Wellp… I must say that my energy levels have been quite low during the last week of travels. Luckily I decided to end my trip in Ireland and the U.K. because it has really helped lower my stress. Mainly because there are no language barriers and that helps to get around, order food, and just figure things out in general. To be quite honest though I am just exhausted. I don’t know what it is because I get a good amount of sleep each night but my body and my mind is just so tired. Simply writing this blog post takes effort that I barely have. Haha. How pathetic is that?
OK, so next to last stop was Edinburgh, Scotland. The main difference between this city and the Irish ones I visited was the buildings. They were made of… Sandstone… If I am not mistaken, which gave them a dark, almost black, color. Also, the heavy use of chimneys throughout the 19th and 20th centuries darkened the buildings as well. The contrast of the buildings against the green grass and blue skies was beautiful. I thought the Edinburgh skyline was striking and different than other cities I have seen thus far. My first day in Scotland I just sorta walked around Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile, people watching and getting a lay of the land. I also napped and watched a good amount of Netflix. My second day I finally decided to take a free walking tour. A majority of the cities I have been to offer free walking tours, but I just never take advantage of them. Well, they are “free” but not really because you are expected to give your guide a lil’ summin’ summin’ at the end of the tour. Why else would these tour guides do it? I guess they get more business by calling it free? Who knows. Anyways, I am glad I did it because I learned a lot about Edinburgh and some interesting details about Scottish history in general. And let me just say, the history of England and Wales and Scotland and Ireland is a very confusing and tumultuous history. To this day I still get confused as to what is “owned” by the British crown or which nations are in commonwealth and what exactly that means and yadda yadda. The other main thing I did in Edinburgh was climb this hill, if you will, to the highest peak called Arthur’s Seat. Not quite sure why it is called that but boy was that a bitch to hike up. I met a girl from my hostel and we did it together. Decided to take the harder path, not realizing that it was like 3 times harder than the easy one. It was a good workout though, and the views at the top made it worth it. If I had more time and money I would have liked to take a day trip to the Highlands and other parts of Scotland; however, at this point in my trip I am A) running on fumes and B) pretty much broke as can be.
Last stop before I go home (tomorrow) was Cardiff, Wales. I am not entirely sure why I decided to come to Wales for a few days instead of just staying in Scotland but I did. Mmmm it was enjoyable in Cardiff but there’s not that much to see or do. Not to mention my hostel was complete shit. Well okay, it did have a bar and TVs and a decent communal hangout area. But the sleeping conditions were piss poor. The springs of the mattress dug into my skin and the pillow, if you can even call it that, was thinner than a slice of bread. Moreover, there were 8 beds crammed into the smallest room possible. Even smaller than my hostel in Prague and Cork, which is saying something. When I first arrived on Saturday the room was full. Full of people. Full of luggage. Full of personal belonging’s spread everywhere. I felt cramped and just like wtf did I get myself into? Luckily the hostel offered lockers with £5 refundable deposit. So I got to store my stuff somewhere safe. But damn. And I thought the showers/bathrooms were horrible too but I later realized I had first gone into the men’s restroom/shower and that’s why it reeked of piss and BO. The women’s showers actually weren’t too bad. I did, however, wear my shower shoes just in case there was fungi present. Instead of spending my money on museums or castles in Cardiff, I decided to go crazy and see 3 different movies in the theaters. I mean for only £4 a movie I couldn’t resist. I saw: Now You See Me 2, Central Intelligence, and Ghostbusters. The first two were good, while Ghostbusters was a big letdown. Totally worth the money though. I love the movies. The one touristy thing I did do in Cardiff was a free walking tour… But this time around it wasn’t through a large company like in Edinburgh. It was a guy about my age, whom had just started his own company and this was only the 8th tour he had ever given. I was the only one who showed up, which was good and bad. Good because I pretty much got a personalized tour of Cardiff. Bad because he was probably going to expect me to give him a good chunk of change seeing as though I was the only 1. The tour was nice and I learned a good chunk about Cardiff and ended up giving him £5, which I thought was appropriate. Overall, though, I don’t think I would come to Cardiff again. No offense to the Welsh, but it’s not really worth it…
megthenomad 