Fiona Harrison has led tours across 46 countries, but the one that keeps pulling her home is the one she grew up in. A Trafalgar Travel Director, she came back to guide travellers through Scotland in 2022, and it reignited something…a feeling for the mist that changes Glencoe from one drive to the next, for the clan heritage guests trace back generations, for a Highland welcome with music, a dram and a plate of haggis. In the latest of our Unpacked series, Fiona takes us around her home ground.
What’s your personal connection to Scotland?
“Scotland’s always been home for me. I grew up here, I absolutely love it here. I’ve worked abroad, I’ve run tours abroad and travelled to…I think it’s 46 countries I’m on just now. But Scotland has always felt like home. It’s been really nice coming back, and in 2022 I started running the tours here. It reignited my passion for my home country and home culture. I really love that we’ve got such a mix of the history, the traditions, really welcoming people, really beautiful landscape. It’s very close to my heart.”
What’s your favourite place in Scotland to visit on tour, and why?
“I always find it really hard to pick a favourite. I absolutely love being in the Highlands. Somewhere like Glencoe just never gets old, because it’s absolutely stunning. Every time we drive through it’s different, depending on the weather. Sometimes it’s beautiful sunshine, and sometimes it’s got all of the mist, which makes it look really magical, with the mist around the mountains. But it’s got such a powerful history, with things like the Glencoe Massacre, which we talk about when we’re on the tours. They’ve also got the Rangers — because it’s been owned since 2017 by the National Trust — doing a lot of really good work to take care of the area and the wildlife.”
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“And there’s a little bit of a personal connection for me as well. My dad, about eight years ago now, became one of 2,000 people at the time to have finished the Munro-bagging, and Buachaille Etive Mòr in Glencoe was his last one. So we all went up together to do his last one with him, and had a big party on top of a Munro in Glencoe. It was really good fun. So it’s always nice going through there and thinking about that achievement for my dad and my family.”
“In Scotland, a Munro is any hill that’s over 3,000 feet. They were mapped out originally by a man named Hugh Munro, so that’s what they’re named after. He mapped out 284, but there’s officially now 282 — with better techniques for measuring them, two of them didn’t quite measure up. So Munro bagging is a challenge in Scotland where you have to do all 282 of them. My dad took about 15 years to do all of them, so I spent half my childhood on the side of a hill. It’s a big challenge for a lot of people who live in Scotland, or in the UK, who want to come up and do all these big mountains. Ben Nevis is the largest one (it’s 1,345 metres, or 4,411 feet) but there are 282 spread out across Scotland, and it’s a big outdoor challenge for people.”
If Scotland were a person, how would you describe their personality?
“As a person, Scotland is somebody who’s very quietly confident. It’s not someone who needs to be big and flashy and showing off, because they know exactly who they are. They’re somebody very warm, welcoming, with a very dry sense of humour. Somebody who always tells good stories, whether that’s history, folk tales, or over a dram of whisky. Somebody very interesting.”
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What’s the biggest misconception visitors have about Scotland?
“That it rains 24/7. We do get a lot of rain in Scotland, but it’s not always cold, wet and grey. We definitely have beautiful sunny days, and the rain is what makes our Highlands so beautiful and green. People think that when they come to Scotland, the whole time it’s going to be absolutely chucking it down with rain, when in actual fact we have a very big outdoor scene for hiking, walking, cycling. And we do have some really beautiful weather here as well.”
Is there a stereotype about Scotland that makes you laugh because there’s a grain of truth to it?
“Probably that all Scottish people are impossible to understand. Depending where you are in the country, the accents do change, and some are thicker than others and a little bit difficult to understand. But once you’ve spent a day or two here, you start understanding the accent. And people tend to be so friendly and welcoming that if you don’t understand and you say so, they’ll slow down so you can understand them a little bit easier.”
What questions about Scotland do guests most often ask you?
“Where they can see Highland cows. That’s the big one. Everybody wants to stop and see Highland cows, so we’ve got a few spots where we can go and get up close with them. But the other big one is that a lot of people who travel to Scotland come because they’ve got heritage here. They want to know more about their specific name and their clan, or the areas their family would have been from a couple of hundred years ago, because they’d have left during the Highland Clearances. That’s normally quite a big one for people.”
What do you miss most about Scotland when you’re away?
“It’s not so much a thing, I’d say, but more of a feeling. Being out in the Highlands…the fresh air, the peace, the quiet, the natural beauty of it. It’s something I’ve never been able to recreate anywhere else. There are lots of beautiful landscapes all over the world, but there’s just something really special and magical about the Highlands, being able to actually be out there, surrounded by it.”
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What’s your most valuable piece of advice for first-time visitors?
“Dress like an onion. Always bring layers, because we tend to have four seasons in a day. It can be beautiful sunshine, and then it’s raining, and then the sun comes out again. So it’s always good to have layers with you. And join in for everything. Have fun while you’re here. The best experience is when you go all in.”
Finish this sentence. You haven’t truly experienced Scotland until…
“…you’ve experienced true Highland hospitality. Being welcomed in somewhere with traditional music, with a dram of whisky, trying the haggis, and seeing just how truly warm and welcoming the Scots really are. You’ll find out when you’re here.”