Camping and the Loch Ness Monster

Traveling can become quite expensive after a while, so Sarah and I decided to cut back on our budget and switch to camping in the UK!  Our first destination was Isle of Wight, which is off the southern coast of England.  We decided to head to Southampton first as it is one of two main hubs, along with Portsmouth, to get to the island.  After taking the national express bus to Southampton for nine quid each, we crashed for a night using Sarah's Hilton points and then spent the morning exploring the area.  

We decided to take a local bus out to Netley Abbey, since we had free entrance with our English Heritage passes.  After the Abbey, we used our passes again, but this time in the city center, where they have randomly chosen to preserve and old merchant's house.  Outside of using our passes we also roamed around the town a bit and found a trail of zebras.  Apparently there is a huge art contest/fundraiser where people can create different zebra statues and have them displayed throughout Southampton.  We were able to find ten or so before our friends James and Jules showed up and we caught the ferry to Isle of Wight.  

Netley Abbey

I will concede that panoramas make stuff look cooler!

Found an old style Merchant's House that has been preserved in the middle of the city

Apparently Southampton is known for it's Zebras, there are about 50 spread throughout the city, each with a unique design.  Finding them all is kind of like Pokemon Go, except that they're real....

Isle of Wight ended up being a lot more massive than we initially anticipated, so one weekend was not enough to cover the entire island.  Since we didn't get in until late the first afternoon, we decided to just head to our campsite, pitch our tents, and have a little picnic on the beach.  Luckily my brother Josh has brought us some graham crackers, so we were able to introduce Jules and James to the s'more!

For those of you that don't know what a s'more is, it's a traditional campfire treat for Americans.  You take a graham cracker, put a piece of chocolate on it, then cover the chocolate with a toasted marshmallow, and then top it with another graham cracker.  Life doesn't get much better than having a few drinks, watching the sunset, and hanging out with friends around a campfire.  

Our super awesome camping grounds on Isle of Wight!

Just a man and his dog at sunset.  You really don't need much in life to be happy :)

The gulls flying with such ease, no time to feel the breeze, they got so many possibilities...

We spent the next day exploring the north and west coast of the island.  We again decided to use our English Heritage passes and checked out Yarmouth Castle.  It's not really a castle per se, it's actually more of a guard tower.  Around the outer perimeter lies a little courtyard that has a couple of cannons overlooking the water, so it's a pretty cool view.  After the castle we made our way over to the western part of the island via an open bus tour to a place called Needles.  The Needles are a series of long, sinewy rocks that jut out of the ocean in a straight line.   They're nothing too exciting, it's kind of just your typical tourist attraction.

After taking the many stairs down to view them and making our way up, we hopped back on a bus to go grab some lunch.  We also tried making it to one last castle for the evening, but unfortunately the last entry was 3 minutes before we arrived!  Such is life.  We ended up going to a pub and grabbing a few pints before heading back for our last night in the tents.  James and Jules had to head back to London early in the morning, but Sarah and I took the day off, so we ended up going to Osborne House, which is where the Royals stay when they visit Isle of Wight.  

Someday I'm gonna take over one of these palaces!  It was definitely a good spot to conclude our time there.  Upon leaving the island, we decided to take a ferry back to Portsmouth this time, as it was the place my mother was born.  Crazily enough, we were able to find the flat that she grew up in, since it was only a 5 minute walk from the docks.  After a few hours in Portsmouth, we had to head back to our jobs in London, but luckily we had another camping trip planned to Inverness a few weeks later!

James and Jules enjoying a feast of plastic food props

Osborne House - The royal family's residence on Isle of Wight

Found the flat from whence my mother came!  Not too shabby!

Spinnaker Tower

Long ago, before I grew into a man and my mustache grew to the full thickness that inspires so much wonder, I was but a young child.  Well, just a normal 8 year old with a 6 pack, incredible calves, and latissimus dorsi that most grown men can only dream of.   I knew that a day would come that I would need to find a mythical beast, whether it be a Chupacabra, Bigfoot, or the Loch Ness Monster.  Ever since I arrived in London, I have been waiting to go to Inverness.  I don't know why it took me so long to make it up, but I'm glad I finally got to see it.

The city in itself is pretty cool, especially the view from the castle that overlooks the river.  Unfortunately you are not allowed to go into the castle as it's a government building now (How do I get a job working there?).  We only had one night to spend in Inverness before having to navigate our way down to the lake using the public bus system.  You'd think that it'd be easy to get around the lake but it is definitely not easy without a car.  You can go a few hours without finding a bus going in your direction and if it's full, they won't even let you on to stand.  Talk about hectic!  Luckily we were able to make our way to Castle Urqhart and then down to Fort Augustus after a few hiccups.

I found a unicorn, but could I find Nessie?

Urqhart Castle

Such a beautiful place, I love Scotland. I would move here in a heartbeat!

Sneaking a peak at the trebuchet

Fort Augustus is a town at the southern tip of the Loch, which conveniently has a campground, so we had our second camping excursion in the UK!  After getting our tent set up again, we decided to do a night cruise on the lake since we wanted to get out on the water at least once.  Loch Ness is absolutely massive, as it contains more water than all of the other lakes in England and Wales combined!  The lake was created via water that melted from glaciers running down the surrounding hillsides.  The water also has so much sediment in it that you can't actually see anything if you were to scuba dive.  As soon as you shine a light, it just reflects right back at you, making it impossible to see underwater, which is why it's impossible to say definitively that Nessie does not exist!

It's apparently also the perfect place to dump a body, because you cannot actually float in the Loch, as you can in a normal body of water.  So it's impossible to see anything down there and bodies don't come back up... I think we all know where I'll end up if I upset Sarah.  After the cruise we played pool and had a few drinks before heading back to our campsite, which actually had a bar featuring live music!  The Scottish know how to do it right.  

Fort Augustus

You can't come to Loch Ness and not get out on the water!

We are going to have an amazing travel shelf when we finally settle down somewhere!

One last look at Scotland.  Hopefully we make it back!

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and we had to fly back home and get back to work.  Inverness was an awesome way to send off Scotland, but our next trip was even more epic!  If you want to find out how we fared against elephants, crocodiles, baboons, lions, and the river of chaos, you'll have to check out the next blog!

Random GoPros

I got my hands in my pockets.  And I'm crossing my fingers... 

Being ridiculous with Jules and James!

Such a cool shot

Osborne House on Isle of Wight

I'm pretty sure this garden is worth more than my life.

The flat my mother grew up in, in all it's GoPro Glory.  Pretty crazy to think she left the UK for the US in her 20s and then I did the opposite.  Like bookends we are.  Maybe I didn't fall too far from the tree after all...

A perfect night :)

I can't believe how much of this world I've seen.  I'm far too lucky

I never imagined how huge the Loch actually is.  It's about a mile wide on average and 23 miles long.  

And I wonder.... If everything could ever feel this real forever, if anything could ever be this good again.  The only thing I'll ever ask of you, you gotta promise not to stop when I say when.......

 Sarah and Sean's Sensational Stockpile of Snappy Snaps

Feels good to have the backpack on again!!!

I believe this is what people call 'picture perfect'

Never was on time, yeah I once was mine.  But that was long ago and darlin' I don't mind... 

I don't want to change your mind, I don't want to change the world.  I just want to know you're alright, I've got to know you're all alright.  Cus we are young darlin', for now but not for long...

I know a thing or two about pitching a tent...

Saving hundreds of quid by sleeping in our tent instead of hotels!!!

Don't say nothing about keeping a man under control!

Eating s'mores on the beach!  Fun Fact - it's called a s'more, because you always want "some more".

Looking like a happy camper

When it comes to beleving in the monster... I know it's crazy to believe in silly things...But it's not that easy!

Somewhere along the lines it went from being my camera to our camera to her camera.... The our camera stage was the shortest, clocking in at about four seconds.

To lure in Nessie you require bait and I'm the master of temptation.  I guess that makes me Nessie's master bait.

Her head was totally blocking out Nessie in this photo.  Rookie mistake.

Weirdo

Drunken Ness on the Left, Happy Ness on the Right, and Lovely Ness in the middle :)

I think we found the Loch Ness Seanster!

Oh dear God, please don't let there be two of her!!!!

Winding down with some pool

Home is wherever I'm with you :)

Portkeys, Haggis, and a Lucky Penny

Valentine's Day is marketed as one of the most romantic days of the year, so my lady knew she had to deliver big or lose me forever (I don't think that's being overdramatic).  Thus, not only did she give me a one-of-a-kind tour around London, including entrance to Westminster Abbey and the British Parliament, but she also got me a ticket to one of the most coveted destinations in the entire universe.  Harry Potter World!  A double Valentine's gift!  I can't wait to get three gifts next year!  Yeah, that's what happens when you set the bar high, I expect things.

Words cannot describe my love of Harry Potter.  I literally read at a 3rd grade level until I found the Harry Potter books last Spring.  I love J.K. Rowling and have read everything she has written outside of HP as well.  I would literally give birth to her children if she asked it of me.  Our flat mates, Matt and Anshul, also grabbed a portkey (Or a lot of public transport, depending on how you remember it) to be teleported into the wonderful world of wizardry.  From riding a broomstick to drinking Butterbeer to seeing the special effects department to walking through Diagon Alley, it is definitely worth the exorbitant fee that the ticket entails.  The only downfall is that you want everything in the gift shop and they know it.  Extra incentive to anyone that wants to visit - we can serve you soup in a steaming cauldron!!!!!

