Ah, time for reminiscing. Another episode of of “What Happened to Me” shall start again! Cue the facepalm(s).
So this time, Little Ol’ Me was on the way to the Scottish Highlands by herself on a tour early last year. It is rather odd to be the only one in a group of twenty or thirty and stand on the side, watching everyone in pairs and small groups. But this was an exciting day, full of adventure and mountains!
That railway is magNIFicent.
It did start with a ton of snow and slippery roads in the morning, but we got to Loch Lomond and Glencoe in a whirl. So going north a bit, we arrived at Loch Ness in a rollercoaster of narrow and bumpy roads. At this time, it was around 2(?)ish in the afternoon and we were shown around the area, then left to be free for a couple of hours.
Funfunfun. We get back to the bus and suddenly our driver gives us this weird noise through the mic and says that we might have to stand by for little while because our bus wouldn’t start.
? ? ?
There were two groups of college kids that were on vacation who had to be back in Edinburgh by the next day and a lady (not the most organized) had a flight out of the city at night. So Panic spreads in the bus and people are making phone calls like crazy, the mother in front of me is growing with concern that she’s jittery, and I am in the back on my phone.
In around a half hour, we were notified that there was a mechanic coming down from the other side of town and he very quickly figured out what was wrong (apparently some of the batteries melted some part of the system under a panel in the bus…or maybe the batteries itself?)
I am totally downplaying this because it was really chaotic and our driver was slightly freaking out over prepping to make night reservations (just in case). But would you ever expect that the bus for a day trip to suddenly break down?
Also to add, in the earlier part of the day, parked on a cliff side (remember: mountains), the bus was starting to get faulty because it was shut off, but started to move on it’s own with me, another lady, and the driver. Imagine this in your head: a group of tourists taking pictures of mountains and their bus behind them starts rolling away in circles.
Right before we left the Highlands~
Ah, solo travel. What an experience. It all sounds really stressful, but I knew myself that I would be back safe and sound. Also, I get this story out of it. I still recommend to go and try travelling by yourself because you learn a lot more about your attitudes and behaviors in a new environment.
Until next time!
Baking Traveller 