Nessie Spotting

Over winter break I had coffee with Caitlin, from my high school, to discuss studying abroad. Caitlin and I had gone to the same school and went on a trip to Greece and Italy with one another in 2007. Although we had, unfortunately, not seen one another in years, we were brought back together through studying abroad. When I heard Caitlin was planning on spending a semester in Prague I wanted to get together over winter break to congratulate her and wish her a safe and amazing adventure. This coffee date led to us creating a plan to visit one another over the spring semester. Caitlin had always wanted to visit Scotland and I had always wanted to visit the Czech Republic. After settling into Prague Caitlin eagerly booked her tickets to Glasgow and she was to spend a long weekend here in Flat 3.1.

My visitor was to arrive on a Friday evening and I was so eager to welcome a guest that I arrived at the airport amazingly early. To pass the time I grabbed a travel magazine and settled into the airport's Starbucks. I was so enthralled with my afternoon spent coffee drinking and travel reading that I managed to miss the fact that Caitlin's flight had been canceled. I was finally able to get in contact with the traveller and learned that her flight was to be rescheduled for later that evening. I travelled back to city centre and had a quick dinner before heading back out to the airport to pick up Caitlin. I am now very familiar with all methods of public transportation to get to Glasgow's airport! Fortunately, this flight made it to Glasgow on time and Caitlin despite her travelling woes was no worse for the wear.

The evening was spent sharing studying abroad stories and of course discussing all the people we know back home. It was exciting to have someone in Glasgow who knows that Kansas isn't in the south, uses words such as "crock-pot", understands that it is perfectly normal that I do not own a cow, appreciates the jayhawks and makes not a single reference to the Wizard of Oz.

The next day was spent exploring Glasgow. It was fun to travel around the city with a visitor, letting me see the city I have come to know so well with new eyes. The University is always spectacular but seeing the buildings day in and day out make it less thrilling. However, seeing it with someone for the first time is a strong reminder of just how beautiful it is. In addition to sight-seeing we did some shopping and lots of talking.

Sunday, was Easter... I believe that in our reminiscing about Kansas we forgot that we weren't actually in Kansas anymore (I am betting you all  just thought of Wizard of Oz.. stop that. We Kansans hate that movie) and wore to church what we would wear in Kansas' spring weather to church. That means lovely floral dresses and no tights or leggings.. this would prove to be a mistake. After mass we decided to take the train to Edinburgh, first doing a bit more shopping in Glasgow. The time spent in Edinburgh was a lot of fun... although absolutely freezing! Our walk down the Royal Mile turned into a mile jog as we moved quickly just to keep our legs warm. We received plenty of stares from people passing with massive coats, gloves, scarves and hats. It was interesting sight-seeing on Easter. Caitlin and I were amazed at the number of tourists in Edinburgh for the holiday weekend and the overall choas of the city. Both coming from Catholic families we didn't realize that people actually went places besides mass and the family dinner table for Easter. Okay, we did realize this we just had never experienced it. Our Easters typically consisted of a massive egg hunt and a large portion of ham and potatoes, not touring a castle.

Much like the experience in Glasgow, I really enjoyed getting to see Edinburgh with someone who was seeing it for the first time.

 Not being a Harry Potter fan, I have officially seen this cafe too many times! Although, I am certain my brother, Michael, will force me to take him there in only a months time.

After having seen the two biggest cities of Scotland it was time to take Caitlin to the most famous loch in all the land... Loch Ness! I was really anxious to go on this journey as well because I have yet to see the loch. Many people, and by people I mean Americans, were appalled by this fact. How is it possible that I have lived in Scotland for seven months and have yet to see Loch Ness. Well, to begin with Loch Ness is actually quite a distance from Glasgow and there are no Ryanair flights to the loch! But, fortunately there was a one day tour to Loch Ness! Caitlin and I joined a small group of people and took our seats in a white van. Our tour guide, Michael, pointed to the map of Scotland hanging at the front of the van and showed us the route we would be driving throughout the day. I must say that the route looked daunting. We would be travelling through the high lands, far into the north of Scotland, the drive would be a long one.

However, about 30 minutes into the drive I was again stunned by the beauty of Scotland. It is amazing how quickly the landscape changes outside of Glasgow. Once you escape city limits you quickly begin to see the lochs, bold colors, hills and farm life that is so quintessentially Scottish. Living in Glasgow, it is easy to forget the beauty of the Scottish countryside. We quickly approached Loch Lomond and fortunately our tour guide made the tour ridiculously cheesy/amazing by blarring the ever-so Scottish song "Loch Lomond." I then proceeded to steal the tour guide's glory by telling the story of wallaby island to Caitlin right before he informed us all of the "mysterious island that is home to a herd of wallabies." Outside of high land cattle and the jaw dropping scenery, wallaby island may in fact be my favorite thing about Scotland. We continued our journey around Loch Lomond passing the turn off for Inveraray. I will admit to being disappointed I couldn't show Caitlin this little Scottish town. I really have no idea why, but I absolutely love Inveraray.. if you visit Scotland, you must go!

