Meeta

Back from my 10-day All-Ireland Paddywagon trip, and it was a bit of an up-and-down kind of affair. Unlike in Scotland, our tour bus was huge - being end of season they were combining the 3, 6 and 10 day tours together so we ended up with almost 30 people on board. Not the most condusive to getting to know people, especially when half the people you befriend end up leaving the trip a few days down the road. Our first tour guide, Joe, was spectacularly bad. He was completely uninterested in giving us any information, herding us in and out of the bus like one of those 'follow-the-red-umbrella' tours. I later learned it was because his wife had caught him out cheating and he was having a bit of a rough time at home. And ... read more

This is going to be short because I'm still reeling in shock by how expensive Dublin is, which is saying something, given I've just come from pounds in Scotland to euros in Ireland. On my first day in the city I went out to a supermarket to buy a cheap sandwich for lunch only to find it was going to cost me the unholy sum of 6 euros. To put this in perspective, that's like pay $A10 for a chicken salad sandwich. The same sandwich that would have cost the equivalent of $A4 in Scotland! Okay, I realise I'm going on a bit much about sandwiches here, but come on now, seriously! But moving on, I'm not really sure about Dublin. Other than the muddy Liffy River and whole streets lined with pubs named O'something, Dublin ... read more

So this is kind-of weird, but I've been looking forward to coming to Fort William ever since I heard about the secret painting of Bonnie Prince Charlie that's held at the Fort William museum. For those not up on their Scottish history (and feel free to skip over this if you totally don't care), Prince Charlie was the grandson of King James I/II, the rightful heir of the Scottish and British throne, who was banished to France after William of Orange came and 'stole' his crown. Years later, Prince Charlie came back to Scotland to try and win back the throne for his grandfather, and clans all over Scotland joined him and were known as The Jacobites. Interestingly, the Jacobites actually did manage to fight their way past the English army and win back Scotland. Unfortunately, ... read more

So here I am in the home of Belle & Sebastian, one of my all time favourite bands, who I'm sure most of my friends have never even heard of. Nice. To clarify, I'm in Glasgow, which I'm told is friendlier than Edinburgh, even if you can't even begin to decipher the Glaswegian accent. My first day there, I spent all morning trying to get myself to Kelvingrove Gardens over in the student district of town. There was no real reason for my trip out there except that I had once seen some really awesome photos of it, but evidently they were photos taken by a really good photographer with some exceptional photoshop skills because the park really wasn't that exciting once I finally got there. Nevermind, better luck next time. My second day in Glasgow ... read more

So I'm back from my 9 day whirlwind Wild-in-Scotland adventure, and what can I say, I am totally in love with this country. It's so green and hilly and panoramic in a way I could never capture on film - or memory card, as the case may be. A little bit like New Zealand actually, only err..quite a bit colder and a lot less with the blue skies and sunshine. But then again, we were pretty lucky with the weather actually, so I won't complain too much. The trip took us from Edinburgh up through Stirling, Glencoe, Eilean Donan, Isle of Skye, Isles of Lewis and Harris, Orkney, John O'Groats and then back down through Loch Ness and Culloden to Edinburgh. Understandably, to anyone who doesn't have the first clue about all things Scotland, that was ... read more