Serendipity in Scotland, adversity in Italy
Highs & lows from another month in Europe
The green rolling hills of Scotland were the backdrop for yet another "rare" sunny day. Our family had just completed a 10-day adventure through the Highlands and the islands. We were all about to go our separate ways, but I hadn't picked out my next destination yet.
Going back to Edinburgh on the weekend wasn't an option unless I wanted to voluntarily overpay for a hostel bunk. A crime of the highest offense.
Then someone in the car said the word "Pitlochry." A week prior, I took the train from Edinburgh to Inverness to meet my family. An elderly couple told me about their little town of Pitlochry, but I'd forgotten all about it.
My destination selected itself in that moment when I heard that word. In the next two minutes I booked a hostel online, and asked our fearless driver - my brother-in-law - to drop me off in the town just before we passed it.
Roadside hugs and goodbyes, and within a flash I was sitting in a hostel common room with a Brazilian dude and two Chinese girls, Nicky & Ricky. Those are their English names, because they assume us Westerners are incapable of correctly pronouncing Ye & Wei Wei. They're right.
"Yay?"
"No, Yeah."
"Yay-uhh?"
"Yeah."
"You mean Yes, Ye?"
"Ya!"
I asked my new friends for a restaurant recommendation. They laughed and said they only cook meals in hostels. They don't eat out. The next obvious question was, "Will you cook me a Chinese dinner tonight?"
They laughed again. I paid for the groceries and gifted them two Irn Bru sodas, Scotland's other infamous drink that tastes a whole lot better than Scotch whisky.
Three hours and some tummy growls later, we sat down for one of the best meals I've had since I started my one-year travel project in May. They named it the Super Meal, and this fine hostel-home cooking was also a Happy Meal for a hungry-but-not-yet-hangry man.
Before the girls left to catch a play at the nearby theater, I cut them loose and said I'd wash the dishes. They were absolutely shocked, "Wow, you are you so nice!" Pleasure's all mine, ladies. That Super Meal was shockingly good. The most welcome food baby, thank you very much.
I also learned that many things I do and enjoy "is sooo Western" - which means I need to plan my first visit to the Asian continent ASAP to learn more about my Western ways via immersion and comparison.
The randomness and unexpected nature of hostel encounters is a bright spot in the life of a solo traveler. I wasn't planning on visiting this little town. I wasn't planning on eating a Chinese dinner in Scotland. I wasn't planning anything, and that's the way I often like it.
One day, I'm having dinner with my family on the Isle of Skye. 24 hours later, I'm at a pub with hostel friends from Sweden, Italy, China, India, Australia and Brazil. I was the lone American. I often like that too.
When you dive headfirst into the unknown, you might be pleasantly surprised by whatever happens when you get to the place you weren't planning on visiting.
I didn't need a good reason to visit Pitlochry. I had a few - a tiny and peaceful town with a cheap bunk located not too far from Edinburgh. But what I mostly crave when choosing a destination is newness. I hope I'll be surprised.
This is a mantra I keep in my head when I'm traveling: Wherever you are is where you're supposed to be. You have to believe that each decision you make is the best decision.
This is useful to pull me out of a funk or set me straight when I feel unsure. This came in handy last month in Italy. I spent a few weeks in Rome, Florence and Bologna before meeting my family in Scotland.
On one of my last days in Florence, I'd become frustrated with myself. I was struggling to balance my most important tasks in Italy. What were these tasks?
Explore with my friends Eric & Baileigh & Anna, make new friends in the hostels, combine my daily long walks with a few visits to gyms, write blog posts, edit videos, find new stories to film and call people back home.
I'd done well on my four-month US road trip. I had balance and a routine on the road. I finished a new video every week. I saw friends and stayed active and visited new places. I thought I could keep this up in Italy, just like I'd done all summer long.
Sometimes that traveler's surprise comes in the form of breaking your expectations.
"Give yourself some grace, man." Wise words from my girlfriend. This was what I needed to hear. I'd forgotten my golden rule. I was supposed to be in Italy, struggling to find balance. This was an important step, a lesson to be learned, a challenge that helped me grow and set me straight. It taught me that I can't do it all, all the time.
So I stepped off the gas. I wrote a blog post when it felt right. I put a pause on editing. I stopped stressing about not finding a good story to film. I reminded myself that I was where I was supposed to be, doing what I was supposed to be doing. I leaned into the present, and it became a gift.
Is this justification for not working on my project as much as I should have in September? Of course it is! But there's no rules, I'm making it up as I go, and I'm loving almost every second of it - giving myself some grace, man.
Stay tuned for more blogs and videos. Oh, and I'm back in Colorado now at one of my favorite hostels. Writing this post with a renewed feeling of ambition. And a fluffy tummy from all that Italian pasta and cheese. Time to get moving again!
Everything I make is here — loganletsgo.com
buy me a coffee :)
