When Sheep Happened on Skye: Our 10-Year Relationship with Kayak
By Gordon Pearson on 18th June 2025
We were recently contacted by the travel company Kayak asking if we’d pop a link to their website on ours. In return, they’d include WOW Scotland on theirs. Fair enough, right? So we had a think about where it would make the most sense.
Given that Kayak helps travellers plan everything from flights and hotels to car hire, it seemed a perfect match for our “How to Get to Inverness” blog. But as we mulled it over, we realised this wasn’t just a simple link exchange… it was a full-circle moment.
Because — believe it or not — WOW Scotland and Kayak go way back. Like, over-a-decade-back. And yes, it involves a commercial, a confused film crew, a kilted Scotsman, and… sheep dressed as airplanes.
Back in the day (cue bagpipes), WOW Scotland was the only tour company running day tours to the Isle of Skye from Inverness that went north of Broadford. It was a quieter time. The roads were less crowded, and my favourite moment of each day was taking a walk at the Quiraing. One day, we rocked up as usual and the place was teeming with film trucks and production vans. I figured something big was happening — so I told our group to keep a low profile and not get in the way.
But before long, one of the film crew came bounding down the hill — clearly not a local — and told us, in no uncertain terms, that we weren’t allowed to be there. Now, here’s the thing about telling a Scot they have “no right” to be on the land: you’re not going to get the reaction you want.
See, in Scotland we have an outdoor access code — it gives us the right to roam respectfully through almost all of Scotland’s wild places. And the Quiraing is one of those places.
So I calmly explained that, yes, we were absolutely allowed to be there, we had been respectful, and if he wanted to be stroppy about it, we’d just carry on as usual.
Now, I didn’t see what happened next, but our trusty driver Karen later recounted the drama. The flustered film guy ran down the hill to a police car (yes, they’d posted a policeman for a sheep commercial), ranted about a man in a kilt defying him, and quoted my claims about “having every right to be there.”
To which the policeman replied — “Aye, he’s right.”
You can’t make this stuff up.
Turns out, this wasn’t just any shoot. It was a major international ad campaign for Kayak, titled “Sheep Happens.” It aired in the UK, Germany, France, and Spain. You can still watch it here (it’s gloriously weird and absolutely worth 90 seconds of your life):
👉 Watch “Sheep Happens” on Vimeo
The premise? Why search all over the internet for your holiday needs — flights, hotels, hire cars — when you can just go to Kayak, where everything’s in one place?
To make that metaphor visually unforgettable, they had sheep dressed as cars, planes, and hotels running wild across the Quiraing. I heard that the costume department was working 17-hour days trying to keep their celebrity sheep clothed. Cardboard creations and Skye’s wet climate is not exactly a match made in heaven!
I also remember that in Portree there were signs up recruiting “people to chase sheep” for £150 a day. As a Highlander myself, I’ll refrain from making any further jokes about that… but feel free to let your imagination run wild.
That quirky, muddy, unforgettable day on Skye turned out to be a shared chapter in WOW Scotland and Kayak’s story. Fast forward a decade, and here we are — both still helping people explore the world, albeit in slightly different ways.
So yes — we’re happy to include a link to Kayak on our website. And if you’re planning a trip to Scotland (or anywhere, really), they’re a great place to start your travel research.
But more importantly — it’s a reminder that even the biggest companies sometimes end up chasing sheep in the rain, and that on the Isle of Skye, anything can happen.
Planning your next trip? Search on Kayak!
