It's become a cherished part of the festive season in Scotland: for the last fourteen years, Phil Cunningham's Christmas Songbook has brought together some of the country's top musicians in a festive celebration series of concerts that has toured across Scotland in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Who doesn’t relish a road trip? And what better place to explore via car than by traversing the UK? While many travelers enjoy taking the train (or flying, if you’re heading up north to Scotland), road tripping the UK is a bucket list experience – one that you’ll utterly adore (and, perhaps, do again and again). 

But don’t settle for a regular road trip – craft your own itinerary to align with your passions and priorities. Here are some suggestions:

Addie Gray is a second-year student studying Social Anthropology at the University of St Andrews in St Andrews, Scotland. She runs a travel blog at www.addieabroad.com, where she documents her experiences going to university abroad, shares her travel adventures, and gives advice to others who are hoping to study abroad.

This week marks an important holiday—and it has nothing to do with turkey!

"We are in a unique location, and you have to have a pioneering spirit to make it all the way up to the festival if you don't have ties here," says Caroline MacLennan, festival director of the Hebridean Celtic Festival -- Fèis Cheilteach Innse Gall in Scotttish Gaelic. The place she's speaking of is the Isle of Lewis, the northernmost island of the Western Isles, some forty miles off the north west coast of Scotland.