The next month is shaping up to be an exciting and fun time, I have had my head in work for so long I cannot wait for the break. Something fun for the end of August and beginning of September has always been in the pipeline but it has taken me forever to organise because I wanted to go to Seattle but stupidly didn’t book the flights when I found them at an awesome price. Since then I’ve been waiting and waiting to see if the price drops down but it just hasn’t happened. I decided it was time to give up and start planning something else. This is how the next four weeks will be planning out for me, it’s nothing big but it is a lot of little things that have been on my radar for a while.
Edinburgh Fringe
As I mentioned last week in my top picks for the Fringe I am finally getting to this awesome festival in one of my favourite cities. Edinburgh will always have a special place in my heart as I left before I ever fully explored the city. So for me it is always a pleasure to return. I have two days planned for experiencing the fringe, snapping some shots of the street performers and seeing a couple of shows.
Glasgow Exploring
With my work hours cutting right down these next two weeks I am making time to do those things on my Glasgow ‘to do’ list. I’ve always want to spend some time just wandering around the city and photographing some of those pretty places. Kelvingrove Art Gallery is beautiful lit up at night and I’m still yet to walk along the River Clyde. I keep saying I will do these things but with time running out it is a case of now or never.
Credit
Mini Scottish Holiday
This one is pretty exciting. The boy and I will be taking four days (time we should be packing, oops) to have a mini holiday of luxury and adventure. On Saturday 23rd we will be heading up to Fort William via Pitlochry and some distilleries – Edradour (Scotland’s smallest distillery) and Bells Blair Athol Distillery (as we have a free tour here). Once we arrive in Fort William we are staying in a 5* BnB on the edge of Loch Linnhe. The Crolinnhe Guesthouse has amazing reviews on trip advisor and is certainly a treat to my normal backpacking style. The following day we will be taking the Jacobite steam train from Fort William to Mallaig and back again. This is the ‘Harry Potter’ train and although I haven’t watched much Harry Potter I’m very excited to see the beautiful journey this train takes. That evening we are staying in a Yurt – I have wanted to stay in one forever so I’m pretty excited. Come Monday we will be heading south to Oban for our ferry to Mull, the island which is home to Balamory aka Tobermory in real life. We will spend the afternoon doing some exploring before heading to the beautifully colourful town of Tobermory. We will spend the night here staying at the Highland Cottage – a small hotel with more luxury. Before heading back to Glasgow on Tuesday to finish the packing.
Goodbye
Wednesday the 27th August is moving day. We will have lived in Glasgow for 10 months and two weeks and it feels bitter sweet to be leaving! There have been highs and lows of course but I have completely fallen in love with Scotland and can see my self planning a return by new year. We will be driving back to the New Forest to dump all my belongings at my parents house for a while…
The English Test
I have mentioned this test not once but twice in various blogs, so if you are not a regular reader I apologise for the completely off topic intrusion here. This is my final chance to pass my skills test in literacy for teaching if not I will have to change my degree which I’m due to start on the 15th of September.
In The Woods Festival
I have began to get super excited for this festival now, even know I still don’t have a clue about the line up or location. I put together my festival wants last week and have already written a preview of the festival, so I want bore you with too many more details. However the fun will begin on Friday 29th of August and last until Sunday, in a woods, some where in Kent. Are you going? Let me know.
Two Weeks in the Forest
I then have two weeks until university starts and although the plan for these two weeks is still a little hazy I have a few things in the pipe line.
- Motorbike road trip with my brother – We had planned to head over to France but due to his lack of passport. We have decided to give it a miss for fear of booking something we can’t do. Instead we are hoping to spend a few days down the Devon and Cornwall area – a place we have explored a lot as kids but never returned to as adults. Despite the fact it will be freezing I’m hoping to fit in a surf!
- Photo shoots for Photography Wishes – I’m currently building up my portfolio for my website and my awesome best friends have agreed to do some modelling for me. I have several ideas I want to work on especially shooting on location in the New Forest and at Bournemouth beach.
- Possible few days in Europe – I am always on sky scanner looking at flights and I have managed to find plenty of flights under £50 for those first two weeks in September. Still unsure if I can really afford something but I certainly haven’t ruled out this idea yet.
- Catching up with friends and family – there are so many people I have failed to keep in contact with since forever ago, I’m hoping to send a bit of time catching up and fixing that.
- Exploring on my doorstep – there is so much to see and do in my hometown that I have never taken the time to do. So if I find myself bored (year, right?!) or in need of an adventure (definitely) I will finally get round to seeing some local spots I haven’t visited since being a teenager.
University and Welcome to London
Come September 15th I will pack my bag and have that first day of school feeling all over again as I begin university at Roehampton (hopefully – see English Test). To begin with I will be staying outside of London and commuting as I don’t want to spend those first two weeks of September constantly in London looking at flats. From September 15th I will be in London and able to visit flats at the last minute, hopefully making this whole nightmare process a lot easier.
So that is my plan for the next month before I make the huge leap of being free to going back to education because sometimes your head has to win.