Quist World Tour

About a year ago, a friend asked us if we’d be interested in going to Scotland for the British Open if he won the chance to buy 4 tickets in the ticket lottery. At the end of October he found out he’d won. For a few hours I was celebrating my opportunity to see top-notch tennis players, until my ignorance became apparent to the rest of the foursome. Turns out it’s a golf tournament; I offer that tidbit for anyone else out there like me. After 9 months of anticipation and almost 2 weeks of touring Scotland, the big day was here. Our fellow traveler not only won the chance to buy tickets, he won the chance to buy them for the final day. Again, for those like me, that means they have already played a round of golf for each of the first 3 days, and those that made the cut play a last round on the final day. The excitement of it was heightened because it was the 150 th anniversary of the British Open, and it was being played—as it is every 5 years now—at the birthplace of golf, St Andr...

Ireland and Scotland are green. And moist (sorry if that word triggers you, but it’s true). And beautiful. They are also filled with ruins. Everywhere we drive, major or minor stone buildings are in varying states of disarray, amidst well-kept farms, towns, cities and islands. One hollowed-out castle is part of a park with a small lake, a playground, and a sculpture walk. When we wandered into the “inside” of the castle walls, a man was throwing a ball to his dog, a child was climbing the walls, and a family was spreading a blanket for a picnic in the grassy center. It’s just part of the city. Our first night was in a hotel called Castle Kilronan, which was more of a big manor house than a castle. Still an amazing place. It had to be completely restored because the last family that lived there couldn’t afford it, didn’t want to pay taxes on it, and so they removed the roof. If there’s no roof, it’s not technically a building for tax purposes. But even lovely restorations require ma...