Bold Brigand Update

Operation Bold Brigand continues, here in my island paradise. Here's an update on some of the things I've worked on this week.

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Arabic:

I got a lot of Arabic done early in the week, and lapsed a bit after that. I did three reviews of my Emirati vocabulary, and listened to a podcast and a half from BBC Xtra. I'm writing this post late Sunday morning, so hopefully by the time I actually post it, I'll have completed a third listening exercise.

Physical Training:

Moving right along...

Business Development:

This week's big accomplishment was to submit around thirty-five job applications. The job market being what it is, I find myself forced to cast a fairly wide net, both geographically and professionally. It feels really tedious, but it's necessary. I'm also recording some more tracks for some more honesty trace work.

Writing Projects:

I spent a lot of time on writing projects last week. I made some major progress on my dissertation follow-up by getting a tentative outline made out; then distributing stuff from what I call the "Weasel Bin" - stuff I didn't use in the final product - into that outline; and finally, by reverting my finished product back into a sort of manuscript format (mainly to make the citations easier to work with), and then distributing that into the outline as well. In doing the last bit, I discovered a few errors with some of my citations, so I painstakingly back-checked them and fixed the errors so that I now have what I believe to be an error-free manuscript to use as a writing sample. My tentative outline is as follows:

CHAPTER 1: A LESSON OVERLOOKED

CHAPTER 2: AUSTERITY, REBELLION, AND RENAISSANCE
2.1 MUSCAT AND OMAN BEFORE 1970
2.2 THE DHOFAR REBELLION, 1970-'76
2.3 THE OMANI RENAISSANCE POST 1976

CHAPTER 3: HUMAN TERRAIN
3.1 HUMAN TERRAIN IN DHOFAR
3.1.1 COHERENT MISSION AND OPERATIONAL MANDATE
3.1.1.1 OPERATIONS FACILITATE POLITICAL GOALS
3.1.2 CREDIBLE HOST NATION ACTOR
3.1.3 CONTROL OF INFORMATION
3.1.3.1 STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
3.1.3.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS
3.1.3.3 OPERATIONAL SECURITY
3.1.3.4 INTELLIGENCE COLLECTION
3.2 COHERENT MISSION AND OPERATIONAL MANDATE
3.2.1 OPERATIONS FACILITATE POLITICAL GOALS
3.3 CREDIBLE HOST NATION ACTOR
3.4 CONTROL OF INFORMATION
3.4.1 STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
3.4.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS
3.4.3 OPERATIONAL SECURITY
3.4.4 INTELLIGENCE COLLECTION
3.4.4.1 HUMAN INTELLIGENCE
3.4.4.2 SIGNALS INTELLIGENCE
3.4.4.3 GEOSPATIAL INTELLIGENCE

CHAPTER 4: PHYSICAL TERRAIN
4.1 PHYSICAL TERRAIN IN DHOFAR
4.1.1 COMMENSURATE FORCE STRENGTH
4.1.1.1 GEOGRAPHY-DETERMINANT
4.1.1.2 POPULATION-DETERMINANT
4.1.2 INTERDICTION OF INSURGENT LOGISTICS
4.1.3 DENIAL OF INSURGENT MANEUVER
4.2 COMMENSURATE FORCE STRENGTH
4.2.1 GEOGRAPHY-DETERMINANT
4.2.2 POPULATION-DETERMINANT
4.3 INTERDICTION OF INSURGENT LOGISTICS
4.4 DENIAL OF INSURGENT MANEUVER

CHAPTER 5: INTEGRATING FACTORS
5.1 INTEGRATING FACTORS IN DHOFAR
5.1.1 ORGANIC LANGUAGE CAPABILITIES
5.1.2 EFFECTIVE SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCE EMPLOYMENT
5.1.3 EFFECTIVE LOGISTICS
5.1.3.1 LINGUISTS/INTERPRETERS
5.1.3.2 FIELD CONDITIONS
5.1.3.3 FORCE PROTECTION
5.1.3.4 VEHICLE/MATERIEL PROCUREMENTS
5.1.3.5 SMALL ARMS
5.1.3.5.1 COALITION SMALL ARMS
5.1.3.5.2 DHOFARI SMALL ARMS AND MARKSMANSHIP
5.1.4 AVIATION OPERATIONS
5.2 ORGANIC LANGUAGE CAPABILITIES
5.3 EFFECTIVE SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCE EMPLOYMENT
5.4 EFFECTIVE LOGISTICS
5.4.1 LINGUISTS/INTERPRETERS
5.4.2 FIELD CONDITIONS
5.4.3 FORCE PROTECTION
5.4.4 VEHICLE/MATERIEL PROCUREMENTS
5.4.5 SMALL ARMS
5.4.5.1 COALITION SMALL ARMS
5.4.5.2 AFGHAN SMALL ARMS AND MARKSMANSHIP
5.4.6 DEFENSE AND SECURITY CONTRACTORS
5.5 AVIATION OPERATIONS

CHAPTER 6: STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS
6.1 STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS IN DHOFAR
6.2 OPERATIONAL CONCEPTS VERSUS GRAND STRATEGY
6.3 GRAND STRATEGIC LESSONS
6.3.1 CLAUSEWITZIAN TRINITY
6.3.2 POPULATION- VERSUS ENEMY-CENTRICITY
6.3.3 MULTINATIONAL PARTNERS
6.3.4 DISENGAGEMENT VERSUS COMMITMENT
6.3.5 INEFFECTIVE ENEMY
6.4 DHOFAR'S LESSONS FOR REGIONALLY ALIGNED FORCES

CHAPTER 7: PROSPECTS

CHAPTER 8: BIBLIOGRAPHY

So, I'll continue to work on that and other projects this week, preferably with less anal retentive obsession than I found myself demonstrating last week.

World War I Research:

I sort of slacked on the World War I research last week. I have a couple of E-mails and calls to return and some data farming to do this week, so I may try to spend a couple of mornings focused on that in order to feel a bit "caught up". This project is really important to me, but it's also one for which there's less of a deadline or coherent end state, which gives me a bit of flexibility.

