Thursday's National Express Hell

11-20-2008

I never want to sit on a bus again. After waking up a bit tipsy still and hopefully throwing in my bag what I needed, I took the National Express 591 from Victoria Station to Edinburgh Scotland. Nine hours, too long to be sitting with a wailing baby two seat up from you. The only reason this was any better than a flight was that we stopped every 3-4 hours for a break. Which was one of the reasons it took so long as well. But it was cheap. Can’t really complain. I made it into Edinburgh right when I thought I would and made it to the hostel where I met up with Elizabeth!

Elizabeth and I met this past summer at a Jimmy Buffet concert. After a little chit-chat we realized we were both going to be in Europe this fall. The following Monday we added each other as Facebook friends and didn’t really communicate again until two weeks ago.

I was on Facebook and saw that she was as well. So I messaged here with this:

“Wanna go to Scotland?” Her reply, “yes.”

The rest we figured out over many emails and Facebook messages. Thanks, Mark Zuckerburg.

So we hugged at the hostel after only ever seeing each other once before in our lives. That night we walked around a windy, cold Edinburgh and made our way to a restaurant that gave discounts to folks staying at the hostel which we were laying our heads that night.

I had the Haggis, a Scottish delight. I had heard of it, but had no idea what it actually was. Our waitress came to our table and highly suggested it. I asked what it was and Liz informed me that it was sheep brains and entrails. In disbelief I said, “Liz, let’s have the waitress tell us, I’m pretty sure she knows.” The waitress replied, “Well that’s pretty much what it is.” But it was also mixed with mash potatoes and gravy and was served in this nifty cake formation so I couldn’t complain. It really was delicious.

We polished off our Stellas and headed back to the hostel for bed. As we had a long day ahead of us on Friday.