Another early morning. I awoke an hour before my alarm which was already set pretty early. I took the opportunity to take a long shower and properly wash and condition my hair and dry off with a real towel - luxuries you don't appreciate until you've spent a week in a dorm room with a quick dry towel and a shower just slightly bigger then a closet. After getting ready we headed down to the free hot breakfast at the hotel (another luxury) then called an Uber for a ride to the airport and our next adventure.
The plane to Islay (pronounced Eye-LAh) was tiny and the flight was a quick 25 minutes. We landed and didn't know what to do. I had hoped that there would be a couple taxis hanging out looking to give people rides but that was not the case. I thought about renting a car on the spot but wasn't thrilled with the prospect of driving on the wrong side of everything. The bus wouldn't arrive for another hour either and then we would miss the first tour at Laphroaig (lah-froy-ig). There was another American couple waiting there, the plane was almost entirely American, and I asked them how they were getting out of the airport. They said that the car rental guy called them a taxi. Car rental guy was no where to be found (and I later saw them and noticed they ended up renting a car). Then a man walked up to me and asked if I was looking for a taxi (yes) and where was I going (Laphroaig). He said sure I can give you a ride in my cab and we were off.
Another Scottish woman got in the front seat wearing an Ardbeg uniform and the driver told her he was giving us a ride to Laphroaig too. She said sure and began asking us what brought us there. The driver showed us the sights along the way and told us some of the history about the island. When he got us to Laphroaig be got out of the cab with us to make sure it was open before leaving, promising not to abandon us there, when one of the workers came out and said that they were opening soon. The fare was 15£ so I gave him a 20 and told him to keep the change as a thank you for helping us out. He was thrilled.
People said that if you only had time for one tour to do this one and I couldn't agree more. The shop was cute and had tons of stuff in it including an awesome cheddar cheese and chocolate truffles made with the scotch. The lounge was comfortable, the museum informative, and the drams (shot of scotch) unlimited. The tour was awesome as well. We got to see every step and room that is used in the process then at the end got a free glass and some scotch. I even found one that I liked! (I typically don't like peaty scotches).
After the tour and going through the museum we printed out EJ's "Friend of Laphroaig" certificate of land ownership with the coordinates of his square foot of land, he strapped on a pair of wellies, and off we went to find it and plant a flag.
I left climbing through the boggy marsh to plant the flag to EJ, it was his land after all. I watched from the road admiring the landscape of Islay and the friendliness of the local drivers who all waved as they went by. After washing off the wellies and getting our things we decided to head down the seaside whiskey trail to see what Lagavulin had going on.
The walk was really long but when the misty rain stopped and the sun came out it lit up the green hills and mountains around us. We even stopped for a moment to just soak up the sun that we had been missing for all these days.
Just over the crest of the hill there it was. The lovely white sign and red orange tower of Lagavulin. We made our way into the visitors center and I was extremely underwhelmed by it. There were only a few things on sale and a small paper sign saying that if you wanted to taste the anniversary edition just ask. So we asked and were led back into the living room area of the building. There the woman explained what all the special editions were and started pouring samples. She told us to grab a seat and get comfy then to help ourselves if we wanted more, leaving the bottles on the counter. I found the drinking area to be much more casual then Laphroaig where you either had to stand at the bar or walk back and forth to the seating area (although they do win out by having tea, coffee, and hot chocolate available). We sat there for a while and EJ tried all of them, some a few times.
Feeling warm from all the whisky and unsure of how to get a cab or bus back to the airport and with a few more hours to kill we decided to walk back to Laphroaig. They had a phone available for use to call a cab and I knew the bus would stop at their location (it turns out it stops in front of Lagavulin too).
The wind was so strong and the rain so misty. I didn't drink any of the whiskies so I was freezing. I stopped and put on my second coat, wrapped up my scarf tight, and even put on my gloves. EJ put on his second coat and hat (we later stopped again to put a scarf on him). We made it back to Laphroaig and unwrapped ourselves in the warmth of the sitting room. EJ had a few more drams and I made myself a lovely hot chocolate. The guide said that the bus would pick us up in front of the gate and that a bunch of the people there were planning on taking a cab back to the airport too. One of them, at the counter next to me, I recognized as one of the people on our flight this morning. He told me five of them were getting a cab together. EJ and I decided to go wait for the bus. It was misting and freezing when we saw the cab pull in. The driver waved and I thought wow he looks familiar.
A few more minutes and the bus was no where to be found and we were getting wetter by the minute. The cab came back up the driveway and stopped, the Japanese guy from my morning flight rolled down the window and asked if we wanted to take the cab with them. We climbed in, thankful to be out of the rain, and sure enough it was the same driver as this morning! He asked us how the tour was and we told him how much we had enjoyed our time on Islay. On the way back he pointed out the sites to the Japanese guy in the passenger seat. When we got to the airport we sat together with him and a couple from Singapore and talked about work and our travels.
A quick flight back, we grabbed a cab back to the hotel. The driver asked where all our bags were and we told him that we were in Islay just for the day. "Ah! The wee island!" He said. He told us how we should come back in the summer to play golf and go cycling, then how he has climbed every mountain in the area including Islay. After he dropped us off we found a place to eat near our hotel after we realized that we hadn't eaten since 6am this morning. We ended up at this burger, BBQ, steak place called Meat which was amazing!! It was a delicious end to an amazing day. The friendliness of the Scots is truly amazing.
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