Wednesday 11 February 2015

I'm going for a walk

I have decided to go for a walk, a very long walk, 410 miles give or take a few in fact.

A few months ago a friend of mine from camp asked me if I wanted to go to Jerusalem, I did but the thought of being blown up was not exactly my forte. So the other week he asked me if I would be interested in doing the Camino de Santiago. I have heard a lot about it, the priest at my church (who my gran is chums with) does parts of it every few years, in fact he keeps a stone on the side of the alter and tells people to hold it and push all of their worries into the stone. When he goes to walk his camino, he takes the stone to Cruz de Ferro and places it on the pile of rocks. I have also seen the film The Way by Emilio Estavez, which was very insightful and sad.




So why not, I really could be loosing more than a few pounds, I love a new adventure and I couldn't think of a better person to spend it with. The plan needs to start now though, I am currently not fit enough to be jetting off to Spain to walk from Pamplona to Santiago. So I have started walking 5k every few days along the beach, It is a very flat surface but it is a start to get my stamina up a bit. This weekend will be the start of the longer 7 or 8k introducing hills but still on pavement to get my feet ready for the amount of paths and concrete. 

In June I will be flying to Poland to stay with my friend for a few weeks before heading to Spain to start our camino. He lives in Wroclaw and has some beautiful hilly walks around that I am planning to get stomping on before we fly. 

I signed up for a new website with a very informational forum on the Camino de Santiago, everyone is very helpful and extremely nice. I cant wait to get there now and see the beautiful landscape.


Monday 12 January 2015

Blog Refurbishment

Welcome to 2015!

So the previous existence of Travelandpineapplecakes.blogsopt.com has been refurbished to Misadventures of a Scottish Wanderer. I have went back and edited some of the previous posts to make them a little less horribly written. I suppose now that I am a university student, I have no excuses to misspell everything. 

So summer 2014 was one of my favourites so far, I met some really cool people that I hope will stay connected for a very long time. My summer as a general counsellor was fantastic, my first co-counsellor was better than I could of asked for. The kids were so well behaved (well in a way that they can be), they really did make the first 6 weeks fly in. I was then given an all girl group that were as young as 10. At first I really did think that I was going to break one of them, they were so young and fragile. But after the first morning my nerves settled down. They were a great bunch of kids and my other staff in the group were just as excited as me to have them. But camp must end at some point, thats when the adventures began.

Once I landed in the USA before camp, I went through the usual procedures of visa and passport control, but apparently something was wrong with my N number?? No idea what that means, but it must have been important because I was swiftly escorted off into a side room where I sat for nearly two hours. The only people who I had spoke to during that time was a Virgin Atlantic representative telling me that my bag was safe, and the very scary security guy who I thought was going to shoot me for asking where the restroom was.

During the summer one other girl decided to jump on the road trip bandwagon, she was from Sweden. We got the car (and an upgrade) after I'm sure they forgot about us, we then drove (hungover) to Laurel in Maryland. The next morning we drove into Washington D.C where we spend around 2 hours looking for a damn parking space. Luckily that night we were only driving to Strasburg, VA at the bottom of the Shenandoah NP Sky Drive, by this point I have racked up one extra state on my list, Virginia.





We drove slowly through Shenandoah National Park before staying  in Harrisonburg, VA. The next day consisted of a long drive to Nashville, TN. My second state was now added and the atmosphere was fansastic. We did most of the tourist stops in town including the Johnny Cash Museum and the Concert Hall.



After Nashville, TN, we drove down to stay with a friend of mine for the night in Alabaster, AL, my 3rd state added. We planned to do some things in Alabama but we were pretty tired and not very fussed on doing much more except getting to Florida. Nearly 10 hours later though, we made it.

One full week in Florida, chilling by the pool and spending the day in Universal Studios or going for drinks in Downtown Disney. It was all worth the very long trip.




On our way home we battled the overweight suitcases flying from Orlando back to NY, before staying a night in a hotel that looked like a very dark and dangerous area of Queens. So technically everything worked out right? Well except for visa and suitcase battles and dodgy looking areas of New York. So just to add to the fact that it all looked very smooth. I nearly went through security with my friends purse in my bag, which consisted of all her money, cards and train tickets home from London. I barely made it on the flight, I had to wait and hope that someone out there on the social media world could contact her and tell her to come back to my bloomin terminal. 

Advice: Don't ever become someones camel for them, make them carry there own damn crap

I wonder what the next adventure will be?

Wednesday 4 June 2014

12 days to go...

In 12 days time I will be jetting off to America for my 4th summer, addicted? well yeh, it's starting to look that way. 


