Ferry and First Impressions

On Saturday morning, we were up before the sun to catch our ferry. Buses were not even running yet, but luckily we had had the receptionist at the hostel call taxis for us. When we arrived at the ferry port, we were greeted by loads of rowdy football (soccer) supporters. There was a game in Scotland that day, so the ferry was packed with little boys in jerseys and older boys and men drinking beer. People were completely wasted by 8:30 in the morning, I imagine the bar on the ferry made a fortune.

Our boat was called the Stena HSS and it was an express trip to Scotland. We felt the boat rocking a little more than we would have liked, but it was a successful trip. It was a lot of fun in spite of (because of?) the wild drunk people. I've never seen anyone that drunk that early in the morning but they were Irish. I was sitting at a table and a boy about my age came and sat across from me and asked who I was rooting for. I explained that I was not going to the game and he was so drunk that it took him a few minutes for him to figure out that I did not sound Irish. Then he said, "You're AMERICAN?! Wow, boys, an American!" And then I tried my best to carry on a conversation with several extremely drunk boys from Belfast before we disembarked. That was one of the more amusing parts of my day.

We got to go stand out on the deck and it was really cool. It was not as cold as one might think but I remained bundled up. For one thing, I could not fit one more thing into my bag, so I had to wear two jackets the whole trip. The other thing was that I really just like wearing the hat and scarf.

We arrived in Stranraer around 9:30. We ran right out and luckily just made our bus to Edinburgh. The ride was long and tiring and we all had to sit next to random people. I'm sure I'm not the best seat buddy in the world because I can't stop fidgeting. Luckily, ninety percent of the bus got off at Glasgow and we were able to stretch out on our own seats for the last hour and a half to Edinburgh. When I finally got a window seat on the bus, I took some pictures. The building pictured above has a flags from many different nations of the world. If you look closely, you will probably be able to see Old Glory front and center.


We found our hostel with little incident and liked it instantly. West End Hostel was almost swanky, as far as hostels go. The view from the window in the lounge was excellent; the picture above is taken from there. One major fault I did find with the place was the bathroom. There were only 3 stalls for about 20 people and one of the stalls did not lock. Other than the poor restroom facilities, I'd say West End is one of the top hostels I've seen.


One of the first things we saw in Scotland was the Royal Mile. Pretty cool stuff, lots and lots of shopping.


Here is a view down the Royal Mile. There's a curve in it, so you can't see down the whole row. We shopped there for a pretty long while. True to form, I acted like a tourist and bought way too many postcards. I wanted to sample some haggis, but the place was closed by the time we got there.


I found a really cute little newspaper stand. The owner was just locking up as I took the picture. Also, there's a Scottish double decker bus in the background. They were everywhere. A more in depth look at Scotland will follow at a later date.