Special Projects:

I have yet to do a Demobilization Packing Test. I'll likely do laundry on Monday, and then do a packing test later Monday or Tuesday - it doesn't make sense to do the test without the stuff with which to do the test. One project I did some work on was to put some new clothes into online shopping carts through Amazon, Carhartt, and 5.11. At the moment, all three seem to be out of most of the clothes in my size and my preferred colors, so that'll be sort of interesting if I can't get them lined up before I come home.

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One thing I did that wasn't on the list was to take the night time bus out to St. Margaret's Hope. It's the first time I'd ever crossed the barriers at night, and what I could see was beautiful, although the lights on the bus made it difficult to see very much. I've tended to stay in Kirkwall for most of my stay in Orkney, but I need to make a point of going to see some other sights - and some other islands - over the next few weeks. My big goals are North Ronaldsay and Westray, and the Scapa Flow Visitor Centre and Museum at Lyness on Hoy. Perhaps I'll do one of those this week.

Bold Brigand: Revisiting the Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is located south of Portsmouth, across a body of water known as The Solent - not to be confused with "Soylent Green", which is allegedly people. To the best of my recollection, I first became aware of the Isle of Wight in 2003 while doing intensive research into the Roman conquest of Britannia. During the first century invasion of southern Britannia as ordered by Emperor Claudius, the Isle of Wight - "Vectis" - was conquered by a Roman officer named Vespasianus, who would later become Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus Augustus, the ninth emperor of the Roman Empire. Suetonius records:

"In the reign of Claudius he was sent in command of a legion to Germania, through the influence of Narcissus; from there he was transferred to Britannia, where he fought thirty battles with the enemy. He reduced to subjection two powerful nations, more than twenty towns, and the island of Vectis [The Isle of Wight], near Britannia, partly under the leadership of Aulus Plautius, the consular governor, and partly under that of Claudius himself. For this he received the triumphal regalia."
- Suetonius, The Life of the Deified Vespasian, ch. IV

Being the Roman history aficionado that I was back in 2004, I determined to visit the Isle of Wight. In early August, I arranged digs for a couple of days and took first the train, then the ferry, then another train, to get to a town called Shanklin on the southeast end of the island. One of the fascinating things about the rail line on the Isle of Wight - a mere shadow of its former self - is that it uses retired coaches from the London Underground. So, if you love the Tube, but hate London, then the Isle of Wight is the place for you!

As in 2004, I stayed at the Avenue Hotel. It's fairly centrally located, only about ten minutes walk from all of the "action" in Shanklin. Not that there's actually much "action" in Shanklin. While it's theoretically a big tourist destination, it doesn't seem that much actually happens there - as evidenced by the fact that the Bon Jovi concert from the 16th of June was still being advertised on buses in late September. That's part of Shanklin's charm, I suppose; and it's allegedly part of what drew the likes of Charles Darwin, among others, to the island during the nineteenth century. At any rate, the Avenue was just how I remembered it: friendly staff, comfortable rooms, big disused rear courtyard, and a great breakfast.

One big difference was that, in 2004, the Isle of Wight was about ten degrees cooler than the weather where I was living (and working with Pockets). That was quite a welcome change, as it was wayyyyyy too hot where I was staying. This time around it was really warm and humid - not thrilling. I wandered around a bit more this time around than I did the last time, but didn't wander all the way down to the Esplanade - I got a look at it from above, which was quite sufficient. On the other hand, I wandered entirely by chance into a pub called Indy's, operated by Emilee, better known as "Indy" owing to her longstanding obsession with Indiana Jones; and her mother, Lorraine. I enjoyed a couple of long chats with Lorraine, and a couple of regulars named Mark and John.

After a couple of nights in Shanklin, it was time to return to my island paradise. The time spent in Shanklin was bittersweet, as I remembered some good times I had there, as well as some of the less fortunate fallout that followed my departure from the United Kingdom. I'd wanted to revisit the Isle of Wight, sure; but in some ways, I wanted to overwrite some of those memories from 2004. Even though I visited some of the same places where I'd wandered all those years ago, I think that the new memories will prevail... To include a great memory of an Isle of Wight beer called Undercliff Experience from the Yates Brewery. Thanks, Avenue Hotel and Indy's for making my repeat trip to the Isle of Wight one to remember. As to whether I ever wind up making it back... I suppose only time will tell.

Bold Brigand: Royal Marines Museum

When I arrived in England in 2004, the first tourist attraction I visited was the Royal Marines Museum. In the course of two visits that summer, I bought two T-shirts, one of which is now hilariously undersized, the other having mysteriously disappeared from Globetrotters Hostel in Dublin. (Unfortunately, the latter is no longer available - and it was the awesome blue one, too! Dagnabbit!) Anyway, as I was going to be passing through Portsmouth anyway... Sort of... I went to the Royal Marines Museum! With about fifty pounds of kit on my back! Just like a yomp, except I took a cab!

The Royal Marines Museum is awesome - easily one of the best museums I've ever been to. It resides in the former Royal Marines barracks in Eastney, a neighborhood of Portsmouth not so far from the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard - also worth your time if you get an opportunity. I remember back in July of 2004, when I insisted that I'd been to Eastney, and several of my employers insisted that I meant Eastleigh. I did not, in fact, mean Eastleigh. At any rate, there are a number of great exhibits throughout the museum, beginning with the formation of the Royal Marines in the 1600's and ending with current operations in Afghanistan. While I was disappointed that operations in Iraq were largely skimmed over, I was thrilled to see that both the Jebel Akhdar War and the Dhofar Rebellion were mentioned, as was an early 1960's operation in Kuwait about which I'd never heard at all, even once, in my entire life. My one gripe was with their SA80 simulator, the sighting for which was off, and the plastic/glass for which hadn't been cleaned in ages. Aside from that, it was great to review some of the old exhibits (including the talking Hannah Snell mannequin, using a projector that's probably been running non-stop since I last saw it in 2004); and, as before, my favorite bit in the whole museum was this gem at the very beginning, trying to put a positive spin on the American Revolution:

"The war raged on for a further 8 years involving battles on sea and land. Peace and defeat came for the British in 1783 and the new republican nation of the United States of America made its triumphant military commander, General George Washington, the first President."