I'm not going to say that the character of Seanold Weasley is based on my life or anything...  I mean, it's not like we both have glorious long-flowing hair and a taste for danger...

I think we all know I would be sorted to Slytherin, for both my cunning and lack of empathy...Besides, I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!

The model of Hogwarts that was used in the movies!  You will probably get a boner if you ever visit this place.  Just saying.

Outside of Harry Potter World, Sarah and I also made an excursion to Edinburgh, since she hadn't made it up to Scotland yet and it'd been one of my favorite stops in the UK.  I still have a goal of making Sarah stay in a hostel with me, but she still has a lot of free hotel rooms via Hilton points, so she is safe for now. Don't worry, her time will come!  We arrived in the evening, so we only had time to walk around and grab dinner, but we found an awesome seafood place.  The next morning, we dined on some breakfast buffet, including Haggis!  I really do enjoy the Hilton perks... Free breakfast. Jelly Beans!  Damn you Diamond status, you corrupt thee.

The girlfriend wanted to get me out of Edinburgh so I would see some new stuff on this trip, so we decided to journey to Melrose Abbey, which is about 90 minutes away from the city.  It was a nice little area and the open-air abbey looked really cool, but it was cold and rainy, which led to me getting grumpy.  Luckily Sarah has figured out she just needs to feed me or give me hot chocolate when I get like that.  I'm so easy to maintain!  Lowe maintenance.  She also gave me some Weetabix under the guise it was going to be like a granola bar... It is not, that stuff sucks up your saliva like Saltines.  NEVER AGAIN!

The food in the UK isn't all terrible!  (To be fair, it mostly is though)

I'm still thinking about Harry Potter World... And the blood is still rushing places

After arriving back in Edinburgh, we decided to check out the castle and luckily the line was pretty short since we are still in the tourist off-season.  After roaming around for a bit and visiting all the lookout points, we decided to grab a late lunch, because we were starting to become too hungry to enjoy the scenery.  Scotland is known for having good beef, so we grabbed a couple burgers at a pub and then walked across the street for some gelato.  Life really doesn't get much better than gelato.

Our final stop for the night was Calton Hill, which is just a little hill outside of the main part of the city, but it was awesome 360 views.  We also got really lucky with the timing and were able to catch the sunset.  We really do have the best life!

Didn't bring my cameras, so it's all iPhone and panoramas for this post.

Makes me nostalgic for my backpacking days, when I could watch the sunset every night...

Open up your mind and see like me, open up your plans and damn you're free.  Look into your heart and you'll find love love love. 

Linlithgow Palace was our first destination on our last day in Scotland.  It's only about 30 minutes outside of the city and is definitely one of the coolest castles I've ever been too.  It's gigantic and empty, two factors that were made even cooler by the fact that we were the first two people to arrive and had it all to ourselves for a few minutes.  It was also constructed near a giant lake, so the views from the top are ridiculous.  

To top it all of, we had a really cool encounter with a local.  He found a penny on the ground and then told us that in Scotland if you find money on the ground you have to give it to someone else for two reasons; The first is that if you carry it around, it's bad luck for you.  The second is that if you give it to someone else, it's good luck for them.  So that's either a real thing or he was just hitting on Sarah because she's such a fit bird (English-English for hot girl).  Either way, I got a penny!  

We had a bit of time to kill before our flight left, so once we got back to Edinburgh, we climbed up to the top of Scott Monument to take in the views of the city.  Not a bad way to finish off a weekend in Scotland.  Why do the weekends go by so fast?  I feel like time is playing a trick on us and speeds up.

Linlithgow Castle

Out there's a river that winds on forever, I'm gonna see where it leads.  And out there's a mountain that no man has mounted, I'm gonna stand on the peak.  No time for ponderin why I'm a-wanderin, so to the ends of the earth you would follow me?  There's a world that was meant for our eyes to see.

Out there's an island where all things are silent, well I'm gonna whistle a tune.  Out there's a desert that size can't be measured, well I'm gonna count all the dunes.  Out there's a world that calls for me girl, heading out into the unknown.  Wayfarin strangers and all sorts of danger, please don't say I'm goin alone. So to the ends of the earth would you follow me?

I can't wait to go back a third time!  I love Scotland

Our next adventure landed us in Dublin and Belfast, but that's a story for another blog!

 Sarah and Sean's Sensational Stockpile of Snappy Snaps

#BadassOnABroomstick

If you're lucky, you'll get to see the full video of this someday...

Oh baby, can't you see it's shining just for you.  Loneliness is over, dark days are through.  They're through.  So let me be your everlasting light, a train going away from pain.  Love is the coal that makes this train roll, let me be your everlasting light...

She's only laughing because I said something punny

I'm not sure why I have 4 chins in this photo, but I'm probably not going to eat dinner tonight

For all the places I have been, I'm no place without you :)