This is going to be a relatively short post. 

I am so very busy putting together the last bits for our Scotland trip and yet I found myself reminiscing about a trip from a long while ago. 

In 2008, my mum took my brothers and I to the Dominican Republic. She has been before herself and always wanted us to go. It was, until that point, the furthest we had ever been from home. The weather was sticky and hot. The beaches were stunning. The pool was cool. 

And boy did it rain. Every other day the heavens opened, the floodgates opened and it rained cats and dogs. It wasn’t itty bitty rain, it was big stair-rod rain that forced its way through clouds and air to the ground. The lush greenery was evidence of its great power on the island. 

Whenever it rained, sun loungers would be thrown aside as people grabbed belongings and ran for shelter. Bodies would burst from the pool and into the dry doorways of hotel rooms. 

And it wasn’t until I started planning for Scotland that I saw how funny this practice was. 

People would get out of the pool because the rain would make them wet. 

Hysterical. 

Whilst planning Scotland, I have had to think about every eventuality when it comes to food, weather and clothing. We have hotels booked every night but to keep costs down we are taking about 90% of our food for the fortnight and have needed to be quite inventive in our approach to every travel aspect. Something we will be doing for the first time is wild swimming. We have invested in wetsuits and as a bigger girl this is something that I would usually avoid. Wetsuits are unforgiving when it comes to lumps and bumps. And yet I had a fuck it moment. 

The other day I was looking up the details of Loch Maree and made a mental note to pack a woolly hat to wear with the wetsuit so no heat escapes through my bonce. Good eh? I then made a small prayer that it wouldn’t rain while we were swimming… 

See where I’m going with this?

Heaven forbid it rains while we are in a body of water. 

And there you have it. We have come full circle from the Dominican Republic to the Scottish Highlands. Lovely.  I really think situations can be determined by your approach. Why run from the rain? Clothes dry, puddles evaporate, may as well make the most of it!