Flying Home

A quick note on the plane flight back. The flight itself was surprisingly painless. It was certainly a long day; we left Edinburgh early in the morning and landed in Phoenix sometime after midnight UK time. One useful feature of the plane we flew in is the individual video screens located in the backs of all the seats. I watched movies and TV shows all the way back to the United States. Did you know that House, M.D. has a different theme song in the UK?

When we landed in Phoenix, the pilot mentioned that there were some students on board returning to the United States. He even congratulated us for sitting through Shakespeare's worst play ever, Titus Andronicus. Additionally, any of the passengers who wanted to see the cockpit would be allowed to visit once the plane had parked at the gate. Well, you can bet that I jumped at the opportunity! In a 747, the cockpit is in the upstairs portion. I walked through the business section of the plane, and it was certainly luxurious. Those are the sort of airplane seats you can actually sleep in!

My trip to the British Isles was an experience I'll never forget, unless I end up with amnesia. Navigating an unfamiliar city and a somewhat unfamiliar culture was mind-expanding and exciting. I'd love to spend more time actually living in one of the cities (particularly London) rather than just visiting.

Highlands

I suppose it's about time I finished telling about my trip.

The entire Honors group took a trip through the highlands. We set out early in the morning. Fortunately, the antibiotics had kicked in, and I was energetic enough to survive the day.

Our driver/tour guide was extremely talkative. He told amusing and interesting stories about Scotland. He also had a few anecdotes about his life. Some, such as the tales of deep sea diving in the North Sea were interesting. However, I can't say I found his story about some female acquaintance standing in for the female lead of a movie during a scene with Liam Neeson and then somehow acquiring the kilt he wore during the movie equally as fascinating.

As we were just driving out of Edinburgh, the guide told us about the difference between Scottish money and English money. They both use pounds, but the Scottish banks print different notes. Interestingly, the Scots do have a pound note, which the English lack. He told us that the 1 pound Scottish note looks rather like the English 5 pound note. So he suggested that we get a bunch of 1 pound notes, wrap them up inside a pair of jeans, and put them through the wash. The colors would bleed and look like a five pound note, and it could be spend in England for a net gain of 4 pounds. At this point I said, "Are you suggesting we launder money?" He laughed and said he'd never thought of it that way. He thought he might use the joke in the future.

The scenery was incredible. At first, it was rolling hills and forests and sheep. As we got further north, the trees thinned out, and the hills got far steeper and rockier. At one point, we passed by Ben Nevis, the highest peak in the We also stopped at a touristy place that sold touristy goodies. Also, they had Hamish the Highland Bull, who was, well, a bull. Seems like he has a good life--just chilling out and getting fed by tourists.

We stopped at Lake Gerry, which is a lake shaped roughly like the outline of Scotland. There was Scotch Broom there. I wonder what they call it in Scotland. Just broom?

One nice aspect of our trip was the good weather. Scotland is pretty rainy, but the day was mostly sunny, if still a bit cold. Because of the lack of wind and rain, the lakes we passed were incredibly flat. They looked like mirrors. Scotland is home to a large number of freshwater lakes; Loch Ness holds an incredible amount of drinkable water. According to our guide, the water in most of the lakes is so pure that you can drink it with no processing. It may be fresh and free of chemicals, but I’m not so certain that the lakes and streams lack intestinal parasites. Nonetheless, the idea of drinking “wild” water is interesting.

Summer was an excellent time to visit the highlands. The hills were covered in green, and the rhododendrons were in bloom. I’ve always thought of rhododendrons as a coastal plant, since that’s where they grow wild in Oregon. We passed one hill that was absolutely covered in pink blooms.

We stopped at a castle. By this time, I’d seen so many castles that I actually wasn’t that impressed. It wasn’t a particularly large castle, although it was supposedly one of the more well-known ones. Apparently parts of the Highlander movie were filmed there.

Toward the end of the day, we visited the Isle of Skye. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to stay long, but the scenery was pretty. We were only there for about fifteen minutes, and we spent most fo the time standing on the shore and taking in the sights. Skye used to have a ferry, but now there is a bridge from the main part of Scotland. The drive across the North Sea was lovely.

On the way back, we stopped for awhile in the Loch Ness area. I saw Nessie—several times. There may be no monster in the loch itself, but there are many versions of her all over town! I walked down to the shore of the lake, which appeared to be a fairly normal, very cold lake. I think we had dinner in the area, though I’m not sure. I do remember buying some very good shortbread.

An interesting aspect of summer in Scotland is the length of the day. Scotland is very far north, and we were in the northern part of the country. Even in England, the sun didn’t go down until perhaps 10 pm. It was strange having bright afternoon sun at 7 pm. I can’t imagine how miserable it must be during the winter when the length of the day and the night are reversed. At any rate, we got back so late that it had gotten dark in Edinburgh. It must have been 11 pm or so.

We saw several interesting places along the way, but I think the part of the trip I enjoyed most was driving through the empty parts of the highlands. The steep hills around us were awe-inspiring.

Pictures: http://flickr.com/photos/shigosei/tags/highlands/