GLASGOW

So just about three months ago now, I was in Glasgow - my final destination whilst still in the UK.  I had found a ridiculously good deal on a flight direct out of Glasgow, and having only ever been to Edinburgh, I decided to go up a day early and spend some time in the city.  I have to say, Glasgow felt much more quintessentially Scottish than Edinburgh.  I think that Edinburgh, like London, is such a culturally diverse city that while of course there are those great bits of Scotland that you would expect, there are also a lot of aspects that make it seem just like another UK city, not particularly feeling like a different country.  Glasgow was less like that.  The Scottish accents were much more common within Glasgow, and the city itself definitely had a different sort of vibe.  It was a bit more natural and relaxed in the sense that it wasn't as touristy as Edinburgh.  Don't get me wrong, I loved Edinburgh as well, but the two had very different feels.


I arrived in the afternoon on 24 October on a train from London, checked into my hostel, and grabbed my camera to go for a walk around the city.  Like many British cities, Glasgow was incredibly easy to navigate on foot.  It was fairly compact, and I know there was a ton I didn't have the time to check out, but I was able to get a good self-guided walking tour in.  I had decided I wanted to try and find a hilltop or viewpoint somewhere where I could photograph the sunset over the city.  I Googled some parks and things and took a walk over the river to the other, slightly less "nice" part of Glasgow to go do that.  Along the way however, I went to check in for my flight on my phone and had all kinds of problems doing so because I didn't have a booking number for my flight.  To be clear, I had booked through a travel agency to get the lower ticket price, and had never received an email from the airline (Icelandair, which I had flown on before several times and definitely recommend for well-priced international flights).  It had me really concerned that the booking agency had taken my payment, sent me a confirmation email from my transaction with them, but not actually booked me on the flight - a scam, essentially.  I had to turn back and go to my hostel to try and figure it all out.  Eventually I got it sorted, and it was fine - no scam.  But it was definitely confusing and in the future, I'll probably just end up booking direct with the airline unless I do the proper research on the agency first because I was so stressed that I didn't have a spot out the next morning.

Aside from airline drama, I loved Glasgow.  It was so beautiful, the people were all so lovely, and there is still a lot there that I'd love to go back and do, one of which is Loch Lomond.  I'd love to take a hike around some of the Loch and visit one or two of the small towns on it's shores.  There are also so many cool places just outside of Glasgow I'd like to visit.  Definitely on the agenda for next time I'm in the UK!