Bam. We nailed it. And by "we", I mean America.

I bought myself another shirt - the green one, as the blue one isn't available anymore... drat! - and was on my way, after taking a few more pictures. One of those was of the legendary "Yomper" statue, dedicated by Baroness Thatcher and commemorating the Royal Marines' 1982 yomp across East Falkland. You can see an overhead shot of The Yomper statue here. And then, with my fifty pounds worth of kit, I got into another cab and headed to the ferry terminal for the next leg of Operation Bold Brigand.

But wait! There was one more thing! As the cab was pulling away from the museum's "car park" (parking lot), we saw a Trafalgar class fast attack submarine pulling out of Portsmouth harbor! It was quite obviously a Trafalgar class sub, because the new Astute class submarines look completely different, and the Vanguard class ballistic missile subs are all based up at HM Naval Base Clyde, outside Glasgow. Suh-weet! With that, I was off to the Isle of Wight.

Keep Calm and Carry On: September Carries On

Wow. It's been a wild couple of weeks. Here's what I've been up to.

1) I spent a few days in Orkney. I stayed at the Stromness Hotel, did a little exploring around Stromness, conducted a bit of business in Kirkwall, and started putting a few preliminary roots down.

2) From there, I went to Bournemouth for a two week close protection/personal security detail/bodyguarding course. I took the course through a company called Titas, Ltd., and will be discussing it in more detail both here and on the JTS blog. On my way to Bournemouth, I swung through one of my old haunts and met one of my former associates, Pockets, for dinner and a walk around the area. It was really envigorating, partly because less has changed around there since I left than has changed in my own hometown during the same period.

3) Leaving Bournemouth, I went to Portsmouth to make a run at the Royal Marines Museum before heading across the Solent to the Isle of Wight. I visited the Isle of Wight in 2004 and wanted to sort of "overwrite" some old memories. That mission was successful.

4) From the Isle of Wight, it was another long travel day to get back to Aberdeen in order to sort a few things out. I was fortunate to see some dear friends in the process.

As I write this, I'm on my way back up to Orkney. I'm sort of a transient at the moment, but I should have housing sorted out in a few days. Once I'm done bouncing from place to place, I'll be able to get to work on some projects that will lend some purpose to my time in Orkney. My plans for what I'm calling Operation Bold Brigand (after an old Spin Doctors song) are ambitious, but if I can get some work done on any of them, I can consider my time in Orkney an overwhelming success... But more on those later.

I realize that it's been quite a while since I blogged regularly. I promise, I'll be back with some excellent posts within the next week or so. Stay tuned.

Contrarian Rules for Travel

I've travelled a lot over the last few years, particularly in 2003, 2004, and from 2010 to present. A few weeks ago, a buddy of mine posted this link on Facebook. I thought I'd have a look and add my two cents.

1. Don’t check luggage. If you’re bringing that much stuff with you, you’re doing something wrong.

I disagree. Different people travel differently, and if you're flying somewhere, chances are that you can't fit enough stuff for, say, a two week trip into a carry-on. Laundry is also either tough to do while you're travelling, or else expensive to have someone else do it for you, or else a waste of time. When I travel, I try to give myself at least a week's worth of stuff.

That said, unless you're travelling for the long term - say, a month or more - one rucksack/suitcase should be enough to get you through. In 2003, I made the mistake of taking a day pack crammed full of crap, and a seabag crammed full of crap. It was a mistake, and I made it home without using more than about two thirds of what I took (and almost nothing from that day pack). Kit like tablets and smart phones have made it a bit easier over the last few years, as you don't have to carry so much weight in order to stay connected or do some recreational reading. I've never had the chance to actually read it, but a good friend of mine once recommended The Complete Walker by Colin Fletcher, which should serve as a guide to packing to be light and effective.

For the record, I've gotten much better over the years. My 2012 trip to Muscat and Beirut (about eight days) and my recent trip to Paris involved only my Arc'Teryx Echo Pack and a light day pack, while my trips to Orkney and Shetland involved only my 5.11 Rush MOAB 10 and a small laundry bag.

2. Instead of doing a TON of stuff. Pick one or two things, read all about those things and then actually spend time doing them. Research shows that you’ll enjoy an experience more if you’ve put effort and time into bringing it about. So I’d rather visit two or three sights that I’ve done my reading on and truly comprehend than I would seeing a ton of stuff that goes right in and out of my brain. (Oh, and never feel “obligated” to see the things everyone says you have to)

That's good advice.

3. Take long walks.

Definitely, but be careful. Long walks are great if you're wearing the right clothes and your body is in shape for it. As I demonstrated in Shetland, and previously in my 2012 trip to Beirut, you can do a lot of damage to your legs by walking unprepared, and it can really compromise the enjoyability of your trip.

4. Stop living to relive. What are you taking all these pictures for? Oh, for the memories? Then just look at it and remember it. Experience the present moment. (Not that you can’t take photos but try to counteract the impulse to look at the world through your iPhone screen)

Hogwash. In fact, I tend to be more interested in the pictures I bring back from a trip than I am in most of the souvenirs I might pick up. That said, there's a happy medium between taking no pictures, and taking too many pictures.

5. Read books, lots of books. You’re finally in a place where no one can interrupt you or call you into meetings and since half the television stations will be in another language...use it as a chance to do a lot of reading.

There's some wisdom in this, but don't overdo it. Item #10 talks about "not wasting an hour of your life in a lame hotel gym" - in the same way, there's a happy medium for doing something like reading that you could do anywhere. I remember my 2004 trip to Scotland and Ireland, and I read some great books on that trip, but I also left plenty of time to go out and actually see stuff in both countries. One of my favorite ways of approaching this is to allocate time at the end of each day to read - it's a great way to unwind from a day of touring.

6. Eat healthy. Enjoy the cuisine for sure, but you’ll enjoy the place less if you feel like a slob the whole time. (To put it another way, why are you eating pretzels on the airplane?)

There's some wisdom in this.

7. Try to avoid guidebooks, which are superficial at best and completely wrong at worst. I’ve had a lot more luck pulling up Wikipedia, and looking at the list of National (or World) Historical Register list for that city and swinging by a few of them. Better yet, I’ve found a lot cooler stuff in non-fiction books and literature that mentioned the cool stuff in passing. Then you Google it and find out where it is.

