Tor-na-Coille Banchory

Okay, random and exceptionally early entry, but here we go -<br><br>So university decided to give me three nice holidays to work with, Christmas, Spring and Summer. Christmas is Barbados, Summer is the Eurotrip, but what to do with the Spring Break?<br><br>After looking at several options like much cheaper getaways to Europe, I decided I wanted to actually do something with this vacation, something that could help people. Heading down to ...

... a crapload of work. And I'm also trying to find one of those "job" things so I can get some extra £ for travelling purposes. So no real time for immediate fun, grrr. But I'm hoping at some point I'll be able to do a bit of mountaineering, and also planning on heading down to Glasgow and Edinburgh sometime. There's a couple other Travelpodians scattered around somewhere too, but I think it's ...

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 ...

... in a 30 ltr something backpack. The photo here is what I've settled on so far plus the camera (minus the router of course). One really important item i realized i've forgotten till today is toilet paper.Thats in the red and white plastic bag so easy for me to find in case of emergency. The string if you're wondering is in case I need to wash my own clothes so at least I have something to hang the clothes from. Also a mini french dictionary for Syria ...

I made it back to Stonehaven today. Amazingly, the sun was out in full force, a complete contrast from yesterday. I walked along the North Sea for a bit, enjoying a Cornish pasty, and then made the roughly three-mile hike up to Dunnottar Castle, also overlooking the sea. The hike was amazing, but largely uneventful. The photos say more than I could hope to.<br><br>I leave for the U.S. tomorrow morning around 8:30 a.m ...

Heather and I should have known better. We left the house at 1:30 to catch the train to Stonehaven. It was overcast, but not yet raining, and in our haste we each forgot to grab an umbrella. By the time we arrived in Stonehaven it was raining pretty steadily. The walk from the train station to the city center only lasted about fifteen minutes, but by the end of it, my clothes were soaked ...

... example of a vice business operating inside what used to be a cathedral. It's really unusual.<br><br>I returned to the house, and Heather and Hannah (Heather's friend) explained to me that a typical Scottish Saturday involves going to the pub and socializing, watching sports, etc. We went to a pub and spent the afternoon doing The Times crossword puzzle. Not ...

... li>I've noticed that many people, when walking side-by-side down the street, actually walk shoulder-touching-shoulder&#8212;someti mes almost as if leaning on one another. <br></li><li>At intersections where drivers are waiting at a red light, the stoplight notifies the drivers that it is about to turn green by flashing both the red and yellow lights at the same time.<br></li><li>It's funny to see people driving in the right front seat. For instance, to me ...

... will be right.<br><br>Heather picked me up at the airport, and we lost no time grabbing a plate of haggis (much better than I was expecting) and a pint of Tennent's (a local beer, roughly equivalent Pabst Blue Ribbon). As we walked too and from the pub, I got to see a little bit of the city, mostly along Union Street, the main drag. Many of the buildings in Aberdeen are made of granite, giving the city a very gray feel--just as I expected ...

... with a spare room wasn't going to be easy. Not wanting to carry his bags any further he settled on a room for 100 pounds where he froze for the night when the heating broke. So much for saving money...it was a shame because had we known, he could have stayed with us. Anyway, he went up to a farm north of Aberdeen near Peterculter and discovered his holiday job was cleaning dog poo out of kennels for hours a day! Needless to say he was not having a good time in Scotland and the cooler ...