As we journeyed further into the highlands the countryside became even more beautiful. The sharp contrast of the snow-capped hills and the lush green fields dotted with lambs was breath taking. Since it is early spring it is currently lambing season and we saw many lambs frolicing in the fields. In addition to Loch Ness, I was extremely eager to visit Glen Coe. I had heard from many people that this Glen is truly one of, if not the most, beautiful places in Scotland. As the van approached the famous Glen it was easy to see why it is so revered. When we stumbled off the bus to take in the beauty of Glen Coe it, of course, was raining. But, the rain added to the atmospheric beauty of the Glen and our time spent gazing at the natural wonder was a little wet but overwhelmingly awe-inspiring and peaceful.

A few people thought that this picture was taken in front of a backdrop... it wasn't! Glen Coe is just that impressive.

 More pictures of beautiful Scotland from the drive to Loch Ness

As we continued our drive further up the country the weather began to clear; we took a short lunch break at the southern tip of Loch Ness. After lunch we drove the entire length of the Loch listening to stories of Nessie and intently peering out the window for any hints of the monster. Our stop at Loch Ness included a scenic boat tour of the Loch. It may have been the influence of being in small van for hours or maybe the spirit of Nessie herself but by the time we piled onto the boat Caitlin and I had become the ultimate tourists. We were wildly excited about the Nessie adventure, convinced that we would document the next sighting and perhaps even produce a photo that would bring us instant fame and enough money to pay off our student loans. We sat ourselves directly beneath the "Nessie Tracker"... yes, the boat had a Nessie tracker! The tracker calculated the depth of the water and detected any foreign bodies in the water.. this could include sticks, ducks, birds, fish, etc.. but most importantly, Nessie.

The Official Guide to Nessie:

1. Nessie plays the best game of hard to get that any woman in the history of women has played.

2. This particular loch monster has the longest life span of any creature... There is no documentation that Nessie has produced offspring. Therefore, the creature in the water is the creature people have been seeing for hundreds of years. The Loch Ness monster is that impressive.

3. The Loch Ness Monster does not want anyone stealing her fame. That is why the man attempting to become the fastest water traveller in the World did not claim his title on Loch Ness, Nessie capsized his boat.

4. Nessie lures normal/sane people in with her charms and then turns them into eccentric, okay really crazy, Nessie hunters. For example, a successful London Lawyer gave up his lucrative career practicing law to find the Loch Ness Monster. He now lives lakeside, daily looking for the monster; he makes an income by selling etchings of the monster. He has been living this Nessie centered life for 20 years.

5. Science can't deny Nessie. The loch is such a strange shape that it is impossible for researchers to explore all regions of the loch at one time. Nessie is so accustomed to scientists looking for her that she hides when they come to visit. Nessie does not like scientists.

6. Nessie is the most friendly monster on Earth and loves to show herself to friendly humans. You just have to know where to look.

 Found her! It really wasn't as complicated as everyone makes it out to be.

 The Official Nessie Tracker

 Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness

 The rain picked up again during our tour of the Loch, thus it made the search for Nessie a bit more complicated. One of the distinct characterisitics of Loch Ness is the extremely dark nature of its water, the rain makes the water even darker than normal.


After our boat tour we decided a stop at the gift shop was absolutely necessary. The amount of Nessie souvenirs the lakeside store contains is nothing short of impressive. As we were wandering through the aisles upon aisles of Nessie hats, Nessie books, Nessie stuffed animals, Nessie cigars and Nessie umbrellas I let Caitlin know of my secret desire to own an official Nessie hunter shirt. As we rounded the corner we came face to face with a shirt saying just those words. I am now the proud owner of an official Nessie hunter shirt in honor of my Nessie sighting.

We settled back into the van and made our way into Inverness. Unfortunately we were unable to stop in the town and I must say from the brief look we had of the town I would love to go back. We drove through Inverness and looped down south to Glasgow. It was wonderful having the opportunity to travel back to our starting point in a different direction than we had come. It allowed us to see much more of the Scottish countryside and Caitlin had the opportunity to see Stirling and Stirling castle. While there were so many places I wish we could have stopped and explored, the drive in itself was a great experience. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgable and told many interesting stories of Scotland and her people.

 Inverness

It was so nice having someone visit Glasgow. I had a wonderful time showing off the place that has become my home over the last year and introducing Caitlin to the great people I have come to love so much. I was sad to see Caitlin go but am so excited to visit her in Prague next month. Her visit also made me even more excited regarding my family's visit in May!