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The Universe conspired to prevent this trip; hurricanes, abscessed teeth and overcrowded airplanes. I met my Soul Sister at the park and ride and we raced for the airport with a dummy tire, through Boston traffic. We sank into our airplane seats with sighs of relief. The next morning our plane touched down in Edinburgh. Groggy and tired, we breezed through customs and headed for the buses into town. We got on the wrong bus and got lost, so we flagged down a taxi and handed him the address for our Airbnb. He pulled up in front of an aging concrete tenement. We climbed out of the taxi and looked up with trepidation to see a man in a third floor window giving us the thumbs up. Our smiling Scottish host carried our bags up two flights like they were grocery sacks. His enormous ginger cat, Bo, welcomed us. Katie was smitten with Bo. We headed into Old Town without a map and without much sleep. Soon we stumbled across Holyrood Park. Knowing this park was likely attached to the Holyrood Palace, we veered into the park, eating blackberries along a dirt trail. I ran ahead at sight of old ruins. There sat a 10th century cathedral. I sat in awe until Katie noticed groups of people climbing ever higher on the hill. We followed the crowd to Arthur's Seat. From there we could see all of the city, and my fear of heights suddenly overcame my awe of the view. No choice but to swallow my fears along with the blackberries and climb down. We made our way back down into Old Town and meandered along the Royal Mile. A palace at one end and a fortress on the other and 2 women, from a country younger than its newest building, strolling in awe between them. This is a history geek's heaven. We drank incredible whiskey at the Whiskey Experience, terrible whiskey at a nameless pub, ate cullen skink and haggis at The World's End, and imagined our favorite book characters were lurking around every corner. We took a ghost tour into the old vaults deep beneath Old Town and saw the final resting place of one Tom Riddle. We visited Mary King's Close to see how people really lived in those long buried closes. I even felt a spectral hand on my arm in one of the rooms with children's toys on display. Ghosts don't frighten me overmuch. We wandered through countless closes just because we could. Not having found Claire and Jamie in the city, we rented a car and headed to the Highlands via Stirling. Here is where I highly recommend a coach tour. We popped a tire on a steep narrow lane by skimming a sharp curbstone to avoid a tour bus on our way to a castle. Never did see Stirling Castle, but we did enjoy a ride to Glasgow Airport in a tow truck to switch out our rental car. Our next AIrbnb host told us to wait until morning to drive up to Fort William as it was storming. We spent the next day on narrow twisting roads with me gripping my door handle terrified of popping another tire. I wanted no more of this driving business so we spent an extra day in Fort William at an old inn across from Loch Linnhe. We indulged in the Harry Potter train and ate fish n chips in a seaside village. This is not just another scenic train ride. Just do it! I stood by the doors switching sides with a Frenchman to see it all. Roman architecture still stands and you're traveling on them. We got back in the car and drove along the Great Glen Road to Inverness, watching for Nessie at every chance. This road is a wee bit wider. Our goal was the Clava Cairns and Culloden Field, more history and Outlander connections. Clava Cairns was magical and still. We did not fall through the stones into the arms of Jamie Fraser. Culloden was heavy with heartbreaking history. We banished that sorrow with whiskey at the Royal Highland Hotel before taking the train back to Edinburgh. Memories are forever.