I woke up, had hostel breakfast and then made my way down to Liverpool Lime Street for the last time. The weather was bad, wind and rain, I remember standing outside Lime Street station being able to lean into the wind and not fall down. All the rubbish and leaves were being blown back and forth. The news had talked about a storm that was coming in today. The man at the information desk said my train was delayed, I went up to an information screen and watched as it was delayed over and over again. Then my train was cancelled. I went to the information desk again and I was told to go to the other side of the station and catch a different train. The information desk said today was going to be a busy day, I was advised against travel and that I might not make it to Scotland today. I ignored his warnings.
I went to the platform, here I met a man who was heading to Carlisle on the border with Scotland. We were both told to catch any train we can going north. We sat on a train together, we talked for 20 minutes before the train eventually departed. He owned a series of Fish and Chip shops, he made it sound like an interesting business. He asked me where I was headed so I told him about my planned European tour, still not sure I would carry it out. He was very encouraging of the idea, unlike my parents.
The train got to Preston, only about an hour outside of Liverpool. We were all told to depart as this train had also been cancelled, debris on the tracks. I waited in Preston for 30 minutes, I was told by the staff to just jump on any train I wanted, tickets didn't mean anything today. I was told to catch a train to Edinburgh, it was close enough to Glasgow I thought. But then I was told about another train, one that may get to Glasgow directly. So I took the risk and jumped on board.
The train set off and went all the way to Carlisle, the station in Preston was hectic and I had lost contact with the man I met on the original train. Most of the staff in Preston were telling people to catch different trains, or whatever train that was not cancelled. The situation was so chaotic it made me think of Berlin in the last months of WW2.
We crossed the border to Scotland and the train went through some mountains, all snow covered. This was the first time I had left England in 10 years and I celebrated with some people sitting next to me. It was actually snowing in Scotland. The train eventually got to Glasgow, several hours later than I planned. The weather in Glasgow was quiet, not much wind, I guessed the storm had already passed. The sun was already setting and I was tired from travelling, I did not do anything in Glasgow city centre and walked straight to the hostel, one called the Tartan Lodge.
I checked in and met a German woman who was staying in the same room as me, she was sitting cross legged on her bed wearing very small shorts, we spoke briefly then I went down stairs to watch Netflix on my laptop. I cooked pasta in the little kitchen provided by the hostel, the common room had a very awkward vibe. Lots of people staying in the hostel were in fact workers, builders, electricians and a woman from eastern Europe that told me she did "Massages". It seemed I was one of the few actual travellers. I went to bed without really speaking to anyone.
The next day I woke up and headed towards the city centre, Glasgow like Liverpool has lots of museums. The hostel was also located right next to the Glasgow Necropolis Cemetery, a cemetery on top of a hill. Apparently the word Necropolis in Greek means city of the dead. I spent an hour walking up and then down to the other side, I did not recognise any of the names on the graves. I had a long walk to the Riverside Museum, and spent a few hours there. It had lots of cars and a model street of Glasgow, outside was a big ship you could walk around. I then headed to the Kelvingrove museum, probably my favourite museum in Glasgow. Finally I was told that Glasgow university was worth going to see, lots of old buildings and yet another museum called the Hunterian Museum. I then got food and headed back to the hostel.
The next day I decided to spend all day in what I believe was Mitchell Library, a large public Library in the city. I remember it was okay, quite large, but the upper floors seemed very dated. I went back to the hostel, I did not meet anyone.
The next day I would go to Edinburgh.
YOU ARE READING
My Backpacking Memoirs
Non-FictionIn 2017 I embarked on a three month backpacking trip around Europe. Motivated by the many accounts of travel from within religion, I went to learn. But what I experienced was not what I was expecting. This was my first time leaving the UK since I wa...
