#my flight landed at 9:30 and my train is at 4pm

[queerhawkeyes]

stuck at liberty international for 6 hours answering work emails on my phone and drinking very expensive coffee

[alvfr]

okay I’m booked for the helicopter at 10 on Wednesday but I need to be there 1 hour early so that’s 9 actually since it’s my first trip they recommend 1,5hr earlier so that’s 08:30 but I also need to get covid tested at least three hours before takeoff so that’s 7am and that means breakfast at 6am and there’s no planes that early so I need to leave the night before and the latest flight is 8:30pm and that means boarding is at 8-ish but wait they want me on an interview on the other side of the country at 9am the same day and there’s no flights early enough to make the interview so leave the night before and the weather can be tricky so I’ll take the earliest flight after the interview is done and that’s 12:50 and then I need to be at the airport at 12 and it’s a 15min taxi ride there so checkout from hotel 11:45 and I need to leave for the interview at 08:45 and last flight lands 10pm and leaves at 8pm and that boards 7:30 and I need to check in at 7 latest and the trains only leave once an hour to the airport so then I need to take the 4:30 train and it’s 15min taxi to the station but I don’t want to risk anything so I have to leave at 4pm on Monday

[remembermemorablememories]

Thursday, January 3, 2019

post #360

main points:

- wake up at 6:30am and help sheena with AP calc until 9am

- sleep from 9:30am-1pm

- leftover wawa sandwich for lunch and DJI mavic air drone stuff!!

- watch my own gameplay on elite smash from last night and first time doing actual analysis on my own gameplay. i roll a lot

- dinner with the fam

- smash ultimate practice

- fortnite with jonah and his friend, then josh and bryan

today i:

- woke up at 6:30am to my alarm. i had gotten 4 hours of sleep from 2:30am. i was really tired waking up and kind of disoriented

- went downstairs and made some oatmeal + pb + banana. dad also made some eggs + scallions, the classic meal i had for breakfast in high school

helped sheena with her AP calc homework from 7am-9am. i showed her the khan academy videos on chain rule and then explained it to her. then also some general tips that my physics teacher taught me in high school (i.e. identify what you want to find and what you’re given). we went over some examples of product rule and quotient rule. then also the trigonometric function derivatives. and then finally power rule examples and chain rule examples

sheena left for school around 9am for her quiz

- mom came downstairs and she talked to me a bit about her presentations for work and how they’re going. then i went back to bed around 9:30am and woke up at like 12:30/1pm. i set an alarm for 11:30am... but then snoozed it and it never went off...

- i got out of bed and heated up the leftover half of my chicken salad sandwich from wawa. it was gr8. then my mom went swimming around 1:45pm and i pulled out the DJI drone to see if i could set it up. i followed a tutorial to try to understand how all the controls work. took off all the stickers and such for the drone. also set up the controller. then i had to download and update the firmware like 2 times for some reason and the compass. and then i took it into the backyard and went on my first maiden flight!!

it was sooooooo cool. it’s so smooth. the gimbal does a really good job. also even with a slight breeze it was able to counter all of the movement very well so that it stayed in place. i flew it around for like maybe 10 minutes and then the battery was down to like 20% so i landed it and took it back inside to charge the battery

i took 4 minutes of 2k footage at 60fps and watched it on my laptop. it’s like 3gb. and it can go up to 4k... but yeah that’s pretty dope. i was in beginner mode cause i was so paranoid that i’d crash it

i watched some youtube videos about how to make the footage more cinematic and what camera settings to use for the drone. then the battery was charged again and i went out to the backyard to fly again. this time i disabled beginner mode and tried cinematic mode and tripod mode. then when i previewed the footage i was suggested a generated montage and it actually turned out pretty cool so i shared it with my parents and then the fam on wechat. the footage movement is buttery smooth and it’s so stunning :O so cool!! i really wish i brought it with me to death valley that would’ve been amazing

- around 4pm i came back upstairs and downloaded 6-7 replays from elite smash last night to try to analyze my own gameplay. i want to start spending more time on smash and getting more serious/trying to improve. when i played smash 4 it was kind of more just for fun. then i took on melee this past summer and i got more competitive about it (in terms of practicing tech and learning how to be a good player). and now with ultimate i can take my intuition from smash 4 and my mentality for melee tech to try to get good at this game

fyi i play falcon

i roll a lot, use down-b in situations when i shouldn’t, and just in general make choices without reacting to my opponent. i also should use back airs more. more optimal out of shield options like jumping or dashing instead of rolling, etc. after watching like 3 replays of myself i started to read what i was going to do which is bad LOL. but good that i’m able to notice it from the replays

- around 6:30pm dad finished making tofu, bok choy and some fish for dinner so we all went downstairs and ate. it was delicious :D except the ground beef for the tofu was more american/italian tasting with some red spice cause dad didn’t have time to get the ground beef from asian super markets. it was an interesting taste... but yeah i prefer the asian beef

showed my dad an indoor demo of the DJI drone. i was so paranoid i was gonna crash it somewhere but it was fine. whew. then i washed the dishes and talked to my dad a bit

