Voyage Toujours

When you travel, are you fixated on the sunny skies, time outside in the sun? Well, some of my most memorable days have been rainy! That’s right. I am originally from Southern California, where its favorable weather about 90% of the year and maybe that’s why I like a little inclement weather once in a while. In this clip, we are taken to the Fairy Pools on the Isle of Skye in Scotland and to the opposite end of the world, Milford Sound, New Zealand. Both days spent in those locations were rainy and boy, did I have the time of my life.

Isle of Skye, Scotland – May, 2019 – A celebration of my 50th found a group of my friends and I in Scotland. We started in Edinburgh where we spent a few days enjoying the usual sites, Edinburgh Castle, Royal Mile, Arthur’s Seat, etc. before heading out to the Highlands. Our base was Glencoe. One of our friends had a distant mate that lives on the Isle of Skye and we went for a day trip – Americans! Isle of Skye deserves more than a day trip but it was a memorable one. We had lunch with his friend and then went to the Fairy Pools. The skies opened up and started to rain as we arrived. Luckily, everyone with was properly dressed and we ventured forth. What is it about rainy days and letting the kid inside you want to leap out and make a splash in the puddles? I always find that in UK, the gray skies intensify the green and grey of the rocks in the hills and it’s such a technicolor mash of beautiful melancholy. Just fabulous!

On the other side of the world, some of those same friends joined me on a trip to the South Island of New Zealand. I arrived a couple of days prior to take a bit of the capital city of Auckland. The weather their was quite agreeable, as it was throughout the NZ trip. It was September, 2017. Celebrating the 50th of another friend, we decided NZ was the place to go. She and her husband had previously been to the North Island a few years prior as a celebration to a wedding anniversary, now, it was a celebration of her 50th. This time, just a handful of us took the journey. It was about a year after the tragic earthquake which devastated Christchurch. When we visited, there was much to be redeveloped, but it was still a nice visit. We drove south to the southern part of the South Island and ended up in the town of Te Anau as our jumping point for the glow worm caves and the Milford Sound. Both experiences were fantastic. The day we went to Milford Sound, the weather was okay in Te Anau but by the time we got to Milford Sound it was rainy. Not to worry! What that meant for us was a cornucopia of waterfalls all along the cliffs of the Sound. On the deck of the boat looking at all the waterfalls, still able to see the tops of the cliffs and a few boats in the Sound was an elation of my soul that I can still feel.

So, even when the day is misty, rainy, grey, look on the bright side – you just might have the time of your life!