CNN travel | What happened when I bought a hotel by mistake

(CNN) — Anyone currently whiling away the long hours of lockdown with when-this-is-all-over dreams of a fresh start in life, should heed this as a cautionary tale.

In 2011, at the age of 44, I had my own mid-life-crisis career swerve, ditching journalism to start a new life as the owner of a waterfront hotel, restaurant and bar on the Scottish island of Islay.

Four months later, having already developed a slightly queasy sense that I might have made a mistake, confirmation that I wasn’t cut out for the hospitality trade duly arrived over breakfast in the hotel dining room, one November Sunday morning.  —more—