Scotland

Scotland throws up all kinds of philosophical questions.

Like, what did Indians listen to on road-trips before Dil Chahta Hai & Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara came along?

Or, if you see unbelievable beauty everywhere you look, will it start becoming humdrum?

Can any accountant/lawyer/similar in Scotland not also be a musician/poet/artist of some sort?

Is there a more foodgasmic experience than the sticky toffee pudding at Cuan Mor in Oban? 

Do the guides here occasionally make up folk tales because it's so hard not to believe the ones that are 'real' are conjured up?

And, how do you pronounce Edinburgh anyway?

Scotland's a place with as much vastness as there are pronunciations of Edinburgh, sheep in the fields, storm clouds in the sky. Driving through, it felt like we'd gone right into another dimension, and could keep driving on, with the amazing views stretching to eternity. It makes you feel very small, in the best possible way (I didn't even feel this dwarfed in Rome!).

We stayed in Edinburgh for a day and a half, and decided we needed new informants, because everyone had assured us there wasn't much to do there. No one had warned us we'd want to spend the rest of our lives right here. This was especially the case after being walked around by Sandemans - if you're in the city, this is the tour to go on (thanks for the tip, Vimal!)

Then, we drove down to Isle of Skye in Portree, bypassing Inverness, and had to revise our opinion of Edinburgh. This was, if possible, even better. The cherry on the cake was the amazing rainbow we saw stretching across the sky as we drove through in search of dinner. It wasn't the usual quarter or half rainbow that you see; this was a full-blown, expect a pot of gold at the end kind. 

We spent a day just driving around Isle of Skye, marveling at how much natural beauty the island contained. Of course, we had to stop by the Talisker distillery to see how the famous Scotch was made. We earned our scotch passports here, and went to another distillery, just to get an extra stamp on them :)

Finally, going through Glencoe/Fort William to Oban, we found the best food we'd had all trip long, served alongside a picture perfect harbour. By now, we'd been exposed to awe inspiring views for four days straight, and coming back to London, pretty though it is, was a bit of a shock. Which answers one of our questions anyway - you do get used to beauty disappointingly fast. The good news is, with some distance, you start remembering it all properly, and it starts making your heart ache again, just the way it did when you first saw it.

Scotland is completely under-rated. Yes, the weather's often gloomy, and there's no telling when it'll start raining. There are no sidewalks, so there's no way to enjoy it on foot. But if you have a car, Scotland is the closest you'll get to heaven on earth. And that sticky toffee pudding is... just... (I don't even like desserts - famous last words!)

And with that, it was back to regular life. Given regular life is attempting to write my book, I can't complain. A keeps calling this a trip of a lifetime. I like the fact that he uses 'a' rather than 'the.' I've no doubt we'll do something of such epic proportions a few more times in this lifetime.