Scotland Experience

Our spontaneous trip to Scotland was, overall, a great decision! We had four days to explore the country of rain, snow and kilts so we set off immediately once we arrived at the train station. Our first day there was Camden's birthday! We arrived to our hostel (St. Christopher's Inn- not recommended) which would be our new home. It was weirdly a nice day out! Still freezing but blue skies and no rain! Wooo!! We set our big bags down and hit the city. We wandered around for a bit, looking at monuments, architecture and the national gallery of Scotland. Once we were done playing tourists , our only mission in mind was to find a nice place to celebrate Camdens birthday. We didn't have to go to far until we felt a bit defeated and asked for someone's recommendation. Lucky for us, we asked just the right lady! She happened to be married to the owner/chef of a restaurant "right down the road". A mile later we finally found the establishment, Dine. The food there was fantastic! The service was great and at the end the staff gave Camden a little birthday card! So sweet! We were so full after our spread of bread with various spreads, rib eye and free range chicken followed with a warm brownie with dark chocolate ganache. Yummmmm. We walked off our meal on the mile trek back to our hostel. We stayed up listening to a local band play, while attempting a rough outline of our continental Europe plans. Free wifi is huge while traveling, since that's the only way to use your phone to full capacity. Soo we bummed the wifi until it was time to call it a night in preparation for our big day tomorrow. The sound of an alarm is always annoying. I haven't heard that sound in quite some time, so when I heard this I was confused for a moment. Where am I? What am I doing waking up this early on holiday?! Oh yeah. I booked a tour at 8am and still need to buy lunch for the day and eat breakfast and not get lost walking to the tour meetup. 6:30am is not a nice hour in Scotland. The winds are harsh. It's dark out and everything is still closed. Makes you feel like you should be back in bed under the warm blankets. But Camden and I were determined to get to the highlands and Loch Ness today! We did what we needed to do and head off to our meeting point. We got there. 8:00am. No one was there. The place was closed. Of course it was...it started to rain. I asked a local coffee shop to borrow their phone and called the tour company. We were at the wrong spot and our tour had left for the day. Loveeeely. Thankfully they rebooked us for the following day. But now what? We had a full unexpected day. Then we remembered, there's a free walking tour of the city at 11 from our hostel. So we made our way back to the hostel and waited for the walking tour. Thank god, the walking tour was great! Our tour guide was so full of knowledge and passionate about his job. He really made it enjoyable. Because walking for three hours with a stranger can suck if they do. We learned so much about the Scottish history and how Scotland, especially Edinburgh, became what it is today. He then led us through all the Harry Potter sights and landmarks hat could be seen while walking the city! It was super cool to see where J.K wrote her books, and what inspired her to write her stories that inspired so many others around the world. Once the tour was finished we were left to our own devices. Camden and I weren't too sure what to do. We had the tour the next day, we had walked the city for nearly 6 hours and it was only 1:30pm. So, we headed back to our hostel and bummed the wifi for a bit. This is what I like to call forced relaxation. Something we both need, but NEVER want to take. Because along breaks while traveling feels like your wasting valuable time. By nevertheless we just were for about three hours. Until we found a free walking ghost tour online and jumped on the opportunity. The ghost tour was good! Some good walks and good stories to get us going again! It was just what we needed before hitting the hay in preparation (again) for our big day....Today we were determined to get things right. And we did! We made it to the meetup spot early and hopped on the bus, excited for our day ahead! Our itinerary was Glencoe, the Highlands and Loch Ness. All quality destinations! We stopped at a few lochs (lakes in Gaelic) and snapped some photos. The scenery was amazing but what I was most fascinated by was the fact that the shore was made up of broken pieces of Quartz! Yes. You read that right. I was in heaven! Picking them up, inspecting them, taking some as souvenirs and hoping no one would tell me to put them back. We got back on the bus and enjoyed the beauty of the Scottish Highlands! The vast land of various colors was hypnotizing. Colors of orange, red, brown, green and white sprinkled atop the mountains captivated me. I must have stared out the window for three to four hours. We got out of the bus every now and then taking pictures, stretching and getting some tea to warm us up. We stopped at some small villages (but I didn't get out...it was raining and windy and I like the heater in the van hahahah). We finally got to our main destination Loch Ness, in hopes to spot the "monster" Nessie. It was incredible. The lake was massive. Ranging 700 feet deep and 25 miles long, I couldn't even imagine what underneath looked like. It was so peaceful and lucky for us, not toooo rainy. We wandered the village surrounding Loch Ness and when it was time to get back in the bus, we headed off. I must have drifted off to sleep. I felt the bus coming to a stop and I gently woke up. When I saw where I was I FREAKED OUT. Like completely went mental like a little kid in a candy shop. We wereSURROUNDED BY SNOW. EVERYTHING WAS WHITE. Like everything. Besides the road. The sky was white, the wind was howling, it was snowing out, gigantic mountains on either side of us were completely white. I had to get out. The driver let us crazies off the bus to play and have a snowball fight. When I walked out the crunch of snow under my feet was so exciting! I ran all over the place, spinning in circles, throwing snow in the air. Honestly, words can't really describe this moment but I'm trying my best. Safe to say, it was an amazing way to wake up. And it was one of the best moments I've had so far. Our driver finally got us back in the bus and we were in our way back to Edinburgh. Needless to say, we had a successful day. Our last day was spend wandering around the parts of the city we may have missed while rushing around the city trying to make a tour or attraction. It was a really nice day spent reflecting on our travels, how far we have come and where we are going. I learned some things while in Scotland. Here's a few...1. I LOVE the sun. And have a newfound appreciation for our climate back at home.2. History is something I've never truly appreciated until now. 3. Even when there are tough times, I am tougher. 4. Cold weather won't kill me. I could go on and on, but I won't. For now, I'll let the pictures do the talking. They don't completely capture the beauty of this country. So bundle up, and check it out for yourself!       To follow our journey in even more depth please check out our other social media outlets! Instagram: @christinabammbina @marlon_cramdo#boygirlandtheworldYouTube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCC9qwNoy9QSRXLHKgoKLHtw