So this is everything I wrote while I was in Scotland and England crunched together. Enjoy.
I am sooo pumped for this trip!!! I didn’t go to sleep last night, so I might just be on an adrenaline rage, but I am so excited!
Have I told you the best part? Because I booked at separate times but didn’t want to spend too much money, the plan was to fly back to Dublin after Glasgow and then fly back into Liverpool.
EFF THAT NOISE! I’m not goin back. There is more to be seen. All my flights back get back so late the taxi fees I’ll save will cover an extra 2 nights in the UK. Thinking Edinburgh and Newcastle, but who knows. Only extra fee will be the buses to Newcastle and then to Liverpool, however, since my time is my own, and I’m not dedicated to either, I’m going to try my hand at hitchhiking. ‘Bout time. Planes were sunk costs anyway. I’m going to take advantage of this.
Life is great right now. The last couple days I have relieved huge stresses by knocking out tons of studying, and I have perfected the absolute most ballin playlist in my short life. Sitting here waiting to board looking at the sunrise, knowing I’ve got the unknown, Nessie, Anfield, Wiz, and London coming this week on the cheap, and jamming out-mmmmman! Priceless!
Bros, if you guys think you’re escaping out travels without a couple of FIJI hams hitting you in the face from the highlands, you’re mistaken.
Dig me up from under what, is cover-eheheheh-henn the better part of me.
First Impressions
Love train stations. Glasgow Central made me feel like I was rolling into Gringots in Harry Potter. Sat across from an awesome old coupleDublin has a diverse group of people. Glasgow has diversity across the board. The architecture here is all over the place. What themes I do see I find super interesting. Glasgow has really colonial architecture. It makes me think of India, the Jungle Book, and south Africa. But there is a lot of modern, weird artsy, and super old mixed in.
The people seem super nice. Right out of the station I was handed free Vitamin Water. Seconds later, I was trying to take a picture, and a bus driver literally stopped his bus in the middle of the road, full, to let me finish. I didn’t notice until I was already focusing, so I finished. He waved and smiled and all. I’ve also been drowsily making a nuisance of myself trying to walk and observe, and everyone has said sorry to me even though I’ve been at fault everytime. The tourist office is super convenient and helpful.
Complaint. I have no problem with the economic rise of Asia. I don’t feel threatened or anything like that. But I will start a war if Asian tourists don’t change their ways. Nothing is more annoying than a group of Asians my age. They suck, and the problem is growing-as they get wealthier they get more annoying, and more of them come over. Blah.
So Still haven’t slept. Getting worn down, but still treading on. I’m having to recharge my camera battery at the Winter Gardens/People’s Palace, which is a cool looking Victorian Greenhouse in a park. That’s why I’ve found time to write and jam out. Glasgow has several pretty good parks. The coolest thing so far is the Necropolis in connection with all the stuff around Glasgow Catherdral. I had no idea Cathedrals were that massive! I think Notre Dame etc are going to overwhelm me. The Necropolis has to be the highest point in the city, great views the camera just couldn’t capture. I took a cat nap on John Knox’s Memorial, much to the dismay of a few tourists I think, but I was soaking in the sun. Felt weird trying to nap in a cemetery. I wouldn’t do that back home. I felt more like I was sleeping on a textbook.
I had lunch in George Square with the town and the pigeons, who are nuts as I expected. I fed them well though. Don’t get to do that that often. I enjoyed throwing bread in the path of cyclists so they’d get swarmed. Hah. Do the Bartman.
Along the way I’ve run into a few people and hideaways (BlackFriars-remember that one) that have helped me figure out what to do at nights here. Man, I wish I could be here on the weekends, some topnotch fun to be had. But there is decent fun for Thursday.
Highland tour-highly recommend Timberbrush tours. Great stops and cheap. We saw everything I wanted to see other than Stirling Castel, which we did see from the road. Good times with Shelby, my pledge brother. Glencoe is amazing. The highlands in general are amazing. Loch Ness was cool too. Didn’t take the boat tour, but had a good time at a Loch side pub. Belhaven Best is a sweet brew.
Went to Edinburgh the next day by myself. Stopped off to see the Falkirk Wheel. The people of Falkirk are incredibly nice. I didn’t pay bus fare the whole way. They all were so excited to meet me and tell me their connection to America. I talked to one bus driver for a half hour in the middle of a road. He just stopped the bus and had a chat. No bother. Falkirk wheel was cool to see. I recommend this stop for sure.
