You have no idea how close I was to giving up yesterday. I felt like crap because of my cold, it was dumping rain when I got off the bus in Dublin, and like all the other cities I've been to here in Europe, there is a distinct lack of street signs, so I managed to walk several blocks past my hostel before I found a map on a wall somewhere. I was amazingly tempted to head back to the airport, buy a ticket home, and just try and get refunds for as much of the trip as I could. As nice as it is to be here on my own, getting to pick my own schedule, it's hard not having somebody around to provide a morale boost when things aren't going well. For now though, I'm going to stick it out, until I really don't think I can continue any more. I think that will all depend on how Dublin turns out.
Oban was fun, although I do kind of wish I had just jumped straight to Dublin from Edinburgh. I think I'd be better rested, and if nothing else it means I could have avoided Glasgow completely. First day there I wandered around a bit then took a walk up Battleship Hill with some folks from the hostel, to watch the sunset over the Isle of Mull. That probably would have worked better if we could have seen the sun through all the clouds, but the view was nice anyways. Next day I attempted to sleep in a bit (most of the rest of the folks in my room must've been going on a tour or something, because they all got up at the same time, turned on the lights, and carried on conversations while I was trying to sleep); even without that, I decided I had the energy to climb up to McCaig's Tower, out to Dunollie Castle, and then have lunch before going on the distillery tour in the afternoon. We had kind of a weird group, but our guide was good, and we got to try some of the 10-year cask-strength (I think around 63% ABV) Oban... you could still taste the same flavor, but most of it was quickly covered up by the burning of the alcohol. We also got to keep our tasting glasses this time, so I've got that and an actual drinking glass I picked up as my only souvenirs so far.
The only real bright spot in yesterday, oddly enough, was going through customs in Ireland. I had to be at the station in Oban by 8:00 to catch my train, ride that down to Glasgow, then catch a combination of busses and trains from there to the airport. I was also stuck with all my luggage for quite awhile there... I got in about five hours before my flight left, and they don't even post the location you're supposed to check in at until about two hours before. The flight itself was uneventful, even if I did feel like a zombie for most of the day. So, customs. After getting the third degree when landing at Heathrow, Dublin was a nice change.
Me: Hello.
Customs: How long are you here for?
Me: Four nights.
Customs: Holiday?
Me: Yup.
Customs: *Stamp.* Enjoy your stay.
Getting through security in Glasgow was amazingly quick too, although I guess that city is terrible enough that nobody would bother doing anything bad to it. I think the only time I even had to show my passport was when I checked my bag, other than that it was just a quick glance at my boarding pass and me getting waved through.
As I mentioned in the last post, today will hopefully be a recovery day, and the next couple days I'll be able to get out and get some pictures. I do have USB access but getting on the computers here is pricey (€2 for 45 minutes), so I'll probably just throw up a few on the last day.
For now I'm going to try walking off some of this excess heat in the cool air outside, then grab another cuppa tea and either read for awhile or attempt a nap.
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