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.
I myself suffer from an attention deficit, and therefore the beast named FOMO devours me if there's no plan for what to do next. So, today I'm in exactly that situation. It seems like I have no desire to go into the heat of Bucharest, but on the other hand, yesterday I crushed 20 km with an elevation gain of 1200m, and today I already want something a bit easier.
Well, at least I'm writing these stories, and not just zoning out, reading articles like usual.
In previous parts, I forgot to mention that after the ill-fated injury, we went to grab some food at a pizzeria. Andrey works in the same chain (Pizza Express), so he has a 50% discount. This comes in very handy, because prices in Scotland are absolutely inhumane. A pizza costs around 8-16 pounds (9-18 euros), and a bus ride, depending on the city and route — from 1.6 to 4.5 pounds!
The pizza had onion jam on it, which, according to Andrey, is quite a popular dish here. I'm not sure I've ever tried it before. The trend of adding sugar to everything possible has spread from the USA across the whole world in such a way that there's no getting rid of it now.
When it was time to pay, I saw that on the card payment terminal, you could add a tip to your bill. It's a shame I haven't seen this anywhere back home yet. Paying by card is still much more convenient, even though banks rob merchants mercilessly. I usually leave a 10% tip, if those percentage points exceed one euro. If the order is tiny, then no. In Scotland, however, I didn't always do this. For example, even though I really wanted to leave a tip for our guide Stefan for his loyal hard work, my brain realized that he already makes way more than I do, and it's stupid and unfair for poor countries to feed the rich ones. Luckily, some Omani Indians did it for me (Did I say Qatari? I lied).
Now, having dealt with the past, I can return to the present (for you, that is).
I wanted to show you what a beautiful temperature it is in Scotland in the summer, but the vintage display wouldn't let me do that in a photo. I had to post a video. For me, the weather is just right; I simply die in the heat. Next year, I'm supposed to go on a Mediterranean cruise with my family. Now, after being in Romania at +32, I have absolutely no idea how I'll survive that.The first spot where the Rabbies minibus stopped — the bridges on the way out of Edinburgh. There are three of them, one railway bridge with an interesting history, and one new build that's only a couple of years old.
Stefan joked that we were driving over the old bridge because the new one hasn't been properly tested yet, and it's better to avoid it. The joke is tied to why the railway bridge looks so bizarre.
However, it's time for me to hit the road by hitchhiking or taking a train with chickens to Brașov, and so you'll find out the details in the next post.