Scottish Highlands and Isle of Skye 3-day tour

Ok. It is time. I am home, in Pennsylvania, and now that my European journey has ended, I can now go back in time and write it all down. I am just going to pick up where I left off and note the dates that the entry covers.

SO. Let's give you some idea of time here. Stirling granted us a wonderful mid-semester break, and we decided to take full advantage of it. I had no Friday classes in October, so I spent thursday through sunday (21st-24th) in Belgium, and the next morning, departed with Char and Calla for our 3 day bus tour of the scottish highlands.

Picture this: It's approximately 6:30 am in Stirling, and Charlene, Calla, and I are rushing to the Stirling station to catch a train to Edinburgh where we are scheduled to meet our tour bus at the High Street Hostel at no later than 8:30am. We have a backpack and a purse each, and have multiple layers for warmth because the season is changing, and we can only expect worse as we go north. So we rush. We take a cab to the station in order to avoid the hassle of the unreliable stirling bus system. We fly out to try to catch the train. No luck. With a half hour to kill we hit up the coffee shop, where we buy our favorite ham and cheese toastie to split into three. Calla gets coffee. So far no surprises. As the next train approaches, chaos ensues. Now I realize I am building this up, but I have to preface by saying this was one of my favorite train rides of the whole semester because of the level of ridiculousness. Somehow, by the time the train comes, we are still sprinting to the platform. Calla's coffee is jumping out of her cup. Stairs. Things dropping. Finally make it onto the train and plop down in the first available seats, which happen to be right at the end of the car. The seats at the end of the car are flip up seats to make room for handicap passengers. So Char and I sit down at the 3 person table seats at the end. Char is next to a round man, and I am across from him. Our bags are sprawled. Our ham and cheese toastie is making crumbs. My head just falls into my arms to rest on the table. I have 2 pairs of pants on, a long sleeve, a sweater, and a sweatshirt.


Calla pulls down a chair and sits with her backpack still on, coffee in hand, bags strewn about. We are a mess, but happy to have seats as the train pulls away. We look at each other silently in amazement of how lucky and dumb and messy we are, and settle ourselves into our handicap zone seats. Calla then stands a little to adjust her belongings, and is promptly betrayed by her automatic flip chair. Chair pops up, calla goes down with a thud. Coffee fountains into the air. There was a unanimous 'ooof' from all passengers who witnessed the crash. I of course burst out laughing. The food in calla's mouth prevents her from saying anything, but the look of panic on those big hazel eyes was undeniable. She sustained no injuries, but was definitely rattled. Not 10 seconds later, the train pulls up to the next stop, and our momentary relief is disrupted by frenzy. Of course, a handicapable passenger boards the train, and needs the zone for her wheelchair. I scramble to move my bags in time, char is unaffected, and calla, who is still on the floor, can do nothing but sweep her bags closer as she struggles to move with her backpack still attached to her. The woman found a spot next to me, and the frenzy soon passed. About a half hour in, I get up to use the bathroom, which is just on the other side of the door that we are next to. I trudge to the bathroom, half asleep, and just as i finish zipping up and buckling my belt, a very embarrassed asian man opens the door on me. oops! forgot to lock it. I am unphased (apparently this isn't an accepted word), mostly because I am half asleep, but also because I am fully clothed and on my way out anyway. He is very embarrassed and apologetic. Whatever. This would be an insignificant occurrence if we were the only witnesses. But again, the silly antics of the triumvirate are once again public entertainment. The whole train does another 'oof/giggle' and i take my seat, only to pass out all up in that poor man's grill.

So much fun and we haven't even left the train!

I'm going to post this now and finish later.

tata
-atc