Advertisement
Published: September 29th 2016
Edit Blog Post
On Our Way
The tiny plane we took from Dublin to Scotland Thursday night we took the trip from Galway to Dublin on a bus from Eyre Square. I'd be lying if I said we didn't get lost trying to find the bus. We are all familiar with Galway now, but certainly we still mess up!? We hadn't purchased tickets before thinking we could get them at the station. Good thing we got there early because we had to go to the ATM and get cash because the card machine was shut down for the night. We were running, or fast walking, the streets of Galway trying to find an ATM in time. Luckily we found one and made it back in time for our bus. What a way to start the trip! So we boarded our bus and we got to Dublin at about 10pm that night. We had a B and B booked for the night since our flight wasn't until 6:30am on Friday. We got a taxi to the place, which seemed pretty cute. In our room were four twin beds and although we knew we had to be up in mere hours, we chatted until midnight at least.
The 3:30am alarm went off all too soon and we groggily
Scotland
One of the first buildings I saw upon arrival tore ourselves away from the covers. Still bleary eyed, we grabbed our belongings and went downstairs for a breakfast of toast and cereal. A bus would take us from the B and B to the airport. We got on and took the short trip to the airport where we checked in and made it to the gate with no problem. Of course coffee was essential to our travels. When it was time to board, instead of boarding through a tunnel we were led outside to a small aircraft. We boarded outside and we're off in such a short time! We couldn't get over how small the plane was.
I immediately fell asleep during the short flight to Glasgow, Scotland from exhaustion. Before I knew it we were descending through the clouds. From the first glimpses out through the plane window I couldn't believe how beautiful Scotland was. The mountains looked like paintings in the black ground of individually built and cared houses that truly showed the character of the city.
Once we landed in Glasgow, like most tourists, we had absolutely no idea what to do next. The best idea? Find transportation to the city. We had to get to
Hollyroode Palace
The home of Queen Mary of Scots Edinburgh that night anyway so we figured that was the best place to start.
Stumbling upon a bus that took us to the city center was perfect and cheap. We were there in such a short time, but still we were all exhausted and hardly remember this part of our journey. At about 8:45am we got to the city and were starving. However, I couldn't help noticing how Americanized Glasgow seemed to be. I had already seen two Starbucks! It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but the stores reflected how much America had influenced this city. We saw stores like Laura Ashley, H&M, and many more. We also noticed a lot of restaurants that advertised New York style or American food. We went in to one such place; a tiny little food shop with donuts in the window. Being 9:00am we didn't think we would find anywhere that served anything but breakfast, but lunch and dinner food was all that we could think about. After all we had been up since 3:30am. This place somehow had what we were looking for. I don't think I'll ever forget this burrito/quesadilla that I got. It was filled with chicken, cheese, guacamole, salsa
Love
This was too pretty not to snap a photo of and sour cream and grilled to perfection. I don't even know the name but I wish I could eat that meal every day.
We were going to explore Glasgow since we didn't have to be to our B and B until 6pm, but I don't know, it just didn't work out as we planned. We were all tired and we didn't know where we were going. After a fruitless attempt to catch a bus we decided to just go to Edinburgh and see what we could do there.
I'm not going to say I wasn't nervous. I was afraid this trip was going to go horribly and we wouldn't have any fun at all. I mean, we couldn't even get the bus! How were we going to do this?
How wrong I was. We got to Edinburgh and immediately I could see why everyone had told us to go this country. It was breathtaking. The sheer history in each and every infrastructure was unbelievable. Even on our last day there it was like I was looking at them for the first time.
I don't know if I fall asleep very easily or if I was just exhausted, but I fell
asleep the moment we got on the train. I wish I hadn't because I would have loved to see the countryside, but I really needed that sleep.
Bre woke me up and we got off the train in a place that we would soon because very familiar with. It was this large bridge and all around us were gigantic historical buildings towering around us.
We really didn't know what to do. Here we were, four girls exhausted with backpacks holding everything we travelled with in the middle of a bustling city.
We decided our best bet was to have someone do the planning for us. That was in the form of a hop-on, hop-off bus. Honestly, for our first day and not knowing what we were doing something like that was perfect.
We paid £15.00 I believe to get on and it was valid for 24 hours. Side-note: the pound sucks. It just really does. Going from the American dollar to the euro isn't too bad, but the American dollar to the pound is absolutely heart-wrenching when you see what things actually cost in American dollars. It's best not to look at the bank account until after the trip is
The Bed
I wasn't supposed to take this picture over.
So we got on the bus and our we stopped at this botanical garden. It was nice, exactly what you'd expect out of a garden. Nothing special. We enjoyed watching the ducks swim in circles. Our next stop was one of my favorites. It's called Hollyroode Palace and it was the home of Mary Queen of Scots, and the place where Queen Elizabeth stays when she visits Scotland. Anyone who knows me knows I love the royal family so this was so exciting for me. We got to take a tour of the rooms and see where historical figures actually lived. Mary's bed still has the bedcovers she slept with on it. We weren't allowed to take photos, but come on, I couldn't resist secretly snapping a few. You can't expect me to see the crown Queen Elizabeth wore when she was coronated and not take a picture for my memories. We then walked through the rooms with all the historic outfits Queen Elizabeth wore and people before her. It was absolutely stunning to see them up-close. I was so happy we accidentally stumbled upon a bus that took us to a place that I loved so much.
After
The Dress of Queen Elizabeth
I wasn't supposed to take this photo either we went to the palace we walked across the street and took a walk through the Parliment Building. It was interesting to see politics from a different country's perspective. Some of the photos and events pertained to the U.S. so to see an outside view was definitely different.
In the Parliment Building was a little cafe where we sat and rested while drinking coffee. We needed it. By the way if anyone ever travels to Europe get the mocha coffee. It is to die for. That is all.
We walked outside around this little pond were people were sitting and we chatted and lounged while we waited for it to be close to 6pm so we could check-in. While we were sitting we saw this giant hill that we vowed to climb before we left. But that's a story for another blog.
By the time we got to where we were staying I showered and we ate at this cute restaurant down the street. I had my first Cosmo and I must say I very much enjoyed it.
At 9:30pm that night the four of us were sound asleep.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.291s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 8; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0891s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb