stops as time allows. But in the meantime, here’s a look at our 3-day itinerary for Berlin and our 8-day itinerary for Scotland:

3 days in Berlin

What we did/saw in Berlin: 

-Brandenburg Gate

-Tiergarten, playgrounds and beer gardens

-East Side Gallery

-Berlin Zoo

-Berlin Aquarium

-Food tour with the Bitemojo app

-Stone Brewery (fabulous!)

Where we stayed: The Berlin Marriott Hotel, located very near Potsdamer Platz. We used 120,000 Marriott points to book three nights at this hotel and were very pleased with it, especially since they let us check in four hours early and had a pool that the kids really enjoyed. It was a good reminder of all the reasons hotels are wonderful (clean towels every day? WHAT LUXURY). However, sharing a room with the kids also reminded me why we don’t usually share a room with the kids if we can help it.

What we loved: In a word, everything. We had a relaxing three days in this city that centered around eating, drinking and doing stuff that was fun for the kids, like visiting the playgrounds in the Tiergarten and the zoo. We enjoyed the German efficiency, the variety of food choices (read: not just Italian) and the fact that literally everyone spoke English. Basically, we want to move there. We’re already considering going back.

8 days in Scotland

Our itinerary: 

Days 1-3: Edinburgh, where we went on a Harry Potter tour, bought wands in the “real” Diagon Alley, visited Edinburgh Castle, walked down the Royal Mile and saw two great museums, National Museum of Scotland and Dynamic Earth.

Day 4: Visited Stirling Castle, one of the most important castles in Scottish history. Drove to the charming seaside village of Oban for a one-night stay.

Day 5: Visited the Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary in Oban. Spent a little time in the town of Fort William en route to the town of Balmacara, near the Isle of Skye.

Day 6: Took in the incredible scenery at the Isle of Skye, the largest island of the Inner Hebrides. We surprised ourselves by making a much harder than expected hike to the famous Old Man of Storr. “Only slightly strenuous,” my ass. We spent the night at the same AirBnB in Balmacara, located only a couple miles from Eilean Donan castle.

Day 7: Visited Loch Ness and hey! We found Nessy! We took a cruise on the loch and visited Urquhart Castle. We ended the day with a drive to Pitlochry.

Day 8: Relaxed day in Pitlochry, with sleeping in, nice walks around the city and a visit to the Blair Athol Distillery.

Where we stayed: All AirBnBs! While they certainly weren’t as luxurious as the Marriott, it was nice for the kids to have their own room.

What we loved: The incredible scenery! The Highlands were almost other-worldly — we’d be cruising along on what is clearly a road and we’d see other cars, but it would feel like we were absolutely in the middle of nowhere. It was like nothing we’ve ever seen before. We kept going, “WHERE ARE WE.” (And not just because the GPS didn’t always work in the Highlands, ha).