I seem to pick up a lot of people with some version of an English accent, and because I lived in Australia for two years and my great grandmother was from New Zealand, I always try to guess which country they may be from.  The Aussie accent has a little twang at the end, almost like they are asking a question as the tone in their voice goes up, however the country of origin could be any of the following: England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, South Africa, Scotland, Jamaica, Rhodesia, Australia, New Zealand, Bermuda and I’m sure I am missing some others.

It was only natural for me to ask Sherry*, as we started chatting, if she was from England (always the safest place to start).  I was wrong as she declared she was from Scotland!  As soon as she mentioned Scotland I was excited, as one of my favorite travel destinations was her homeland.  She mentioned that she was in Boston to celebrate the new direct flight from Boston to Edinburgh through Virgin Airlines. Sherry works for the Tourism Board of Scotland.

She asked me what had brought me to Scotland and why was it one of my favorite travel spots. I simply replied “LOCAL HERO!”  After hearing that, Sherry lit up and replied, “OMG, my boyfriend just turned me on to this movie from the mid-eighties.  He made me watch it before I came over here and I am so glad he did. I loved it as well.” I mentioned that my ex-wife and I had watched it in 1985 and were so intrigued by the people and the beautiful settings that we decided to travel to Edinburgh and drive across the country aimlessly with no set plans to try to discover the locations the movie was shot in.  Toward the end of our journey we stumbled onto the outdoor scenes, which are what we were interested in, and discovered where the indoor scenes were shot.

Traveling across Scotland with no plans or itinerary (other then our secret itinerary) was just so liberating. Other than great Scotch tastings along the way and truly friendly people, and golf, which I don’t play, I found Scotland to be wonderful and the food to be fantastic.  There were no shortage of sheep blocking the roadway along our travels and driving on the opposite side of the road added to the adventure and charm of the country.  Sherry was thrilled to hear my love of Scotland and was extremely excited about the new direct travel to Scotland from Boston.  It is interesting, but whenever I run into someone that has watched this magical little movie from the eighties I always have a great connection with them. Whether planning a trip to Scotland or not… If you can locate this cute movie about an American businessman in Scotland, you too will fall in love with it and who knows… perhaps you will find the motivation to head out there on a secret mission to locate the outdoor settings for this movie. If you do, I wish you only the best in your search!                 

*Names may have been changed to protect the innocent!!!

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