The Journey to Scotland

December 20, 2008

I’d left the hostel after enjoying my cereal and toast breakfast one last time and made my way to the airport arriving with ample time to get checked in and head to the departure gate after going through security. I arrived at my departure gate with a little over an hour to spare and searched for a place to either sit and grab a coffee or just meander through. It was then I noticed a bookstore across from my boarding gate. I wandered over to the bookstore looking through the sale shelves when I spotted it. The third book in the Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. Eclipse. I quickly snatched the book having been eager to read this edition for several weeks as I’d finished the first two in a day each. I noticed the fourth one sitting next to it and debated how long it would take to read the third one first. Then I noticed a sale on the books and couldn’t resist. All in all I paid $20 bucks for three books as I received a third book for free. I was excited and quickly paid for the books before wandering back over to the departure gate and begin reading.

As it became time to board I stashed a bookmark to keep my place and boarded the plane ready to continue reading and excited to begin a new adventure. I arrived in Glasgow little over an hour after the plane took off. I went into the airport and used the internet to book both a hostel and a bus ticket to Inverness up in the northern part of Scotland as that’s where the Loch Ness as well as several of the filming sights for the Harry Potter movies lay. As well my mom’s friend from work lived up that way and I wanted to meet the infamous SMARTRecoverie’s Scotsman. So I booked a ticket for that evening on Megabus.com and decided to sit around at the Starbucks cafe in the airport and enjoy a small lunch and continue reading “Eclipse.” After making it through a large portion of the book I thought about exploring Glasgow only to find that there wasn’t much to see or much to do. Glasgow was a place of airports as it had to airports both international airports. The one I’d arrived in being only Ryanair planes the other one a larger hub containing many other companies. So then I decided that it was around the time I should start making my way to the bus station where my bus was set to depart from.

All the while I continued to read the exciting adventures of Bella and her vampire lover Edward. It wasn’t soon before long that I was on my to Inverness. I had to change buses once in Perth and shortly afterward I arrived at the bus station in Inverness hailing a cab to take me to the hotel I’d had to reserve just for that night as there were no hostels available for the night of the 20^th. I arrived at the hotel and the cab driver handed me my luggage wishing me a happy holidays before heading back down the road. It was then I realized how seemingly far out of the way I was even though the ride was short and not extremely costly. I walked up to the front door peeking quietly through the windows of the old Victorian looking house hotel to see several sets of lights on. Anxious to get a glass of water and get to bed I rang the bell and waited several seconds before ringing again, then knocking once, twice, a third time, and even a fourth. I rang the bell once more a matter of several minutes having passed since I’d begun the tedious actions and my mind began to wonder why no one answered the door. I didn’t remember reading about a specific check in time or that there would be no members of the staff after a certain time so I continued to ring and knock in hopes that someone would answer. After more then ten minutes had passed I set my luggage down and tried to make my way around the house to see if maybe there was another door. But this old house was very secluded and the grounds were poorly lit and I became edgy at the fact that my luggage was sitting alone with my laptop inside so I made my way back around the house beginning to get a little frustrated with the lack of service.

Another twenty minutes more or so after this I’d sat down on the step beginning to get chilled by the wind and light rain that had been coming down since the start. It was at this point in time I ran through my options in my head. Make the seemingly long trek back down the large hill I’d come up, on the slick gravel road in hopes of finding another hotel or at least an open bar with a phone so that I may phone the hotel, continue knocking in hopes of someone eventually asnwering, or sleep here on the step and yell at the staff responsible and demand that I not be charged for the room I’d booked but not slept in. It was then a rather large gust of wind hit my tired body and sent a large chill through out. I stood up quickly with determination and a set mind to find a warm place to sleep for the night.

Taking out my cell phone from Spain I pressed a few buttons to keep the thing lit and use the tiny light to help guide me back down the steep slope. Once I’d made it down to the bottom I looked left once, right once, and left once more deciding to follow the road that appeared to lead to several more city lights then the other one. I walked for what seemed like forever and as the time was nearing one am I finally made it to the road and continued to follow the road to where I saw lights. After another 25 minutes or so of walking I noticed a Travelodge. The roads of Europe and the UK being the way they are it took another ten minutes to get there because the end of the small grassy slope that lead to the parking lot was fenced off and however small I was not risking barbed wire just to race to the hotel. I made my way to the desk and requested a room for the night only to find out with sheer disappointment that they were over booked. Looking at my tired and forlorn face the woman at the desk took pitty upon me and allowed me the use of the phone and several other hotel numbers and I called until I finally found a hotel that had room for one for the night. It was a costly venture denting my account over 100 dollars (an amount that could get me a hostel for several nights). But the woman assured me a great breakfast was awaiting me in the morning.

So losing patience as well as hours of sleep I made my way to the new hotel and quickly hopped on the internet and made a cup of tea with the little electric kettle that was in the room. Fully taking advantage of everything the hotel had to offer for the steep price I’d had to pay. I let my parents know where I was and that I was safe before turning in for the night knowing that I had a long Sunday ahead of me the next day...