- went upstairs around 8pm and practiced smash ultimate with falcon with my new knowledge i learned from watching my own replays. i played against level 9 CPUs and tried to throw out more back airs for spacing. i also caught myself whenever i rolled (near the ledge) so that’s good. then i decided to just go into training mode to practice the short hop back flip. short hop back air. short hop nair. when i short hop nair forward, sometimes it turns into knee, so i needa fix that too

i unlocked some more characters like snake, pichu, lucas and meta knight (since i’m still playing on the new nintendo account)

also while training i hopped on a call with josh chris and trevor on discord. i haven’t talked to them in a really long time!! it’s nice hanging with them. i kind of went inactive for the semester (like i usually do) at school but now that i’m back we can play video gamez

i’m updating fortnite right now at 10:07pm. chris and josh are playing final fantasy online on PC. i’m gonna take a shower and then hopefully bryan and trevor will be back and the 4 of us can play squads in fortnite!!!

i haven’t played on my PC in like a month or two so this should be fun

the end

update:

i played fortnite with jonah and one of his friends in a few rounds of team rumble. that was pretty dope. then played two rounds of squads with josh and bryan. then i went to sleep :p

[virtua-lia-wayfarer-blog]

Thailand Travel Blog, Travel Guide in Visiting 3 Incredible Places; Bangkok, Phuket Islands and Pattaya all in just 3 days. 2018

