Me, Adam, and Nessie…

Hey all,
Sorry for the late post – things have been hectic lately with all our travel plans. Last week, Adam and I went up to Scotland for a few days. We flew up with Easyjet (which we are learning is probably not the best thing from now on) up to Edinburgh and arrived at about 1am on a Saturday night. Our hostel was located right in the heart of the city, so we soon realised why so many people rave on about the place. The night life was crazy. Thousands of people left right centre, smashed off their nut, dressed up in crazy costumes. As we were checking in to our hostel, we noticed a group of guys doing cocaine in the corner. And we were right opposite the biggest pub I have ever seen in my life. It was awesome – the biggest beer garden – FULL of people, pouring out to the streets, and an underground night club a few doors down. The city came alive – unfortunately Adam and I were seriously too tired to join in with the festivities. We were wondering why there were so many people out an about – clearly celebrating something. Of course, by pure coincidence, we arrived during the Edinburgh Tattoo Festival. No wonder the accommodation was so bloody expensive!

(me and Adam in Edinburgh)
The next day, after walking around Edinburgh for a few hours, we headed on our 5 hour bus journey to Inverness. It probably should have only taken 3 hours, but our bus driver was a few coffees short and got us stuck in a narrow road in the heart of a small town on the way. When we finally arrived in Inverness, we found the hostel with ease. We hit the streets to have a look around, and it was absolutely dead. Nothing open. Not even a grocery store. Inverness is much smaller than I had remembered from 10 years ago. I guess it’s just a small town in Scotland, surrounded by hills. But to no despair, we went for a lovely walk down Loch Ness. The Loch Ness is a massive river (made famous by the mythical Loch Ness Monster – needless to say) and runs through the city of Inverness and out down to castle ruins where the monster is claimed to be. The walk down there is lovely – with little islands right in the centre, connected to the main land with bridges. Further down on the walk along the Loch, is a little hidden floral park and kids playground. Me and Adam stopped in and ate our budget Tesco 1kg diced carrots and spicy hummus (2 for 2 pounds!). We thought we would trick the surrounding birds, and try to feed them carrot – it did not work. They were more interested in our donuts. They have really massive birds in Scotland – called the Herring Gull – or as Adam puts it: Seagulls on Steroids.

(Adam spotted Nessie!!!)
We then went for a little row on the mini man-made lake – that is on the island that is in the loch ness!?!?!? We found it quite a difficult task just to make it around once. But all in all good fun!

(Adam trying to row!)
There wasn’t a great deal to do in Inverness. We were thankful the weather was ok – at least no rain. We went up to the Inverness Castle (which has been reformed to a court house – I personally think that’s stupid) and to the Inverness Museum, which was a good distraction for us both while we were arguing! I guess things got a little tense in the land of the Scots. Adam had been away for about 2 weeks, and I have found that is the peak of homesickness – so understandably we had a few tiffs.

(Inverness)
On our way back to Edinburgh, we were looking forward to taking some photos as we absolutely adored the city. It is truly a spectacular city. And one we’d love to go see again. On our arrival, it started pouring down with rain, and due to my condition we were stuck in a covered alley way. We sat there sipping at our Starbucks Coffees and waiting for the rain to stop, at no alas, it did not. We quickly walked over to the bus station, and jumped on the bus to the airport, a good 3 hours early. I just had to get out of the rain. So we were waiting in the airport for hours…and hours….and hours. And the ironic thing was, Adam just couldn’t wait to get back to London!

But despite our excitement to get back to London, on our arrival we soon realised how things had turned to shit. Lots of arguments with my bosses, threats, movements, blah blah blah. We just wanted to get through the 2 more nights before we left for Paris. 2 more nights!!! In the end, we made it with a roof over our heads.

Probably not the best experience with Scotland, but at the end of the day, it was an experience, so I guess that’s a good thing.

Next is Paris!!!

Love you all,
AshnAdaminScotland.x