There's a lot of wisdom in this, but guidebooks deserve their due - particularly for the time before the Internet became omnipresent, when guidebooks were the best or only way to get information about where to stay, where to eat, and what to do. I've had some great guidebooks, as recently as 2012; my guidebook for Beirut, however, was useless.

8. I like to go and stand on hallowed ground. It’s humbling and makes you a better person. Try it. (My personal favorite is battlefields–nothing is more eery or quiet or peaceful)

Agreed. Some of my favorite memories are from places like St. Magnus Cathedral in Orkney, or the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat.

9. Come up with a schedule that works for you and get settled into it as soon as possible. You’re going to benefit less from your experiences if you’re scrambled, exhausted and inefficient. Me, I get up in the morning early and run. Then I work for a few hours. Then I roll lunch and activities into a 3-4 hour block where I am away from work and exploring the city I’m staying it. Then I come back, work, get caught up, relax and then eventually head out for a late dinner. In almost every time zone I’ve been in, this seems to be the ideal schedule to a) enjoy my life b) Not actually count as “taking time off.” No one feels that I am missing. And it lets me extend trips without feeling stressed or needing to rush home.

There's a lot of wisdom in this, and it ties back into Item #2 - don't try to overdo it.

10. When you’re traveling to a new city, the first thing you should do when you get to the hotel is change into your work out clothes and go for a long run. You get to see the sights, get a sense of the layout and then you won’t waste an hour of your life in a lame hotel gym either.

I don't run, but the sentiment makes sense (and ties back into Item #3). That said, it's important to be careful when running, walking, or otherwise navigating a new city. I've been to several places where my inclination toward a vigorous constitutional wound up taking me through neighborhoods I probably would have done well to avoid - for example, in central Beirut, where I saw posters of Bashar al Assad during the Arab Spring.

11. Never recline your seat on an airplane. Yes, it gives you more room–but ultimately at the expense of someone else. In economics, they call this an externality. It’s bad. Don’t do it.

Amen. There's a special place in hell for people who recline their airplane seats.

12. Stay in weird-ass hotels. Sometimes they can suck but the story is usually worth it. A few favorites: A hotel that was actually a early 20th-century luxury train car, a castle in Germany, the room where Gram Parsons died in Palm Desert, a hotel in Arizona where John Dillinger was arrested, and a hotel built by Wild Bill Hickok.

Yeah... But be careful. I've also had some great experiences with hostels, but you have to have presence of mind and attention to detail.

13. Read the historical markers–*actually* read them, don’t skim. They tend to tell you interesting stuff.

A lot of that stuff is pretty boring. The truth hurts. This is why it helps to research what you want to see before arriving at your destination.

14. Add some work component to your travel if you can. Then you can write it all off on your taxes (or better, be paid for the whole thing).

This is easier said than done. Also, if the whole point of your trip is to decompress from work, it doesn't help to take your work with you. I'm a workoholic, so the fact that I'm saying that should count for a lot.

15. Don’t waste time and space packing things you MIGHT need but could conceivably buy there. Remember, it costs money (time, energy, patience) to carry pointless things around. (Also, most hotels will give you razors, toothbrushes, toothpaste and other toiletries.)

Again, there's a happy medium. See Item #1.

16. Go see weird shit. It makes you think, shake your head, or at least, laugh. (For instance, did you know that there is a camel buried in the soldier’s cemetery at Vicksburg?)

So, basically, see stuff that's interesting. Seems pretty straightforward, really.

17. Ignore the temptation to a) talk and tell everyone about your upcoming trip b) spend months and months planning. Just go. Get comfortable with travel being an ordinary experience in your life and you’ll do it more. Make it some enormous event, and you’re liable to confuse getting on a plane with an accomplishment by itself.

I'm torn on this one. Travel should count for something. It should be special. Making it routine, or an "ordinary experiencce in your life", has the potential to make it less special, and nobody wants that.

18. Regarding museums, I like Tyler Cowen’s trick about pretending you’re a thief who is casing the joint. It changes how you perceive and remember the art. Try it.

Okay, odd...

19. Don’t upgrade your phone plan to international when you leave the country. Not because it saves money but because it’s a really good excuse to not use your cellphone for a while. (And if you need to call someone, try Google Voice. It’s free)

Good advice. When I travel, I tend to tell people that I'll be "off the reservation for a while". It's nice to have some solitude every now and again.

20. Explore cool places inside the United States. The South is beautiful and chances are you haven’t seen most of it. There’s all sorts of weird history and wonderful things that your teachers never told you about. Check it out, a lot of it is within a drive of a day or two.

There's a lot of truth to this. I've had two really cool road trips in the last few years that took me across the entire United States, first going east, and then going back west. I was on a tight schedule both times, but I had some great experiences and saw some gorgeous country. I try to convince my British friends of this, but it seems like every Brit I talk to is obsessed with either New York, Florida, or both. Seriously? There's so much more to America than New York and Florida.

21. OK, this one's from me, just because it's so much fun. Take pictures of yourself jumping in different places! It can turn a boring "adult" afternoon into a giddy kid-like experience. The below is from Burning Man 2010.

I'm not sure about jumping (or Burning Man), but it's important to take picture of yourself, and having a playful type of picture that you take at least one of on every trip, can be fun. (I tend to travel alone, so my ability to pose is limited.)

Any thoughts or tips of your own? Leave 'em in the comments.

Weekend Down South: Hadrian's Wall

Two weekends after my now-infamous debacle in Shetland, I rolled down south to visit Captain John and his lovely and gracious Household Six. I met the Captain and HH6 in Florence, Italy in April of 2003, and visited them at their home in Orkney in September of 2004. It was Captain John who introduced me to the island paradise that I love so much. On the occasion of Captain John's retirement, they did a road trip across the southern United States, and spent a couple of days hanging out with me in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Gray 1 helped me to reestablish contact with the Cap'n during my triumphant return to Orkney. The Cap'n and I pinged back and forth during my ill-fated Shetland trip, as he had some experience with Shetland earlier in his life - he could identify with my plight! Before the Easter Holiday (which was too long), I touched base with Captain John and we decided on a weekend for me to come down to visit.

