Travel: the healthiest addiction

Gesa and I went out separate ways, so I headed south to Oban. A picturesque coastal fishing village.. Absolutely beautiful and crawling with old people. I bused from Inverness to Fort William, and holy crap driving a bus on the roads here takes TALENT. I don't get nauseated easily, but hot damn it was a lot of windy road and brake slamming. I had the unfortunate luck of getting stuck behind three bridge openings into Loch Ness, delaying our bus and making me miss my Fort William to Oban bus. Ok mom - you're for sure going to murder me when I get back - my options were wait 5 hours and get another bus bringing me into Oban super late.... Or get my money back and hitchhike... Soooooo I took option 2 and spent the rest of the way with a super amazing Aussie couple. :)  I arrived in Oban safe and sound and quickly realized I was amongst the youngest there. I spent my evening wandering around town. Met a fellow Albertan, got some fish and chips and ate them in the rain.  The next d...

I left the Cuthbert's onto my next destination Inverness. Claimed capital of the highlands. To be honest there really isn't much here. A small town with beautiful surroundings. I felt like a little kid on the train - watching every bit of landscape and animals as we passed.  This time I chose an all female dorm, because there was a bit of a creeper of the male persuasion on my last night in Edinburgh. I was roomed with SE Asia triplets who were all of 17 & 18 and a super friendly German girl named Gesa... Our blonde hair blue-eyed-ness banded together to save each other from the super annoying girls in our room. She had a car, and she let me tag along THANK GOD because the Monday was a bank holiday and nothing is really accessible by walking.  Our morning started off eventful as we searched for a place to buy coffee... We walked into a nice looking spot and ordered our coffee... As I took a gander around I got a bit of a bad feeling... There place was littered with religio...

I had the amazing opportunity to go stay in a little farming village of Ladybank on my journey in Scotland. My mom and dad had met this fantastic couple while they were on their honeymoon in Jamaica a couple years ago, and they took me in for a night no questions asked. John & Donna and their two little girls Lucy & Hannah (and babe #3 on the way) live on a farm in Fife and ever so graciously gave me a couch to sleep on, sufficiently watered me, (with beer and Irn Bru) and feed me.  While there I got to experience their local social event of the year - The Fife Farm Show. Complete with tractors, sheep, highland cows (google what these are RIGHT meow), beer, more beer, and even some bag pipes whaling away in the background. Pretty much just a giant excuse to get off your rocker drunk. John assured me they don't all dance around in kilts to bagpipes while eating haggis.... But I think this might be a fib since I A) Heard bagpipes all day long B) Saw John in a kilt - even took...

So the journey continues after continuing on solo to Scotland... Edinburgh was stop number one! Originally planning a 2 day stint - while long termers at the hostel laughed and said I'd be there longer. Well... They were right. I spent an amazing, unforgettable four days in this city which I can GUARANTEE will not be my last. I met so many amazing people, which is the only shitty part about making traveling friends... The fact that you eventually lose them.  Blogging is evil.... Because when you have too much fun you don't have time to blog... But then if you don't blog you forget things... Or maybe I forget things because I can't recall the last day I've gone without liquor. Oops.  I went on a walking tour, climbed the "mountain" that overlooks Edinburgh to watch the sunset, had a BBQ with some friends on Uni grounds, pub crawled, drank a lot....  Anyway... Since I can't really remember what I did on each day specifically I'll just post some pictu...

Well folks, this will be a short one and I promise I will try not to swear... As per Mama Elford's  request. Barcelona: summarized in a few sentences. The city that doesn't sleep - literally. Prime partying hours are 1-6AM 7 days a week. How do these people function or have jobs?  Holy tourists. I didn't expect it to be this rampant with tourists in May! So many Americans and French here. It's like a Mexico... Without the resorts and with cool buildings. First day weather was awful, comparable to Canada weather right now... Luckily the next day was a bit sunnier, but still only low 20's with a crap tonne of wind. Very misleading though... As one of us got a sunburn because they didn't think it was that hot. Ps that someone is me. Also: there is a distinct poo smell that lingers around the city.... Super nasty. Didn't take many pictures.. Well because there wasn't much to take pictures of.... So here you go.  All of Barcelona's beaches are man-made. I...

Part Dos: Scandinavia  The Scandinavian adventure began in Oslo, Norway. After quickly learning our Canadian manners had no place here... We loaded up our bags and set our sights on fancy pants Oslo. And were we ever disappointed. It is considered one of the most expensive cities in the world.... Why? Beats me. I expected to get off the train and be blinded by blonde hair and blue eyes. WRONG. This place gives melting pot a new definition and makes Edmonton look like nothing. After cruising through downtown Oslo we finally arrived at our prison cell... I mean hostel... For serious this place had to be a prison in the past.  Anyway.. Oslo is fucking weird. They have naked people statues EVERYWHERE. We visited Frogner  Park... Which was littered with naked men/women/child/baby statues. Some of them were super fucking weird. Refer to pictures below. We also saw a guy dressed like teen wolf in the park, and people were bringing their children over to say hi to it. Yeah becau...

Part One: Iceland. This land is full of way more than ice. Volcanoes, lava, geothermal areas, and mountains as far as the eye can see!  Well the trip started off rocky to say the least.  Enroute to the airport we got a lovely email saying our flight had been cancelled from Toronto to Reykjavik. Needless to say we were pissed. IcelandAir pilots are on a passive strike of calling in sick... And we were lucky winners of "sick pilots". After Stephen sat on the phone for 45 minutes we finally arranged a new flight from Toronto to Amsterdam and then to Reykjavik. Making our total traveling time 27 hours with a 9 hour layover in TO. It did give me a good excuse to see some family (Hi Aunt Nette!) and Stephen to see a friend from childhood, but I was ridiculously grumpy by it all.  After receiving a VERY thorough "pat down" (boob and butt lifting included) from security in Amsterdam and then a thorough inspecting of my bag (including every pair of my underwear) we were on o...