It was the Summer of 2016, I was almost done with my undergraduate degree and after a long two years of non-stop work and a master’s program starting literally right after, I decided that I had earned my first solo trip. Brexit has just been announced, the pound was plummeting and it was the perfect excuse to finally make my way to the United Kingdom.
I spent weeks on research before even booking a flight because I wanted this trip to be ‘perfect’. As a master planner and researcher, I spoke to different people about their travels and one, in particular, stood out. It was a co-worker who did her study abroad in the UK and had taken a trip to Scotland with a travel group. I still remember her exact words, ‘Travel as much as you can now, later, when life catches up to you, you don’t want to be left wondering if you could have done anything different to not take the opportunities presented to you’. Alrighty then! I decided to go in August, in conjunction with my birthday and found out that there was going to be a tour during my birthday week. It felt just right. Starting on the eve of my birthday, we were going to drive through the Cairngorms National Park, and reach the Islands of Lewis and Harris that night. The next day, we’d start the day with a whisky tour. I thought ‘What better way than to bring in twenty-two other than to drink some authentic Scottish whisky?’ (Hang with me here, I’m trying to paint a picture, okay?)
So, off I went making the bookings. I was going to fly to London to see my friend and spend a couple of days there and then we were going to head up to Edinburgh and sight-see until I had to join my tour group. It was a hot summer that was guaranteed to give us some nice sunshine in both London and Scotland and I was bloody pumped.
But there was a caveat (I mean, when isn’t there one?)
I was still writing my undergraduate thesis and I was supposed to submit it during the trip. Here was the thing though, for a long time in between all I was doing was working hard towards my professional goals without really taking out time for myself and if I had to work while on a trip and still get to see some sights, so be it.
When I landed in London, I didn’t give myself time to adjust to the time difference and just set off. We would tour the city during the day and I would come back and continue working on my thesis during the night. A couple of days later, we head towards Edinburgh on a 8 hour red-eye bus.
Reaching Edinburgh was magical! The city was alive, there were live outdoor events taking place, there were places to visit and it was all so distracting for someone who had a thesis due. The night before my tour started, I decided to finish my final draft, come what may. What ended up happening was that I pulled an accidental over-nighter. I remember, waking up and seeing the sun shining into the room and in a flurry of panic, checked the time. It was 9.30am. I was supposed to be at the pick up point at 8am. Immediately, I gathered my already packed items, and ran to the bus station to see if there was anything I could do to catch up with the tour group. When I reached the station, they told me that the next bus that would get me to Lewis and Harris would be the next day at 7am.
To add salt in the wound, Edinburgh was hosting the Fringe Festival and a Literary festival, at the same time. This meant that the city was already overfilled with visitors and it was already hard to find a place to stay before when I was making the bookings in advance, now on such short notice, it was guaranteed to be even harder.
Man, did I feel like I stuffed up something big. It was my first time doing something like this and I royally effed up. But I’m a big solutions oriented person and found a way to work it out. I would join them the next day but essentially missing two days of my five day tour and I got an extra day to finish working . So, I took it in stride and spent the day with my friend before seeing her off that evening and then later finished my draft. I was pretty disappointed about missing the whisky tour and was upset that I was going to spend my birthday really alone. There goes the ‘perfect’ trip I envisioned.
So on my birthday, I took a 6 hour long bus ride to Inverness and spent the 2 hours I had between my next bus . The next 8 hour journey to reach the islands really defined the trip for me. My first bus stopped at Inverness. Had I gone on my tour as planned, I would have never had the opportunity to stop at Inverness . As a result, I got to see the ‘Mouth of the River Ness’, giving water to all-famous Loch Ness, that has sprouted the mythical legend that you hear about Scotland. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and I got a sandwich, to eat while I sat on a bench by the river and walked along it after.
The next bus ride was to Stornaway- the port town where the ferries to the Outer Hebrides leave from. On the ride, I was sat next to a man who graciously let me take the window seat, offered me cashews and was really confused by my accent and I let him know that I am indeed Indian. When I got on to the ferry, I wanted the upper deck so I could have the full view of the North Sea and next to me sat an older gentleman – And this interaction was something I will never forget.
He told me about his life and how he moved from England to the Outer Hebrides 17 years ago to get away from city life (Manchester) and that sometimes it gets lonely to be away from family but that he had found peace there. He explained the mechanics of the ferry and told how it was a beast of a ship (German made, of course). As I had been having sleepless nights, I dozed off somewhere along the 4 hour trip and he woke me up at sunset very subtly to let me know that there were dolphins swimming among us. It was that moment where all my troubles from the last couple of days disappeared. I was in awe of this moment that I had shared with an absolute stranger in one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Had I joined my group like I had initially planned, I would have never experienced this, in all of solitude, making connections with people, even if fleeting. I had felt like an absolute failure for not finishing my thesis in time and not making my bus but in that moment, nothing else really mattered. We were one with the beauty we were cruising through, the sun slowly dipping into the horizon and the dolphins jumping through the air. Eventually, we reached our destination and said our goodbyes, and went our separate ways.
chasingtimezones 