Edinburgh is Ballin, absolute ballin. This is a well made town. I loved the architecture and time to put it all together. Walking around was great. Got a Celtic away Jersey. Had lunch in a superb park below the castle. The people were brilliant. Great stuff. Rocked out the city and caught the bus back to Prestwick. Decided train/bus to Newcastle then Liverpool was too costly and not worth it just to catch Wallis and Gromit and Fireworks.
Whoa. So I, like several others, thought the flight left at 11:45. I could’ve sworn it left at 11:45, but I guess it left at 11. I got there and the gates were unmanned. By God’s grace I caught a Ryanair man cleaning up and he found gate stamp for me. I then rushed through security and sprinted with bag like a mile to the farthest gate. Made it by 4 people in line. Whew. Idiot. Got there quick.
At the Liverpool airport I started asking around for places to stay in Liverpool. FormulaOne Hotel was recommended so I thought I’d do that and head into city center. Well, the buses had already stopped. Took me 45 minutes to figure this out. So I met these Vietnamese Liverpool fans and this girl from Lithuania studying in Majorca, Spain while waiting. I caught a cab with them after long debates. It was £23, but because they wanted to save money, it only cost me £3 to get to the city. We dropped her off in another part of town, as I decided not to ask to stay with her-she was nice and cute and had a friend she was staying with. I pushed on with the Vietnamese guys. But also, I was the only one who could talk to the taxi. This always has benefits. He realized I had no place to stay and had Irish roots like him and automatically wanted to take care of me. So I helped the Asian guys communicate with the taxi and we found our way to the Anfield Guesthouse in the ghetto.
Walked up to this anfield guesthouse with these Vietnamese guys. The taxi driver says go ahead and ask if you can stray, so I did. Brian, the manager, was obviously skeptical, but felt super bad. He said I’d certainly be mugged and not find a place otherwise. Anfield is not in the best part of town. I put on the naïve tourist face too. I just asked if he had anywhere, ANYWHERE he could put me. A closet, anything. I mean it was 1:30am by now. Anyway, got this £35 a night guest house lounge room for £10, which was all I had on me. Sweet. Well, I hung out with Phuong for an hour talking about America and his upcoming trip. I felt bad because he and his friend were paying so much. Obviously a bit of racial favoritism in play. So I told him I’d write Roy Blunt about him getting a work Visa. I will. They have brought me much needed luck amidst my stupidity.
Well, at about half two, Spanish guys have come back from city centre. They wanted to finish a new bottle of the Famous Grouse. Phuong and I obliged to help. Drunk. I love how cherry faced Asians get though. We talked crap on Christiano Ronaldo, praised Xavi, and enjoyed the cultural exchange. They tried to give me an American cultural education while mixing up Harrison Ford and Robert Redford. It was a good craic though. Me, a Vietnamese dude, and three older Spaniards. Sweet. And at the Anfield Guesthouse. Laugh it up world. I won tonight (by your Grace). Tomorrow will be Epic.
Tomorrow was epically poor. Liverpool lost 0-2. Everyone was bummed. The atmosphere was owned by Tottenham away fans for sure. After the game I rushed back to the guesthouse and grabbed my bag. I penned a hitchhiking sign “Lift to London”, and I went to the busy point near the buses. In my attempts I was mostly laughed at, or given the look of “good luck, you’re eff’d you silly idiot.” I did get to see the Liverpool humor though. Classy ;). Well these three kids who cheekily asked me if I wanted to borrow their bike came back and grabbed me and offered to help. Their intentions were good. They spent a good three hours trying to help me out, collecting money to get me to train and bus stations. Nothin worked out. Good couple of scousers though.
So I was lucky last night and randomly found a place to stay in Liverpool at 1am with 2 Vietnamese guys and a Lithuanian girl in shitsville. All free. Tonight's not working out yet. May be sleepin on the streets. Phone dead. Laptop dying. Rain. Darkness.
Yep, just slept on the streets. Got booted from two spots by security. The second pair recommened sleeping under the front of St. George’s. So I did. By 4am I was freezing. I returned to a 24/7 taxi coffee bar I’d been kicked out of earlier. I bought half a cup of coffee with some change I had found and got to see some grungy nightlife walk in. God, that lady was mean as hell. No heart. I was freezing, and she actually pours me a half cup and says since I only bought half a cup I can only stay 30 minutes. Also, my pen exploded in the pocket of my favorite pair of pants, and I’ve been toughing it and spreading it without knowing it. I’m just a mess now.
Slept for an hour in the bus stop after a nicer taxi guy told me the secret way to get in. Then Security woke me up in the morning and gave me the boot. I spent an hour walking around town while the city woke up trying to find a place to exchange euros in the early morning. Nothing til 9. Luckily when I returned to the bus stop to beg the managers were there and took pity on me and hooked up an old machine that took swipe credit cards. Finally I felt relief. I’d be out of here soon. Oxford bound.