3 DAY Thailand travel guide. Visit Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya in your 3 day travel journey. Thailand is known for its tropical beaches, grand royal palaces and amazing temples with huge Buddhas. It is also known as the land of smiles. In this blog you will get to know how we survived our three days journey in Thailand. Take note its our first time to travel in this country. We lived in the Philippines that has almost the same weather as Thailand. We booked our flight ticket via Cebu Pacific air using Traveloka application downloadable via google play. Just make sure that you include Travel tax when booking your airfare, because if not you would need to pay upfront and fall in line at the airport for 1,600 pesos. On our first day these are the places that we are planning to visit: GRAND PALACE WAT PHO TEMPLE CHOCOLATE VILLE Our flight from Manila to Bangkok is at scheduled at 6am so we departed at work from our night shift duty at 3am. We arrived at the airport around 10am due to flight delays of Cebu Pacific. Make sure that you carry your dollars with you for a higher amount of exchange rate to thai money which they called bhat( Thailand's currency). Things to do at the airport: 1.1st thing that we did at the airport is we went to the Currency exchange counter to convert our dollars to Thailand's money.(Thai bhat) 2. Since we already have money to buy. We bought a 4g simcard at the airport which claims to have a high speed data internet connection plus calls. Their data connection is much faster compare to the ordinary internet connection here in Philippines. 3. Then we left our bags at the luggage counter for just 100 Thai bhat per 1 bag and we just carry a small bag to roam around Bangkok. We left it at the airport because we will be returning in the evening for our flight going to Phuket at 8pm. Our first day is dedicated for exploring Bangkok. Dated May 13, 2018 Saturday, Here is our struggles the moment that we landed in Thailand. We are looking for a car rental service at the airport, Unfortunately the available cars are just self-drive and no drivers included. Take note they are left hand drive, So even if my friends knew how to drive it will be some sort of adjustment because here in our hometown it is right hand drive. Maybe you may book it via KLOOK app or if you have a contact person to drive you all throughout Bangkok that will work. We end up with a taxi. Make sure that the drivers are wearing uniform and there’s a counter where you can get a taxi ticket to avoid scammers. They also have a limousine service that offer car rental plus driver but we didn’t dare to ask for the price. Lol We rode the taxi from the airport going to GRAND PALACE which cost us 360 bhat including the toll fees. It opens at 8.30 am and closes at 3.30 pm. The entrance fee is quite expensive for us. It is 500 bhat each and the place is really extensive. Our next stop is WAT PHO- temple of the reclining Buddha. It is just a few walk away from the Grand Palace about 5 to 10 mins walk. We tried the tutuk ride just to experienced it but the driver tried to fool us that the Wat Pho temple is closed, instead he will try to offer you some other places where he would gain money from. So beware guys. There are lot of scammers and upselling everywhere. Before going to Thailand we a already read a lot of blogs about it thats why we already knew this kind of modus. We still open to visit the temple and found out that its open. Temples are very strict with dress code, no caps, hat, shoes, sleeveless and no miniskirt allowed. If by any chance your clothing is inappropriate for the temple you can just buy pants outside. You can also purchase the coins in a bowl for just 20 bhat and it is believed that it may bring you a goodluck. This also helps the monks in the maintainance of their temple. Opening Hours: Daily 08:00 - 17:00 (Massage available until 18:00) Location: Maharat Road. Close to the river (about a half mile south of the Grand Palace), Old City (Rattanakosin) Price Range: The entrance fee is 100 baht. Read more at: http://www.bangkok.com/attraction-temple/wat-po.htm?cid=ch:OTH:001 We met Mr. Peng outside the temple, a cab driver that is very fluent in English, he said he has a daughter that has a Filipina English teacher which started a great conversation. He is friendly, very kind and accommodating as well. He offered to drive us back and forth. Going to the Chocolate Ville from Wat Pho then back to Suvarnabhumi airport for a total of 1200 bhat after haggling for the price. His taxi is 8-9 seaters. Mr Pengs Contact number: +6689-795-6321 just in case you would like to have a hassle free trip in Bangkok and also in Pattaya. We highly recommend this man. He also has whatsapp application and he is very attentive for queries. Thanks to him for sharing things that helped us in our travel in Thailand. Just like Monday in Bangkok is cleaning day, He advised that Chatuchak Market every Monday is closed in Bangkok. Next stop is Chocolate Ville it’s our last stop because it opens at 4pm and closes at 12am. It is a European themed restaurant. Every corner is just amazing. No entrance fee at all! We loved this place and I hope you will enjoy this place too. Chocolate Ville is a bit far it’s almost one hour ride and best way to get here is via taxi. No BTS train, bus on this place. I was not able to keep track of the time to be exact but it’s really far! I just approximated it around 1 hour and a half drive. Actually we almost lost our 8pm flight but thank God we did it. 🙂 http://www.chocolateville.net/ That night we are about to Fly going to Phuket from Suvarnabhumi airport Bangkok at 8pm scheduled flight. We booked our airline ticket via vietjetair airlines for a total of 2,748 pesos two way. Sometimes they have promos available so better keep track to avail discounts. We arrived at Phuket around 9.30 Once you’re at the Phuket airport there is a counter that will offer you mode of transportation. It can either be a van but you will share with a group and its much cheaper around 200 bhat each only or you may take a cab just like what we picked because it’s more comfortable for 800 bhat. He dropped us in front of our hotel at Golden house beach Patong, almost one and half hours’ drive. Our hotel accommodation was booked via air bnb around 739 pesos only per night and its 5 mins away from Patong beach. We booked for 2 nights and advised them for late check in. The hotel is very accessible to the beach, it is clean but its a bit old already. We always consider the location, cleanliness and the safety of the place. Most of our time we are outside travelling so its more practical to choose an affordable accomodation. The hotel has a restaurant on its first floor which is BAOLI restaurant. They have big servings, affordable food and yes its awesome. We still manage to check what else can we do on a late night in Phuket. Some food stalls and shops are still open and we tried to do some food trips. Must try foods are their authentic pad thai, mango sticky rice, thai almond, seafoods and a lot more. Day 2 in PHUKET THAILAND Hassle free Island tour booked via KLOOK application. It is recommended for you to have a tour agency for island hopping. You can download KLOOK via Google play. It cost 2,643 in Philippine peso purchased via credit card for Maya Bay Phi phi island tour via speedboat. It includes hotel pick up back and forth, lunch, snacks plus insurance. (Except for monkeys if you got injured by them they are not included so just be careful not to go close to them, maintain some sort of distance) You will get to visit wonders of Phi Phi Island including Maya Bay, Viking cave, monkey beach, Andaman beach and Piley lagoon. Recent update from June 1 until September 30, 2018 Maya Bay will be closed and their itinerary will be replaced by Bamboo island which is surrounded by coral reefs too. As you can see on the video from the link below the Maya bay island is really crowded on a summer time. There are a lot of tourist everywhere. One of the highlights of our island hopping is monkey beach with crystal clear waters, just be careful not to get too close to them. After the island hopping we went to relax at Patong beach since its just a few walk away from our hotel. We just slept a few hours and left Phuket at 3.30am via cab. Again we rented a taxi and coordinated with our hotel. Its quite expensive for 1200 bhat. Our scheduled flight via vietjetair is at 5.30. So you would imagine how far is Patong from the airport. At exactly 7.30 am we are already at the Don Mueang airport in Bangkok compared to Suvarnabhumi that is totally huge, Don Mueang airport is not that big. Our trip for Pattaya includes 3 places. The Pattaya Floating Market, Nong Nooch garden and the Sanctuary of truth. Day 3 in PATTAYA THAILAND We rented Mr Pen's taxi for 2500 bhat for our whole Pattaya trip. 1st stop is Pattaya Floating Market. Cost 800bhat including entrance fee, boat ride, fruits as snack and photo. We suggest for you to check inside the place first before paying the whole 800 bhat. You can just pay for 300 bhat as entrance fee. This Place is less crowded compared to the famous floating Market in Bangkok. It is just an ordinary floating market. But here you will discover their thai almond for just 200 bhat. 3 packs of thai almond for just 200 bhat!!! Its delicious believe me, if you love nuts like us. Lol Just 30 mins drive away is the NONG NOOCH GARDEN, our second stop to our itinerary for the day. Entrance fee is 600 bhat which includes elephant and cultural shows. If you have a great love for animals you will enjoy the elephant show, but there are some claims telling they are being too harsh with elephant training. The baby elephants are so cute and they are talented mammals. I get to experienced being lifeted by them using their trunk. You may check it out on the video link below. Out Last stop SANCTUARY OF TRUTH. It cost 721 pesos booked via KLOOK app too. Opens at 8 am closes at 5pm. It is Thailand’s living heritage; this temple is made of woods. What makes it more beautiful is it is located beside the beach. You can also witness a wonderful sunset here. It has a restaurant on the side too. The temple is under construction when we went there, so you can just wear a helmet for your protection for possible falling debris. Before I forger there a a horse carriage offering for a ride to the temple around 120 bhat each, and It is just a waste of money because the gate entrance is just a few minute walk from the temple. Its not advisable but it depends if you just wanted to experience it. Also they are very timely here. They won't wait for you if your late. Always be mindful with your time. We left Sanctuary of truth around 6pm because even though the temple is closed by 5.00 pm, you can still roam around and take some pictures. It took as almost 3 to 4 hours of drive from Pattaya going back to Bangkok there was a heavy traffic during that time because there was a charitable event by the king during that time. We booked our hotel at the Cottage of Suvarnabhumi because it has great reviews from tripadvisor. It's also near the airport just a 10 minute drive. We just checked in to sleep and it includes free breakfast and swimming pool access. You can just checked the prices at Traveloka app. We arrived around 9.30 pm on our hotel. We just washed up and ready to go to Khao San road for a little shopping and bought some souvenirs, since Chatuchak Market is closed every Monday for Bangkok's Cleaning Day. We left at almost 10 pm and went back around 1am. We slept and woke up around 5am, packed up and ate our free breakfast at 7am. Around exactly 8am our free transport service back to the airport is ready for our 10 am flight to Manila. The hotels within the vicinity of the airport usually offers a free transport service to the airport. We highly recommend a 5 day travel for exploring Thailand. But if you are like us that is in a hurry but wanted to make everything worth it at the same time your on a budget, you may follow this guidelines. :) Prepare a pocket money of $300-$400, airfare not yet included. Thank you for taking taking time to read and God bless us on our future travel journeys. You're questions are always welcome.😉 *Chat with me on INSTAGRAM for questions:❤✌ @virtua_lia_wayfarer Here is the youtube link for our 3 day Thailand travel journey: https://youtu.be/tOSnsXMqyT4

