Language Travel Tours

27/08/2026

We've been collecting something this year that we didn't plan for, and it has turned into one of our favourite parts of running LTT.

We call it the Wall of Firsts. It started because we kept noticing that when students talk about their trip afterwards, they rarely bring up the itinerary. They bring up a moment. A specific one.

First Ceilidh: "I didn't know my own feet could do that."

First haggis: "I said no. Then yes. Then loved it." Most students go through roughly that exact journey with Haggis, Neeps and Tatties, and it's a joy to watch every time.

First morning mist rolling over the harbour: "I thought it was broken weather. It was actually perfect." That one still makes us smile. Scotland has a habit of turning what looks like a disappointment into the part of the trip people remember longest.

Last month, Mandie, one of our team, introduced her students to their first Haggis, Neeps and Tatties. The pictures capture it well: a bit of nervous hesitation followed by genuine delight once they'd actually tried it.

None of these moments were on the official programme. They happened in the small, unscripted spaces between the planned activities, and that seems to be exactly where they belong.

We're building this Wall together with students past and present and hosts, and it grows a little every week. It's a living record of what this trip actually gives people, beyond the schedule and the paperwork.

If you've been on an LTT trip or you're a host, we'd love to hear yours. What was your first? Drop it in the comments, and we'll add it to the Wall.

Thank you to Mandie and to every host and team member who keeps making these moments possible for our students.

26/08/2026

Morning,
We wanted to share a small story from a few weeks back.

Remember Hanna from Belgium, who has become a friend? We met her in Edinburgh at the beginning of July, and having completed a 1 to 1 homestay, she left for the West Coast of Scotland. We met up with her there.

She was staying near Crinan, looking out over Jura and the Hebrides. Most people assume the brightly coloured houses of Tobermory on Mull will be the part everyone remembers. For Hanna, it wasn't. It was a boat trip out to some of the more remote islands, the ones wrapped up in myths and legends.

She told us those islands give rise to "hope and imagination," and honestly, it's not hard to see why. Writers have felt that same pull for years. George Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty Four on Jura.

Days like this are a reminder of why we do this work. Not just the programme itself, but the friendships that carry on well after a student goes home.

A small note on the photo attached: Hanna's camera shy, so it's actually me on one of our walks overlooking Crinan Bay rather than the two of us together.

So, over to our community: what's your favourite part of the West Coast of Scotland, less than four hours from the North East, and why.

Tell us in the comments, we'd love to hear it.

Best wishes from Clare and the LTT team.

24/08/2026

We had to share this one.

Three of our students, Lylou, Romaine and Lou, spent a week in Aberdeen with a host family called Violet and Cammy, and honestly, it's the kind of week we hope every LTT student gets.

Family meals every evening, which sounds simple until you remember how busy this household actually is. Violet teaches piano and Mandarin among several other things, and their own two boys keep them plenty occupied too. Despite all that, they made proper time for our girls, not just a plate at the table but real conversation every night.

One evening, Violet gave the girls Chinese harp lessons. Not something we could have arranged or predicted, just a family sharing what they love with three students who'd never held one before.

On their last night, they baked cookies together and finished the week with karaoke.

The girls also told us how much they loved Cammy's artwork dotted around the house, the kind of detail you only notice when you're being welcomed rather than just accommodated.

The girls have said, more than once, how much they loved being part of such a creative family for the week. We have two videos from their evenings together that show exactly what we mean: relaxed, warm, the sort of atmosphere you can't fake.

This is what we mean when we talk about the real Scotland. It's not the scenery, although that helps. It's families like Violet and Cammy's, who choose to include a stranger's daughter in their evenings even when life is already full.

A heartfelt thank you to Violet, Cammy and their boys for making this happen. You've made your mark on this cohort, and we won't forget it.

If you're local and have ever thought about hosting, this is roughly what it looks like when it's done well. Send us a message; we'd love to talk you through it.

20/08/2026

This week, we caught up with Andeol, who stayed with our lovely host family, Balli and Will, during his time with LTT.

We asked him what he'd enjoyed visiting the most. We were expecting Edinburgh Castle, or the Royal Mile, or maybe the shops along Princes Street. His answer took us somewhere different entirely.

It was a stop at Queensferry, on his way back from Edinburgh, before heading on to Newtonhill. Standing there, looking up at the Forth Bridge, he told us: "The view of the bridge from the ground was impressive."

For those who don't know its history, the Forth Bridge opened back in 1890 and was one of the first major structures in the world built almost entirely from steel rather than iron.

That decision is a large part of why it's still standing proud today, over 130 years later, and why it now carries UNESCO World Heritage status.

Moments like Andeol's are the reason we do this work. It's not only about the English lessons or the itinerary we've planned. It's about the unexpected stop, the view nobody scheduled, the memory a student carries home long after they've left.

A huge thank you to Feasay and William for hosting Andeol and being part of that experience. Hosts like you are the reason our students see the real Scotland, not just the postcard version of it.

We'd love to know: have you visited the Forth Bridge yourself, or is there a spot in Scotland that stayed with you long after you'd left? Tell us in the comments below; we always enjoy hearing your stories.

Much love, Clare and the LTT team.

19/08/2026

There's a moment with every LTT student that tells us more than any test score could, and Elisabeth gave us hers this month.

First day of the programme, she stood quietly at the back of the group. A bit shy, a bit hesitant. Her English was already very good, genuinely. I told her so. The compliment seemed to fall somewhere she couldn't quite hold onto yet.

A few weeks later, things looked different.

She joined my husband, my son and me for dinner at The Marine Hotel, a noisy room full of background chatter, sitting with people she'd never met before. She followed every part of the conversation, including my son's low, quiet voice.