The Cap'n and HH6 left Orkney a few years ago to retire outside Lockerbie. The Cap'n picked me up from the train station, and the three of us enjoyed an evening together. The next morning, we got ourselves sorted out and headed for Northumberland, to the tiny area of Once Brewed/Twice Brewed. Our mission: to rendezvous with their daughter and granddaughter, and to see Hadrian's Wall. For those of you who are unschooled in Roman history, Hadrian's Wall was built during the reign of Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus Augustus - you know, Hadrian. It marks the border between the Roman province of Britannia - present-day England - and the untamed frontier of Caledonia - present-day Scotland. Of course, England now stretches further north than the original line of demarcation, but the border region has shifted a bit over the course of recorded history. The wall stretched from what is now Newcastle in the east, to what is now Carlisle in the west.

Our first stop was the Roman fort at Birdoswald, which we followed with a quick run out to a parking area for another quick photo op. Then, it was off to the Twice Brewed Inn for a lovely lunch with the Cap'n and HH6's daughter and granddaughter. After a while, as the granddaughter started to get a bit squirrely, we helped them to relocate to a more private area of the inn, and then Cap'n John and I set out for a bit of a bona fide adventure.

Aside from the wall itself, this particularly hilly area of Northumberland near One Brewed/Twice Brewed boasts two major landmarks: Milecastle 39, and a sycamore tree that was featured in an early scene of the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Fans of the film may remember a scene when Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman have just landed in a rowboat that somehow got them from the Holy Land to the English coast, and they rescue some kids that Alan Rickman's goons have just treed for poaching or something. Captain John noted, with his trademark grin, that they would have had a pretty long walk from the English coast, since the tree in question is located pretty much equidistant from either coast. Roman historians will remember that Hadrian's Wall featured a number of small and large forts that were built into the wall itself. Milecastle 39 is an example of the smaller type.

After leaving Orkney in 2004, my wanderings took me down to Carlisle, where I had hoped to see Hadrian's Wall. Unfortunately for me, I learned upon arriving in Carlisle that the western end of the Wall has long since disintegrated, as it was made out of turf due to a shortage of stone with which to build. (On the plus side, I had a fantastic dinner and saw some really cute waitresses at the Ristorante Adriano, so the sojourn wasn't a complete bust.) Given my earlier near miss, I was thrilled at the opportunity to have a bit of a hike and chew the proverbial fat with the Cap'n, and to see such well preserved ruins (and, y'know, the Robin Hood tree). It was a great way to spend a day out with the Cap'n and HH6, not to mention seeing signs directing us toward a village that shares its name with the colloquial phrase for a specific intimate act performed while the participants are travelling in a motor vehicle. (I'll admit it, my internal monologue snickered uncontrollably at that one, and I brought the Cap'n in on the joke later on.)

Of course, the weekend was just getting started.

Riding The Aberdeenshire Circuit

Navigator and I went to the Highland Games in Inverness on Saturday. On Sunday, it was time for a road trip, and my first occasion to drive on the island of Great Britain since 2004 - in a vehicle with a manual transmission, no less! I got the "hire"/rental car all sorted out, picked Navigator up, and we were off. We had a look at an old Michelin map of Scotland that I'd purchased for my original Scottish adventure in 2004, agreed upon an agenda for the day, fueled up the car, and set out on a southward course on the A90.

Our first stop was RAF Edzell. Edzell is technically located outside Aberdeenshire in what was once Angus County, but which now falls under the purview of the Tayside council district. My buddy Chops was once stationed there while serving in the United States Navy. Mere days after my arrival in Aberdeen, I received the following message (with a Google Maps link) from Chops:

Your mission, while you're over there, is to find this building. I lived in room 13C of Campbell Hall. I doubt it's still called that, and I'm somewhat dubious the building even still stands. If you get some time, eventually, travel down there and take pictures of the barracks. No hurry. Just figured you'd probably get a chance to look at it before I will.
- chops

It probably took us just under an hour to get to Edzell. I'd programmed waypoints into my GPS handset before heading out to get the car, and once we'd used it to find the location Chops had given me, we got a couple of pictures and were on our way. One of my best friends from my undergraduate days bore the last name "Strachan", which I've also seen on some vans running around Aberdeen at one point or another. Our route from Point B to Point D ran through the village of Strachan, so I got a couple of pictures of street signs to send to him. On the way, we saw some fantastic scenery, so we got stopped for photo ops a couple of times. From there, Strachan, it was on to Balmoral Castle.

Located on the banks of the River Dee, tucked away into a well forested area, Balmoral Castle is actually the royal family's hunting lodge and home in Scotland. (This is to say, it's not actually much of a castle.) It was built in the days of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Despite it being a very warm day, we enjoyed a leisurely walk from the front gates to the settlement. In all honesty, it struck me as more of a tourist attraction than anything particularly conducive to either hunting or use as a royal holiday home, but it's a beautiful site. Navigator had wanted to go see it, and although I'd heard the place mentioned, I wouldn't have gone to see it if it hadn't been for meeting her.

The last leg of our trip was from Balmoral Castle to the Stonehead Croft. A "croft" is a small holding, essentially a small plot of land operated as a farm. The Stonehead Croft is located outside the Aberdeenshire village of Insch, near the neolithic Stonehead Circle and Dunnideer Castle. Stonehead/"Stoney" has been blogging in one form or another for nearly nineteen years. I discovered the blog when I was living in Virginia, though I don't remember how. Since I was planning on coming to Aberdeen, and since Stoney writes on such interesting topics that I've had no exposure to anywhere else, I've always found his writing interesting. I won't reveal the exact location of the croft in a futile attempt to protect the family's privacy; for my part, I used Wikimapia to compare the roofs and layouts of the farm buildings in the general vicinity of those two archaeological sites in order to determine the location of the croft. As I mentioned previously, Stoney has already posted about the visit, and I don't have much to add to his account, aside to say that we were humbled by the hospitality of Stoney and the "Other Half", who took us on a tour of the croft. I've been invited back for lunch, and I'll be sure to take a few pictures to share with everyone.

