England and Scotland

After a marathon journey to London via New York we arrived early in the morning. Neither of us had had any sleep and we were exhausted. We shelled out 50 pounds to stay at a bed and breakfast that was pretty sub-par but right in the heart of London. We got some rest and then headed out to see the sights, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Parliament, The London Eye, River Thames etc. It’s a cool spot is London, plenty to see and do. So after 2 days of site seeing we were pretty well acquainted with the touristy areas. Our good friend John Sullivan took us under his wing and let us stay at his place which was a 20min tube ride out of Old London Town. The tube made travelling super easy so everywhere we went was easily accessible.

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We stayed at John’s (and made him sleep on the couch/floor) for about 4 nights, and we got to experience the less touristy but (in my mind) cooler places. On one of the days we went to a festival called the Camden Crawl which involves buying a ticket, which gives you access to 40 or so pubs and clubs in the Camden area, each of which had various live bands playing throughout the day. Camden was a great spot, very alternative and was buzzing because of the festival (I later discovered that it’s generally like that). We drank and moved from place to place and then it started to pour with rain. It just so happened that it was at its heaviest when we were commuting between venues – and then lining up outside for 30min. So we got soaked, a number of times. However, all in all it was a good day out, we saw Calvin Harris, John’s pick – the Sugababes, Midnight Juggernauts, Surfer Blood and a few others I can’t recall.

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The remaining time in London included more sightseeing – the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge; and Alison got to do some shopping which she was excited with.

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We headed out of London and caught the bus north to the Lakes District. We stayed in a town called Windermere which was literally in the middle of nowhere, but it was a quaint town with all the charms you’d expect from country England. The lakes themselves were very picturesque, we caught the ferry across the lake and wandered through the next town where we played mini golf and checked out the football photography museum, had a drink on the shore at an outdoor bar before heading home again.

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The following day we caught the bus early heading towards Edinburgh. When I say bus, I mean 2 buses and 2 trains. We had organised to visit some old school friends of my dad, whom lived in a place called Cupar, about an hour West of Edinburgh and close to St Andrews (the home of golf). We met Trevor and Sheena and stayed with them for 2 nights. They spoiled us with dinners and breakfasts and chauffeuring us around. We headed over to see St Andrews which was in preparation for the British Open which is kicking off shortly. The following day we were driven through the Scottish Highlands to Inverness, the closest town to Loch Ness. The highlands were beautiful, with rolling hills, snow capped mountains, breathtaking loch’s. We bid farewell to Trevor and Sheena and checked into our hostel, Alison had a great sleep that night, but I had none, the room was over a fairly busy street with lots of light – so I couldn’t get to sleep initially, and then there was a group of guys in a neighbouring room that came back to the hostel with a further group of guys at about 3am, they then proceeded to sing, no shout, songs ranging from the Beatles to Limp Bizkit – this continued till about 5:30am. The following day we went on an early morning tour of the Loch Ness, we caught a ferry across the Loch to the Urquhart Castle. We looked and looked for Nessie, but to no avail. So as far as I’m concerned, she’s not there – there I said it.

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After missing the 1st bus, we headed back to Edinburgh to stay a few days. Edinburgh was a really beautiful city, loads of old buildings, loads of pubs and friendly people. Whilst in Edinburgh we did the quintessential tour of Edinburgh Castle, walked the Royal Mile, and viewed the City from Duncan’s Monument atop of Calton Hill, drank whiskey and ate Haggis.

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We were all set to go the next morning, bags packed, alarm set, early to bed. Alarm went off at 5, out the door by 5:30, at the airport by 6:30 – loads of time to spare. Had spent many hours arranging and re-arranging our bags to ensure we were within the 15kg luggage limit. We arrived at the check-in desk and after a few minutes of frantic searching, the man informed us, that I had infact booked flights for the following week, and therefore we were not listed for that flight. Ryanair of course would not allow us to swap, and therefore we had to re-book the following day at a hefty penalty. Soooo, we spent the day again in Edinburgh, not much took place, shopping, and sleeping, and in the night time we did a ghost tour which was kinda fun and then ended up in a bar somewhere along the Royal Mile. Once again, bags packed, alarm set, not so early to bed. Alarm went off at 5, out the door by 5:30, at the airport by 6:30 – loads of time to spare. This time, we were lucky, and off we flew to Dublin.