UK/Life Realization

Hello from the UK!

So far it's continued to be a great, eventful trip and no complaints! Still very happy to have made this decision and I've been feeling very fortunate to have been able to make this a reality. After our time in Ireland we took a bus from Galway back to the Dublin airport and hopped on a very quick flight to Glasgow. Our friend Scott lives in the center of Glasgow and had an absolutely perfect location to host us. Shout out to Scott for the amazing hospitality and for showing us a great time while we were there. We were in Glasgow for 4 days and couldn't have asked for a better time. We had a lot of down time where we were able to relax and catch up on our facetiming, financials, and FIFA xbox skills.

The craziest thing about this trip was the pure coincidence on our timing for being in Scotland. I can say that I was in Scotland during the time of their referendum and vote for independence from the UK. This was definitely a very significant time for Scotland's history, and there's a good chance that this won't happen again for a very, very long time. It was so cool to have witnessed and experienced the atmosphere of Scotland during this important decision. We spent a lot of time talking to Scott and his friends about this and what the potential impacts for the country would be, with nearly a split vote on whether they should be independent or not. It was really cool to see this happen, and even though the vote barely came to a 'No' on independence it was still a really memorable time to be there in that atmosphere. We would always be hearing cars honking as they drove by, people chanting their opinions, and a riot even broke out near our apartment without us even realizing! We were fine but I hadn't really been in a place with that kind of atmosphere before.

On our final day in Scotland we took a train to the capital, Edinburgh. We weren't there for too long that day, but had enough time to check out the castle and some amazing views of the city.

Edinburgh was probably my favorite city that we've been to so far, in terms of its sheer beauty and scenic skylines. It was definitely a memorable city and a very memorable time to be in Scotland. I'm very happy we made the trip to go up there, and that has definitely been one of the highlights of the trip so far.

We left Scotland early the next morning and hopped on a 9 hour bus to London. It was definitely a long bus ride but it was cheap and bearable... We made it into London and made our way to a friend's house in an area called Shoreditch. Shoreditch is an awesome part of town. Lots of young hipsters doing their hipster things and giving the place a very trendy atmosphere, and I'm glad I got to see that part of London. Alex and I met up with a group of his friends from Australia here, as one is getting married and Alex is here for the weeding festivities. It was awesome meeting all of them and pretending to be one of the 'Aussies.' We had a great time for the first couple days before they took off to Newquay for their 'Bucs Party' and eventually Southampton for the wedding. I stuck around in London and hung out with good old Lucy for the day. We went all around London, including the British Museum, and my mind was blown by all the history. A bit overwhelming for my first real museum on the trip, but I survived. The highlight would have to be the Rosetta Stone which was really cool to see.

Lucy headed to Bristol the next day and I booked my hostel to begin my short solo part of the journey. I would be staying in London through the weekend before meeting back up with the Aussies at the airport on our way to Munich for Oktoberfest. I began my solo part of the trip with my first true realization of what the hell I am actually doing right now. The first day was very productive as I even met up with a business connection and discussed possible job opportunities here in Europe, but that part is to be continued. Back to the realization part; we've been so busy traveling and brainstorming ideas of where to go and when and how to get there and what to do that there's been almost zero time to reflect on what is actually going on at the moment.

There's a familiar sight!

As I sit here and write this, I can say that I've definitely experienced my first 'oh my God' moment as the magnitude of this entire journey begins to hit me. I knew it would take a little while for this to sink in, so now it begins to finally catch up to me. For one of the first times in my life, I am headed in a direction without a real plan or idea of what it is that I am actually doing. It's scary, crazy, intense, scary, and scary. I can't stop thinking about 'what the hell am I doing right now.' I did anticipate this happening so it's not like it's catching me by surprise, but you don't actually know the feeling until you feel it, and I'm definitely starting to feel it. I'm not saying that I've made a mistake or that I regret anything, I'm just starting to really feel the result of my life decisions.

I'm not gonna lie, but I've also started to miss home and friends. I know that it's early on now, about two weeks exactly since we left, but this is the initial feeling of homesick and I know that I'll need to power through it and keep going. With no real plan still of what's happening, I am now officially trusting the process and fully believing that something good will come out of this whole trip. But these are the times in your life that help shape who you are and figure out what you want to do. Sorry for getting deep there but that's what's going through my mind right now.

Anyways, for the last three nights in London I had my first experience with couchsurfing. I had hosted people at my house in Reno shortly before my trip here, as I wanted to start getting involved before it came time for me to find people to host during my travels. I must say that my first experience couchsurfing has been awesome. My host is the same age as me, originally from Uzbekistan, but went to Boise State and is super nice and easy to get a long with. So far, I would definitely recommend couchsurfing; and what could be better than meeting new people while getting a free place to stay at the same time? As I've been couchsurfing, I've been staying busy but haven't been going too crazy over the sightseeing and traveling around. I've also just been trying to live and take it easy as I've been in London for a whole week now.

Tower Bridge

On my last full day in London I spent a lot of time hanging out with my host, Adham. He took me to the Borough Market, which is an enormous market next to the London Bridge that has all kinds of good food selling anything you can think of. After checking out the market we went to a nearby bar and watched a derby match between two of the north London English Premier League teams. That was a lot of fun and was a great way to end my last day in London. The couchsurfing was definitely one of those things that can restore your faith in humanity and can be a nice reminder that people can be genuinely good.

London was a great time and I had a lot of fun during my time here. I stayed at three different locations and had a lot of great experiences with a lot of different people. I came to a few life realizations and it was really the first turning point in the trip where things started to really hit me. Overall, it was definitely a great time and I'm looking forward to the next experience: Oktoberfest!