Travel Journal:

Across Scotland - Glasgow


Glasgow
 
After four days living in the outskirts of civilization, my group was eager to move onto our next destination, Glasgow.  Personally, I could have spent the entire duration of our time in Skye; hence I’ve made a vow to return someday before I die.  We bade our hosts farewell and hopped on a bus which I was rather apprehensive about given the fear of immanent doom for seven hoursstraight the previous week.  But make it back we did, this time to bunk in dorm rooms in the University of Glasgow.  The respite of having our own private dorm room was the highlight of Glasgow because the four days we spent there I found to be utter misery.  Glasgow is a rather young city which grew out of the industrial revolution of the late nineteenth century.  The city its self is filthy and crowded, not to mention rough all over with little if any redeeming merit.

The entire time I was in the city I felt like I was inhaling poison and perspiring pollution.  And aside from outrageously expensive, the food is inedible.  I couldn’t keep anything down and survived for four days on frozen Mars Bars.  The Glasgow accent is particularly incomprehensable, even our hosts in Skye joked about not being able to understand a word, and I couldn’t help but feel that a translator would have been useful even though we were allegedly speaking the language.  To go anywhere, we had to pay two and a half pounds (at the time equivalent to five dollars) for a single bus ticket which quickly bled our transportation budget.  Despite the urban sprawl, I found only one internet cafe which was only open at odd hours with two dinorsaurs of computers available—I had to settle for an expensive and slow connection at a public library. Whereas Skye was safe for females to venture alone, Glasgow was iffy even in large groups.  Though often noted for its jovial and hospitable character, Scottish culture also has a very belligerent reputation, particularly with alcohol, which my group members and I frequently encountered.  One night four of the girls went to a restaurant when a drunken homeless man pinned one of them up against wall and threatened to pound her face in, all the while no one stopped to help.  But that was only the first police report our group made; in the middle of the night a young woman ran screaming through the campus being chased by a group of men.   Generic city attractions such as the movie theatres we frequented nightly provided the only relief from the distopia.  Oddly enough my American travel mates made a point of seeing Farenheit 911 while overseas which had just been released in Scotland.  Overall, the experience was like being stuck in a T.S. Elliott poem.  I cannot in good conscience recommend this city to any travelers, and would advise that female travelers steer clear altogether.  Glasgow has a few points of interest, namely catering to the college crowd near the University.  But why bother at all when Edinburgh is just a train ride away?

Despite being home to actor Billy Boyd (Pippin in The Lord of the Rings trilogy), if you want an authentic Scottish experience I'd reccomend getting stuck in a bog over staying in Glasgow.
 
Map and Photos for Across Scotland
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Isle of Skye Journal : Across Scotland - Glasgow Travel Photos
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