The Learney Arms Hotel Banchory

... Hong Kong to start, then Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane. Then cool down in Dubai for a couple of days. Everything after Canberra will be done by train - I want to actually see some of the country! I would have LOVED to do more - go up to Cairns or to Adelaide, Tasmania, and the red centre and the west coast, but time and funds simply do not allow. Oh well - more reason to come back!<br><br>So this shall be part two of my Mini ...

... not really a good time of year up in the Highlands to go aimlessly romping around :P<br><br>In December I'll be heading home quickly, nothing special - but then I have 2 big breaks coming up.. So many choices!<br><br>So no, I haven't died.. I'm just at university!<br><br>[also - having some problems with java because my university internet doesn't like me. sooo pics will come. eventually.]<br>

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 ...

... most things are labelled in arabic there. I'll let you know if it really helps or just extra deadweight when I get there. I shaved my hair off last night too(with the dodgy aid of the reflective side of a cd-rom) so I could do without hair gel or shampoo. <br> <br>To be honest I haven't really been excited about the trip till last night when I did a little more research on where I'm going. Now its all come in a rush and I wish I was leaving today instead!<br>

... I'll be back in Tucson by 8:35 p.m. I've drawn some conclusions from my trip to Scotland. First, it's not as foreign as I expected. Once you get over the accent and the fact that they drive on the other side of the road here, it's easy to forget that you're abroad. The day-to-day life seems very similar to that in any town of a similar size in the U.S.<br><br>Even so, there are a few things I've liked about Aberdeen ...

... serious doubts about our journey's future, we stopped in at Sandy's Fish and Chips for a pretty average lunch in one of the cleanest diners I've ever seen.<br><br>The rain did not let up, so we caught a taxi back to the train station and headed back into Aberdeen. I will try this journey again, though, since the castle is supposed to be amazing, and it's right on the North Sea.<br><br>Back ...

... exciting, but, as they say, when in Rome . . .<br><br>Things picked up as the evening wore on, and I ended my night at Cheerz, Aberdeen's gay bar and club. I took in a drag queen contest over a pint of Foster's, and even joined a conga line around the block. I called it a night after they played The Proclaimers' "500 Miles," as what evening is not complete at that point?

... from bar to bar ("pub" still sounds silly to me). I have a new coffee table at home, so I declared a mission to collect as many different coasters as I can while here. Free, useful, and interesting souvenirs. I added three yesterday.<br><br>Now that I've had the chance to experience the city a bit, I've made some observations. Here they are in no particular order:<ul><li>They need to stop teaching us in school that the Scots speak English. It simply ...

... really. Apparently there were lots more churches here than there were congregants, so different businesses have bought the church structures. What's strange is that the types of businesses that are interested in churches here range from the irreverent to the blasphemous (e.g., casinos and bars). Beyond these few details, I haven't been able to deduce much more than you could easily learn on Wikipedia. I think I'm going to enjoy my time here.

Sian's birthday took us to the Falls of Feugh, a small waterfall where at this time of year you can watch the salmon jumping as they head upstream to lay their eggs. The leaves on the trees were beautiful shades of yellows and reds and we were amazed to see the salmon - something we'd never seen before.