Oxford is absolutely beautiful. So jealous of these guys. Drinking in these cozy little pubs 800 years old. Had a great meal at a Tapas bar. Mmmmmmm. And after the meal we went punting through Oxford. So amazing that they have gotten to live there all year. Met the aristocratic youth of Oxford. Strange to be walking around so many people who are just loaded. It was Grace’s birthday (Shelby and Anna’s roommate) and this random big girl showed up wearing nothing but black lingerie and gave her a couple of birthday lap dances while she sang to her. The rich English people were dropping money on everything. They’re weird though. The rich English guys that stuck around insisted on passing out to the Blair Witch project. I stayed up so I could get at some of the £90s worth of Dominos they got at 3am. Great party….
Got to spend some time with Alan which I enjoyed. I ended up staying the night there too and chilling to Tommy Boy. I think he lives a very nice life. His area of London was great. Diverse, relaxed, safe. Between the two main areas of London I hung beside city center, I found London to be a very desirable place to live. I know that’s not the case everywhere I might go, but Shepard’s Bush/Nottingham gate in the west and Clapham in the south were nice. And I was glad I got to see a little bit more day to day normal London. Honestly, I can’t write much about Tuesday night and seeing Wiz khalifa. Wiz is awesome, though he made us wait forever. It was worth it to see him come out and enjoy life right in front of me like only Wiz can enjoy life. London has made for a very interesting visit. The subways were so easy and efficient. Brillianty planned if you ask me. £6 for unlimited travel all day by any transport was a pretty good deal, especially in consideration of how much everything else costs in this city. Got a free day tour run by this irish fellow and I thought he was hilarious. Lots of tidbits of info I wouldn’t have gotten on my own, and there was still plenty of time to do my own thing. One good story he told with pride was of the Irish drunk who broke into Buckingham palace for a whole night and had a blast until he tried to pass out in the Queen’s room. I guess they really beefed up security after this. Big Ben and parliament were by far the coolest sites, and one of the best sites I’ve seen so far. I wish I could’ve gone inside Westminster abbey because it was incredible from the outside. Presto and I just wandered all day.
For every six hours you’re there you’re on video an average of all but 7 minutes. At Shepards Bush people were passed out drunk in the park, all sorts of illicit stuff was going down, and it wasn’t a bad area either. It was pretty nice.
Met this Scottish guy at Presto’s hostel and these Australian girls. That Scottish guy was hilarious and generous and kept popping in and out of our night at the most convenient times. We lost track of him before the concert and were walking around afterwards and were talking about him and obnoxiously I said, “duuuuuude” and I hear in my right ear “duuuuuuuuuuuuude” and there he was dominating a noodle box in a nook. Haha, the chances. Magic man he was.
There was something just awesome about Wiz stepping out, looking high as hell, grin across his face and that amazed look in his eye taking the crowd in and just doing his Wiz laugh. The Wiz concert was dark. One thing about London that made me think was the tons of black people and how untraditionally black they seemed. It was weird to think that the history of blacks in England, and current population is different than from the US. It’s just not the same as seeing a black guy walking around KC.
Lots of immigrants, big African presence, but it was a thoughtful area. Like Mos Def might’ve come from. Had an absolute nut come up an read us his crackhead newspaper in broken English about a man-bird living on the east side. Half mockingbird, half man. I thought it was genius schizoid-metaphor by the end. He thought it was hilarious. I thought he was distracting us so his buddies could rob us, but no. Just a friendly nut. Others came by and accused him of trying to become a preacher. He just laughed and we continued to sit uncomfortably. The little park outside the venue had a dog park, a playground, and it all seemed like while it wasn’t spectacularly nice, it was a very important and cared for space by the community around it and the people there, though I’d say most Londoners in are probably very independent, routine, and generally walked about aloof. This is Ipod nation by the way.
I thought London was dirty and very clean at the same time. Not like some areas were cleaner than others, though that’s true, I guess I was just kind of impressed by how clean it was. The parks were nice, trash was around, but not in heaps and I had the feeling it was only temporary trash that would be cleaned up with great detail before the next morning. The city seems very well run for its size. I really appreciate its management.
All in all for England I have had a really good experience. I think I’ve gotten a really good view of the UK for having only spent 6 days there. Touristy, chilled with many different classes of people and a wide variety of settings, good friends, some crazy nights. I really did all this by mistake. It worked though.
Got to finish with a special shout out to everyone who went out of their way to help me on this trip. Phuong, Scott, and Luke. Liverpool is kinda a crap hole without you guys. Also my middle name. George helped me out this weekend I think.
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