Bus Station Backpackers Hostel, Edinburgh,
Day 130. The Farewell and Edinburgh
In the morning, I hugged my parents good-bye,
as I wouldn’t see them again until I’m back in Sacramento, and I headed off
with my backpack and the messenger bag around my shoulder. It was refreshing to
see them, and being in London with them gave me an ever-so-subtle new angle
into their personalities while traveling abroad.
Looking
back as I write this, I realize this is an eerie reincarnation of Day 85, when I
said farewell to Katya at the Gare du Nord train station in Paris. Once I leave
a loved one, I travel off with international friends on another journey. Last
time it was Amsterdam, Netherlands; this time, Edinburgh, Scotland.
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| Here is Joe, playing with the edgeless knife. |
But
this time I didn’t have to meet them after wandering aimlessly lost on the
streets of a new city—I spotted Joe and Vito in the same airport corridor of London
Gatwick Airport heading toward the North Terminal. In my excitement, I ran up
behind Joe and kinda petrified him for a second. He forgave me for it, but I
kinda felt bad afterwards. The three of us spotted Hughes, I mean Caitlin
(Hughes being her last name/nickname), near the baggage check and we eventually
lifted off to Edinburgh. It felt good to be traveling with these guys again:
there’s really never a dull moment.
Vito
started up the pun wars again: ‘Gotta get my Vito-mins.’ Ba dum tiss. Joseph
was funny too:
Caitlin:
Hey Vito, for your [stuffy] nose, you might want to get one of these puppies’
(nasal medicine)
Joseph:
Whaat? How’d you get a puppy onboard? (Most of you will probably be reading
this in an American or English accent—think New Zealand/Joe dialect and then
you’d laugh.)
Upon
arrival (and even before), I was so relieved that I didn’t have my humongous bag
from the three-week Europe trip. I joked that I had lost travel weight since
then, with my slimmer bags. Getting to the hostel was not too hard either. The
only unfortunate thing was my realization that Caitlin had booked for all four
of us—and I mistakenly thought that I had to pay not just for my last night (in
a different hostel, after Joe and Vito split for the warmer climate of
Barcelona) but also for the first two nights. Essentially, I double-booked. It
really wasn’t that much but stupidity aches, albeit temporary.
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| Meet Nick. |
In
our six-person room, there were also an older lady taking a few days of
vacation (and who understood we students don’t exactly hit the sack early) and
a Canadian graduate named Nick. I liked him right off the bat. He had literally
just graduated from university and has a job lined up when he gets back, as an
engineer. He is beginning his 6-week crusade from Edinburgh to so many places
around Europe and we met him on his first day, his first stay in a hostel. We
told him we planned to hit the town and he was all for it. He became our fifth
companion during our time in Edinburgh.
Dinner
hit the spot. We made it over to Rose Street and dined at the Amber Rose, an
incredibly good pub. Well, I had a good meat pie. Nick wasn’t so happy with his
chicken pie, and understandably so. It was small. Next was a stroll across the
street to the store for spirits and we were off back to the hostel until a late
enough hour hit for us to find Grassmarket Street, a clubbing street. It was
fascinating to see the city of Edinburgh at night: the numerous blocked-off
blocks of street construction had ceased and the air was cool but not freezing that
night. Bridges go between Old Town and New Town Edinburgh, and we finally made
our way under an archway and onto Grassmarket.
I
felt like Vinnie tonight: one, for almost falling asleep in a club; and two, I
found myself writing notes while enchanted. Another note: I remember my
attempts to learn Japanese phrases from a Japanese guy from the hostel who also
tagged along tonight. Funny thing: I remembered two of the phrases in the
morning.
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