All in a twitter about #scotlandhour

For those who know me this will come as no surprise.  I love Scotland I have since I was a small child.  From a young age I have loved to tell anyone who will listen about Scotland and what a fantastic country it is.

On holiday overseas I was always very proud to say that I was from Scotland and wore my Glasgow’s miles better sweatshirt with pride wherever we went.

I distinctly remember the day my career was decided in Inveraray when I was waxing lyrical (in French no less) to my French exchange friend about Scotland and my mum remarked that I should sell Scotland for a living.  So I did.

But before that I made a few trips over to Canada as a student and during my time as a rollercoaster operator at Canada’s Wonderland made it my job to let as many people as possible know about Scotland.

So I was well equipped to work in the tourism industry and did for 14 years in various roles at VisitScotland at local and national level.  And loved being part of getting people to Scotland especially during my time at the Scottish Borders Tourist Board where it was a challenge and a privilege to promote a lesser known part of Scotland and feel that we were making a difference to the area.

But I left the tourist board at the end of 2006.  And though I do still work with tourism clients we specialise in marketing rural businesses so not 100% tourism any longer.

That hasn’t though diminished the love and passion for Scotland or the Scottish Borders.  In fact if you ask my mum she would say I have got worse as time has gone on!  And she is right the past couple of years have given me a greater appreciation not just of where I live but as I holiday at home of the rest of Scotland too.

But I have found an outlet for it Twitter and in particular #scotlandhour.  I am a twitter addict I confess.  I love meeting and talking with people on twitter and as you do have found people with the same interests as I do.  One of which is a love for Scotland.  In particular I have a great admiration for Douglas Baird who was one of the first people I followed on Twitter.  He is passionate about travel in general but Scotland in particular.  And over the years has developed #scotlandhour.

#scotlandhour takes place on the last Wednesday of the month between 9pm and 10pm.  It’s a chance to talk about Scotland where to go, what to see, where to eat, new places we have found.  Anything and everything about Scotland in fact.  It promotes Scotland to a worldwide audience as well as encouraging us all to try out new places and new things that we haven’t yet discovered yet.

This month’s #scotlandhour is a special one as its St Andrews day and we want as many people as possible to join in the conversation.  So let’s make this St Andrews day a day when we not only celebrate being Scottish but we encourage as many people as possible to visit.  I am going to be part of the conversation are you?