[wandersofmylife-blog]

Scotland

I’ve always identified as being Greek - as a kid I went to Greek Orthodox Church Camp in Greece, I savour baklava and I eat copious amounts of lamb on Easter. However, when I meet people they always seem to be surprised that I'm Greek - could be the fair skin and freckles, which I inherit from my Scottish side. I had never been interested in my Scottish side, despite my extremely Scottish and common last name, Ramsay, until I was introduced to the show Outlander this year. For those of you who have watched it, it takes place in Scotland, and I finally had an interest in going. I’m not sure if it was because of the hottest read-headed Scot I’ve ever seen being on the show(Jamie Fraser), or if it was seeing that the history of Scotland was rich, and something I had overlooked all my life, but I decided to make the trek out there this July. 

Scotland is a beautiful country. It reminded me quite a bit of Iceland and in certain parts, just not as cold when I was there. It does rain quite a bit, but going in July I only had 1 of my 9 days where there was any precipitation, so I don’t believe it’s as dark and gloomy as people expect it to be. Edinburgh and Glasgow, two of the main cities, are located closer to the south of the country. There are some fantastic beaches to hit south of these two cities, mostly on the west coast. Even travelling north, the west coast is more dense and has more to see than the east. Scotland is not a heavily populated country, and travelling north you’ll find many small little towns that pass in the blink of an eye, but the highlands are definitely worth checking out. That was actually my favourite part of the trip - the north has something amazing about it, and I’m very glad I rented a car to get up there and see it. 

The one difficulty with this is that in Scotland, they drive on the opposite side of the road. It’s quite a shock to see cars coming at you on the wrong side of the freeway, so wherever you are, make sure you do a little bit of small driving before you get onto the big roads. I always use rentalcars.com to book my cars, and by doing it at least 1 week in advance you’ll save a ton of money. For 1 week my car rental was $350.00 by booking in advance, but at the counter it would have been over $1000.00 - you have been warned!

I tried to cover as much as I could during my 9 days, and if I were to go back a second time I would do a few things differently. I would stay longer up in the North, and check out some more of the Isles. I only got to Skye, which was absolutely stunning, but there are many more out there to explore. 

Day 1 -  I flew WestJet and arrived in Glasgow. WestJet has a night flight, so you get there in the morning, which means you avoid losing a whole day of travel as long as you can sleep on planes. The Glasgow airport is quite small, so it was easy to pick up my rental car and drive around a bit to get myself familiarized. From here, I made my way up to Dalwhinnie, a 2 hour drive out from the airport.  There is not much to see in Glasgow itself, as it’s very industrial, but there are some nice parks and downtown areas. This is actually where my Scottish family is from - they were a poor, working family who didn’t seem to have much until they went over to Canada.  On the way to Dalwhinnie, you’ll hit Perth, where you can stop for lunch and also see the Scone Palace. It’s a great little town that has some awesome Haggis and Ale, if you’re looking to stop for a nice Scottish lunch. From here, I carried on and ended at Balsporran Cottages in Dalwhinnie. It really is a cute little B&B in the middle of nowhere. There’s a few nice streams and hiking opportunities in the surrounding hills, which is very nice, but don’t think you’re going out drinking if you stay here. It’s very peaceful, clean and well-kept - perfect for a first relaxing night in Scotland. If you’re arriving on a weekend, I’d suggest staying in Edinburgh so you can enjoy the nightlife there, but coming in here on a weekday is just fine. 

Day 2 -  From here, I started up to Mallaig, which is a 1.5 hour drive from Dalwhinnie. On the way, there are a few great things to stop by and see. En route, you have to stop at Fort William, an old Scottish fort-town. It’s got tons of great shops and little restaurants to eat at. I bought an awesome raincoat here for $60, so it’s not outrageously priced. It’s definitely a must to stop at, and is also close to Ben Nevis. Ben Nevis is the tallest mountain in the Scottish region that take about 8.5 hours to climb, round trip. If you’re outdoorsy, it’s a big tourist destination and can get you moving and your blood pumping. The view at the top is one you’ll never forget. If you’re a new climber, I’d think it may be a good idea to do a half-climb up, as it does get quite tricky in some areas.  Just past Fort William you’ll find Glenfinnan, where they have the Hogwarts Express. It’s a quick 20 min detour from the main route, and you’ll see the train winding through the mountains as you drive as well. This is actually called the Jacobite Stream Train, but if you’re a Harry Potter fan, this is definitely a quick stop you must take. Finally in Mallaig, you’ll smell the sea and salt, in this little ferry town. There are a couple of great coffee shops here, and I highly recommend staying at the West Highland Hotel. The rooms are small but clean, there are no key-cards for the doors(they are actual keys), but the bathrooms are completely renovated and there is a bar, restaurant and library on the main level. At night, people sit in the reception area and there is live music near the bar, so it’s perfect to meet other travellers and enjoy some Scottish sounds. The hotel is also located a bit up on a hill, overlooking the inlet. It’s a great view, and I would definitely stay here again.  If you are taking a ferry the next day to the Isle of Skye, it’s best to book it the night before, It books up quickly, and if you don‘t have a confirmed ticket, there’s no guarantee you’ll get on with a car. You can book the ferry tickets at CalMac: www.ticketing.calmac.co.uk/booking/asp/web100.asp . 

