Scotland

So today was it - officially my last day in the UK and the beginning of a 2-day expedition to Vancouver to begin my semester abroad - the real reason I left Sydney in the first place!

I spent the morning with Evelyn, doing some shopping in M&S (and ogling over all the food - I love their selection!), and watching TV.

The trip to Edinburgh airport took about 2hrs total, including a taxi trip to Glasgow Queen St station (with a driver who was a student of Evelyn 37 years ago!), a train to Edinburgh and a bus to the airport. With all my luggage I was SO glad to arrive at the airport and just relax! I even got to use the internet on my laptop and (just!) download all my emails (all 860 that I'd accumulated over the 2 months!).

I had deliberately arrived at the airport early, given that it was only a few weeks after the huge security scare. In hindsight, this was not so necessary, but it nearly was! There was a MASSIVE queue right next to the Lufthansa check-in booth and I though 'ooh bugger', but instead that was all for BMI (being end of Bank Holiday everyone wanted to get to England, and almost all flights were delayed to some degree). So I proceeded really quickly to a massive queue for security, but it went through SO fast - everyone just obeyed and started preparing far before they got to the x-ray machines - i.e. by taking off shoes/jackets/laptops etc. There were something like 15 machines too, which helped!

The flight was fairly uneventful and before I knew it I was at the first real hotel of the trip so far! It's very plain, but oh so comfy! And as a huge bonus, Ange called! Yay!

And now it's time for bed ... tomorrow I've got a 13hr flight so I need my beauty sleep!

I'm reaching that stage of the trip now when I'm actually truly sad to leave ... it's been such an eventful two months and I really don't want it to end! I know it's not truly ending, as I have another 6 months to go at UBC and elsewhere in North America. But that's not the same! That will require studying and work and settling in! This has just been one long vacation and it's been brilliant!!

[End rant]

I spent most of today in some form of transport heading back from Warrington to Renfrew. I had the misfortune of being on the one carriage of the Warrington-Glasgow train that was without air conditioning, which made for an interesting trip. It didn't help that I had a rather overweight woman sitting next to me, leaving me little room to move.

After coming back to Glasgow I spent most of the rest of the day packing and re-packing, trying to cram it all in, saying goodbye to Fiona for one last time, and calling home.

The aim was to make it as relaxing as possible, and I think I succeeded

PS: For photos of Warrington, click here.

Hiya again,

Today was AWESOME!! I can't believe we did so much and the weather held off I am a lucky one!

I woke this morning at 9 after an excellent sleep - so great to have a proper bed again! Headed straight for Edinburgh and met up with Mark - a mate of mine from Singapore. He's quite the international guy - being born in Singapore, raised in Indonesia, Norway and England, living (and now working) in Aberdeen and studying in Durham. Makes my travels look decidedly boring!

Anyways, it was fantastic to meet up again after so long - especially as we used to live in the same corridor at PGP in Singapore, so we were the closest PGP had to 'roommates'.

We headed for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (a huge spinoff of the more high-brow Edinburgh International Festival) info tent and picked a show to see based on the reviews it was getting. It was always going to be a gamble, but it actually turned out to be quite good, and appropriately about travel. I won't go into rating it here, as that was partly what the show was mocking, but its called Lick and Chew: The World is Just Enough. Only about 15 people were there, and there were only 2 actors in the 1hr show, but the theatre was compact enough (likened in the show to a portaloo, but not that bad!) that it didn't feel empty.

I had so much fun just wandering around, chatting to Mark and soaking up the festival atmosphere. For people living in Edinburgh it must get frustrating having so many tourists visiting, but the Royal Mile (the main road linking the Castle with Holyrood House) was abuzz with activity. Loads of people were handing out flyers or performing skits from their show, and the atmosphere was just so pleasant. No one was angry or abrupt - everyone seemed to just be relaxed and having fun.

All too soon it was time to say bye to Mark and head off with my Auntie Evelyn to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. I succumbed to the power of eBay and bought tickets a few weeks back for a 100% markup, but it was REALLY worth it. I didn't really know what to expect, having not really ever watched it on TV before, but it definitely surpassed what limited thoughts I had of it. The highlights were the New Zealand Band (who just took the piss and started playing ballet music complete with dancing among other things) and the Top Secret Swiss Drummers who were just unbelievable. The precision and speed with which they played was breathtaking. You felt everyone in the stadium 'ooh' and 'aah' with them - it really was grand.

Tomorrow I'm heading down to Warrington to see a Liverpool FC match with my cousin Andrea, which should be AWESOME, so I'm going to head off to bed now. It's 1:30am so I guess that's acceptable, huh?!

Ciao,

Tris

Hiya,

After 5 weeks meandering (at quite a fast pace) I'm back in sunny (!) Scotland. It's really strange, this actually feels like home - truly! I guess that's because I'm no longer carrying a backpack around everywhere, and I have access to everything (incl my trusty laptop). It's equally strange visiting somewhere where everyone speaks English (and predominantly ONLY English). I almost miss having to resort to ESL and hand signals!!

My final hours in Praha were, to say the least, interesting. Max, my roommate, and I talked for ages about Italy, Australia, religion and *ahem* erotic clubs. After such an enlightening conversation, I went to sleep and he went out to said club. I woke at 6:30 to find him sprawled across his bed wearing nothing but a towel. Not a pretty sight!! Ah well, nothing surprises me here at Centrum!

After a fairly uneventful flight (with very fast security checks), I took a 5min taxi and was back in Renfrew. I immediately set to work emptying all my luggage etc. and found that I had LOADS of washing to do - sorry Evelyn for dumping 3 full loads of washing on you! Then I had a long relaxing shower and spent the rest of the day chilling.

Time flies though when you're having fun, so I'm off to bed.

Ciao,

Tris.