Erik Scarlatescu

A Truly Scottish Experience

            My family and I went on a vacation to the United Kingdom for a few weeks following its exit from the European Union in the summer of 2016. It was convenient because the pound to dollar conversion rate had dropped from $1.45 to $1.30, essentially making everything cheaper for us. We actually did not mean to do that, but had been planning the trip for a few months prior. During our trip, we drove around and saw many neat things in England and Scotland.

            While were in Scotland, I noticed that the mountains along the side of the road looked very strange (Scotland is not a flat country at all; there are always mountains along the side of the road.) Unlike the mountains I was used to, most of these mountains lacked trees entirely. For some reason, I was obsessed with climbing one of these treeless mountains so that I could get a good view of everything. I just had to. I couldn’t explain it why, but I wanted to do it really badly. On my 15th birthday, I asked my father if we could climb one of these mountains, and he told me that if we drove by one with a trail on it, then the answer was yes.

            We did finally manage to find and climb one of these mountains, but it wasn’t quite what I had hoped. For one thing, it was full of trees. They were everywhere, like some dense, unruly hair matting the mountain. Within these trees, one could hear the small animals up in the trees, chirping and warbling away like there was no tomorrow. The path didn’t even go all the way to the top, so I couldn’t actually get a very good view of anything at all. But it was still okay. At the end of the trail, there was an epic waterfall that rumbled down the side of the mountain and turned half of the trail into mud. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed climbing it and had no regrets.

            After that experience, I had basically given up on the idea of climbing any more mountains in Scotland. But that was about to change. We were driving on a highway that passed by Edinburgh and my mother was discussing with my father on where to go next. Then, like a goldfish with attention deficit disorder, my dad exclaims, “Hey guys, you wanna climb that mountain?!” We looked over and saw that he was referring to a huge mountain looming over Edinburgh that was completely devoid of trees. Its peak spiraled upwards and touched the clouds.

            My sister replied with, “Yay! Mountain!” which my father took to mean “yes.” He quickly took the nearest exit off the highway.

            We arrived at the base of the mountain and saw that it was actually some kind of odd summertime skiing trail. Instead of snow, they had lined the ground with rope or something of the sort (We did not get close enough to get a good look.) So, we just climbed around it. The absolutely lovely smell of dung wafted around in the air as we passed by an enclosing containing some animals. There was a gate blocking the path at one point, but it was unlocked, so we just opened it, went through it, and closed it behind us. I’m not sure if we were supposed to do that, but all of my organs and limbs are still intact, so I’m not too concerned.

            As we climbed higher up the side of the mountain, a magnificent view of Edinburgh opened up beneath us. There were many buildings sprawled out onto the ground below, with the Edinburgh castle standing proudly in the center of them all. Out in the distance, the river Forth grew wider until it opened up into the North Sea. A red bridge connected the two opposite sides of the river. The clouds loomed overhead. They were packed with rain. However, they weren’t blanketing everything with rain in a uniform fashion. Instead, the clouds were very selective about which parts of Edinburgh they chose to bombard.

            During the climb, my siblings and I excitedly hopped and grappled over various rocks and tufts of grass along the steep path. The same could not be said for my parents, who had fallen behind, panting and heaving. We had to take a few breaks for them to regain their breath. The breaks were interspersed with complaints such as, “This is harder than I remember,” and, “Back when I was younger, I used to climb these things all the time, but now..”

            While we scaled the mountain, the rain moved closer to us. It kept getting closer until by the time we had actually reached the top, the rain clouds were directly above us. They were trying their absolute best to drench us and block any view of the scenery below. And they nearly did it. The rain rumbled off the vast mountain, turning it to mud. We were cold and our wet clothes stuck to us awkwardly. We would’ve gotten utterly soaked had we stayed much longer, so we took a quick picture (fortunately, we did not destroy the camera) and started back down. Of course, right after we left, the downpour had ceased and everything was visible again. We cautiously staggered down the slippery slope and eventually made it back to our car.

            “I hope you’ve had enough mountains for today, Erik,” said my mom, who was not very enthusiastic about climbing the mountain to begin with.

            “Yeah, shame on you, you dragged me all the way to the top of that thing,” added my dad. Although he had been initially enthusiastic about the experience, his excitement fled along with his endurance.

            In the end, I do not regret this at all. Although this experience was not exactly like I had expected it to be, I do not let that make me unhappy about it. If you allow every single little thing that does not go to plan to bother you, than you will live a miserable life. Although I did not see as much as I had hoped, I still got a very impressive view and enjoyed it thoroughly. A good way to be happy is to make the most out of the current moment, and not wish you were somewhere else.