Day 3 -  I made an early start in Mallaig to catch the 8am ferry over to the Isle of Skye. There’s a small coffee shop right by the ferry dock, where you can grab a quick bit to take and grab some java. The ferry is a short 30 minutes to the Isle of Skye, where you’ll land in Ardvasar. The island is actually quite large, so unless you stay a night here it’s best to do a pass-through and end up back on the mainland. I chose to visit the Fairy Pools, which is about an hour from the ferry. Staying on the island can be quite costly, running you about $200/night for a small room.  Along the road to the fairy pools, you’ll see tons of gorgeous waterfalls and off-road scenery. It‘s an awesome drive on a good sunny day. When you get to the fairy pools, located in Glen Brittle, you’ll see parking is limited. It’s best to park on the road, and then walk down to the entrance. It’s really just a bunch of waterfalls running down from the mountains, which makes for an incredibly breathtaking scene. You can walk up quite a bit, but once you get to a certain point they all look the same, so I suggest going up about 30 minutes. The water is cold, clear and refreshing. If you're daring, you can definitely take swim, but it is quite chilling and there is no place out of the open to dry off.  You can also check out Dunvegan, which is another hour north, however the Fairy Pools are the so serene, it’s good to budget at least an hour and a half here. Look out for Moo-Cows as well, which can be found en-route to the Fairy Pools.  Head back to Kyleakin, where you can take cross over a bridge to the mainland. Right in Kyleakin there is a grocery store, gas station and some really cute restaurants. You can enjoy a late lunch here on your way back over. The bridge is pretty cool, and quite long, offering a great view of Loch Alsh. Try to do the cross-over before 4pm or so, as you’ll be able to stop into Eilean Donan castle. It’s got tons of great history, and has been passed down for generations within the current family, so there are tons of interesting objects in the home. It’s right on the loch, which makes for some incredible photo opps. The castle closes around 6pm, so be sure to get there before. From the castle, head up to Inverness, which is about 1hr30min. You’ll drive right beside Loch Ness - unfortunately, I didn’t catch Nessy on my trip, but maybe you’ll be lucky enough to.  Inverness was by far my favourite place in Scotland. It’s all based around the river, and there’s a decent nightlife here as well. There’s tons of things to do for tourists here, as well as great shopping at their main downtown mall. Small boutique shops have tartans for every clan you can imagine in the downtown as well, and there’s tons of food(including McDonalds - however please don’t,,.. just don’t). All of the bars and pubs run along the River Ness, making it easy to pub-hop and check out all sorts of different bars. You can stay at the Crown Court Hotel($164/night), which is about a 10 minute walk into downtown through a few beautiful side street. The houses along here are all older and covered in flowers and greenery, so it’s a great walk. You’ll pass Inverness Castle on the way in, and if you really like you can go to the top of the castle to see a great view of the entire town during open hours. 

Day 4 -  The next day, grab breakfast or brunch in Inverness(tons of great spots downtown), and then head out to Culloden Moor, which is just outside of Inverness. You can pay for a tour by entering into the main building once you arrive, or you can park a bit closer near the entrance itself and walk yourself around the fields. This is where the Jacobite army fought against British troops, and were basically destroyed. There are tons of plaques as you do the walk around explaining different components of the battle, as well as headstones for the different clans and flag poles marking the position of the British and Jacobites. It is a must-see, full of history and amazing to see what happened on that soil back in 1746.  After checking out Culloden, you can either stay another night in Inverness(which I would have done if I could redo the trip), or head up to Dornoch. Dornoch is a bit more north, and follows the sea with is really nice. However, the farther north you go, the cooler it gets. Up in Dornoch, there’s the opportunity to see Dunrobin Castle before heading into your hotel. This is an incredibly well architected castle with amazing gardens, and really cool to see. If you decide to stay in Dornoch, I highly recommend staying at the Dornoch Hotel($90/night). It’s right off the sea, and has a great restaurant in the hotel. Dornoch itself is a great little Scottish town, with some awesome restaurants and sweet shops. It’s quite small, so you can walk downtown from the hotel, but if you choose to drive there are tons of parking spots available. If you get to Dornoch before sunset, it’s a quick walk through the golf course outside of the hotel to the beach. The beach is absolutely stunning, with white sand and cool water. I actually ended up getting a sunburn here, not realizing how strong the sun was!

