Outnumbered & Abroad: Glasgow (Part 20)
Glasgow, Scotland (Monday, October 1, 2018 - Day #7) -We made it to Glasgow, Scotland, and I couldn’t help but feel uneasy from the moment we pulled in .We parked in a structure across five lanes of traffic from our hostel/hotel for the night and something about the gray sky and brick buildings gave me an ominous first impression. On top of that, I couldn’t help but notice that the car park had big signs everywhere stating that valuable should not, under any reason, be left in vehicles and then the car park itself’s doors locked behind us, making us use our parking ticket just to get out. When we checked in at the hotel, the door was access code only or you had to intercom to the front desk. I then noticed that they had a paid bag watch. All of these set my red flags off as I could only assume that the crime rate must be extremely high here.
We had a couple hours to kill, a couple hours of me worrying about all of our stuff in the car, before we started off heading first and foremost directly across the street to a small restaurant which seemed to be set up in a UK style of fast food. We had yet to see any fast food or coffee drive through areas. It seems that if you want food in the UK, you need to go in to get it. The left side door went up to a hot pan of sorts with a variety of hand held foods like UK pies and fried fish.
Fish and chips, while not one of my favorites, was for sure something in my bucket list to have while here. I had been told to have them in Liverpool but 9:30 am seemed way too early for fried fish - both to consume and for the appropriate stores to be open. Warren Clayton and I both got them and I couldn’t help but laugh at how different they were.
In the states, we would get three or so small chunks and here, for the small, I got one long fillet and Warren Clayton got two for a large. The coffee I got was horrible, I don’t even know why I try anymore but the rest of the food was delicious. More than that though, the lady who served unmade us feel so welcomed. I almost could have cried over her hospitality! It was such a relief on my anxiety that we didn’t seem to be imposition. God Bless her!
We then went on a walking adventure to “the famous lighthouse” to which we realized after half a mile of walking that not only did we not see any ocean BUT Nicole’s GPS map took us straight to some sort of pub called, you guessed it, the Lighthouse. At this point, we had already resigned ourselves t the fact that, between the four of us, we are really going to need at least one checked bag to get our alcohol home so we might as well explore the local shops for another bag - a bag that non of really wanted to buy.
Walking aimlessly back, I suggested that since we still had time to kill, we look in a sporting store to see if they had any cheap duffel bags. Somehow, we needed up in this separate side room on the second floor, outside of all of the Nike, Addidas, and Puma, and, what to my wondering eyes did appear?!
An entire room of what can only be defined as Gentleman Gun Club or outdoor sporting gentleman/gentlelady. My newfound favorite brand, Barbour, was there, as well as so many other like-minded brands. I tried my best to chat with the sales floor representative to learn more about the brand, but she seemed to think I was strange for asking. She said it was a prevalent and common brand for Europe and couldn’t believe that we didn’t have it in the states. Warren Clayton ended up purchasing this beautiful oilskin jacket. So sharp and so practical, I love everything about their fashion.
Directly across the street Randi towed us into a bright and cheery place where she ended up purchasing a cute plaid dress for an upcoming winter wedding.
Then, on a whim, we went into the first official kilt store we saw. After over an hour, Warren Clayton walked out with TWO full kilt sets; one for William an done for himself… hypothetically. They didn’t have enough kilts stocked in their small waist size, so eh ordered one to be shipped at a later date. The shop was a real shop, not geared for tourists, so they were surprised that we had found them.
Nicole and I purchased a scarf each and some gifts for mom and dad. When we checked out, I immediately noticed that our cashier lady didn’t have an accent.
“Where are you from?” She asked.
“Oregon, where are you from?” I replied.
“Florida.”
”What brings you here?”
She then went on to explain how she was originally from Michigan area and moved to Florida where she had met her husband, a Scotsmen. How cool is that? We had so much fun telling her about our life back home and our trip. It definitely made our long wait as Warren Clayton took very particular attention to all that was happening with the kilt ordering. She suggested we looking the Clydesdale Horse adventures which got us very excited but, unfortunately. we weren’t there at the right time of year to make it happen.
I cannot get over how flat cold it is here though! I am pretty sure that if it was this cold in Oregon, we would be about 3-4 inches deep in snow. I am so thankful that I got the Barbour gloves ad Scottish scarf already. Im not sure what I would have done without either in this weather.
