Union Hotel Aberdeenshire

... Edinburgh soon though..

Anyway, day trip to Ellon, which is just half an hour out of town. Yay! Friend from uni lives here so went round, watched movies etc etc. Nothing too interesting, but it was nice to be away from the dorm for a bit! Leaving for holidays in a few weeks so things will finally get just a little more interesting. Until then, back to the books I go..

... for a week or two would be fun, but who would really benefit from it? So I decided to use the time I have to better the world community and do some volunteer work. That sounds exceptionally cheesy, but I would much rather be helping out the long-term development in a country I have significant interest in than just frolick on a beach drinking way too much alcohol.

I had researched some volunteer gigs previously, just for loose ideas for ...

... 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 ...

... example of a vice business operating inside what used to be a cathedral. It's really unusual.

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—someti mes almost as if leaning on one another.

... will be right.

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 ...

Rothes is the little Scottish village where the Glen Grant Whiskey Distillery is located. It is part of the Speyside Whisky Trail, where the largest concentration of Scotch whisky distilleries is located in Scotland. This large valley is popular among distillers because this is where most of the barley is grown for the distillation process.

The distillery has a nice garden and a gift shop.

... to go back to what I was doing (regional sales manager for a large Asset Management company) but other than that I didn't have much idea. Initially I thought about becoming an IFA or a fund research assistant. However, it transpires that the majority of these jobs are given to people with-in IFA practices, not to enthusiastic outsiders.....it also transpires that we are in the midst of 'the worst recession in 100 years'.Thus, the industry isn't really in ...