The Land of the English (speaking!!)

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It was now time to leave the mainland behind and head over to Edinburgh. Scottland here we come!

It has been a good... 11 months since I was in a country where my mother tongue is the same as theirs. And man was I excited. I would be able to talk to ANYONE on the street, and they would understand me! WOOT!

Now, Allie has been talking about Edinburgh this WHOLE TRIP, and how AMAZING it is, and how much she LIKES IT… bla bla bla… so it had a lot to live up to let me tell you.

But, I am gonna say, I do believe she is right. See, the last time Allie went traveling in Europe, she got stuck in Edinburgh for 2 months. For most of the trip I was wondering how this would be possible… until we got there, and then I understood perfectly well how that would happen to a person.

The town is just so lovely and cute! Haha it’s a smaller city for sure. Not at all close to the massiveness of London or even the largeness of Berlin or Madrid. It really is walkable. Everything is close, and there are plenty of things to do and see. There is also lovely scenery all around, good food, and awesome accents. What more could you want?

So, Allie’s sister Emily joined us in Scotland, and was coming to hang out with Allie (and therefore me as well) until the end of her trip.

We started with the walking tour, and what a good one it was! Our guide was a man who looked like Hagrid and who was a pretty awesome story teller. The history of Scotland and Edinburgh that we heard is bloody and gruesome at times, but its such a different type of history from Germany’s. It was a nice change. AND I got to see The Elephant House Café! To those of you who don’t know… This was where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter Books! WE HAD LUNCH THERE! Haha Awesome. Simply Awesome.

Other Scottish highlights include:
Shortbread. Lots of shortbread.
Haggis. Strangely enough I liked it! Its really good. Im dead serious too.
A whiskey tasting tour.
The national museum (I LOVE that museums in the UK are free. Well most of them anyway. That’s how they all should be).
Cranakin. A wonderful Scottish dessert.
Iron Bru. Enjoy!

It was at this point in our trip that something happened that hadn’t happened for the last 1.75 months. Allie and I were separated.

I know.

It wasn’t easy let me tell ya. Haha But Since Allie loves Edinburgh soo much she wanted to stay for as long as possible, and I, on the other hand, had some people I wanted to see on my way down to London. So we said our goodbyes…. And I was off! On my own! FREEDOM!

(kidding! really allie i am!)

My first stop was in Chester, where a lovely couple, Rhiannon and James, live who I met on my Tanzanian safari, and who invited me to stay. Wow it was SUCH a lovely change to stay in a home after soo many hostels, and Rhiannon and James totally spoiled me! They picked me up from the station in a car. A CAR! Fed me wonderful meals, showed me around, and let me relax in front of an English-speaking telly! (that’s tv for all you non-english folk). It was just great to get to stay with them.

My next stop was in Cheltenham to visit my old traveling partner, Patrice! I last saw her in her home country of Ireland about 3 years ago, and though it’s been a long time, it was like it was yesterday seeing her again. It was lovely to catch up with her, and to see another different part of England.

All in all my cross-country trip was a success!

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