Smoketopaz, Aug 2026
The Tour Guide Who Somehow Became Our Scottish Best Friend! 🏴🥰
We have travelled to many parts of the world over the years — sometimes doing our own free-and-easy trips, sometimes joining tours with Singaporean tour companies, and sometimes engaging local guides in the countries we visit.But our 10-day Highlands adventure with Tartan Trailblazer Tours was something completely different.Somewhere between Day 1 and Day 10, our tour guide Finella stopped feeling like a tour guide and somehow became our Scottish best friend! 🥰From the moment we met her, the three of us — my husband, my sister and I — immediately felt completely at ease. There was none of that typical “guide and tourist” feeling. It genuinely felt like we had a good local friend showing us around her beloved Scotland.And what made it even more special was how much Finella listened.She constantly paid attention to what we liked, what we didn’t like, what caught our interest and what we were curious about. Then she would quietly adjust our itinerary around us. Our 10-day tour became almost completely customised to our interests — not just following some rigid itinerary printed on a piece of paper.If she thought there was somewhere we might enjoy, she’d make a random stop.
And we absolutely loved those random stops! 😂If we suddenly had an idea or made a last-minute request, Finella would somehow try her very best to work it into the itinerary. Like taking the last manually operated turntable ferry in the world!! At times, I’m pretty sure she was secretly wondering what on earth the three of us were going to ask for next! 🤣Then there were her stories…Finella has an incredible knowledge of Scottish history, local legends and folk stories, but the best part is the way she tells them. Somehow, even hundreds of years of Scottish history became entertaining, funny and incredibly memorable.We laughed A LOT.There were also moments of excitement, moments of frustration and one particular episode involving horse riding with an eccentric Horse Rider that deserves its own Netflix documentary. 😂🐴But through all of it, Finella was there — cheerful, patient, supportive and always ready to turn even the slightly chaotic moments into another story we could laugh about later.And just when we thought she had already done enough, Finella volunteered to put together a mini video of our entire 10-day Highlands adventure for us.Honestly, where do you find a tour guide who does THAT?! ❤️We are already looking forward to seeing it!So, would we recommend Tartan Trailblazer Tours?Absolutely! Without hesitation.And if you’re lucky enough to get Finella, you’ve hit the jackpot. 🎰🥰
Expect to leave Scotland feeling like you’ve made a new friend.Finella didn’t just show us the Highlands.
She showed us HER Scotland — and somehow made us feel like we were travelling around it with a friend who happened to know every beautiful corner of the country.For the three of us, that made all the difference.Thank you, Finella, for an unforgettable 10 days. ❤️ You were funny, patient, incredibly knowledgeable, wonderfully flexible and absolutely brilliant company.We came to Scotland looking for an amazing holiday.We left with amazing memories, a ridiculous number of stories… and a Scottish best friend. 😂🏴Tartan Trailblazer Tours — highly, highly recommended! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
