I’m sitting in one of the many cafe/dinner type places in the 2nd terminal of Heathrow airport. I arrived late last night or rather, very early this morning. I figured there wasn’t too much point getting a bed for only half a night and I wanted to maximise my time at my previous stop. It has been my night of the long wait. Essentially I just faffed about for a good 6 hours when I otherwise would have been sleeping. There were plenty people doing that in many cramped spaces, I found a couch to laze about on, but sleep eluded me. I’m hoping to sleep on my flight from Frankfurt to New York. I should do, I’m fairly tired.
It’s always a shame to be leaving this part of the world. I’ve spent a good amount of my younger years here, I have some really great friends here that it’s always a great time of catching up on the new and reminiscing about the old.
I started this hole episode at the start of the month. I flew into Glasgow to be met by a drastic drop in temperatures and a good buddy who took me out for a very Scottish meal, a curry. It was strange to be able to understand people, I kept expecting people to start speaking a different language, sure the next day when I walked down Buchanan street it sure sounded foreign. But the Glaswegian accent is a thing of perplexing amusement. It takes time to understand the words coming out of their mouths, but once you do, you don’t forget. So I just walked with a constant smile on my face, enjoying how they turn a phrase, and how it all sounds.
I wasn’t long in Glasgow, I took in a few favourite sites around the city centre then pushed onto Edinburgh. I was able to tick off one of my ‘failed to do it last time I was here’ activities, climbing up Arthur’s Seat. It was more of a jog/ fast paced walk, and absolute murder. It’s a rather high hill that overlooks the city of Edinburgh, I’ve been running on too much flat ground which has made me soft. I love Edinburgh, it’s a beautiful city, one that I would most happily live in. I think out of all the places I’ve been, it’s my most Livable. It was made even nicer by being able to catch up with another good friend, who the last time I saw her, she was minus a husband, two kiddlies and a mortgage, but still as lovely as ever.
My time was fairly uneventful. No crazy stories, near mishaps, well no actually. I went rock climbing on Scotlands Northern Coast and sailing in a very rough and windy Lochgarron. I took in the rugged beauty of Dunnottar castle, increased my love of whiskey by going on a distillery tour. I relaxed a bunch, enjoyed many a beer with some good mates, ran, ate some great food, drank some great coffee and just enjoyed being back in a place I love with people who made it even more enjoyable.
I remember when I first hit up a supermarket, I was so stoked to see many of my old favourite snacks, the attendant nearby checked in to see if I was alright. I was pretty darn alright, and I may have had to run extra hard that week because of it.
It’s been a whirlwind tour primarily concerned with catching up with folk rather than seeing things. A lot of the things I had already seen, sure the last time was 7 years ago, but not much changes in the way of a castle, but plenty of things can change with a buddy who you haven’t seen in that time.
My last destination was quite morbidly fortuitous, where I originally went knowing that, because he was a teacher, he’d be at school during the days. That was until he took a cricket ball to the face, though mostly his teeth and because of it, he wasn’t able to go to school. So it all worked out rather nicely. Kinda, it hurt when he laughed, so he was sadly in pain a lot. Again it was nice to meet the additions to his family, I was already fast friends with his wife from previous trips, but it was nice to become friends or perhaps just that random fella who played tennis and jumped on the trampoline with his two littlies.
I’m yawning pretty hard at the moment, the coffee I had isn’t having the desired effect, that being get me to my plane on time. I may fall asleep in this chair.
I’d best get up and moving, before I get to comfortable. It’s the end of the 2nd stage of my trip. I’m technically onto the return side of my ticket, which isn’t a good feeling. I don’t know how I will manage to settle back in in the NZ life when the time comes, but I guess it has to be done. However, I still have a good 2 months left. Which sounds good, but it’s less than 8 weeks, so I guess I’ll have to make the most of it. I’m looking forward to some warmer temperatures, and some more familiar faces in Canada and the U.S.