Scotland is small, green, and rainy, but oh so beautiful. We flew into Edinburgh from Stansted Airport in London on Easy Jet, rented a car and drove from Edinburgh to St. Andrews along the coastal route. Stunning!

There are picturesque stone walls everywhere with beautiful green rolling hills that meet thick forests.

Along the drive, we passed the historic fishing harbor in Pittenweem and stopped for lunch in Anstruther for their famous Fish n Chips at The Waterfront Restaurant. Mighty tasty!

St. Andrews.

Beautiful historic town, where every street is lined with golf stores, pubs and restaurants. As I’m sure you know, St. Andrews is known for it’s golf, so naturally that was our focus here…

The Old and New Courses are stunning and full of so much history, which is no surprise considering St. Andrews is the Home of Golf. Fun fact: St. Andrews is open to the public so anyone can walk on the course during play. Apparently, one local woman takes this literally and comes out to the course once a month to wash her cloths in the stream. Interesting, I know. However, this also meant that I was able to walk along the course while Michael played and it was a treat just to do that!

Also, in terms of weather, the wind and rain are always expected here and just part of the challenge, so be prepared and bundle up! Thankfully, the weather changes so quickly from the strong winds that the rain and sun combine at times, as you see below.

We also visited the Kingsbarn Distillery which is a new distillery just outside St. Andrews and has pretty tasty scotch. 

For those looking to do something else besides golf, each morning I ran along the beach, right next to both the old and new courses. Absolutely beautiful. Actually looked a bit like Cap Cod on the East Coast of the U.S. 

After we were “golfed out”, we took a quick tour through town then wrapped up our visit with a walk through St. Andrews Cathedral.

2015 Bucket List Complete:

• Michael played golf at St. Andrews! (Better luck next time, babe!)
• I technically “played” St. Andrews 🙂

Next Time: 

• I want to actually play St. Andrews – Unfortunately, you need a handicap to play there, which is why I was only allowed on the putting green. Next time!
• Play Kingsbarn Golf Course
• Stay at the Old Course Hotel (Part of the Leading Hotels Group)
• Come for The Open and have lunch at the Road Hotel Restaurant overlooking the 17th hole

Pro:

• Gorgeous landscape 
• Lots of history, especially for golf fans!

Con:

• Still pretty expensive, but not as bad as London.
• Bad allergies!

Tip:

• For driving on the left side of the road, remember: “Wife in the gutter.”

• Have a beer at Jigger Inn on the 17th hole and watch the golfers

• If you’re with someone that’s golfing, tee off with them on the 1st hole, then meet them for the 17th and 18th hole to get the iconic shot on the famous bridge. 

• All the funny Scottish names are pronounced phonetically
• If you don’t play golf, or want to do something fun, they have a public putting green called The Himalayans that you can play on in between the Old and New Courses.

Fun Fact:

• Saw Tom Watson play golf and bagpipes welcome him on the 18th green after completely his round. 

• I got to putt on the green so technically I “played” at St. Andrews, but sadly couldn’t for real since you need a handicap. Next time! We were there a month before The Open so there were grand stands everywhere – So cool! Reminded me of the BMW Championship, but on a higher level.
• The University of St. Andrews is where Prince William and Duchess Kate went to college and met!