Day 5 -  If you’re up for it, I highly recommend doing a horseback riding tour at Highlands Unbridled, about 30-40 minutes from Dornoch. You can choose rides of a few hours, or a day ride. Depending on your experience level, you’re able to gallop along the beach, or just happily walk along - they’re great at gaging the best experience for the group. They have a ton of different ponies, all of which are fantastically well cared for and seem quite happy, including Highland Ponies. I am not a pony person, I prefer horses, however these ponies were my absolute favourite! The day trek includes a stop at the top of one of the hills for lunch, so be sure to pack enough water and food to get your through a 6 hour day. You can check them out here: www.highlandsubridled.co.uk.  After the horse trek, you’ll most likely be quite tired, so staying in Dornoch is idea. The Dornoch hotel has great ocean views and is quite relaxing - you’ll most likely be sore the next day if you’re not used to riding. 

Day 6 -  Make a late start to head back down Fife area. You can do this 1 of 2 ways depending on your tolerance for driving. You can take the coastal route down the east coast, stopping in Aberdeen for lunch and completing a total trip of 5 hours, or you can cut through the inland for a total trip time of 4  hours. Both are great drives, but if you like the sea then I would suggest spending that extra hour.  Your destination is Anstruser, a small town with the most amazing fish and chips you can possibly find. Even the Princes eat the fish and chips from here at the Anstruser Fish Bar, and were seen here often during their studies in St. Andrews. It is absolutely to die for! This little sea town has tons of one-way streets, which can be a bit frustrating at times, but there is little need to walk if you stay at the Murray Library Hoes Hostel. Although it’s a hostel, can book private rooms here as well for a great price. It’s has renovated washrooms, super clean rooms, awesome common spaces and is right beside the sea. The hostel owners are extremely friendly, and the place is very secure. I would highly recommend to stay here if in the area.  There are also a ton of great trails in this little town, one of which will take you out to the meadows outside of town. The Scottish landscape can truly be appreciated here, giving you a mix of beautiful fields and the sea. In the summer there’s live music and festivals in the main square by the beach, which is a great spot to meet people. The town is super friendly and a great place to wind down and ground yourself. 

Day 7 -  Make your way down to Edinburgh, which is about an hour from Anstruther. There’s no need to rush out, as it’s beautiful to watch the sun rise over the ocean. Once you get to Edinburgh, there’s a ton of great sites to see. There’s lots of walking to be done, so park your car at the Safestay Edinburgh, where you can stay the night and be central to the city for $120/night.  Head into the old town of Edinburgh, where you’ll find old architecture and, of course, the Edinburgh Castle. You’ll have to pay a fee to get in, but it’s something that should be done if you’re interested in history. The gardens around the castle are also beautiful, and you can walk around the main streets into back alleys and different shops, which are scattered all over the old town. There's also tons of churches that are absolutely stunning. Be ware - you can’t take photos unless you pay a fee, so if you’re going to use a camera make sure you’re sneaky about it! The bars and pubs here are endless, so if you’re looking for some good nightlife the city is really your oyster. Bramble is a small bar that has amazing beer, and is very well known - making it easy to meet people as it’s always packed. For breakfast, try Roseleaf, which has amazing reviews and lives up to these reviews with their awesome food. Edinburgh is really a city for walking and drinking, so enjoy the livelihood and density, which is a sharp change from the north. 

Day 8 -  This day can either be spent in Edinburgh, or you can head out on this day to Glasgow(an hour drive) to catch a flight home. If you prefer, you can also leave from Edinburgh, however dropping the car here will most likely be more expensive as it will be different from where you picked it up. 

Scotland is a stunning country rich of heritage and thick accents. The north is absolutely perfect if you’re looking for adventure, with the stark contrast to Edinburgh and it’s density, which makes for an awesome nightlife and the opportunity to meet tons of new people. 

Hopefully you have the opportunity to enjoy Scotland and all it has to offer.  Happy travels, and remember - 

Travel far, Wander further. 

Dede

[trekwithtaylor]

Country #50 - Latvia

The Flights

Today was another crazy travel day as I set off back across the pond to visit Eastern Europe! Eastern Europe has been at the top of my bucket list for a long time so I am really looking forward to the countries on this trip, including Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, and flying out of Norway (I’ve been before this trip but I’m doing Bergen this time so it’s a new city for me). I also want to do Eastern Europe before it gets much colder so that I can enjoy it.

Today I flew out of Dallas on a family pass. I didn’t get business class but I did get a row to myself which was very nice. I slept about four hours and watched the new Spider Man on the plane. As far as nonstop London flights go (and I’ve flown them a bit thanks to studying abroad and prior visits) this was the first time I have flown out of Dallas, so it was probably one of my longest flights ever so far at nine hours.

After landing in London I had plenty of time to transfer to my next airport but not enough time to safely venture out and see anything. It’s not like I haven’t been to London before, so this was purely a transit visit. I landed at Heathrow where I then sat for a while and figured out my plan for the day. I decided to transfer straight to Stansted (worst airport ever, I’m sure I’ve said that before) instead of waiting around at Heathrow or going into London and risking any sort of problem.

I took the tube to Liverpool Street where I made it on the next Stansted Express train right as the doors were closing. I dislike how expensive the Stansted Express is but it gets the job done and if you don’t have time to book early it usually the same price (if not cheaper) the day of than the National Express bus coaches, and it is definitely quicker than those.

I arrived at Stansted a little over three hours before my flight. Stansted is the worst, just to remind you for a hundredth time. Their entire system encourages you to be there early, but, surprise, if you are over three hours early you can’t check your bags yet (this wasn’t a problem for me because I had no bags). I would likely never be more than three hours early (I’m usually only two for international flights) except for in transit. So it just puts passengers in an annoying hold because there is literally nowhere to sit in the Stansted main entrance.

