Potarch Hotel Banchory

... everywhere I've ever been, and so peaceful and naturally beautiful. It's almost an honour for me to help them maintain that beauty. And this is my opportunity.<br><br>Back to the real world now - a trip of this proportion [usually] needs planning, and money. Hopefully I will soon join the ranks of the employed in order to earn some extra £ aside from my savings, and I will be able to make my dreams for next year into a reality by my own power ...

A month in and no activity? What's going on, Sarah?<br><br>WELL.<br><br>Moved in OK, Freshers week was a blast, but I just haven't quite gotten to the exploring part yet. Made a trip down to the beach, a few around town.. And it's actually quite nice here. It's cold yes, but it's a fairly quiet city. Not too big but not too isolated.<br><br>However uni [the evil *******s] have decided to give ...

Well I have finally begun my journey!!! It seemed like it would never actually happen, but as I boarded that plane reality began to sink in....As we all know, i have no idea when Ill be home, where ill go next, what Ill see or who Ill be spending time with....which makes it so much more exciting for me. Now i have only been here for half a day and have yet to settle, but once that ...

Tomorrow I'm catching the a 2pm flight out to Heathrow, a couple of hours of transit and off to Istanbul...arriving just after 11pm. There's no public transport other than taxis and its probably gonna be expensive to Sultanahmet where I'm staying. But the flight's cheap so can't complain really. <br><br>For the past few days I've been packing and repacking, readjusting my inventory each time, trying to strike a balance between travelling light and having the ...

... I wish I could find in my own city. It's nice that a city this size (roughly 200,000, I'm told) can be so pedestrian friendly. It's a wonderful thing to live somewhere where you don't have to own a car. Also, there're a lot of small businesses downtown, which is a nice change of atmosphere from our big-box store culture.<br><br>All in all, my vacation was exactly what I wanted it to be: quiet, simple, easy. <br><br>

... Aberdeen, Hanna, Heather, and I went out for Loud Music Night. We went to a bar where they knew the person singing, and I just sat nursing a pint of McEwan's and watched as young Scottish folks trickled into the bar and, astonishingly, danced to such undanceable music as The Cranberries' "Zombie," Oasis' "Wonderwall," and so forth. A must-see for those traveling in Scotland for the first time.

I rose around 9:00 and went for a run down Union Street (the main drag). People looked at me like I was nuts. Apparently exercise isn't an Aberdonian specialty, particularly at 9 a.m. Afterward, I found a small out-of-the-way sandwich shop where I bought a roast beef and bacon sandwich with spicy English mustard. I enjoyed the sandwich on a bench facing Soul Casino&#8212 ...

A warning up front: this is not an adventure blog. If you're looking for crazy black-market money exchanges or spelunking, stop reading now and visit Sarah's and Vanessa's reports from Venezuela and Colombia. I think I can offer (slightly) more pictures than they can, however. <br> <br>Yesterday I visited the St. Nicholas Kirkyard here in Aberdeen. It's a beautiful place, saturated in green, and dense with headstones and table stones. The classic, mystical ...

I left Tucson at around noon on Aug. 17, when the sun was high, and the temperature was starting to climb into the hundreds. Just short of 24 hours later, I arrived in Aberdeen to a temperature in the sixties and an overcast sky that spit occasional droplets of something called rain. Those of you who have suffered thru my laments about missing winter this year on account of my trip to Africa will guess that I'm really loving this weather ...

... it being Sunday, not much was open. We then went to an Italian restaurant for lunch and after a brief respite headed to Loch Muick. What a beautiful place! Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate so we didn't get to hike as much as we would have liked. We drove by the entrance to Balmoral Castle (the queen was in so tours were not allowed) and then back to our hosts for a ...