So as you probably know, I am home!
But I’ll kick off where I left last time. We arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka around midnight where we had already organised our hostel to pick us up. Nowhere in the airport would swap our Indian currency which I found weird seeing as they’re next door neighbours! So after finally finding an ATM we sleepily drove to where we were staying. It has been a while since we were in a hostel, but Colombo turned out to be a lot more expensive than we thought! When we arrived, I definitely freaked out a bit. Not really a hostel but more somebody’s apartment on the 5th floor of a dodgy looking complex, we went in to find people sleeping on the floor. There was one girl lying on a double sofa and a spare yoga mat type thing on the floor. And I was like “nuh uh no way are we paying to sleep on the floor of your kitchen/living room no way.” Thankfully we actually had a 4 bed separate room just off of it which at least had bunk beds and clean sheets. However, no air con and a fan that was apparently ‘too squeaky’ for the other boys sharing our room. So the result was a wide open window – this was nice, we were right next to the sea so we could hear the waves crashing in. However, this was nice for all of 5 minutes before we realised we were right next to a very VERY loud railway line. Where these 500 year old trains felt the need to blast their horn every time they went past, every 10 minutes all through the night. Then the people we were sharing with were up at 5am for like an hour getting ready. Needless to say, it wasn’t our best sleep!!
Our plan was to leave Colombo the next day as we had heard it wasn’t that nice and either go further south down to Galle or inland to Kandy. However, travelling about Sri Lanka proved a lot harder than we thought. Trying to get anyone to understand us there was also the biggest mission! (That we failed on). Turns out trains need to be booked further than one day in advance, which is really disappointing because according to online, the views on these journeys are amazing. So we decided to stay one more night in Colombo and try to get ourselves organised. We found the cheapest nice hotel we could and decided that we would maybe get the bus to Kandy. I’ve heard mixed reviews on buses in Sri Lanka but I was willing to brave it to get out of Colombo! So we spent the rest of the day just chilling by the pool and not doing a whole lot. I was up nice and early to leave the next morning when Ste began to get really not well. He managed to avoid Delhi Belly in India but he couldn’t escape Sri Lanka! Going on a bus would’ve been horrendous so we scrapped that. That day we headed to the doctors in a sweat box of a tuk tuk and he got the antibiotics he needed. By this time we were pretty fed up, Sri Lanka wasn’t living up to our expectations, it was becoming near impossible to get around, Steve was ill and with a week to go we just really felt like coming home! So we thought why not! We were desperate for some home comforts.
Our flights are all flexible, so we paid a fee and changed our flight to the next day. As quick as that! At 1am that morning we were on our way to the airport! By 1pm we were in Edinburgh. Our connection was pretty tight, we had to leg it through Doha airport with the final call sign flashing but we made it with everyone else already sat on the plane.
Ste’s stepdad William picked us up from the airport and we drove back to surprise his mum. She was definitely shocked! It was great, she burst into tears but was so happy. It was so cute to see his little niece run up and grab him as we walked in. I had what I can only describe as the best shower of my life. I have never felt so clean and tucked into some PROPER food and meat!! I tried my best to stay awake for as long as possible but when it reached 8pm I was done and out of it. We felt a whole lot better the next morning with some decent food and a long sleep in us! Everyone has said that we look dead skinny so I think it was Marion’s mission this week to fatten us up – I definitely wasn’t complaining.
We have spent this week just taking our time and relaxing – it is so nice to be able just to sit on a clean sofa and watch TV! We went to the Edinburgh festival one day which was really nice, it was actually sunny for once and we walked around all the stalls and just wondered around in the hustle and bustle. And oh my god does it feel nice not to be stared at!! We’ve taken Ste’s dog Bumble on lots of walks and found my new favourite spot in Scotland called the campsies. It has a waterfall if you walk down the creek and if you walk up the hill it is just meadows for miles and miles which is just so peaceful to sit at. I have missed the green of the UK after all the dirt of Asia!
After some tough goodbyes and a fair amount of crying I left Glasgow and headed back home. Mum and Dad were excited picking me up from the airport and I went home to see my Trev! It was an emotional reunion with the dog!
So it’s super strange to be back! Not so much looking forward to the job hunt and getting back into the usual routine but excited for the next chapter to begin.
……Until the next adventure!
Abby x
Abby Goes Travelling! 