Plans....lol.

Travel for me is an adventure. There is nothing better than filling a bag with clothes for a few days, hopping on a train and then darting off into the great unknown and basically, this was the travel method of choice for me the last few times I've been to Europe. Sure, I mean it provided some great adventures and I met some great people, but as I've gotten older, I've begun to realize that this might not be the best way to do my hopping about, given the risk of kidnapping, anti-Americanism, and the occasional rabid European girl. So, I've decided to plan.

Now, this thing called "planning" is a new thing for me and as with all new things, there is a certain amount of trial and error involved in it. Sunday night, I began planning a trip to Scotland and Prague in August. Seeing as that most of my time, and by "most" I mean "all", has been spent on Continental Europe, I have been able to use the wonderful, marvelous train system to get basically anywhere I wanted to go. However, Scotland presents a new problem. Air travel. I don't particularly like flying 100 miles or less, but when there aren't any roads or inexpensive trains to get to a particular area, the highways of the sky are my only option. Thus, I started to search for tickets. Of course I immediately went to my old favorite EasyJet only to find that they do not service Scotland from Paris. So, plan B....Ryan Air! Now, don't get me wrong. Ryan Air is incredibly cheap, usually on time, and if you are a student...a perfect fit. I've used them before and have always been pleased. However, the trick is getting to the obscure airport they use to serve Paris.

In order to get to Beauvais, you have to take a 2 hour bus ride to the north of Paris to a small airport. When I say small, I mean small. It is basically 10 check-in counters and a large holding room where people wait to walk out to there plane. Yes...walk out to the plane, rain or snow, sleet or hail, Germans or not. You walk. Personally, I love it! It gives me a chance to sit and listen to who is complaining the most so I don't have to sit next to them on the plane. Knowing all of this, I bought a ticket to Edinburgh from Paris which leaves at 10am and arrives around 11h30. Awesome. Except now I have to find a place to stay. Still haven't accomplished that. I'm thinking couchsurfers or a hostel. I'll make up my mind soon....maybe.

So, Now what to do once I get there. Fitting in should not be a problem given that my name is Graham Renfro...basically you couldn't get more Scottish if you showed up with a bowl of Haggis and a kilt. Both of which I intend to invest in while in Edinburgh. Following Edinburgh, the plan for right now is to hit up the Isle of Skye for a few days of hiking, then down to Renfrewshire to figure out where the heck my namesake comes from. Yes...it's called Renfrewshire. All hobbit jokes aside, according to Wikipedia (now all wikipedia jokes aside) its a town of about 20,000 people that is right outside of Glasgow. Hmm...a small town outside of a larger city...doesn't sound much different from my current situation.

Following Scotland, the plan is to meet up with my friend in Prague and then head back to Paris. Prague should be cool. The only thing I know about it is that they have moving saunas in buses and the Charles Bridge. Though I'm sure I can find SOMETHING else that would be interesting. Perhaps a not-so-rabid European girl.....perhaps. :)

Thanks for reading,

-Graham