So I was given a general counsellor position which i'm happy about, there was other jobs that I was interested in but what I have is something new. Hopefully I wont totally suck at it, I have lots of great ideas for activities to do with the kids, hopefully it wont be ruined by lack of equipment or preparation time. For those who know me, it would be horrible if I wasn't organised.



Anyway, I'm drowning in last minute college work and have been living out of a suitcase for weeks. I cant wait to get away and start living back in my little bubble, then obviously have a good summer.



I have planned a road trip after camp is over, I am adimant I will clock up those extra states. Me and a friend will be hiring a car from nearby camp and then drive to Florida, via lots of different places before spending a week in Orlando just chilling out and catching a last minute tan. Plans always change mind, hopefully this will stick.



Hope everyone has some nice summer, 


See you on the other colder side where hopefully nothing went wrong.

Bye!

Saturday 11 January 2014

Whats next for 2014?

So what is on the cards for 2014?
I can tell you that I am definitely going to go back to America (if they want me).
I have had a think about jobs that I would like to do, a few more have came onto the cards. I think I would really enjoy going back as a General Counsellor, it means I get to spend a lot of time with the kids which would be amazing.

Anyway, I have had to apply for a new working abroad disclosure... ICPC? I think they are starting to make things up now. another £60 quid down the drain.

So on the 24th (which will be my 25th birthday) I will be heading down to London to help find some new staff for the summer. Then on the sat night I will be getting to see all my lovely camp friends at a reunion in Kensington.

Photos to follow obviously.

I decided to apply for UNI, I have looked into Glasgow Caledonian and University of the West of Scotland. It has taken so long to try and write a personal statement, who knew it was going to be so hard to write a lot of good things about yourself.



Me getting to see some close friends from the summer.

Life can take you by surprise if you let it...

Sunday 24 November 2013

English Travels

So recently I have been getting those itchy feet again, I am sure it is caused by lack of travel and constant routine.
Then I got an invite to go see some friends I met in this year in America, my trip would consist of getting the bus down to Manchester, a train to Southport, drive to Stafford and then drive down to Worcester. I got to see some of my amazing camp family, some of them I haven't seen for over a year. To get home I was drove to Birmingham airport before flying back up to Scotland.
Quite a mouthful isn't it?


So since I've been home and reminiscing my last 3 summers in the states, everyone has been asking me the dreaded question.... what about next year?
I am on my second year at college doing travel and tourism, the final degree year is only a possibility, not a guarantee, in this day of age have the grades and the certificate doesn't always get you the job. So I am still undecided on what next year will bring, never mind if going back for another year of awesome games, paint, lake, songs, and general FUN will be on the cards.
Only now the cold has set in.... I am almost positive I am going back.
I cant handle this freezing temperature, must chase the sunshine everywhere I go now lol.

Here are some great pics from my travels the other weekend.



Every hundred feet... the world changes!


Sunday 22 September 2013

IM BACK!!

OK! so I kind of lost my way, I spent  the summer in NY again at camp having the most amazing time. 10 days training, 9 weeks of hard grafting followed by 4 days of chilling on a New Jersey beach.

EPIC!!

Only It seems I can't travel for long without something going wrong...

I love spending my summers in America, who wouldn't want to get paid to sun it and look after some of the funniest kids I have ever met? 
But here is what happened, remember the plans of adding an extra 5 states onto the ones I had already been to? well the plan was underway until me and my friend Adam hit a wall, neither of us were over 25. This meant that no matter what, the cost of hiring a car was going to be ridiculous. So a friend of ours decided to join in the fun, he was 25. BONUS! not only will we get to travel with our friend but he can be the main driver on the car so that it will be cheap. 

Only the day or two before we left camp, he tells us that his driving licence was back in the UK. Idiot! The travelling plans from then went to absolute crap. Luckily with some quick thinking we ended up in Seaside Heights at the Jersey Shore. Sounds great doesn't it? But i still had a flight booked for 10 days after our trip to the beach. 

Everyone managed to change their flights to an earlier day except for me, WARNING! MAKE SURE WHEN BOOKING WITH SKYSCANNER THAT YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR FLIGHT, EVEN AT A COST!  I couldn't, I was told that no matter what, I would have to buy a new flight. This involved me having to borrow money from a friend back home so that I could buy a brand new flight. I'm quite glad actually because I got to go home via Iceland, the 11 hour layover and extra 4 hour delay was not welcome mind. 

Finally I got home, It's very stressful to travel.

Till next time......

Sunday 13 January 2013

New Year, New Travels

So this is my first post of 2013 and guess what!!!