After a total trip of about seven hours and about 170 miles, we arrived back in Aberdeen. Navigator crashed for the evening, and I went to get chips, cheese, and fillet from Lionel's and see The World's End with CN GBU-16 and CN Homeboy. After the film had ended, as I was standing at the bus stop thinking, I couldn't help but think that I'd enjoyed a very successful weekend chock full of great Scottish experiences.

The next day, it was back to work on The Dissertation.

Highland Games in Inverness

As I noted previously, the Navigator wanted to go see a highland games while she was in Scotland. Here in Aberdeen, the games in Tomintoul. We agreed on the day before the games that we wanted to go, but when I contacted rental car companies, only one of them had an available vehicle, and it wasn't going to be ready until 3:00 PM - basically, we wouldn't have even gotten to Tomintoul in time. As we were trying to figure out what to do, I ran across this website. Looking chronologically, I discovered that Inverness - a mere two hours away on a train route that runs multiple times daily - was holding its annual City of Inverness Highland Games that day. The choice was obvious.

After grabbing breakfast, we narrowly caught the train, and enjoyed a leisurely ride to Inverness. From there, I drew on my brief experience in Inverness from a few months ago to get us quickly down to the fields. In fact, we were at the games before we could have gotten the rental car. We saw a bit of Inverness Stone tossing before walking further into a car park to have a look at some of the booths. I was a bit disappointed that there weren't any vendors - I realize that the vendors of Scottish paraphernalia in Scotland are literally available on the high street, but still! - but we did find a really cool exhibit of rescued birds of prey. You could pay £4 to hold one of the birds for a few minutes and get your picture taken with it, so I, of course, held the peregrine falcon, the varsity team captain of the assorted birds of prey.

From there, we made our way back to the main event. Navigator went to one of the chow trucks and got chips and cheese - a Scottish specialty, and I was quite proud of her for it! - and took a seat in the stands. We watched the hammer throw, and they had a dance floor with various Scottish dancers displaying their skills. There were foot races, and wrestling (which seemed to consist of a lot of throws). The main event that everyone goes to the highland games for is, of course, the caber toss. Navigator spotted the pile of cabers on the other side of the field, so we made our way over there and sorted out a couple of seats. We watched the high jump competition, which was near us, and watched the weight over the bar event from across the field. When they started taking the cabers to the side we'd come from, we moved and found a couple of seats.

Not unlike Jungle Recon's mustache (Warning: Extremely NSFW), the caber toss is synonymous with everything badass. I hate the Olympics, which I think is a colossal waste of money, a false spectacle of peace and understanding, and packed with worthless games; but as I watched the events of the highland games, and especially the caber toss, I thought to myself, "This is the kind of stuff they need to have on the Olympics." The caber toss requires a thrower to go from a standing position to a sort of squatting position, with the caber (a giant log) upright the whole time; then, they lift it from the bottom, using their shoulder to counter-balance it. At that point, they get a running start, toss it, and - if they've done it right - get it to flip over. If it doesn't flip, it doesn't count. Navigator was starting to get hungry, and it was turning from a warm day into a hot evening, so she set a cut-off: we would leave at 6:20 PM, or after the first successful caber toss, whichever came first. At about 6:18, after one caber had already broken in half and another had been cut down because it was just too heavy and long for any of the competitors to toss, one of the throwers finally got a flip, and we were on our way.

We had some time to kill, so we went to the Filling Station near the Inverness train station (after snapping a picture of a war memorial outside the train station that I'd missed my opportunity to get a picture of back in March, pictured above). We enjoyed, among other selections, an appetizer of fried haggis bites with sweet chili sauce - not exactly what you'd expect at an "American" restaurant, but delicious just the same. We arrived at the train station just in time for the 8:00 train, only to find that the 8:00 train apparently didn't exist. (The train schedule brochures are actually kind of tough to read.) With another hour and a half to kill, we decided to take a stroll and find a pub on the River Ness. We were unable to find any available outdoor seating, but found a great spot inside the Columba Hotel, where we were shortly joined by a fetching young DJ playing some great tracks from the 1980's. After a gin and tonic and a chat with the DJ about how great the music in the 1980's was, we were back up the hill to catch the 9:30 train.

Once aboard the train, we were joined in short order by a big group of drunken chavs, who were allegedly serving troops in the British Army. They were rowdy, and one guy in particular was doing a lot of singing - mainly faux African hits from pop culture, such as Circle of Life from The Lion King - and both Navigator and I found it entertaining enough to record clips on our phones. With a bit of deterrent supervision by a transport police officer (and following a couple of lectures and a booze confiscation by the train's conductor), the lads departed. Navigator and I had a nice, somewhat sporadic conversation until late in the trip, when we were joined by another group of drunken chavs from Inverurie who promptly poured a bottle of "Fanta" - they admitted that it was mostly vodka - into a couple of huge cups. Apparently, Scottish law has recently changed to prohibit the consumption of alcoholic beverages on trains after 10:00 PM. That original constable, now joined by a second constable, immediately knicked one of the lads. Apparently they'd all lied to the copper about their beverage's alcohol content when coming onboard the train. The guy who got picked up was very distraught, but it was tough to feel too bad for him.

Once we'd arrived back in Aberdeen, Navigator and I made our way back home as quickly as we could in order to get rested up for the next day. We had a pretty big agenda for Sunday, to match our big agenda for Saturday.

Paris: Initial Reaction

Okay, I was a bit facetious. Paris was already on the short term agenda when I posted my destinations a couple of days ago. The good news is that I got to see everything I saw back in 2004, and it's all still there where I left it. The bad news is that I didn't get a chance to find the one geocache I'd hoped to find, nor did I really see anything new. It was also extremely hot - I may not be fully rehydrated for a few days; and I tore up my legs something awful - like, Unst awful, but without the blisters on my feet.