She talked about films she loved, books she was reading, her favourite moments in Scotland with Lena, her host family in Stonehaven. Sixteen years old, one month into her stay, holding her own at a table full of adults.

We all said the same thing afterwards. Rarely had we met someone so young with such natural, confident English.

Here's the part worth sitting with: her grammar hadn't dramatically shifted in a month. What shifted was her self-belief that she was allowed to take up space in English.

That's the transformation we love to see. Not the certificate. The moment a student stops holding back.

Elisabeth, if you're reading this, we loved having you, and your family should be proud. The photo of you at the top of Scolty Hill, windy as anything, says it all.

To every host family, teacher and agency who makes stays like this possible: thank you. This is what it's for.

If you've watched a student find their voice like this, tell me their name in the comments. It doesn't need to be a month-long stay; some of the most striking shifts we've seen have happened in four short nights.

17/08/2026

A tiny fish and chip shop on the Stonehaven seafront was ranked 31st in Lonely Planet's guide to the world's best food experiences. The highest UK entry on the whole list. It sits right next door to another local favourite, and this week one of our students got to try both.

Remember Hanna, over from Belgium a few weeks back. She's halfway through her stay with us now, and this week she made her way to two of Stonehaven's firm favourites, Aunty Betty's Ice Cream Parlour and The Bay Fish n Chips.

Aunty Betty's sits right on the seafront and never fails to disappoint our students, partly for the ice cream, and partly for the small details that make it feel like somewhere real rather than just another stop on a list. It's a family-run shop, and they even serve ice cream for their canine visitors.

I'm not sure it's true, but someone told me their own dog, Betty, often wanders about the shop while the queue forms outside, which tends to be the detail students mention first when they get home.

Next door is The Bay Fish n Chips, another Stonehaven institution our students come back to time and again. That Lonely Planet ranking I mentioned above is the one that surprises people most, a small seafront shop holding its own against some of the biggest food destinations on the planet.

Two Stonehaven staples, side by side on the front, and both part of what makes a homestay here feel complete. It's a good reminder that the small, local, family-run places often leave the biggest impression on a student's time in Scotland.

Tell us in the comments, ice cream first or chips first, and tag a friend who needs a reason to visit Stonehaven.

Best wishes from Clare and the LTT team.

13/08/2026

This month we're shouting about Gill.

And she did it the way all our hosts do. Yes, really.

Gill hosted all of our teachers this year. That's her in the stripy top, pictured here with three of them: Samir, Sladjana and Jacqueline.

She cooked home cooked meals every night. Not most nights, not the odd occasion. Every night, whilst they were here.

Here's the part that tells you everything. Samir, Sladjana and Jacqueline were so grateful for that kind of care that they invited Gill out to an Indian meal at the Carron to Mumbai in Stonehaven. She had spent all week hosting them, and they wanted to do something for her in return.

This is the standard of every one of our host families.

Thank you, Gill, for everything you gave our teachers this year.

If you're in the North East and think you could host to this same standard, we would love to hear from you.

12/08/2026

The other week, we met up with Violet to talk through how to welcome Chinese pupils to the North East. This week, it was Beatrice's turn, over from Milan for four days to explore the possibility of bringing a group of Italian pupils to Scotland in 2027.

Beatrice already knew the area fairly well, which meant we could go beyond the usual first-visit route. We took her to Dunnottar Castle and to Glamis, her favourite, and she still remembered the ghost stories from her last trip. That told me something about how much this place had already stayed with her.

What was new to Beatrice this time was Fittie, Aberdeen's old fishing village. The cottages there turn their backs to the sea and face inward onto sheltered squares, built that way to protect the fishing families who once lived in them.

The name Fittie may even come from St Fittick, said to be the patron saint of gardeners, which felt fitting given what happened next.

What Beatrice loved most were the gardens. Every single one different, every one clearly cared for by hand, tucked behind fishing cottages rather than grand houses. She told me the Brits love their gardens, and I could not disagree with her.

Beatrice mentioned she could picture herself moving back to Scotland one day, even though her own region has Lake Como, Milan Cathedral and Verona close by.

I tried gently to remind her of what she has on her own doorstep, but her heart was clearly set on the North East. I understand that pull; part of my own heart is still in France from my time living there.

Onboarding Beatrice and two more agencies for LTT in 2027 is one of our current goals, and conversations like this one are exactly why the work matters to us.

Is there a country where you've left a piece of your heart? We'd love to hear your story in the comments below.

10/08/2026

06/08/2026

We've had a lovely surprise land in our inbox this week.

A group of students from a French school, one with a real focus on art and comic art, travelled up to stay with our host families in the North East of Scotland this spring.

Rather than filling their phones with photos, several of them kept sketchbooks going for the whole trip, and what they drew has made an impression on us.

There's a page from early one morning, three students sketched mid-conversation on the bus, their names pencilled in beside them. There's another from the ferry crossing to Holland, one student with headphones on, caught in ink and a wash of red as the evening light came through the window.

None of it is staged. It's just what they noticed, drawn the way they'd naturally draw, because that's the kind of school they come from.

We talk often about giving international students access to the real Scotland, the hosts, the landscapes, the everyday moments that make up a trip rather than just the highlights reel.

Seeing our hosts and our region through these students' own hands has reminded us why that matters. A sketch takes time. You can't draw something you haven't really looked at.

Over the next few months we'll be sharing more of these drawings, with the students' and school's permission, because we think our community, our hosts, our teachers, our fellow agencies, may enjoy seeing the trip from this angle as much as we did.

If you've hosted a group before, you might recognise a version of yourself in a future sketch. We hope you do.

Thank you to everyone who makes these trips possible, and to the students who chose to slow down long enough to draw them.

Hosts, did you receive any images from this particular set of students? If so, post them below.
Thanks!