Still an idiot. Still abroad. Still a broad? Yes, yes I am.

I have schlumped myself into the couch, unbuttoned my pants and removed my wrist watch, which means I am settling in for an epic blog update.

It’s been a hectic couple of weeks. Since I last posted I finished travelling around the Scottish Isles with Zoë and Nicole, I returned to London, secured a place to live and found a job! Rather eventful indeed! Read on for the full recap.

A wee recap o’ Scotland

Whenever I think of Scotland I think of a game I once played with Tom and several of our flatmates in Delft – Head’s Up. You have to get the person holding up a word, hidden to them, to guess the word by shouting out hints. In one case, the word that I had to guess was ‘Scotland,’ and Tom just yelled – in a horribly butchered Scottish accent – “SCOTLAAAAND.” I may have yelled this out many times during the trip with Zoë and Nicole… who would have had no idea what I was doing.

Anyway, Scotland.

I believe I left off last time when we were in Fort William. We picked up our rental car with no issue and then left exceedingly early the following day to drive to Ullapool to catch the ferry to Lewis and Harris.

Having the shortest legs, I was fortunate enough to be relegated to the back seat of the car. This meant I didn’t have to navigate and could, instead, sleep.

When I woke up all sides of the car were being battered with rain and I was informed by Nicole that our ferry was cancelled due to high winds.

After quite a bit of sweet talking to a ferry worker named Johnny, we ended up with our little red Ford Fiesta at the front of the stand-by line for the next ferry. That was at 9:45 am. Next ferry: 7 pm.

We spent the day milking our stay in various cafe’s in Ullapool and wandering around shops. Luckily, we made it on to the 7pm ferry, despite it still seeming pretty rough out there. This assessment was confirmed when the ferry was swaying far more than a sane person would be happy with. It was a somewhat stressful ride to say the least… Nicole was feeling a wee bit sea sick but she powered through vom free!

How happy we felt when we finally arrived in Lewis!

When we arrived on the island we still had to drive for about 45 minutes to our secluded hideaway cottage. The roads became increasingly more narrow, there were no lights, and it was pitch black outside. Stress level midnight ensued. I have to hand it to Zoë she did an excellent job as the only one able to drive the whole trip.

When we finally got there and parked the car there was one last hurdle: cross a footbridge with our mountains of luggage in the blackness with the wind and rain lashing at us from all sides, and the waves thundering underneath.

Of course, on the other side, we couldn’t find the key to the cottage. The instructions left were that the keys were “on the exterior of the property.” Could they be more vague?! Eventually we found them using our phone flashlights and stamping around the violent wind… it was quite spooky.

Waking up was a treat, it was a bright day and the view was marvellous. The water under the footbridge was calm.

We went for a wee ramble around the island where our cottage was.

Lewis and Harris then Isle of Skye

I shall walk you through some of the amazing sights of Lewis and Harris as well as Skye that we happened upon via photo:

Beach somewhere on Lewis and Harris I think

Trying to travel through time via the sacred stones

After our crazy run to go meet Ziggy at the beach!

Our cute little tiny house airbnb – a risky move by Zoë to book a micro home at the very end of being together non-stop for nearly two weeks.

Trek out to see the Neist Point Lighthouse in the dense fog.

So, there you have it. A highly successful and enjoyable two weeks in Scotland with two awesome people! We only suffered one flat tire, one severely delayed ferry and an infinite amount of marital-like disputes all instigated due to tone of voice. Ahhhh TRAVELING!

You sound like you’re from LANDAAAN

I returned to London about a week and a half ago with only a few minor tasks on my plate: find a place to live, find a job, not get hit by a big red bus.

Finding a place to live

It was a whirlwind of calls and viewings and hob-knobbing with estate agents last week. To make matters worse, the future flatmate Tom, was out of town for a good chunk of the house hunt. I have told him that he owes me a finders fee.

We ended up with a great 2 bed flat near Sheperd’s Bush tube station in the Kensington Olympia neighbourhood! Very excited to move in. Less excited that Tom will be moving in before me – as we get possession on the 23rd of October and I will not be moving in until November. Lord knows the damage he will induce before I have even spent one night in my lovely London flat!

Finding a job

I began applying for jobs before I arrived in London so I would hopefully have some interviews lined up. It worked! I had a few interviews last week and I am happy to report that I have landed a really exciting job as an engineer with Sustrans. Sustrans is a non-profit* working in sustainable transportation. They make it easier for people to walk and cycle with the goal of creating healthier and happier cities! Right up my alley, indeed!

Writing a short paragraph about getting a job really doesn’t do the process justice – it was stressful as hell – but I am very happy it has worked out!

*To clarify, the organization is non-profit, but I will, indeed, be getting paid. My father has not failed to remind me that I am now “off the payroll.”

Not getting hit by a bus

I had one borderline close call. Still getting used to drivers on the WRONG side of the road.

My main policy now is to look both ways at least five times and not to cross until the green man says so.

Finally a bit of time to be a tourist in London

Most of my tourist attractions tend to be food and drink establishments – so pardon me for the lack of quintessential London sights here.

Highlights have included: Bagel with salt meat at Biegel Bake with Zoë, Motzo Ball Soup at Zobler’s, a pint at Ye Old Cheshire Cheese, a wee dram of whiskey at the Troubodour with Nicole, and a night out beginning at the Chem Eng phD staff room featuring Tom, Nikki and others along with free beverages…

Because Tom has been living like a homeless nomad for the last several months, he keeps all of his things under his desk at school. Here he is changing out of his hiking boots (lord knows why he had those on in the first place) into his ‘going out’ shoes before we hit the town. This, ladies and gentlemen, is who I will be sharing a flat with. Yikes.

Motzo ball soup for a slightly sore throat!

In summary and in conclusion

I am ramping up again to be a better blogger i.e. influencer* (and altogether better human being) as I am setting off for my last big travel adventure this year: AUSTRALIA, baby!

On Wednesday I am taking an exceedingly long flight to Hong Kong, deplaning and then boarding a different plane to then take a second exceedingly long flight to Brisbane**.

Best friend Georgia shall be meeting me in Brisbane on Friday. Stay tuned for Idiot broad happenings from DOWN UNDA’!!

*this is a joke.

**this blog was written prior to the date of posting. I am actually in Brisbane already!