This was my window to hit Paris, and unfortunately, that window didn't coincide with the schedule of the longtime family friends I had hoped to run across. All in all, though, it was a pretty good trip. One of my favorite things was confusing just about everyone with my crazy linguist skills. France is full of people who speak French, and they're always astonished when an American guy can speak any French. Well, I took two years of French in high school, and even though I've probably forgotten more words since '04 than I had between graduation and '04, I was probably better with my French this trip than I was the last time. Whenever I have occasion to speak French, native French speakers - not known to be the most accommodating people on the planet - repeatedly and independently tell me that I speak it without an accent. I suppose I could do with a refresher course? Maybe I could start listing it as a professional skill!

Anyway, I'll try to post a few pictures from my trip over the next few weeks, but since Paris is so cliche, I'll probably stick to the stuff that doesn't usually get posted... For example, the picture of me imitating my favorite Borat pose in front of the Eiffel Tower. Eiffel Tower? Cliche. Borat pose in front of the Eiffel Tower? Comedy genius, and not at all derivative. Ahem.

Travel Destinations: Continental Europe

When I was in the Middle East, one of the ways I stayed sane was to plan for where I would travel once I got to Scotland. I had originally planned to revisit a bunch of the places where I'd gone before as part of my What's Your Grid? mission. Most of the urgency of that mission ended when I figured out how to use Wikimapia and/or Google Maps to get the grid coordinates of the various places I've been in the past. I've also scaled back some of my travel goals because I'm starting to develop some alternate goals for my finances.

I've decided to prioritize a few spots in northwestern Europe. When I was planning my European excursions a couple of years ago, the agenda included Poland, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Switzerland. Switzerland might make it back onto the list, but for this particular trip, I think the rest have been conclusively ruled out (except for Romania, if CN Vlad follows through on an invite from earlier this semester). So, where am I headed if all goes according to plan?

First, I'd like to revisit Paris and see some long-time family friends whom I haven't seen since I visited back in 2004. I'd also like to spend a few days in neighboring Germany - possibly Düsseldorf, where I have some distant family members, but certainly Berlin. I've also been interested in Denmark for a few years now, and I'd like to go see Copenhagen. Aside from that, there are a few spots I'd like to visit, or revisit, in Great Britain and Ireland... But that last bit was covered last year.

Oh, yeah, and I want to revisit a certain island paradise. At least once. Maybe twice. But that's another story.

Loch Ness, Part 2

Urquhart Castle is located here, about a third of the way down Loch Ness from its head near Inverness. As I was on Jacobite's Temptation tour - why it was called "temptation", I don't know - I enjoyed a half hour cruise on Loch Ness, followed about about an hour at Urquhart Castle.

Urquhart Castle dates back to the 500's, and whoever controlled Urquhart Castle was said to control the entire area. The Battle of Culloden took place nearby in 1746. Urquhart Castle was critical to the security and politics of the area until it was destroyed by Clan Grant in 1692 to prevent it falling into Jacobite hands. I got around to pretty much the entire castle, and took tons of pictures. I love visiting places like this, because it's fascinating to see how past military engineers have used the materials and terrain available to them to create defensible positions.

The last item before heading up to the visitor's center was a trebuchet. I'm pretty sure I saw something about how trebuchets were used against castle walls, when they were, in fact, intended to fling projectiles over castle walls. A buddy of mine wanted to build a full-sized trebuchet in three or four parts to assemble at our university for launching watermelons... That never actually happened, but he did build a little one out of balsa or something, and we used it to launch M&Ms or pennies or something. So, whenever I see anything related to a trebuchet, I think of my buddy, Super Dave.

After buying a bunch of post cards, and a couple of "FORIEGN STUFFFS" for a particular superheroine back home, I joined my tourmates for a short video in the visitors' center before heading up to the bus. Kenny (still with blue eyes) recited history like an encyclopedia as he drove us back to the Inverness high street. I killed about an hour, and then caught the 18:13 train back to Aberdeen, arriving at about 20:30 after having done some planning and some reading. After about half an hour of waiting for the bus, I finally made it back to my place.

It was a great day, with just a touch of adventure and just enough educational value. It was a good transition from spending far too long in Aberdeen without any excursions, into a new phase of stretching my legs to see more of what Scotland has to offer. More on that to come in the next few weeks.

Loch Ness, Part 1

Inverness is the "gateway to"/"capital of" the Scottish Highlands, and it's right at the head of Loch Ness. Loch Ness is perhaps best known for the alleged "Loch Ness Monster", a cryptid believed by some to A) exist, and B) to be a remnant from the age of dinosaurs. Other than that... Uh... Well, there's not a whole lot going on in Inverness, that's the honest truth of it. I passed through Inverness twice in 2004, once on the way to Aberdeen to board the ferry to Orkney, and once on my way back down south from Orkney. I don't think I ever actually left the train station. Since Inverness is only a couple of hours away by train, I've been meaning to take a quick day trip there for a while now. On Saturday, I finally went.

Anyway, I had a look at the Inverness entry on Wikitravel, which gave me a like to the Jacobite tour company. I called them on Friday, and an extremely friendly and informative woman informed me of their tour times for Saturday, then informed me that my bus driver would be Kenny, and then informed me that he had blue eyes. My response? "Right, got it, if I meet Kenny and he has brown eyes, I'll know it's a trap!"

I didn't get to the train station quite as early as I'd hoped, and ended up having to wait for the noon train. I killed some time, and made it to the train in time to get a table seat. The scenery was great, running from Aberdeen through Dyce, Inverurie, Insch, Huntly, Keith, Elgin, Forres, and Nairn before terminating in Inverness. I called the tour company, confirmed the time when the tour would end, and reserved a seat on the 18:13 train back to Aberdeen, then went in search of the tour bus. The young lady at the counter at the bus station informed me that the bus had just left, but that I could catch it, and gave me a map telling me where to go. I got to the stop literally just in time, met Kenny (it wasn't a trap), and was off on the tour.

The tour started off here, where we boarded the Jacobite Legend. After hanging out on the lower observation deck for a while, I went up to the upper, open observation deck. It was a cold, Windy day on Loch Ness, because it's Scotland and it's March, but I was pretty okay with that. I got some pictures of the scenery, the boat, and myself. Somehow without warning, we arrived at Urquhart Castle, which is where I'll pick up the next time.

The Gear: Defeating Technology, Now With Maps!