We got all checked into our hotel and Nicole was in some sort of headache mood demanding she got a nap. I jumped onto a phone call meeting with one of my clients, sitting int he hallway chatting while working on my laptop. The Johnson’s had left to go to the nearby laundromat so I had given them a small plastic bag with my jeans and a sweatshirt. Turned out the laundromat was closed so they had bought soap and washed all their clothes by hand in the standing shower and then, using a long strip of leather Warren Clayton had in his pack, they hung all their clothes up on their jimmy-rigged clothesline. I couldn’t help but laugh at all of this but didn’t hang out long in their room as it smelled kind of bad and the amount of humidity that it had created in the room was the equivalent of a rainforest.
Heading out for dinner, I couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy again - thinking about all of the red flags for crime in the area. The whole are was so brick, so cobblestone, and almost just Gothic feeling that this country kid ha d pretty hard time controlling her overactive imagination. We ended up in an underground bar of sports where we had to brave the steep, wet stairs first and the could making out while holding smoking cigarettes in front of the entrance door second.
We had stumbled upon, of all places, an American-themed bar! “Make Chicken Great Again” was the slogan for Buck’s Bar and the amount of laughter we heard there was contagious. The first activity of the night, that was wrapping up while we got our food ordered was some sort of trivia night. Assuming that it was American trivia questions and really hinking we could dominate with all of our brain power, we almost joined for what would have been the last round when the facilitator/moderator asked the first question and we had no idea what it was even remotely about. It had to do with 16th century composers - nope!
But if anyone asks, we won trivia that night to simple questions the Brits didn’t know like who was the first President of the United States, etc. There’s no one but each other that can argue that story (and now you).
As soon as the trivia tables cleared, the DJ turned up some rowdy Rock’n’Roll Swing music and we enjoyed being rowdy, singing along and having a great time. Please keep in mind, that not a single other should made a motion to act anything like us. The closest to American any other person was was a young lady wearing the first crop top of a sweater I have seen on the entire trip.
My chicken and waffle dinner was hands down my favorite meal of the trip to date. Is it ironic that my favorite meal of the United Kingdom is the American-themed restaurant? The chicken was perfectly seasoned with the right amount of heat to combat the sugary sweetness of the maple syrup. I couldn’t get enough of it and it’s definitely something I won’t ever be able to be able to eat back home - they’ve ruined all other chicken and waffles for me.
Tonight was the fateful night that I will say that Warren Clayton reclaimed his role as the title of “bodyguard.” Buck’s Bar had candles on every table, which I couldn’t help but notice when we were first seated because the paper menus were stuck right behind them. I hat noted that it was “kind of a fire hazard” and made sure that when we were dong ordering, that they weren’t put back there. What I didn’t think to check was the OTHER tables.
Sure enough, as I am sure you could see coming, one of the paper menus at a table tipped over and caught on fire! It smoke out our little corner area pretty decently but we were on our way out anyway at the time.
Buck’s Bar:
Chicken Waffles
Milkshakes
&
Rock’n’Roll!
When we got back to our room, we got to talk to mom for the first time since leaving. It was strange because the Johnson’s have called home virtually every single night and, yet, our mom doesn’t even like our posts on social media. When we had laughed about Ghyll Scrambling with them on speaker, we had mentioned that joke and, then, suspiciously, our mom started liking everything. I have a strong hung that Sherri got ahold of Kristi and told her to have some care.
Even though she didn’t really seem engaged on the phone call, I thought it was super fu to talk to her. I think my energy caused her to warm up a little bit, but it definitely took a lot of energy on my part to do so. Mom said she was excited for the ride home from the airport to hear all of the stories; specifically all the “REAL” stories - not the kosher ones we put on social media.
I actually love Scotland so much. I honestly couldn’t tell you if it was the same or less a New Orleans, but I could definitely have a little hunting or vacation cottage here if I ever made it rich. I am also a huge fan of the “Gentleman’s Gun Club attire.” but make it the lady’s version. It’s all earthy tones, water proof and warm, outdoorsy fashion. I am so in love with it and I hope I can bring that style back to the states.
I was madly disappointed because we didn’t get to see Olivia Harms ad her mom who were in the same town traveling and playing music! I had to let it go, however, knowing that it was on them and not us. We did everything in our power to try to meet up with them and they were were the ones that weren’t able to make it happen.
Nicole has not been feeling well so much of this trip that I am starting to worry about her.