My last weekend trip - Scotland

I just got back to London an hour ago from Jenon, Jill, Allie, and my weekend trip to Edinburgh, Scotland....

Friday:
We took the night bus to Edinburgh that left London at 11:15pm and arrived in Edinburgh at 8:30am. The nine hour bus ride was not fun, but not as terrible as I had anticipated. Apparently I sort of invaded Jill's space (she was the lucky one who had to sit by me) for most of the journey. It was just not a very nice bus so the seats weren't very comfortable and there was no leg room, but what can we expect for as cheap as we got the tickets? Anyway, some how we survived the bus even with the loud people and the girl eating a full meal at 3am.

Once in Edinburgh we found our hostel just down Princes Street by Haymarket, dropped off our book bags, and set of to wander. Although we are all young, we were sore. So we walked by the Edinburgh castle and found a little park area with benches and made ourselves comfortable. We laid/rested on the benches for a good 45 minutes - during which time Jill made a friend with a little boy. He was walking with his parents and he kept getting closer and closer to the bench she was laying on and then once he got to the end he hovered over her. She was completely unaware until she heard the dad say something and then looked up and saw this kid staring down at her. It was hilarious. Then as the kid walked away with his parents he continued to stare behind him at Jill- it was actually a little creepy.

After our rest we checked into our hostel and then met up with a friend of Allie's who used to live in Scotland and is now visiting her fiance. They showed us around a bit and took us to a fish and chips shop for lunch. They walked us along the Royal Mile and showed us one of the haunted graveyards. Scotland is really pretty, it is much smaller than London and has mainly all very old buildings. Everything is really green at this time of year too. After we separated from Allie's friends we walked down the Royal Mile and then climbed up this big rock/mountain. I was really not feeling this climb, but we did it anyway and it gave us a gorgeous view of the city.

Our day was a lot of walking and then more walking, but it was all very enjoyable. The people in Edinburgh were all very very nice and helpful whenever we needed anything. We booked a coach tour for Saturday and then crashed pretty early in the night - we were tired!

Saturday
Today we headed to Loch Lomond, the Trussachs, and Stirling Castle. Our first stop on the way to Loch Lomond was Glasgow where we spent approximately 15 minutes - long enough for us to take a group pictures proving we were there and giving us time to find some much needed caffeine. Our next stop on this tour was Loch Lomond. On the way to Loch Lomond we learned that it is Britain's largest expanse of water and is know for its 'bonnie bonnie banks.' Our bus driver was even kind enough to play us the song, Bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond, which you have probably heard at some point during your life. I soon learned that 'loch' is just another word for lake, 'glenn' is another word for valley, and 'ben' is another word for mountain (I think). Loch Lomond was very pretty and we took a little hour boat tour around the big lake.

The rest of the day we spent traveling around some of the mountains in the countryside of Scotland and then to Stirling Castles. The mountains were gorgeous, especially the areas where there was a lake in the valley. I wasn't a big fan of the winding roads we had to take to get us the views, but the views were well worth it. My favorite part of the day easily was the 'light' music our bus driver played on the trip back into the city. Who doesn't love listening to the bagpipe version of Amazing Grace?

Unfortunately the coach we took on our day tour was much more comfortable than the coach we had to take nine hours back to London. The nine hours back were far worse than the nine hours to Edinburgh. The four of us were wide awake at 3:30am, Allie and I almost in tears because we had another four hours to go. It was freezing and just not good, but we all survived and I can say that I will never take a night bus to Edinburgh again.