Traveling to the Isle of Islay is not something we do everyday, especially because it had cost us a whole day to get there. We flew from Amsterdam to Glasgow Airport, took a taxi to a busstop (a bit lazy, we know) and got on the bus to the ferry terminal in Kennacraig.

We knew there’s a small airport on Islay, but we have been told travelling by ferry is al lot more reliable, and maybe a bit cheaper too. For sure, we wouldn’t have missed a minute of the journey, amazed by the beautiful scenery the second we got out of Glasgow. Hyped by recognizing the names of whiskies and their distilleries and being surprised by how helpful everyone was.

That’s the main thing we’ve experienced, next to visiting distlleries and getting our daily dose of whisky. Every single person you talk to seems to be so relaxed, (almost) everything is possible and if you don’t finish the job today, “There’s always tomorrow”.

A very different mindset compared to our life back in the Netherlands, we can say we have very stressful jobs and we’re always in a rush. But the moment we arrived in Port Ellen, our blood pressure dropped to a more safer level. Is it the smell of whisky? Who knows…

There’s virtually no criminal activity on Islay, The Policestation in Port Ellen has been converted into different apartments and the nearest Policestation lies in Bowmore. You can run, but you can’t hide. And everyone is in such a good mood that you almost want to ask why? But then again, you’re on an Island that produces one of the finest whiskies in the world, the weather was nice for that time of the year, and ‘whisky tourists’ like us are happy to spend all our money on scotch and services. What’s not to love?