Blogs from Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe

Karla was up bright and breezy ready for the day, Shane took more persuasion but after a quick shower he was ready too. We went off to discover the shopping centres and we enjoyed walking in and out of the shops. After a snack we headed to the train, we took our seats and got ready to enjoy the scenic trip down south to Kendal in the Lake District. The train was incredibly smooth and fast roaring through the countryside at around 100mph. We loved seeing the hills, sheep and stone walls as we moved. Two hours later we arrived in Kendal and were greeted by Karla’s Gran and Stuart who had travelled 6 hours north the day before. We went and dropped the bags off at the hotel then drove down the road to Guys ... read more

June 29th: Up and drinking coffee... and I need it! This is a great hostel, free breakfast, free net, socialable vibe, cheap bar and good facilities but by the beard of Zeus it is noisy at night! Kept up till 2AM or so by the sound of drunken yells and breaking glass, at 4am or so as the sun started coming up, the birds started singing... well "singing" might be putting a bit too kindly, it sounded like a cross between crazy laughter and the sound of somebody being raped... after my brain woke up enough to realise that this was NOT what was happening I got up and tried to close the window... it was bolted open (presumably to stop the room turning into a sauna), hopefully will have better luck in Glasgow, because won ... read more

SO... I decided to start a blog for going to Qatar this summer, like all of those self indulgent creeps I normally insult. This is my first post to see how this works, and an excellent "useful" procrastination from revision. Still waiting to hear back from the company, QAPCO, I'm meant to be working for which is a bit worrying but hopefully hear from them before I actually leave! Can't believe I start work 4 weeks to the day (probs the only British person who has to work on the Queen's Jubilee- but whatevs.) Been doing some research into what to see/do/wear while I'm there and particularly excited for the Jeep safari tours over the sand dunes, which sound terrifying but lots of fun too. Apparently depending on your tour guide they could have you flying ... read more

After arriving in Edinburgh this Saturday morning, Hamish, Jo and I caught the train to Glasgow to watch Rangers v Dundee United. We were impressed with the transport service. Trains run every 15 minutes and were very comfortable. I even caught a power nap within the 50 minute ride. As we were making good time we decided to treat ourselves to a quick Fish & Chips takeaway while watching the buskers in busy George Street on this beautiful Glasgwegian day. The meal hit the spot with just the right amount of grease required. (One reason why I decided to eat in the city was my expectations of extortionate food prices within the stadium. This expectation turned out to be ill-founded - the prices were quite reasonable. Although there were no alcoholic beverages for sale - I ... read more

There were two places in Scotland that we visited and the main city that we stayed in was Glasgow. The bus ride down there was a little long to say the least. We took a ton of breaks, visited a city on the way for lunch and we finally made a 6 hr trip into 11 hours with the traffic and breaks. Thank goodness I can sleep almost anywhere! When we arrived at the Premier Inn hotel we had some down time to get situated before having our arrival dinner. This hotel was like a breath of fresh air and a good break from the tiny dorms and showers that we're used to. For dinner I had my first Fish & Chips while in the UK! It was pretty good and something I will definitely have ... read more

The morning started with included breakfast at The Landmark Hotel just outside of Dundee. Their dining area consists of a completely glassed in area that gives a view of a miniature onsite hedge maze and the upper portion of a couple of hundred year old building onsite that has no plaque or sign to show its significance. After breakfast we packed up, jumped into the little red car and hit the superhighway to Glasgow Airport. Driving down the Canadian equivalent to the 401, we came up upon a tractor in the slow lane and a right hand turn lane for an adjoining road. All was good until we got right up to the Airport and the British lady in the gps starting bitching at me again for not taking the right road once we were off ... read more