I'm starting to believe that the ability to combine my Kindle Fire with PDFs is either the best thing ever, or pure dagnasty evil. A few days ago, I found myself killing time at Starbucks, and within a mere fifteen minutes, I'd downloaded tons of PDF maps. I have to say, when I use a Kindle with PDF maps, I feel like I'm Jack Bauer.

The whole thing started when I found a map of Orkney - this map of Orkney, and this thing about places to stay in Scotland in 2012 and 2013. Since I was hoping to take some time later that day to plan a trip to Oman, that's what I looked for next, and I found this, this, this, and this. That last one isn't particularly good, but the other three are solid gold. I also plan to go to Shetland at some point soon, which led me to this map of Shetland.

Now, that last one is interesting, because when I went back to look at it in the course of writing this blog post, I discovered that the website where I got it has maps of pretty much every individual geographic/political area of Scotland. I mean, just look at this page - I'm pretty sure that it's a straight up moral imperative that all of those Orkney maps wind up on my Kindle, even if I don't actually plan on visiting most of those areas. I also wanted to get a couple of maps of Scotland itself, so the fact that the website in question has an overall map of Scotland is super awesome, and will make a good addition to the Scotrail routes map. Oh, and I'll probably grab the Britrail map for good measure, too - heck, it's a pretty good map of the United Kingdom in general, regardless of whether it's focused on transport or not.

I also figured I'd download a map of Wyoming, my adopted hope state, and I got my actual home state as well. There's another place, one of my old work locations, that's great for maps, but there don't appear to be any PDF maps of it, so I may work on making one of those myself using Wikimapia and PowerPoint.

I've written before on the JTS, Ltd. blog about learning to navigate. On prior road trips, particularly my 2007 and 2010 cross-country road trips, I've used a 2007 MapQuest road atlas (which I loaned to my buddy Laud for nearly three years at one point). I still have that thing, and it may still be sitting in my vehicle back in the States. I'm really critical of reliance on dashboard GPS, and I'm a pretty staunch advocate of people learning how to navigate with an actual map, and perhaps even with a *gasp* compass (or even a handheld GPS). I realize that my mobile phones have the equivalent of foot mobile GPS, and I've used it a couple of times, so I'm not a zealot about the topic or anything - but I still think people ought to be able to navigate on their own, even if they sometimes defer to some of the technological options. I got that MapQuest road atlas in 2007, before tablets took off, so I guess all of this is to say that I find the options that I have from combining traditional maps with technology. Honestly, it sort of makes me feel like I'm pretty much carrying around the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. (Having the World Factbook app merely underscores that feeling.)

Travel Destinations: Middle East and North Africa

In addition to the British Isles and Continental Europe, I hope to visit a few other locations during my year abroad. Over the course of the last couple of years, I've had the chance to visit Kuwait, the Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Lebanon, and Qatar. During my upcoming year abroad, I want to revisit Oman, and if I'm able I'd also like to visit Morocco and Algeria. I'd add Libya to that list, but Libya's pretty rough at the moment, even for my tastes.

Oman is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in my life, and its people are amazing. I spent three days in and around Muscat earlier this year, but didn't get the opportunity to see anything else. Several people told me that I needed to visit Oman's second city, Salalah, and I also had a couple of offers from locals who wanted to take me to see Jebel Akhdar. I'd also like to visit the Omani enclave of Musandam that forms the Arabian side of the Strait of Hormuz, and Masirah Island, which has been used as a basing and staging area for Western military forces. Assuming that I do some significant research on the Dhofar Rebellion, it would be helpful to visit Mirbat, Thumrait, and a handful of other locations in Dhofar Governorate.

I've been fascinated by Algeria for several years now, and particularly since I read A Savage War of Peace by Alistair Horne and Legionnaire: Five Years in the French Foreign Legion by Simon Murray. Algeria has such a fascinating and tragic history, and I'd like to see a few of the places I've read so much about over the years.

And, while I'm in the neighborhood, it might be nice to go to Morocco. I've never had much interest in Morocco, but sometimes it's nice to go somewhere for no better reason than it's there, waiting for you to come and visit.

Travel Destinations: British Isles

This will be my third trip to the British Isles. I spent about four days there in 2003 with Friar Dave, then most of the Summer of 2004 there in my gig as a pallbearer. On the first trip, I got some brief exposure to London, Portsmouth, and Cambridge. I saw a lot more of England on my second trip - lots of West Sussex, some of Hampshire, London, and bits of the Isle of Wight. At the end of the Summer, I took two weeks, and saw as much as I possibly could. After flying from Gatwick to Inverness, my route took me from:

Leg #1: Inverness to Aberdeen
Leg #2: Aberdeen to Orkney
Leg #3: Orkney to Thurso
Leg #4: Thurso to Inverness
Leg #5: Inverness to Glasgow
Leg #6: Glasgow to Edinburgh (with a dip into Cumbria)
Leg #7: Edinburgh to Glasgow
Leg #8: Glasgow to Stranraer
Leg #9: Stranraer to Belfast
Leg #10: Belfast to Dublin

Given that I'll have a year to work with, and better resources than I had in 2004, I expect to revisit some of my previous destinations in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and see a few more as well. I've spent the last couple of years working out a list of cities and sites I want to hit, and I'm pretty stoked for the chance to knock some of them off of that list.

I'd like to revisit all of my old haunts in England, and add a few others that I didn't get around to before. I've always enjoyed travelling, but I hadn't done much of it between 2004 and earlier this year. I'm looking forward to getting back into the habit of taking off for a weekend and seeing a few things, then getting back to work, resetting, and then doing it again a few weeks later. In 2004, most of that took place in south central England; this time, it will take place primarily in Scotland, but hitting some of the high points of England is a must.

I'm also excited about the prospect of hitting a few more spots in Ireland than I did before. Belfast and Dublin are fantastic, and I'm looking forward to seeing both of them again. I'd also like to visit some of the former hot spots of The Troubles, as well as Skellig Michael, the history of which is discussed in one of my favorite books, How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill.

I figure I may as well hit a couple of spots in Wales this time around, but I imagine that will be pretty minor. If I can get myself into good enough shape, I'd like to climb Pen y Fan, centerpiece of Special Air Service Selection; and Ben Nevis, but that's another story.