Disclaimer – the following depicts a real life story with real characters. The details of these accounts have been misremembered with precise accuracy, and some have been just flat out created for your enjoyment – really, it’s like an episode of The Hills.
Mystery Trip 1 – Easter Weekend, the start of the mega Royal Wedding holiday… a busy time to travel! As a discovered quickly, due to the Royal Wedding haters fleeing the country, flights weren’t cheap, except to one place – Prestwick Airport (£12 flights)! When we landed at Prestwick, it was rolling hills, links style golf all around, and the sea in the distance… we were in Scotland – they even had double-decker buses. From Prestwick airport we trained to Glasgow Central Station, where we would meet Sheamus, the kid who just wouldn’t listen, even when his dad said “Whey”
The alarm goes off, it’s 5:00am on Saturday morning and the eve of Mystery Trip 1 has passed. Sadly, Ashley is unable to attend because she is gallivanting with friends on a road trip in Ireland. Colin is so giddy he is tearing at his backpack like that Nintendo 64 Kid on Christmas Day on youtube, Greg is playing the song Magical Mystery Tour on his iPhone, and Tom is trying to climb out of The Hot Dog – the slowly deflating air mattress that has pretty much engulfed him through the night. We depart Boss House dressed for adventure. Colin is so intent on keeping the mystery surprise that he’s wearing a blindfold and using Danielle acting as guide dog for direction… as you can probably imagine, that ended by the time we got to the corner of the street (10 -20 metres!). The first mode of transport was Boris Bikes… over Tower Bridge, past the Tower of London, and through The City arriving at Liverpool St. Station to catch a limo bus to Stansted Airport.
Glasgow (5 hours later)
Glasgow is not the prettiest of cities, throw in some rain showers and you’ve got some first time mystery trippers going more on excitement for the idea than excitement for the city – the old church and cemetery were cool though. When it’s raining in Glasgow and you’re wet and cold, there is only one place you could possibly go to cheer you up… Pizza Hut buffet. Now, it should be said that one mystery tripper was more wet and more cold than the others - the simple explanation for that is that he fell so badly for a bit of old school mystery trip trickery, that he ignored the forecast (rain) provided by the planner because he was so confident that he knew the location… the South of France where it was 28 degrees –no need for a coat with that weather!
After touring Glasgow and a solid pizza hut lunch, despite the waiter’s Glaswegian accent that was so heavy that he might as well have been speaking Japanese, we boarded a train for Edinburg, the real destination for the trip.
Edinburgh
Sunday morning started pretty much the same way as its predecessor - except that Colin was tired, Tom was in a bed not an air-mattress hot dog, D was excited for more early morning physical activity, and we were in Edinburgh, not London. We got going early to ensure there was time for Arthur’s Seat – a couple-hour hike to the tallest point in Edinburgh, possibly one of the tallest mountains in Europe (the air up there was nice), for a great view of the city. The rest of the day was spent exploring the city and on a tour through Edinburgh Castle, a place with a long history of war and violence – oh, and a live Birds of Prey exhibit that was awesome . After a quick dinner – literally, we were eating parts of the burger whilst running to catch the bus, we were at the airport… Mystery Trip 1 was in its final moments.
It was a great trip – lots of laughs and a new appreciation for a great Scottish city, one that I’ll definitely visit again… the air up there was nice.
Oh I almost forgot… on Monday, Ashley got to participate in a part of the mystery trip – we went to the London Ice Bar for a drink (and everything else) on ice. This time, Tom was provided with a coat – so he was happy. After the Ice Bar, it was off to see City and Colour at the Royal Albert Hall.
Keep on rockin'
Bye world
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