After going through what I swear is the longest duty-free section that is impossible to skip I decided to eat at an actual restaurant since it had been a while since my last meal and I was going to be traveling the rest of the day. I decided on the Windmill because it looked cool. It’s a pub (under the Wetherspoon brand) but it felt like a restaurant other than the weird ordering system where you either had to order on an app (which I did) or go to the bar (kinda hard to leave your bags at your table as a single traveler). I got a burger that was funnily enough called the American Burger. I then had another two hours so I went and sat in the main waiting area.

So here is my main beef with Stansted. The signs will tell you, without fail, that your flight is boarding the second that it gets assigned a gate. And they also wait forever to tell you the gate so once you know you almost always feel like you need to hurry when in reality boarding hasn’t actually started but you never know when on the off chance it will. My flight today was at 4:45pm. The gate was supposed to be posted at 4pm, was actually posted around 3:50, and then the second it was posted it said that it was now boarding. After a ten minute walk to the gate, I found no boarding for another twenty minutes at least. So basically, they make you run all over for no reason and it is a problem that could easily be corrected. The exact same thing happens when they post final calls. I have run to flights in Stansted because the signs have said final call only to find that half the time boarding hasn’t even started yet.

After finally boarding I had a seat in the back of the plane. The flight was fine other than the fact that I have never in my life seen so many people stand up on a flight. Like literally there would be at least five people in lines for the bathrooms all flight long and others were congregating in groups which is against rules. Other than the annoyance of having the constantly moving passengers run into me on the aisle seat It was a good three-hour fight that I stuck to Netflix on.

When arriving in Riga, Latvia, immigration was a breeze. I then found the mini-bus (basically a bus shuttle) #222 from the airport to the center of town. Regular bus #22 is also an option. The bus dropped off right by the central train station which, luckily for me, was right across the street from my hotel, Opera Hotel & Spa! After navigating the underground crosswalks (because there are too many trams for there to be crosswalks on the street) I came up right in front of Opera Hotel & Spa. Thank you so much to Opera Hotel & Spa for sponsoring this night of my trip! Check in was simple and my room is very nice! It is clean and updated and has an absolutely perfect location for exploring Riga.

I’m really looking forward to seeing Riga tomorrow, and also to having a good night’s sleep after not getting much on the plane last night.

The East

Today was my first full day in Eastern Europe of the trip! After a late night getting in I set my alarm for 8:30, but then snoozed it until 9:30, and then somehow fell back asleep until 11am. Not ideal, but I still had enough time to see a good overview of Riga! After checking out of Opera Hotel & Spa I sat in the lobby for a bit to finish planning my day since I fell asleep before doing so last night.

I started the day with lunch at an Italian Restaurant. Lame, I know, but at every Latvian restaurant I looked up I would have just ended up getting a burger so I had some tasty lasagne instead. The walk to lunch introduced me to the Old City which is incredible. After lunch, and throughout the rest of my day, I spent a lot of time just walking around Old City. The buildings are very unique and I highly recommend spending as much time as possible walking through them.

My first stop after lunch was St. Peter's Church. St. Peter’s Church was first mentioned in official records as early as the 1200s, while the building itself is old but not nearly that old. My favorite part of the church was the observation. The student ticket was seven euro. You take an elevator to the very top for an awesome view out over all of Riga. The church itself had a really nice art exhibition on display and, while plain for a European church, it was still beautiful inside. I’m glad that the sun was out while I was on the observation deck because by the time I left St. Peter’s it had started raining.

The rain thankfully only lasted about five minutes. My next stop was the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia which was unfortunately closed. I’m looking forward to learning more about the history of the Eastern European countries, but it looks like I will have to wait until another city. The museum sits on Town Hall Square, which was, unfortunately, being renovated. The scaffolding showed how cool the square is when it is not under construction and I’m sad to have missed it!

After two very quick stops, I made my way to Riga Cathedral. When I walked in I heard what sounded like a live choir and orchestra performing. After buying my three euro ticket I found that I was lucky enough to be visiting the church during their practice! The chorus was huge and it was such a cool, but completely unexpected, moment to be able to sit and listen in such a beautiful place. After taking my time listening and then walking around the church cloister I then made my way to the Three Brothers, which are the three oldest houses in Riga. Their exteriors are very unique, especially for buildings dating from as early as the 1500s.

My walk from the Three Brothers to my next stop, Latvian National Museum of Art, was a little longer. However, I was able to walk through Bastejkalna parks, a lovely park that flows through the center of Riga. During my walk, I found some sort of kayak competition being held on the small body of water that flows through the park. I arrived at the Latvian National Museum of Art about an hour before closing time. I did the permanent exhibitions starting with the top floor, which was a super unique, all white space. The other floors were art by specifically Latvian artists. The museum wasn’t too large (though the building was grand) so I was able to do it all in about forty-five minutes.

After the museum, I headed to Alberta Iela (Albert Street), which is known for its Art Nouveau buildings. The buildings were cool but definitely did not take a lot of time to see. I walked down the street and then made my way back to the center of town. My longest walk of the day, at about fifteen minutes, took me from Alberta Iela to The Freedom Monument. The Freedom Monument stands at the start of the Old City and is a monument to the soldiers who died in the Latvian War of Independence. I then went to Riga Black Magic. It’s a super cool cafe where I had some cake and amazing hot chocolate. Latvia is the coldest country I have been to since Argentina so the hot chocolate was much needed and so good! It was the kind where you stir chocolate into warm milk which I really like. Black Magic had a really cool decor and I definitely recommend it.

