There are only five pictures from my last day or two in Scotland. There are some things I regret, mostly silly things. This last day actually turned in to two days.
The first picture is one of my Scottish groceries. I love oat cakes and some time soon, probably later this winter when I feel like cooking, I will make Scottish oak cakes. Such amazing little rounds of deliciousness! Versatile, and good for you, I think, if made properly. YUM! Milk, cereal, Nutella, Scottish breakfast tea, a banana. I ate well while in Scotland, even when I fed myself!
I think I needed to be out of the hostel by 10 or 11am, I made that with no issues. I knew this was going to be a long day. In essence, my travel day turned in to travel days, as my flight the following morning was supposed to leave at some ungodly hour, so I thought it would be best if I slept in the airport that night, to ensure that I would, in fact, make my flight. I wouldn't actually have minded being stranded in Scotland, but I couldn't do that to my family, who I thought had already sacrificed for me to get the time I had there =) Missing this flight would have cost more money we didn't have.
I had decided at some point that I would spend the money and take a cab into town, but when it came down to it, it was my final moments in Scotland, so I decided to hoof it and spend some final time in Inverness. Of course, this meant I had to lug all my shit all over the place, but I decided to suffer through that. I debated that thought when the brand new super cool bag I had bought for this purpose decided to break apart as I was packing. Pieces of the zipper fell apart, making it impossible to close, which means I had to rearrange things again. Since I had to go back in to Edinburgh anyway, I decided I would head back to that little cheapie store and exchange that stupid bag! I proceeded into Inverness and looked around some more, for the last time. I had wanted to have a meat pie or sausage roll thingie, sort of try Scottish fast food that was unique to that place, but some of the places scared me. I ended up in a sausage shop and found a pretty awesome special for, essentially, a deep fried sausage rolled in some dough. It was good! Good 'ole greasy goodness seems to be pretty universal...I checked the train schedule and waited there awhile, reading a book and watching the people. Very interesting and fascinating past time, that.
The train ride from Inverness to Edinburgh was as stunning as the ride up the first time. The Highland landscape is unique, changes from the Highlands to the Lowlands, and is green, picturesque and seems like the land that time forgot. You can obviously see signs of modernity, but you can also see how little has changed in what seems thousands of years.
Back in Edinburgh, I walked across the bridge and up the hill to exchange my bag. It was a huge relief when it was done! I didn't get any flack from the store employees, it was a straight across trade, I just wanted something not broken to hold my shit, man! I walked around a bit after that, sort of went around the royal mile again, then headed down to the train station. I don't know what it was about this trip into the station, but I got REALLY disoriented and ended up walking around in circles for awhile, then finding out that the bus I needed to get to the airport was outside anyway. I got frustrated!
I got to ride one of those cool double-decker buses and it was a special run to the airport. These were my last glimpses of Scotland that weren't in the airport. Such a lovely place! I hope SO that I can return here some day!
I got to the airport by about 6 or 7pm. While driving on that large bus TO the airport, there was some very large concert taking place and it sort of made me realize how much more efficient other people are than Americans. There was a lot of traffic, yes, but the buses and foot traffic was more much than vehicle traffic. It also made me see that visiting Edinburgh was nice, but it's too large a city for me to live in. Inverness is just about perfect for me =)
I spent the night in the airport. My flight was like, at 6am, so I stayed there because I was TERRIFIED of missing the plane or not being able to access public transportation that would get me there in time for my flight. It wasn't bad, all in all. I spent some time sleeping in the little chapel there. It was quiet in there, it the space seemed to be respectful of all religious paths, not just Christianity. I was pretty delirious by the time it was time to make my way up for my plane. I most regret that I went directly from Belfast into Scotland, so I had this amazing adventure in Scotland, and yet, I have no stamp in my passport to say that I was ever in Scotland. If that's all there is to regret, then I'd say I had a pretty smashing time! Yes, indeed!
I will never forget this trip...and I hope I get to go back some day!
Peace!
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