Heading to the Highlands

On Monday morning I checked out and made my way to the train station wheeling my suitcase along with me. It was about a 10 minute walk or so. I caught a train to London, and grabbed a bite to eat at the station there while I waited for my next train. Glasgow bound. I really fell in love with Glasgow last year when I visited so decided to kick start my Scottish travels there. A big part of this return trip to the UK was to get to travel and experience more of Scotland. It was November when I popped into Edinburgh and Glasgow for a brief visit last year. I thought coming back in May/June for a few weeks would be a better time to travel about and see the country.

After a decent train ride I checked into my hotel and went and grabbed a bite to eat. Then had a walk around before heading back to my hotel for the night. I had one full day in Glasgow and I pretty just wandered about looking around the place. I stayed more in the Merchant City this time so that I was close to the train stations and to walk around this area. The walking tour I went on last year focused a bit on the history here so this was my opportunity just to revisit some of those places and check out others.

I did meet up with someone from Reddit, who had reached out to me while I was in Ramsgate. They are a student at Glasgow Uni studying design and have an interest in living the digital nomad life. I assume they found me through that subreddit. They asked for some info and my experiences and shared their ideas for their assignment. I responded and had mentioned being in Glasgow the next day. After chatting with them a bit more they asked if I would be happy to meet up for a chat, so I said sure. I didn’t have any other plans and I’m always interested in hearing what others are doing. So we met up at a coffee shop, he recorded the convo and we discussed how I have been travelling and my experiences with working on the go. He shared with me his goals and ideas as well as some of his poetry. It was an interesting hour or so.

Wednesday rolled around and it was time for me to get back on the train again. This time I was heading further north into the highlands. Finally making it up to this part of Scotland after years of dreaming about it. I arrived in Inverness and made my way to my hotel. Super close to the station. Last year I used buses a lot to get around the UK, this time there are more trains I have booked. My phone is full of different UK transport apps now.

It was early evening by the time I arrived and checked into my room. Of course I just went for a bit of a walk about to check out the area and find something to eat. Even though on a travel day you’re just sitting around it’s exhausting. So I ended up just heading back to my room and chilling out for the night. While I relaxed I checked out tours of Inverness and booked into a walking tour for the following evening.

I really needed to do some washing so I took advantage of my day and got up early and headed to the laundromat. While my clothes washed I went for a bit of a walk to find an ATM to pull out some more cash to pay for the drying. I also found a cake shop close by that sold some vegan items and picked myself up a snack for later. Inverness is super lovely. It’s got such a nice feel to the place and the walks and views along the River Ness.

The tour that evening was great. It provided me with heaps of info on the history of the area. The guide was super friendly and had so much info to share. It was nice to get some of the background of some of the sites I had seen earlier in the day during my solo wandering as well as new things pointed out. I would definitely like to come back to Inverness and spend a bit more time here. The place really has a nice feel to it and there is a bit more I would like to see. I didn’t take too many photos on the tour, which always happens. I am too busy listening to all the info and just absorbing the surroundings.