After recharging on basically just chocolate I made my way back to Opera Hotel & Spa to gather my bags and head to the bus stop. The stop for the 22 or 222 bus to the airport was right down from Opera Hotel & Spa about a five-minute walk, and the bus arrived about ten minutes later. On the bus I met a British man who asked how long the bus took. We then went on to chat for a minute during which time he told me that when he hears of Alabama it makes him think of slavery or “worse things” which was not ideal to hear. Otherwise, he was really nice and wished me well on my trip, but that part of our conversation was definitely a bit awkward.

Security at the airport was simple with no lines and afterwards, I headed to my gate and found a good spot to sit. I was three and a half hours early for no reason other than that by this time it was dark in Riga and I decided to go ahead and be early. There was a Vanderbilt football game on and somehow I was able to have good enough wifi to watch over half of it. It was a horrible loss to Georgia but it gave me something to do to pass the time. Once I finally boarded the flight itself only took about thirty minutes.

When I arrived in Tallinn, Estonia, there was no immigration as I was passing from one Schengen Area country to another. The Schengen Area includes twenty-six European countries that have eliminated border control for fellow Schengen Area countries. I thought about taking an Uber because it would have been about five euros cheaper than a taxi but at 12am the wait time was too long and it was raining. I took a taxi instead and the ride took about ten minutes. I had a really easy check in at my hotel, Go Hotel Shnelli, who I cannot thank enough for sponsoring two nights of my trip! My room is very comfortable and the best part is the view of the Old Town from the room.

After arriving in my room I watched a little more football before showering and going to sleep pretty late. My goal is to get up early enough to have a full day exploring Tallinn, as after day one in Eastern Europe I am really looking forward to it!

50 countries down, 147 to go.

For more information on Latvia click here to read my guide.

To learn more about Opera Hotel & Spa click here.

For more information on Estonia click here to read my guide.

To learn more about Go Hotel Shnelli click here.

[shwagginonyou]

Thursday 05 Jan 17

alrighty here goes! (do you like the european dating system going on)

promised myself (and my mom) i would try to write in a journal as much as possible while i’m here.. so where am i exactly?? today we left newark at 6pm on Wednesday evening and landed in Klagenfurt, Austria a little before noon of Thursday (local time). we = me and my partner (also jessica). we’re gonna be student teaching in the little town of velden am wothersee, which i can’t spell correctly because i don’t know how to get the little dots on the o.

it’s been an EXTREMELY long day haha. basically flew 8 hrs to vienna, then took a connecting flight into the smaller town of klagenfurt, and after lots of “winging it” and not having any clue what we were doing, somehow made it onto a taxi, a train, and another taxi to our final destination of the airbnb in velden which we’ll be staying at for the next 9 weeks. this involved MUCH dragging of suitcases, pretending to understand german, back and forth emails with the airbnb landlord about our estimate arrival time, ringing random doorbells, and sheer endurance. but we made it, finally, around 12:30 today.

the landlord, or rather, the landlord’s boyfriend was actually really nice and kind of gave us a sense of our neighborhood. basically, this is a rich man’s summer getaway. the town is right by a beautiful lake and surrounded by mountains, but many people call it a holiday town currently “sleeping” away the winter months. not too many people actually live here, but it’s populated enough that we don’t feel like we’re living in the middle of nowhere :) it really is as beautiful as it looked in the pictures, and the living situation is pleasant. except that it is pretty darn cold here. (no snow yet!) 

after we put our stuff away, we walked to the local grocery store to get enough rations to feed us at least until saturday. it’s a bank holiday tomorrow, which means stores won’t be open, which means, we need to fend for ourselves. you can believe the overwhelming feeling of confusion me and jess felt as we walked around the store randomly picking things in a foreign language, hoping it would suffice AND that eventually we would be able to cook actual nice things for our next 9 weeks here. it was a daunting challenge. also we hadn’t slept for like 18 hrs. we ended up buying just the basics and had a workout walking back to our apartment with handfuls of groceries haha. this journey so far has definitely reminded me how out of shape i am -.-

coming back from the grocery, me and jess were pretty dead so we put the 30 min to good use by napping while waiting to meet with the ISC coordinator at 4pm. we were SO thankful that Ms. Ana ended up being actually super chill and friendly! (emails are hard to read...) she walked with us from our apartment to the school, which was 5 min away, just as promised! the school is really beautiful and we heard all about the diverse backgrounds of the teachers and students. seeing our teaching location definitely made it more real and exciting. so as least that’s one thing (we hope) we can rely on and make the most of! 

so yeah, this post is getting unnecessarily long and at it’s 8:48pm, i think i reached my overdue bedtime. there are definitely a lot of uncertainties and challenges coming our way. (omg... i didn’t even talk about our immense struggle to cook dinner tonight LOL all i will say is, fish fillets are harder to cook than you think when you can’t read instructions and don’t have the means to properly use a frying pan or an oven) 

not gonna lie, i am pretty nervous about this whole trip, but we’re taking it step by step, and i know for sure that God has got my back, and is preparing me for the ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME DANANANANA -cue coldplay- -out-