Dublin / Scotland

Dublin
I arrived at the Castleknock Hotel in Dublin at 5pm, 9 hours after I left my apartment in Paris. My flight was only one and a half hours, but getting to and from the airports just sucked.

Ryan Air
First off, Ryan air can wipe my ass. They offer free flights, yet charge you 40€ in taxes. They are so cheap that the only airport they can fly into Paris is Beauvais, which is a little over an hour’s bus ride away, which amounts you 13€, or take a taxi if you miss the bus (which left 3 and 1/2 hours before your departure time) which would amount you 50€. Once you take the dreadfully boring busride to Beauvais, you have to pay another 10€ to check in a piece of luggage.

After paying all the annoying charges, you finally get to relax on the plane. But to your back’s dismay, you find out that the seats are made of blue plastic and have just about .5” of padding on them. They print the emergency cards on the back of seat right in front of your face, so there’s no way you can miss it. Ok so now you think you can sleep through this horrible flight. Then you realize you can’t recline your chair. Then the woman on the overhead speakers comes on about every 10 minutes announcing if you buy something on the plane you are automatically entered into a contest for a free flight. (But I thought that this flight was already free…) Anyway, I guess I should just be thankful that my flight was only 1 hour.

Castleknock
So I get to Castleknock, and it’s a not just a hotel, but it’s a Resort, fully loaded with an indoor pool, gym, and a fine golf course. I ate a good steak sandwich on garlic bread at the Carpenters (the only bar in the little town). The next day I did some sightseeing of Dublin on my own. Warren and I met up later that night and did a mini pub-crawl through Temple Bar. The next day I enjoyed the Castleknock resort by swimming and never made the hour bus ride into town. That night we went out with Symantec and met Shane (with the black hat) and another guy who was a magician / mind reader. We had a good time at the 12th Lock, (canal lock) but were asked to quiet down once we started having fun. Seriously who tells people to be quiet in a bar? So we went to Shan’ai downtown. Just as we were about to leave, Warren pulled us back in for a whiskey… which turned into 2 or 3. Once we got home, we met some nice Irish folks who tried to sell us paintings for 890€. Come on now. I did however learn or rather try to learn some Irish limericks. I also learned my name Jon is also Jack which is also Shamus.

We took a Hop-on Hop-off bus tour the next day. None of us were really awake.

We saw some cool doors and buildings,

the Guinness brewery, Jameson distillery,

some churches, and other random things.

Scotland
In 2 days, I saw/did Edinburgh, Stirling, Inverness, Urquhart Castle and Loch Ness, Standing Stones at Cairn, Loch Mullardoch, Glen Affric, Eilean Donan Castle, Fort William, Glen Coe, and drove along Loch Linnhe. I needed at least 2 weeks instead of 2 days. However on the bright side, now I know for sure I need to go back ☺

Edinburgh
So I arrived into Edinburgh around 10pm. I found my hostel pretty easily, but Edinburgh isn’t a hard city to navigate. I checked in, paid £12 for a room with 40 beds… it was the biggest I’d ever stayed in. Anyhow, after a shower I took a walk down Princes Street, the main road in New Town of Edinburgh. The first thing I saw was the Edinburgh Castle sitting on a big rock, glowing in orange lights.

It was literally breathtaking. I really mean it – it looked so untouchable and perfect, perched upon the huge rock. And I began to imagine the Scots and English who fought where I stood 7 or 8 centuries ago with the castle looking down upon them.

Anyhow I continued walking down Princes Street and saw many more really awesome monuments.

Edinburgh Castle and Old Town
The next day I got up and had breakfast downstairs. I walked to E. Castle which I think after going to, was a little overrated. But it was still cool to see…

I then walked down the Royal Mile, the main street in Old Town, which is called that because from E. Castle to the Holyrood House is 1 mile. There I went to random shops and St. Giles, where I attended the beginning of mass. It was really cool, but also creepy because the church was so old and authentic.

I walked around a little more, trying to find an internet café so I could print my car rental form and some maps. I creeped around some dark alleys like the ones in Jekyll & Hyde – it was weird though… I actually felt the impression of the double life and transformations.

Then I randomly ran into Gina and Lauren from JMIS. I haven’t talked to them in maybe 5 or 6 years. That was cool. I found out who was married from junior high. After that, I walked to the Holyrood House, but I didn’t go inside because I didn’t care to see more jewels, etc. So I went and bought a Scottish version of Thomas Guide and went to the airport to pick up my car (look how shiny and red it is!)…

Driving on the Left Side
Isn’t so bad. It took me about 20 min to get used to driving on the left, and a while longer to get used to the stick shift on my left hand.

Stirling
I got to Stirling about 30 min later and immediately headed to the William Wallace Memorial. It is this tall building about 2 miles outside of Stirling. (weird, they use miles here). It’s a pretty sweet place. I saw WW’s sword. I also learned that WW wasn’t the real braveheart – it was the Bruce who led the Scots to victory against the English, and because when he died, his heart was taken and buried elsewhere in Scotland, hence the name Braveheart.

After the WW Memorial, I drove into town to look at the Stirling Castle, but it was closed by the time I got there. So I took some pictures outside and then drove to a couple hours up to Inverness. Half of the drive was at night so I didn’t see anything cool, but the other half was really pretty. When I got to Inverness around 10, I found a hostel and got to stay in a Box Room. I am also 1 out of 8 Scottish hostels away from getting £1 off my next stay. I talked to the hostel guy. He was a funny guy because he asked where I was from and I told him San Francsico and he laughed. So I told him I was serious and he said oh. So then I explained my origin was Chinese and my family history. It was good to share a little bit of myself with him and hopefully at the same time broaden his mind a little more. I ate dinner and breakfast at Weatherspoon.

Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle
I must admit its pretty exciting being on Loch Ness. Yes, everyone knows that there is no Nessie, but when you are on the Loch, you actually think that maybe, just maybe Nessie will come out today. After some Loch Nessiness, I went to Urquhart Castle – the castle overlooking LN. It was a huge castle that everyone (clans, families, governments) kept fighting over. It saw many a battle.

Standing Stones at Cairn, Loch Mullardoch, Dog Falls, Glen Affric
I headed over to Loch Mullardoch next. The drive took so long because 1, the roads are single track roads and are very bendy, and 2, I kept stopping to take pictures. On the way, I stopped by the Standing Stones at Cairn, which is a burial site. They found the remains of a woman buried in the center of the stones, and experts think it was a sacrifical burial.

I met up with a tour group and somehow ended up joining them for a little bit. The tour guide made us do a traditional Scottish dance. How fun! Then she lectured me how to drive on single track roads.

I continued on my way to Loch Mullardoch. I took so many pictures along the road. I finally made it and met some cool Germans who apparently love Scotland. They are from a place in Germany that floods every 10 years so the woman works in a company that builds dams in case of floods.



After Loch Mullardoch, I looped around and drove to Glen Affric. I stopped at Dog Falls b/c it sounded really neat, but I ended up getting lost and it was a waste of time. This old guy had told me it was right down the path, and I went down it but totally passed it because it was so tiny, haha. The picture turned out alright though. When got to Glen Affric, I took a hike around the Loch there as much as I could, but ended up having to turn back b/c of time.

A Loch in Glen Affric
Eilean Donan, Fort William, Glen Coe
It was now about 5pm and it was getting dark soon. I could either head toward Eilean Donan or go down through Fort William and stay in Oban. I chose the first choice, and it turned out to be the best choice. I started my drive on the A87 and pulled over on the A87 for a little nappy poo. I woke up and saw it was 630.. shit. I got back on the road and booked it. This drive was taking forever it seemed... plus it started raining. I thought I'd never get to Eilean Donan. I pulled over at this nice cemetery, which had to have been over 300 years old. The roof had caved in, and there were many tombstones that had fallen over. It was awesome. I even saw a tombstone for Duncan Macleod... yes, corny, but I took a picture anyway.

I hiked up the little mountain because I saw a statue up there. The view turned out to be amazing. I met a Spanish guy at the top who was working in the kitchen of some hotel/restaurant in Scotland for 2 months. Anyhow, the statue ended up being a memorial for some Clan.

After peeling myself away from the beautifulness, I hit the road again, only to find out I was only 10 min away from Eilean Donan! What a nice surprise. The castle is placed in an amazing spot... right on the loch. The oily water that surrounds the castle has an errie current that goes really slowly in both directions, which added to the overall feeling of the castle. It looked the best lit up, however.

Even though I was starving, I decided against eating at the Pub in town. I was a little intimidated by the small size, which after on the road again, I realized I shouldn't be intimidated and afraid of being outside my comfort zone... that is one of the reasons why I'm on this trip. So I pulled over at the next random and smallest pub on the road and had me some grub. I think it was around Inverinate.

I got myself all the way down to Fort William, almost falling asleep. I decided I couldn't drive any further and tried to find a hostel in town. Unfortunately my hostel book didn't have a listing for any hostels in Fort William... great. So I went on a hunt around 1030pm for a hostel in this dark town. Maps and friendly directions didn't help. I finally found the one and only hostel way up on the hill, pulled up in my cool red peugeot, walked inside and asked how much a room was. A dude came in from the other room and said, it's £11. So I thought to myself (being short on cash and all)... £11 or sleeping in my car... and the smart side of me came out and said, Alright, I'll take it. I got the last bed in the hostel (this is becoming a recent trend), had a shower, talked to Rich about my next day, hit the shower, and fell asleep. (Aside: I really should have taken pics of all the random people I've met). I woke up to this.

The steam in the middle is coming from the steam train (the one from Harry Potter... the bridge that they filmed in the movies is 30 minutes away from Fort William). It seems like all movies with beautiful scenery in them are shot in Scotland.

For each day of my trip in Scotland, the scenery has gotten better and better. Today was the best. It was my last day, and I had to end up in Glasgow to catch my 330pm flight back to Paris. I was going to drive down the A82 to Ben Nevis and take a small hike around the foothills. I ended up getting to Glen Coe late (because I was taking so many beautiful pictures of Loch Leven and surrounding scenery).


I arrived at the hiking spot, but realized this was Ben Nevis and I couldn't really hike anywhere because it was so huge, muddy, and huge. So I just stared at it for a while, took some more pictures, and then headed out. I drove along Loch Linnhe, which was really pretty, but there weren't many spots to pull over. Plus there were a lot of trees, and I was in a hurry. I took a detour (which costed me too much time) and got to Inverherive for lunch (the time I was supposed to be leaving the place). I ate lunch at the recommended Drover's Inn, famously known for it's old and authentic decor.


I hit the road again, late, made it down past Loch Lomond, got terribly lost trying to find the A77 through Glasgow, and almost ended back up in Edinburgh, great! With two hours til my flight, and still in the middle of the traffic jammed streets of Glasgow, I panicked and prayed I wouldn't miss my flight. Thank goodness with the help of some locals I found the right highway and got to Prestwick in the nick of time. I dropped off my car, and went straight to the check in 15 minutes before closing, and was greeted by a Bonjour.