There's nothing like being in the hands of a professional

First things first; the trip to England and Scotland was wonderful. More than expected, much more.

It cannot go unsaid that my parents' generosity made the trip happen at all, but they also had the wisdom to know we needed help to carry something like this off. They hired a guide service, professionals to show us the way. Paul and Pauline Hulme's Homemade Holidays (http://www.homemade-holidays.com/) was recommended by friends who'd traveled with them before, and knew our white-knuckled tendencies would have never allowed us to take off to the Scottish countryside in a rental car, let alone summon the courage to sit in a small car with the drivers' seat on the right.

Paul and Pauline took care of everything, from researching Dad's family roots before we arrived, to reserving seats on the train on the scenic side of the tracks, to driving us to places we couldn't have imagined on our own. They'd come up with a tentative plan for the trip, but made it clear we could let serendipity intervene and amend the itinerary as we wished.

Now I know how the rich live. We would arrive in a country town only to be whisked into the best shop at tea time, a table for six waiting for us. We'd just happen to turn down a road that offered a spectacular view, a 17th century cemetery, or a house inhabited for 900 years. Life was easy, relaxing, enriching, chauffered.

Lest we take their services for granted, they wisely planned us to spend a day in London by ourselves at the beginning of our trip, and left it up to us to board the train to Edinburgh without a guide. This was genious, leaving us to our own anxieties and bumbling tendencies! By the time we left London, we'd made a multitude of individual and group errors, of which I will only list a sampling of my own: being too set on something, following bad advice and feeling guilty about it, letting the tension throw my back out.

And we were on our own on the way home, negotiating the lines at Heathrow and customs at O'Hare--more opportunity for appreciation of our guides! Short connections! Frank discussion with airline personnel! Injury and blood! Sweat and nausea! Delayed baggage! Here we jelled as a family, helping each other get through the experience with considerable grace on very little sleep.

Back home now. I was happy to get back to my mountains, relaxed and energized with new ideas and things to accomplish. I liked having things done for me, but was glad to get back to the work of determining my own life. We'd had a respite from our own Midwestern wait-our-turn-in-line sensibilities. Everything had magically unfolded before us for a week, carefully and invisibly planned. In addition to the sights and new perspectives which I'll share in future posts, we had the luxurious experience of being royalty, day after day.

Thank you, Paul and Pauline. Thank you, Mom and Dad and Linda.