The adventurous Scottish drive

Road trips are always fun! Driving through the countryside is one of the best ways to experience the true landscape of a country. I was living in London for a while and had always wanted to drive to Scotland and back. I didn’t have the courage to do it alone, but when my friend Divya decided to visit me in London, it was the perfect opportunity beckoning.

We planned a three day trip that would cover Bath, Windermere, Edinburg, St. Andrews and Derby. The anxious traveller in me had planned everything to the last detail. The car, the hostels, everything was booked. Little did I know, the Big Guy up there was smirking to himself and thinking... ‘Perfect candidate for divine intervention’.

Brimming with excitement, we were up and about early on the morning of the trip. Our first road trip and we were ready to get that itch scratched. We took the tube to the airport and picked up our car, an i20. (I know... i20 isn’t something to be really proud of when you’re renting a car, but we were on a budget and when there are two inexperienced road trippers, better not to experiment too much *anxious traveller attack*)

With the car picked up, and the GPS location set up, we were off to our first stop — Bath. Driving on the motorway for the first time was quite an experience. The wide road is a pleasure for anyone who loves to drive. Even though it would get a bit monotonous at times, I loved every minute of it. It got even better when we hit the smaller country and village roads.

For the two architects, strolling around Bath that afternoon was an absolute pleasure. We went from the gorgeous cathedrals to the Roman baths and also gave the Jane Austen museum a little visit. Unfortunately, we could not spend much time in Bath as we had to get to Windermere in Lake District, which was almost a five hour drive. The idea was to do the longer route on the first day so that we could spend the morning in the beautiful Lake District and then reach Edinburgh with plenty of time to see the city.

England had a fabulous summer the year I was there. It was the year of the Olympics, and the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s reign, the country had everything going for it and the weather cooperated beautifully. But with the celebrations over, the weather was going back to factory settings. The good ol’ ‘British Weather’ was back in all its glory when we were in Bath. That is where all our troubles started. If you think rain and traffic are a match made in traffic hell only in Bengaluru, here’s news for you.. Bath posed some seriously stiff competition that day. The one ways and traffic congestion had us driving in circles for over an hour before we could get out of the town.

We had a long way to go and we were already late. The drizzle was but a teaser of what was to come as we hit the motorway. The skies opened up and lashed out everything they’d got. Even with the fastest setting on the wiper, we could barely see anything. Before we knew it, the sun had set and there was still no respite from the deluge. It was slowly dawning to us that driving all the way to Lake District may not be such a good idea. We needed a change in plan, and we needed it quick.

With divine intervention, how can Mr Murphy not be invited to the party? The internet on my mobile stopped working, and Divya, obviously, didn’t have data on her international roaming. Fortunately good sense prevailed and I got into a string of calls with Divya’s brother, who was in India, to help us out. As luck would have it, we were half an hour from Birmingham and her brother helped us find a hostel there. We fed our revised destination on TomTom and were finally feeling confident about our situation.. until we drove into the street where the hostel was.

The street looked like the perfect setting for a shoot-out scene from one of the gang war movies — dark and dingy, with an aqueduct of sorts at the end of the street. My super active imagination waited for the gunshots to go off. I looked at Divya and I knew she was playing the same scene in her head. We parked right outside the hostel wondering what to do. car for a bit and see what kind of people were going in and out of the hostel. We waited and watched. There were two people who went in during that time, but on major alert mode, you see everything and everyone with extra suspicion.

Still sceptical, we decided to give it a shot and play it by the ear. We walked in to the hostel cautiously, measuring and calculating every step and everything we laid our eyes on. What we were greeted with was something we did not expect. The lobby was surprisingly quite quirky and vibrant compared to the intimidating exterior of the building. The host was helpful and warm. Finally, after what felt like ages, we were able to let our guards down. We were not going to be featured on the front page of the newspaper the following day after all!

We woke up early the next morning to get a head start on the drive to Edinburgh. Everything looks so beautiful in the morning sun, and so did our hostel. The common room where we had our breakfast was flamboyant with colourful walls and eclectic objects all over the place. This was the kind of place we would’ve chosen to stay at without batting an eyelid. Sometimes divine intervention and Mr Murphy can take you to some wonderful places. After a hearty breakfast we were off to the beautiful Edinburgh. Fortunately, our trip thereafter went as we had planned. Walked the beautiful streets of Edinburgh and enjoyed the scotch in Scotland. St.

Andrews had the teenager in me who used to crush on Prince William, all excited! Almost like a pilgrimage visit if I may say so. We ended the day with bunking with my friend in Derby and catching up on old times.

Travelling is always exciting. It is usually the mis-adventures that make the most fun stories as it did in our case as well. That trip taught me that it is OK to plan everything, but also be ready for anything that comes your way. Keep your eyes and ears open and have a good time irrespective of what comes your way.

Storyteller at TheItchList.com