How I landed in Scotland!

From 'Scotland: Why, When, How' posted on From The Corner Table

On a personal level, the year 2017 was like the craziest roller coaster ride in an amusement park leaving me, the rider, nervous, exhilarated and other things unfamiliar. But the Gods of Travel were undoubtedly kind to me. How else does one get lucky enough to have checked two places from their travel wish list in a year!

Yes! Yours truly went on a three-day trip to Athens with the elder sister and brother-in-law and a week-long solo trip to Scotland; the first in May and the second in August.

Athens was a special treat because of the... hold on. I'll come to that later. How about I regale you (I hope) with stories of the last trip of 2017 to Scotland first and then we head to Athens?

The Hows and Whys

Now I could give you a rather romantic answer if you were to ask what made me choose Scotland for my solo travel debut. But to be honest, my visa to the United Kingdom was about to expire in four months and for once in my life, I wanted to use said visa to enter the Queen's Land more than once. Strange? Nope. That's me.

It took a bit of convincing and some negotiations with the parents before they were comfortable with the idea of me travelling alone in an unknown land. That my father had visited Edinburgh in the early 1980s and has fond memories of the place made things a bit easier. Ask him, "What did you think of Scotland," and he will gladly pull out the old photo albums for a show-and-tell.

There was, however, one condition the parents had stated: "Ensure your flight tickets and accommodations in Scotland are sorted out before you leave India."

My reaction: "Oh sure! That should be a breeze."

If only my life's plans were are as smooth as that.

With summer coming to an end in United Kingdom I planned to travel in August and assumed that accommodation and tour availability would not be an issue since school holidays at destination country would be over. I was in for a rude shock.

Hotels booked. Hostels booked. Tours booked. Skyrocketing flight fares. A friend from a travel agency even managed to reserve me a space in a 'trips for singles only' but the reservation was sold out in 5 hours! One would think it would be easy to find space for one person in all of Edinburgh but boy was I wrong! The scramble for bookings led to some sleepless nights as the sister and I frantically tried to finalise the nitty gritties of the trip. "Why on earth is it so freaking difficult!" I asked the older sister, at my wits end!

Cue music for the first mega learning from my Scotland trip: Thou shall always research the social calendar of desired destination before planning a sojourn.

You see, I had been stumped at most quarters because of the phenomenon that is Edinburgh Festival, that unique gathering when the capital of Scotland is on an art and culture high. No jokes! This is a month (mostly August) of revelry where the city is host to a variety of art and cultural events that brings together people from across the globe - to perform and to view. This roughly translates into the reality that this is the worst time and yet the best time to be travelling to Scotland.

My dreams of staying in a quaint bed and breakfast operated by a cute old couple who would cook traditional Scottish breakfast and share a folklore while seated around the peat fire at nights were dashed. Nevertheless, after much fretting and nail biting, the sister and I managed to:

# Book my flight on EasyJet for Bristol-Edinburgh-Bristol

I opted for the low-cost carrier but you could always choose other options, especially if you feel packing for a week in a cabin bag would be #MissionImpossible. In case of EasyJet, you need to shell out extra for a check-in luggage.

You could also join group tours with travel companies- they would take care of your travel, itinerary, stay and food.

If you have the option of travelling from London, then do choose the train journey. I've been told the view of the route taken is mesmerising. #NextTime