So, overnight bus ride was interesting! First off, some jerk woke me up (JUST AFTER I managed to fall asleep) to ask to sit beside me when there were two other seats with just a backpack on them rather than a sleeping person. Jerk. Thankfully one stop later (about 20min) he moved over. I wasn’t taking any chances after that – instead of just sitting sideways huddled in a ball to sleep, I took full over – I can’t explain how I slept, but essentially I was completely across my two seats, with my butt touching the far-side/armrest by the window, then my legs crossed like a 4-yr old kid propped straight up into the window. I looked like a complete idiot, but I didn’t care – too comfy. No picture proof, but we’ll think to ... read more

We added a camera to the electronic graveyard today... sigh. Em went for a walk this morning while I slept in and her bag got DRENCHED... so we’re up to a water-damaged iPod (Em), a smashed Blackberry (me) and now camera. We are silly. Anyway, thankfully the rest of our day was much better!! We went to the St. George Market first things first – it was a nice indoor market. We wandered around the small crafts tables and I tried a bunch of food all over the place (curries, salami, pork thing, this weird pink and yellow cheese). Their cupcakes looked AMAZING but we didn’t get any... and Em finally got to pet a sheep! Momentous occasion. The rest of the day was really just spent wandering around the city – it was a good ... read more

(PS from last night: after all that, there was a bus after all that doubt... so we made it to the bus station no problem. Yay. And the hostel agreed to hold onto our bags while we did the Causeway. Double yay!) This morning we headed off to the northern coast of Northern Ireland! It was beyond pouring rain in Belfast so we were a little nervous about hiking all day... but thankfully the further we got out of the city, the nicer it got! I tried napping on the bus but was unsuccessful... I watched all the small towns whizz by instead. I actually saw a lot of border collies at work in the fields, but all with cattle instead of sheep. I just kept thinking of the movie Babe. Aw. We managed to make ... read more

Busy, busy day today! This morning we got to sleep in a bit which the first time so far – which was nice. At 11am we went to do the Free Tour through Edinburgh which was great as always – I love the free tours! First stop was Parliament! Our guide gave us a super long overview of Scottish history which was really interesting. (PS our guide was Canadian, wahoo!). Next up was Mercat Cross – this cross like structure where people used to get nailed to the wail by the ear for stealing things and such. Yeah, that would suck. There’s a giant statue of David Hume near the Cathedral – with a big shiny toe. Apparently the locals rub his toe for good luck – that’s neat. We also walked around some of the ... read more

First things first, HAPPY CANADA DAAAAAAY!! (Sidenote from early this morning – our amazing co-roomies (4 other girls) decided that setting an alarm to blast this morning to some One Direction song would be totally ok... it just kept looping and looping and looping. I was *THIS* close to sitting up in bed and freaking out at them but I didn’t move out of spite. Way to have horrible hostel etiquette guys... geez) Anyway, this morning we bussed up to Urquhart Castle – about 35min south of here. The ride was lovely (as they all seem to be in Scotland) as we drove down along Loch Ness. Didn’t see Nessie, but did see a lot of boats and cute little houses that have amazing views of the Loch. Urquhart Castle is a strange little castle... it’s ... read more