Scottish Things That Make Me Go Hmmm

My family took an awesome vacation to Scotland this summer. There was scenery, stories, and salmon. Pints in the pub and hikes through the heather.

It was amazing!

We had talked about making this trip for years as a way to celebrate that our kids achieved milestone graduations in 2025–my son from college and my daughter from high school. Both my husband and I have Scottish ancestry, too, so it was a win to honor both sides of the family tree.

Plus, they speak in English in Scotland and, as typical Americans, we only speak English ourselves.

(Forgive me, Señora García , for my inability to pick up Español after 4 years of high school Spanish!)

We spent three nights in Edinburgh and four nights in the Scottish Highlands. There was also one night on a plane traveling to Scotland and a surprise (!) night in Long Island, New York after a ground stop at JFK on the way home.

While in Scotland, there were several things that made me go “Hmm.” And as my dear readers know from years past, I enjoy sharing things that make me go “Hmm.”

Here is the Scottish version of things that make me go “Hmm.” Aye!

Blood pudding

My goodness, this stuff is weird. It’s a kind of breakfast sausage made primarily from blood (usually pig’s blood), fat, and a cereal like oatmeal or barley.

The blood gives it a creepy dark color.

It was served almost everyday at breakfast.

My son tried it and found it dry. I tried a bite and will happily pass on blood pudding, oh, forever.

Where are the eggs?

Speaking of breakfast, my family had to pop into a local store near our Edinburgh AirBnB to procure our own breakfast supplies.

(Obviously, we passed on the blood pudding.)

But we couldn’t find the eggs. We looked all over the dairy cases.

Until we found all the egg cartons just stacked on an open shelf, outside the refrigerated dairy cases.

Huh? I guess if an egg isn’t refrigerated upon being spit out a chicken’s hoo-hoo then the Scots don’t think it should be chilled in store.

A plethora of doubles and a dearth of top sheets

Another Scottish thing that made me go “hmm” was their fondness for double-sized beds, not queens or kings. Together with a lack of a top sheet on any bed we stayed in, whether we were at a hotel, bed and breakfast, or AirBnB.

Yup, we crammed our big bodies into cozy doubles everywhere we went and just slept under a duvet in its duvet cover, our feet flying about uncovered in the night as we tossed and turned. And then there was me, throwing the duvet off, then on, then off, then on as I struggled to find the right sleeping temperature.

I craved my American top sheet, which would have been the perfect weight to sleep under during the summer weather vs. a duvet.

I’ll bring my own top sheet next time.

Condition this

My son and I both have wavy hair, which makes conditioner our friend.

Alas, there was no conditioner in sight in the Scottish Highlands.

For four nights, we roughed it with just shampoo, looking all over our ensuite bathrooms for conditioner and finding nothing but more shampoo.

I guess the unmatched beauty of the Highlands is enough to tame the Highlanders’ hairstyles?

Red Squirrels

The last thing I’ll mention about Scotland that makes me go “hmm” was their support of red squirrels.

The rusty rat-like creatures are endangered there, so there were signs aplenty to watch out for and protect the red squirrels.

What made me go “hmm” about this was the fact that we have a family of red squirrels happily living their best lives in our backyard here in Michigan. And they are a bit pesky, loud and prolific.

Maybe I’ll ship a few of the young ones over to Scotland.

Along with some conditioner and top sheets.

There you have it, the Scottish version of things that make me go “hmm”.

You know what else makes me go “hmm”?

Knowing that I still have much more to see and do in Scotland, a truly beautiful and amazing country.

I’ll be back!