I slept in the Dublin airport because of my early flight out the next day, and found a really great padded bench which allowed me to sleep for like 5 hrs straight...not bad for a noisy and bright airport terminal! I arrived in Edinburgh to sleet and wind...the kind of wind that breaks people's umbrellas, but was able to find my hostel and dry off for a bit. I went on a walking tour of the city, and despite the miserable weather, the city itself is quite beautiful.
That afternoon I watched movies in the lounge with some other people from the hotsel and then played pool and drank free beer that the hostel provided. I hung out with a girl from Conneticuit who was really interesting to talk to for most of the night and we went on the hostel's pub crawl. She was also travelling alone so it was nice to find someone to hang out with but not feel like a 3rd wheel.
The next day, I took the train to Glasgow and caught a bus that was going up to the Isle of Skye. I arrived at night to this really kitchy hostel but the lady was really sweet. There were signs that indicated every possible direction for the place (ex: where hand towels were to be hung in the bathroom, to only put bread in the toaster, to plug in phone chargers in outlets, etc.) I hung around Kyleakin the next morning, walking around and exploring the area.
At a bus stop, I met a guy who claimed to be a Shaman who had the ability to call on spirits when he was in need of things, such as a ride to a place. You seriously meet the most eclectic bunch of people while travelling. The bus took me down to the Bridge of Orchy where I got of and hiked 7 miles on the West Highland Way to the town where my hostel was located.
At this hostel I met a British guy who attended Harry Potter Conventions in the States, where he actually met his future wife along with a British guy who was teaching snowboarding lessons at the ski hill. We all watched a movie on the snowboarding guy's laptop, during which, he was drinking straight vodka with water chasers. Needless to say, he obviously got drunk and it was pretty amusing seeing as he was the only one. The next day I carried on along the West Highland Way to the next town. I had planned to do more hiking but the weather that day was horrible, and the next few also looked bleak. So I cut my losses and took a bus down to the Glasgow Bus Station, looked at the departures list, and left on the bus that left the quickest, which ended up heading to Inverness.
Having not booked any hostels or done any research on Inverness I was kind of walking into the whole situation blindly, but ended up getting a room. In the middle of the night, the fire alarm went off and we all trapsed outside and waited for half an hour until the fire brigade came to sweep the building. I woke up to rain (surprise, surprise) the next morning but took the opportunity to find another hostel early because there was no room in the one I was at the night previous. I found one...it was horrible, but it was a bed. Just one bed, in a room, with a shelf and a nasty stained duvet cover/pillow and a window with bars on it. I walked around Inverness in the rain and went to a movie to kill some time, but eventually had to face the music and return to this horribly lonely room. I read, listened to music and hit the hay at 9 o'clock.
I awoke on Easter Sunday morning to SUN!!!! It made me so happy!!! I knew I didn't have to catch the bus until noon, so I attended a Church of Scotland service. While we were waiting for the service to start, the organist played 'Were You There When They Crucified My Lord' and it reminded me of home and Stuart Gardiner. There were a couple other very familiar hymns that were sung during the service and it was just really nice to be able to have that little bit of home with me during Easter.
I took the bus to Oban where I stayed at a hostel that was 100% better than the last night's. The owner was a gardener and served homeade jams and marmalade at breakfast. I had day of laying in bed, reading a full book, drinking tea and relaxing because, once again, it was raining outside. The following day it was raining too, but I took the bus down to Glasgow where I was meeting up with Lennart. We went out to a movie that night because all the shops and tourist attractions had closed. The next day was spent walking around (in SUNSHINE!). We went to the botanic gardens, the Museum of Transport, the Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, St. Mungo's Museum of Relgious Life, and The Glasgow Cathedral and Necropolis. We also made a very exciting stop at Tinderbox, the coffee shop that Erin worked when she lived in Glasgow! SUCH GOOD COFFEE!!!
We caught the last bus from the airport to Malahide and rejoined the rest of the volunteers to talk about our holidays. We've got a group coming in any second, so I should get going. Hope everyone had a very happy Easter!
Love,
Kate
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