Yes that's right, I've got trips planed for the majority of the year, yay!!!  Next weekend I will be starting off small with a little trip to Broxburn just outside of Edinburgh, before the following weekend I jet off to London to see all the lovely people from camp last year.

This Summer I WILL be returning to the US of A and hopefully adding more states to my check list, i'm sure i'm at 11! By this time next year i'm aiming to of added at least another 5.

I'm going to get one of those travel quotes or travel related tattoo this year, not quite decided which one yet but I will definitely post about that once it's finished.

Travel quote of the week:
A ship in a harbour is safe, But that's not what ships were built for





So I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and new year.

BYEEEEE!!

Sunday 16 December 2012

M.I.A

I have been a bit missing in action lately, so first I must apologise, sorry bloggers and readers.

I went to Glenrothes for our annual Christmas dinner dance, the weather was horrible but we had an awesome time. Here are some pictures of our knee's up.









This last one makes me laugh so much. Anyway the job hasn't been going too bad, I got into trouble a couple of times but they just have to remember that i'm learning how to work in a new environment. I've never done any jobs that are in the least bit up-market or as a waitress, so anytime i'm not on the bar I get all confused.

Moving on anyway, I've been working away so that I can afford to get the hell out of here again, hopefully i'll be able to come back to the same job but I've also been thinking about going to Glasgow or the surrounding area to do my HND in travel and tourism. I feel I need to do it and get it done.

Today though I went on a lovely walk with my mum and the dog down the beach, now that were basically living on it. So welcome to my amazing beach :D






This week and Last weeks Travel Quote will be :

He who does not travel does not know the value of men
&
Don't tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you have travelled."


Well have a good week everyone, not long until Christmas now.

Bye!

Sunday 18 November 2012

Pictures from my Newcastle weekend

With all my excitement of travelling throughout Europe I forgot to update on my Newcastle trip..

Checking into the Travellodge at Newcastle Quay, we got ready to go out and waited on the boys to finish watching the football game. Once the gladrags were on we couldn't wait to go and meet our camp family again.

We went to The Gate, which is a shopping center for drunk people before heading to the club TUPTUP just down the street. Many Pictures were taken :D


Enjoy










Nakemiin!

Friday 16 November 2012

5 Countries in 5 days

So the trip was awsome to say the least!

We started off leaving Edinburgh Airport with the group and landed in Germany at Dusseldorf airport. We got on a coach and drove all the way down to near the Swiss border in a place called Herbolzheim. It took around 4 hours but after the flight, it surely wasn't comfy on the bum cheeks.

The next day we played in a massive tent in a place called Horgen just outside Zurich in Switzerland,



After a very rough night of artistic plastic cows being stolen and one of the guys nearly being arrested for stealing a splash of Jack Daniels from the bar ahaha, we left for Germany again.


During our many detours the bus driver managed to go through Austria instead of taking the quick route, but it meant I have technically now been to a country I hadn't been to before.



Altenburg, Germany was our next stop for 2 nights. It was a great hotel and the town looked a bit run down and post war, but sadly by this point I was suffering from a very bad cold and was annoying the crap out of everyone due to my unstoppable cough.



Our second gig in Zwickau was great! when we came back to the hotel, a little party was happening for the black forrest Fire service so we thought it would be a good idea to entertain them the Scottish way lol. The pipers were piping and the dancers were dancing, me in the other hand, I was standing in my comfy trousers chatting away to some old German Guy.




Bochum was our last gig night in a fantastically massive arena, the beer was being supplied by the hundreds, the food was very good, and we all drank every last beer after the show. I was absolutely knackered at this point, I had been mostly boozing it up like pipe bands do, but since I was ill, I couldn't go out on the last night like most people. I stayed up chatting to another guy who was on the trip,he chatted about how he was joining the police force. I was bloomin' freezing but it was a good chat while everyone went partying down by some karaoke bar.





We had done nearly a full round circle of Germany but we weren't flying back from Dusseldorf, no no no.... we were flying back from Schiphol in Amsterdam. I swore I would never step foot In that airport after my ridiculous lay overs coming back from America just 3 months ago.



Spending the day in Amsterdam was fun though, and before you ask I didn't go buy some mad space cakes or have a joint with my cup of tea, I work with Kids for goodness sake. However many others did not share my good sense, though it was hysterical to watch and I had a lot of fun sight seeing.



That night I flew back to Glasgow where my mum picked me up and I spent a few days in Aberfoyle relaxing with the family at my grans timeshare lodge. I start my new job on Monday so I need to make sure I get as much in as I can before I become the boring worker that saves all her money. You should always jump at the chance of travel, you'll never know where it might take you...








Travel Quote of the week has to be:

No one Realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.




kveĆ°ja!