Yes, a woman moved to Scotland to live out her Outlander fantasy

Many Outlander fans have watched the show and thought, “Wouldn’t it be amazing to leave everything behind and move to Scotland?” While that may have been a fleeting thought for most of us, such was not the case for 25-year-old Connecticut resident Hailey Beaupre.

In an interview with Insider, Beaupre revealed how starting the show in 2018 put her on a trajectory she never saw coming. What was just a simple TV binge during exams turned into a life-changing experience!

Find out how Outlander took her from Connecticut to Scotland, and gave her a happily ever after!

How Outlander changed Hailey Beaupre’s life

After binging all of Outlander and starting to read the source books by Diana Gabaldon, Beaupre promptly planned a vacation to Scotland with the help of her mom, who encouraged her to watch the show in the first place.

Hailey perused Facebook groups to find any Outlander tours and stumbled across one that fit her schedule. At the young age of 20, Beaupre trekked out to Scotland and immediately fell in love with the people, the atmosphere, and everything the country had to offer.

But it wasn’t until she walked up to the Midhope Castle (which on Ourlander doubles as Lallybroch Castle, Jamie Fraser’s family home) that she felt a fundamental shift in her very being. As Beaupre said, “I realized that I had found my calling. This is where I wanted to be and what I wanted to do. I had only been on the tour for 20 minutes, but I felt something shift inside me. It honestly felt like I had been sleepwalking through life and I had finally woken up.”

For Beaupre, things moved pretty fast after that trip. She came home and made drastic changes, including changing her major in school from education to history. Basically, her dream revolved around getting back to Scotland, and by extension of Outlander. Two years later, she returned as part of a study-abroad program. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Beaupre was only in Scotland for two months before the world shut down and she was asked to go back.

It was a heartbreaking moment to be so close to her dream but have it yanked away. And things only got worse after her best friend died in a car accident. “I had never experienced a loss like that before, and it plunged me into a horrifically dark place,” Beaupre said. “When I came out of isolation and the world began to open back up, the last place I wanted to be was in my small hometown. There were memories of my best friend and the life we shared together on every street corner. I became even more resolved to get back to Scotland, and for good this time.”

Outlander fan meets her own Jamie Fraser

Beaupre did get herself back to Scotland eventually. During the fall of 2020, she applied to grad school in Scotland, and although it was online, she knew moving back there full-time was what she needed and wanted to do.

Upon graduating, Beaupre started working as a tour guide which eventually led her to start her own tour guide company called Sassanech Historian Tours. She has been thriving and living her best life, and has even found her very own Jamie Fraser! She met a Scottish man and is currently engaged to be married to him after two years of dating. He proposed to her at the very spot that changed her life, on the steps of Midhope Castle. It looks like a very full-circle moment, and even though I don’t know Hailey, I feel so happy and excited for her.

Dreams can come true folks; just take it from Hailey Beaupre!

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