A world to see

I'll never forget the day that I landed up in Scotland. It wasn't my plan, it wasn't my dream, but on the 29th of August 2013... I was walking into my new home for the next half a year.

I had always dreamed of flying off somewhere, on a romantic get-away, with a romantic man. But God had different plans for me. I studied Hospitality Management for 2 and a half years and now was just about the time for me to get my last experiential learning done, and for the first time it wasn't organised for me by the school.

I had been on an interview with a hotel in America and didn't get through. A few months went by and I would have to get a job in South Africa if I didn't speed it up. I moved from the American to the British programme that they had at Awesome travel. Best decision I have ever made. So the interview with the Scottish Hotel was finalised. I was told I was accepted and would be expected to travel AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. THE RUSH!!!

Fast Forward...

Now I'm standing at the London Heathrow airport... Is this me? I am in the UK, in London! Hell yeah this is me.

And so The Great Escape begins.

Having not travelled out of my home country before, this was exciting. No one to run to, nowhere to hide. Just ,myself, my bag and my Scotland.

The thing with Scotland is that you hear many stories of how it rains all the time and there are many sheep farms, just as general knowledge about Scotland. I thought it would turn out to be just a generalisation. I mean there can't be that many sheep right? I travelled on the train on my way to Scotland from London, and there were sheep. I really thought it was sheep land (I still think so). But the grass is so green, the land is so wide, lush, beautiful.

I felt like I was in the Brave Heart movie. Historical sites are expansive, stretching through the whole of Scotland. I worked many days but my days off I spent in the rain, going to see the country I had travelled to. Castles in Stirling, The Wallace monument, The heart and soul of Scottish history.

As my travels went on I found a new love for food, went out to restaurants as much as I could. Haggis and black pudding, my best. Off cuts of Lamb and Pork and coloured with blood. I mean I felt like I was living in the days of the wars.

I will never forget my experience in Scotland, it taught me that I need to travel. That there is so much of the world to see. and that world... It's beautiful.

To Scotland, the country that opened my eyes, thank you.