Leaving Brest, voyagers embraced the sense of normalcy we found during the previous leg and set high goals for our short, three-day sail to Scotland.

After accommodating immigration officials who came aboard to stamp passports while coordinating COVID testing during embarkation, Shaun gathered the Staculty for a voyage update followed by a reception in the Lido Terrace. These kinds of gatherings happen several times over the course of a typical voyage, but this was our first. We visited over wine and hors d’oeuvres, and when our entrepreneurship professor and jazz enthusiast, Stephen Preece, sat down to the piano, we began to sing. As people joined in, faces brightened and the room felt lighter.

Student life programming was in full swing, and our RDs were on their game. The voyager talent show brought to stage even more gifts as students and staculty shared through song, dance, and spoken word. During a moving Take back the Night event, survivors shared their stories and the community walked together around the top deck in support. The VoLT celebrated our team with a night of special dining with seven courses as delicious as any food we had eaten in port, while the RDs also came together at special dining, compliments of a SAS Alum whose generous donation acknowledged how incredibly special and deserving they are.

Many hours were spent planning and preparing for Sea Olympics. This traditional SAS event, planned by RD Mike and his crew of Sea Captains, had been pushed back on the calendar due to diversions and our on-board COVID quarantine. Scheduled between Greenock and Copenhagen, we decided to make our Scotland Pre-Port theme be “Pre-Sea Olympics.” With the staculty watching the event from the Lido Terrace to accommodate social distancing, students dressed in their sea colors and sat in the Union by sea group. As Foster and Halley, the Oklahoma University students who have been emceeing our Logistical Pre-Port meetings, called the disembarkation order, sea captains ran one by one across the stage. With each announcement, students pumped their fists and cheered for their seas. The energy exploded as smiles beamed through the eyes of mask covered faces.

Turning our attention to Scotland, Foster shared information about electrical outlets and the weather, which looked surprisingly mild. Halley described the location of our berth and how to find a taxi in Greenock. The student life team offered “Savvy Traveler” advice and the medical team encouraged safe and healthy behavior through silly songs and skits. During our turn, the field team reminded voyagers about travel policies, encouraged enrollment in our new Copenhagen programs, and drew names for our Program Evaluation raffle winners. Via recording, Bob offered “hellos and good-byes” to voyagers who would be leaving and arriving in Greenock. As Shaun and Chris wrapped the evening and Sea Olympic energy spread throughout the ship, the VoLT gathered in the captain’s quarters for a late-night check-in call with the home office.

A giant, bright red sunrise escorted us alongside in Greenock, Scotland the next morning. Olivia had arrived the night before, and we were excited to see her again. Living in England, it is easy and inexpensive for her to travel through Europe. She had plans to spend time in Scotland with her friend from high school, Elsa, who is sailing with us, but we had reserved time with her on our first day and were anxious to disembark. Like Brest, Greenock looked very industrial with cranes and shipping crates, and because the port was being renovated, the ship was tied onto a floating “pontoon” berth. We exited down the gangway, over a ramp, through the first security check point, and as we crossed the bus parking lot, Chris caught sight of Liv and ran to swing her around in a giant hug. As others disembarked, Chris proudly introduced Olivia to students and staculty, and she was happy to see Ursula, Lew and MaryAnn, friends from her 2017 SAS voyage.

A taxi driver, Tommy, offered to take us on a tour at an hourly rate, so we jumped in and began to learn about Scottish lochs and castles. We crossed the Erskine bridge over the River Clyde on our way to Loch Lomond within Trossachs National Park. This beautiful lake is familiar from the song, The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond:

Oh, ye’ll tak the high road, and I’ll tak the low road,

And I’ll be in Scotland afore ye;

But me and my true love will never meet again

On the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond.

We walked along the shore as ducks and kayaks gently moved through the mirror-smooth water of the loch, then into the sweet little village of Luss, postcard picturesque with stone cottage-lined streets. We wandered into a small café and bit into a delicious piece of heaven disguised as a scone with jam and clotted cream. Hearts and stomachs full, Tommy taxied us to Glasgow where we stopped at the Pot Still, an award-winning whiskey bar that opened in 1867. We savored the moments before sending Olivia off with Elsa and friends.

Chris and I returned to the ship, and with little happening in Greenock, we packed our bags and bought two train tickets to Edinburgh. With about half the shipboard community in town, it was fun to see SASers out and about. We stayed in the same hotel as the Lindas, and friends Harlee, Dan and Lisa. We shared lunch with Ken and Hyla and ran into Coleen and Jeff Burke and family, as well as many students, including Olivia, along the Royal Mile. From the Edinburgh Castle to the Palace of Hollyroodhouse, bagpipes serenaded and the smell of fish and chips wafted through the air. Tartans and crests adorned shop windows and street performers enchanted with magic tricks and sideshows. We had a cozy dinner with the Lindas and a group of staculty at The Cellar Door where we stretched our comfort zone and tried Haggis, a traditional Scottish dish made of various and sundry parts of a sheep!

Our second day was bookended by a sunrise hike and the Great Whiskey Experience with a tunnel ghost tour with in between! Almost every SASer we encountered in Edinburgh had hiked Arthur’s Seat, including my mom and Oliva! Arthur’s Seat is an extinct volcano named after King Arthur and rumored to be the site of Camelot. We were feeling some serious FOMO (fear of missing out), so we caught a 5 a.m. taxi to the trailhead. The path was lined with acres of common gorse, its bright yellow flowers glowing as the daylight peeked in. We made it to the top just as the sun rose above the horizon, huge and orange and round.  Sitting atop the rock, we breathed in gratitude for the moment and the beautiful views of the Firth of Forth that connects Edinburgh to the North Sea.

Later, we met the Lindas for a ghost tour in the tunnels below Edinburgh. Built in 1785, these eerie vaults housed bars and workshops and provided cover for illegal whiskey distilleries and gambling venues. They also hid corpses stolen by body snatchers, or so it is said. We quelled our ghostly fears with a final scone before the Lindas and friends returned to Greenock for their field program the following day. Liv was returning from a day trip to Loch Ness, so Chris and I delayed our departure. We passed the time at the Great Whiskey Experience at son Will’s recommendation. Like port wine in Portugal, learning about the processes involved made the whiskey taste so much better! We met Liv’s bus just in time to take her out for a 24^th birthday dinner before catching the last train to Greenock.

The next morning, along the bonnie banks of the River Clyde, we enjoyed a walk before Chris needed to return to his ship duties. I continued down the esplanade to a cute little town called Guerock. Like a normal Saturday at home, families gathered at the park for youth soccer and runners jogged with strollers and dog leashes. Filled with gratitude, I stopped at the Tesco to buy supplies for our upcoming Sea Olympics and embarked early to welcome our voyagers home.