Road Trip!

Last week, a few friends and I took off to tour Scotland for the week. I took almost no pictures. My mates took lots. Thank my mates. Here's my notes and their wonderful photos. We all know what you're really intersted in looking at lol. Enjoy!

SATURDAY, 29 OCT - EDINBURGH

Our story begins on Saturday morning. Calum, Nico, Tristan, and I all piled into a car to make the trip to Edinburgh. The drive took about 7.5 hours total. We arrived early evening, picked up our rental camper, food/other supplies for the first few days, then found a spot to park for the evening.

SUNDAY, 30 OCT - EDINBURGH

A (somewhat?) productive day. Calum and I both had big assignments due when we returned to campus, so while Tristan and Nico toured the city, we camped out in a Starbucks. We outlasted two and a half shifts of workers and kept the St. James Starbucks location for the day.

MONDAY, 31 OCT - HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

...or maybe more appropriately..."wait, it's Halloween?" The day I completely lost concept of what day it was. We completed the crew in the morning when we picked Nika up from the airport. Let the adventures begin! We drove to Loch Lomond and found a spot to stop and cook lunch, shower, and rest before getting back on the road. We found a car park near a castle that evening to camp for the night.

TUESDAY, 1 NOV - speechless.

Started our morning with a walk to the castle (casual...). Met some friends along the way. Stood there trying to comprehend that the building in front of me was 3x the age of my whole home country. Packed up and got back on the road. This had to have been one of the more memorable days of the trip for me. It must have been the intial amazement at the landscape. I've been telling everyone I talk to that I've been lucky to see a lot of beautiful places, but these sights left me pretty much speechless. Within a few hours, we saw rainbows at least 4 times, twice they were double rainbow. Shades of orange and copper and green and grey I didn't know could be real. THEN to top it all off, we stopped at the viaduct that carries the Hogwarts express in Harry Potter. I honestly expected it to be taken advantage of and overrun with tourists. There were plenty of people there but it didn't take away from the beauty of it all. On the way back to the camper, I found myself pulled to walk across the road and look at the lake and mountains across the way. I could absolutely understand why someone would take a look at this place and say "yep. this'll do for the set of a movie about magic." If I wasn't standing there myself, I don't think I would have believed it was real. We stopped at a campsite near Fort William that night.

WEDNESDAY, 2 NOV - Mountains, more castles, and Isle of Skye

Woke up the next morning next to the tallest mountain in the UK: Ben Nevis. Breakfast, shower, refill on water, then back on the road towards Isle of Skye. Along the way, we stopped at Eilean Donan Castle. Lunch while gazing out at the lake and castle. It was raining (as per usual on this trip) and just cold & windy enough to make being inside the camper cozy...the only thing missing was a fireplace (thank you netflix). It was dark by the time we arrived, so we didn't get to see much that evening. Instead we got to feel the nature. While we all sat around and played card games, the wind and rain shook the camper so much that I honestly thought it might roll us across the road. Slightly worrisome, but a little exciting, too.

Also this evening: a tribute to a mentor. Not Johnnie Walker, but the memory lasts just the same.

THURSDAY, 3 NOV - Isle of Skye 2

As I am writing this I am having a hard time believing all these things happened within a few days, so stick with me as I attempt to keep sorting out all the memories. Morning came and we got to SEE Isle of Skye. Made our way to hike the Old Man of Storr. To think we saw just a little bit of Isle of Skye, (even from above like that) made believe I could have lived there the rest of my life and still not have seen everything. Later a quick walk through a sweet little shop and a stop for hot drinks before heading for an evening at Loch Ness.

cats wild!

FRIDAY, 4 NOV - Loch Ness

Confirming the myth: Nessy is real. But don't ask me for evidence becuase I have none. Today's activities, visiting Urquhart Castle, Nika taking a dip in the water (yes, on purpose), making our way toward Stirling. Our road trip is slowly reaching its end. Upon arrival to our evening parking spot we realized we were right next to a cemetery. "Listen, I don't believe in ghosts...but keep the doors locked please..."

SATURDAY, 5 NOV - A rollercoaster of a day

The final full day in Scotland began with a visit to our temporary neighbors (much less spooky in the daylight). A tour of Stirling Castle (*cue Me following Tristan around to hear all of his history expertise*). Then back to Edinburgh to get the camper ready to return the next morning. Oh and nothing like a dose of reality to cause a little panic: we all need to go back to class on Monday and be prepared(?) Can I just live out of a camper forever insead?

P.S. again for my fellow Harry Potter fans...see if you can spot a few familiar names in these pics.

SUNDAY, 6 NOV - Back home

Events of this day are short and sweet. Returned the camper, crammed 5 people and all our camping supplies into a car that could reasonably fit 2 or 3, and made our way back to Reading. Things I learned this day: super glue is magic, classy women brush their teeth in a McDonald's bathroom, essays were not meant to be written on the road.

Did I get enough sleep the Monday and Tuesday that followed? No.

Would I do it all again? Without a doubt.