The first chaotic day in Scotland!

Tina super sweetly took me to the airport, checked in my suitcase with me, and I handled the rest without any problems. Being me, I promptly grabbed a book that I had already read, so I quickly bought a new one and spent the waiting time reading.

We flew off much too late, but the flight was wonderful. When the plane was on the runway, the engines roared and off we went. And bet you that my plane took off almost vertically again!? (Laugh) Since there is a military barracks next to the runway, running soldiers waved at us, and we immediately lost contact with the restless ground and floated up. The forests, fields, lakes, villages, and a wind farm shrunk to toy size. Soon little clouds were swirling around us. The world became a satellite image and the cloud cover came closer. But when we were up there, instead of the usual towering clouds, the clouds gave the impression of a smooth ski slope with mountain peaks sticking out. Meanwhile, my seat neighbor buried her nose in an e-reader, and a little child fell asleep in its mother's arms. I enjoyed the dazzling light of the sun on the horizon above my imaginary ski slope and could always make out a little bit of land, the sea, and then Scotland below us when the plane went into descent again. 'Scotland!' I thought happily and felt joy. I took my first shots.

Bravely, I found my way to the car rental station, babbled in my rusty English with an employee of the car rental station, and took over a white Golf. I started driving in the left-hand traffic direction Perth and was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked. In front of Perth, I turned onto a country road as planned and was able to take photos here. The landscape is already charming and the old houses are playful and cozy. By the way, it's much more colorful here than in Germany. My purple wouldn't stand out at all here.

I only drove through Perth because the Highlands are my actual destination. When I drove through the village of Rattray, I thought about how well driving was going, but a moment later there was a bang and I had hit a parked car on the left side. I hadn't taken the distance of my left side into account. I called the police and tried to communicate with my car rental company. A passerby offered to take over the conversation, and after a while, the police finally arrived. They also spoke to my car rental company again and confirmed that I wouldn't incur any costs because I had taken out full insurance today. What luck. Since my car was no longer driveable due to a damaged wheel, my car rental company called a towing service, which unfortunately took three hours to arrive. Oh man! And then, contrary to the announcement, the tow truck didn't take me to a car rental station, but left me standing. During the wait, I had something to eat and got free coffee at a nearby gas station. A resident came out, saw the tow truck and my luggage, and offered to drive me to a hotel where she works, and tomorrow morning she will talk to the car rental company for me. Now I'm sitting here in the hotel thinking, 'Sh...!' But the most important thing is that there were no injuries. If I mess up the next car as well, I'll give up on the trip and stay put. Then I'll have to do the whole thing with a bus tour, even though I don't like that kind of thing. So keep your fingers crossed for me. Let the adventure begin!