Scotland-- and the daily wrestle to stay on budget, aye

If I come back earlier than anticipated, I will blame it all on the British Pound, that bastard of a currency which is forcing me to eat $1.20 pasta from the supermarket for dinner, and forgoing the $.60 fee to pee at public toilets! Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful place to visit, but it ain't cheap.

I arrived into Glasgow late at night, and figured I'd just hop into the center of town and find a hostel right out of the bus station. Walked around for a good hour before giving up, checking into a hotel for about $180-- a real budget buster. I'd like to think I got my money's worth though, in the form of shampoo bottles, soap, and countless bags of instant coffee! Lesson learned: from now on, I'm booking my accommodations ahead of time.

Had dinner at a Chinese restaurant the first night and the owner of the restaurant came by to chat a bit and wondered where I was from. We spoke for a bit in Cantonese, and it turns out he's originally from Hong Kong and that one day, he plans on returning back to Hong Kong after he retires. I updated him on all the changes there since I was just there, and he, in turn, gave me a free glass of wine! Membership has its privileges!

The next day, I met a few guys in my hostel from Budapest, Hungary and they were on their way to Inverness (area famous for the Loch Ness lore) for Rock Ness 2008, a concert featuring Fat Boy Slim as well as a few other notable acts. They invited me to stay at their place, which I certainly appreciated-- but couldn't make it due to cost and time constraints. But it certainly made me wonder aloud how cool it was to be invited to somebody's place after only a couple of beers. That's another thing I'm quickly learning to appreciate on my travels so far: the backpackers' mentality of exploring the world on a budget encourages you to open your humble abode to others. Though I did not really get to know these guys very well, relatively speaking, if they ever show up in LA, I will certainly reciprocate the courtesy.

Glasgow, wasn't all that interesting so after two nights I took a bus to Edinburgh (or is it Edinborough, I don't know how they say it but it all sounds funny to me) and checked into St. Christopher's Inn, a pretty cool hostel in the center of everything. Met some interesting people, a couple of whom I'll be meeting in Dublin. Noteworthy to mention is Pedro, my Spanish roommate, who has a tendency to smoke quite a bit of weed. When I asked him how long he'd been in Scotland, he said, "Too long..." so then I asked him where he's going next. His deadpanned response: "Missouri....by boat." I started cracking up because first of all, who in their right mind (oh yes, I forgot) decides to go to landlocked Missouri from beautiful Scotland (no offense to any of you Missourians out there but really, you should see this place) And by boat? What IS this guy smoking??!! The funny thing is, I actually somehow believe him, easily picturing him on a boat heading upstream on the Mississippi River one day, dressed in a kilt and playing a bagpipe the whole way there.

The next day, I did the tourist thing, checked out Edinburgh Castle, which I thought was pretty cool-- but it cost $24 to get in so not exactly what I'd call a bargain. But, it's just one of those things you just have to do I guess. I also took a tour up to the Highlands the following day and stopped by the Blair Athol scotch distillery. Our tour guide at the distillery asked me where I was from, I told him, Los Angeles. To which he responded, "Ahh, hopefully after November, you'll be welcome to travel outside of the US again..." I told him, "I can travel anytime, anywhere I want, thank you very much." If there's one thing I can't stand so far about all my travels is the overwhelmingly negative (and ignorant, I might add) perception of Americans due to President Bush. Ummmm... last time I checked, there are over 300 million people living in America, each (I hope) with their own opinions about the war. Interestingly enough, I did meet one person so far, who supported Bush and he was from (wait for it)..... Kenya. I asked him why, and he said that you can't just let these terrorists try and instill fear for their specific, extremist agenda. And he's right-- whether by chance or not, America has not been attacked since 9/11. Anyway, enough politics. But I can't seem to get past all the questions and comments everywhere I go about being an American.

Maybe I should just start telling people I'm from Australia because I'll just mix in with all the other backpackers I meet. Seriously, everywhere I go, you can meet an Australian backpacker. I mean, who lives in Australia if they're all out there travelling???? Two interesting things Brendon (an Australian I met in Edinburgh) told me one night about Australians: 1) He, nor any self-respecting Australian, would ever drink Fosters, as it apparently "tastes like cat piss" and 2) He, nor my other Australian roommate Reece, has never had a shrimp on the barbie!

Anyway, I'm off to Dublin tomorrow to pay homage to my beloved Guinness! Stay tuned for some pics from Scotland as I forgot to bring my camera cable with me to upload.