Digital Wanderer

We live as long as we fly

☰

Scotland — 8, day three, Loch Ness

 2019-07-11

If we go back to the theory about misfortunes, then, perhaps, all things considered, I've already had my share of them on this journey. Of the latest — my phone charger has almost completely stopped working.

Either the connector got busted, or the cable tore. Individual tiny wires are sticking out of it, though it doesn't look like any of them are completely severed. Andrey said that his phone only charges with great difficulty, and in a specific position. He blames the USB-C connector type, which is less reliable than the classic micro.

My situation is very similar now. I can still force the device to charge, but doing it fast — no way. Even for medium speed I have to bend and press it in a tricky way, and the slightest vibration can ruin everything. Unfortunately, the cable is USB-C, and my second cable, a regular MicroUSB, didn't fit. I bit the bullet and finally bought an adapter, but lost it along with the regular cable in one of the hotels, so now I can't charge my e-reader or headphones either. In the future I'll try to pay more attention to the quality of accessories, and bring branded ones with me. This one has a logo that looks like the Russian Railways logo — a bad omen. I also have an idea, since things aren't working out with photography on a regular camera, to splurge and buy a smartphone with the best camera out there. That's for the future, though, because I totally squandered my entire vacation, didn't leave a single day.

At least I've now boarded a plane to Prague to finish off what's left of it. Although here too it wasn't without adventures, which I can't reveal, because they are — in the future.

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Scotland — 7, Day Two, Unexpected Beach

 2019-07-09

When we hopped off in Pitlochry, Stephan said that anyone who didn't try the whisky-flavored ice cream wouldn't get a ride any further. I'm pretty sure he's in cahoots with the vendors, because where I bought mine, the whisky-flavored ice cream was a pound more expensive than the rest. All in all, I paid over 3 euros for a scoop!

I had some later in Romania too. There was this shop in Brașov called Emma La Dolce, always with a huge line. Nevertheless, it was just a euro a scoop there, and they also had the whisky flavor.

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Scotland — 6, Day Two, Town of Pitlochry

 2019-07-08

It's a massive bummer, but I missed my train to Bucharest. I don't know how it happened; I got to the platform early and asked a railway worker if it was the right train. The number was wrong, and she said it wasn't the one, but when the right one never showed up, I went to the ticket office and got the runaround.

Now I'm gonna be crawling through four hours of Sunday traffic jams, and I can't even stay here in Brașov, because my hotel is already booked.

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Scotland — 5, day two, still leaving Edinburgh

 2019-07-07

Let me explain why I bought a tour (for the first time in my life). The thing is, my plan included days when I'd be hanging out with friends. However, their free days were limited, and the planning didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked. It turned out that I had three free days after flying in, then Katya arrives from Liverpool, then Andrey has four days off, and I have another one or two free days. After giving it some thought, I realized I wouldn't have time to travel anywhere far at a relaxed pace. Usually, tourists wanting to see more scenic beauty rush to the famous Isle of Skye or further north. Scotland — is not a small country, mountainous on top of that, and every such trip takes several hours.

What I hate about traveling is the scenario where you're constantly on the road, rushing, missing buses, or showing up way too early just to make it. In the end, the whole trip degenerates into constant, exhausting transit. For this reason, calls to drive around and look at various things never really inspired me. Having a car on a trip is cool, nobody's arguing with that. However, it's good not to miss the point where you're spending more time inside it than outside. I've always been drawn to hiking and biking, to nature, and that's why I ditched the plan to see as many tourist attractions as possible as fast as possible. FOMO — the fear of missing out on everything in the world, is basically one of the plagues of our time. It's fostered by the media, which constantly reminds us that there are absolutely beautiful and highly essential people, things, and places. It's also closely intertwined with a short attention span, where a person only has enough interest to step out of the car, snap some pics for Instagram, and get back in. The latter (Instagram) only adds insanity to this process, fueling not a desire to see the world, understand something, or share with others. Instagram fuels vanity, the urge to show off, to prove to everyone that you're no slouch, and that you've ticked all the checkboxes on the list of must-visit places.

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