Chapter 19: EdinBRUH, Halloween (Pt. 1), and a New Job

Meme'd myself a new career, fell in love with J.K. Rowling's city, and got spooky. Good week.

Jan 28, 2022

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Job Update

Before I get into the Edinburgh & London stuff, I wanted to mention that I'm now employed again lol. I’m not bartending, or working at a hostel, or anything like that. I’m writing for a finance meme page. Peak 2021 stuff right here.

Welcome to the job market of 2021. As a kid I wanted to be president. As a college student I wanted to be a CEO. As a 24 year old I want to write for an anonymous meme account.

So yeah, I’ll be writing weekly content for the face of modern finance: Litquidity. Never give up on your dreams.

Now back to your regularly scheduled travel posts.

Recap

Tuesday, October 26th

I’m a few days behind on this and don’t remember doing anything substantial on Tuesday. 90% sure I ate fish and chips, worked out, and explored the city. We’ll leave it at that.

Wednesday, October 27th

Thanks to our habit of only booking last minute accommodations literally everywhere, I had to move to another hostel today. I stored my bag in the luggage room of my current place, packed a change of clothes, and headed to grab brunch with Jason. We booked a free J.K. Rowling/Harry Potter walking tour of the city at 2:00, and I headed to the gym after brunch to workout before the tour.

I planned to workout, shower at the gym, and catch a bus back to Old Town, where the tour begins. The buses were running late, so I had to grab an Uber instead. I got there 10 minutes late (which has been a recurring problem for me over the last few weeks. My tardiness has definitely been a thorn in Jason’s side), and I met the group on the way to the first stop.

Our tour guide was fantastic. She shared countless details, anecdotes, and cool stories about J.K. Rowling that I had never heard.

She told us about Rowling’s upbringing, the origin of Harry Potter, and how this series changed children’s literature forever. We visited cafes where Rowling wrote the books, the hotel where she finished Deathly Hallows, and a graveyard full of familiar names from the books.

If you enjoy Harry Potter and visit Edinburgh, the free walking tour is awesome.

After the tour, I grabbed my bag from the old hostel and checked in to my new place. Luckily it was right down the road, and I only had one roommate. Jason and I grabbed dinner and returned to the original hostel, where we ran into Jordan. Jordan was one of the Canadians that we hung out with on Monday. Dude looks like Canadian Jesus. He’s teaching math, social studies, and PE in London, and he loves to have a good time. The three of us headed to a local club, Why Not, around 11:30.

This place was freaking nuts. Most people were dressed in costumes, the venue was massive with different DJs in every room, and the vibes were electric. After our weird night out on Monday, this place was sensory overload.

Some dude was dressed up in a seven foot tall spider costume, and it was utterly terrifying. Best costume of the year. The drinks were cheap, the music was great, and we didn’t leave til like 3:30 in the morning. I headed back to my hostel alone, since Jason and Jordan were still at the old one. My one roommate from earlier was gone, but there were four new inhabitants in his place when I returned. Definitely caught me off guard.

Thursday, October 28th

Jason had booked us a tour of the Britannia, the former royal yacht, at 12:45. I woke up at 9:30 and headed straight to the gym. By the time I finished working out, grabbed food, and showered, it was 12:15. I scrambled to catch a bus, and I made it to the ship about five minutes late (classic).

This boat was really cool. The Britannia was the last royal yacht of a lineage that spanned 500 years, and it had traveled to every corner of the world. We saw the captain’s and crew’s quarters, the royal family’s living space, and the massive dining halls on board the ship. Presidents, kings, prime ministers, and all of the world’s most powerful individuals had dined here in the past.

After touring the ship, I went to a Starbucks in the mall to write while Jason headed back to our hostel. We met for dinner at 8 and planned to go our on our last night in town. Why Not had been ridiculous on a Wednesday, and we were pumped to run it back on a Thursday.

We didn’t realize that this venue was only open on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Nothing like walking 20 minutes to a bar without checking to see if it’s open. We walked around for another hour or so before just calling it a night. We had an early trip to London in the morning anyways, so an early night wasn’t a bad thing.

Friday, October 29th

Early morning in Edinburgh. Jason had a flight at 11, and I had a train at 9:00 back to London. A month or so ago, Jason met Mark and several other travelers in Greece. Their group (plus me and Mark’s brother Matt) had arranged a meetup in London. We booked a private, 8 bed hostel room in the middle of town.

I brought Jason’s bag with me on the train (free luggage transportation, baby) and took a seat.

Unfortunately, I didn’t realize when I boarded the train that the seats came in two tiers: reserved and general. My seat was general for the first half of the trek, but someone had a reservation from York to London. That person got on the train, I had to get up, and there weren’t any seats left.

This train was packed. People were standing in the aisles and luggage areas between cars, so I made my way to the very back and stepped into the boarding zone at the rear of the car. The only two seats in the back were taken by a middle-aged man and a young mom with an infant and small child. The five of us, plus two teenagers, were crammed back in this compartment for the next three hours.

I set my bag against the the back wall of the train, and the four year old, Olivia, introduced me to her, her “mum”, and her sister. We then played fifty rounds of rock-paper-scissors. The middle-aged guy was an archeology professor in England, which is the coolest job in the world. He travels to Nepal and China regularly for excavation digs.

After three hours of intense rock-paper-scissors and learning about Nepalese history, we finally arrived in London.

Jason was already there, and we met at the train station to go to the hostel.

Our group for the day was Jason, Mark, Matt, me, Tara (British girl who was already at the hostel), Emma (another British girl from London), Pau (German girl that Mark knew), and Bass (South African dude).

We met Tara and Pau at the hostel and grabbed pizza for lunch. When we got back, Mark was checking in. I sat down in the lobby to write for a while, and the others went back to hang out in the room.

Around 6:30, we all headed out for dinner. Emma, Bass, and Matt met us at some restaurant down the street. We had some British tapas (small plates?), and I enjoyed cauliflower for the first time in my life. Anything tastes good if you fry it and add enough seasoning.

After dinner, we grabbed drinks from a grocery store and headed back to the hostel to pregame. Jason had met a girl from Hong Kong, Karen, who was coming out with us too.

Originally, none of us were planning to dress up for Halloween. Around this time, Jordan, the Canadian teacher that we met in Edinburgh, texted me asking if we were going out. He was back in London as well. I told him that we were, and he should come pregame at our hostel.

30 minutes later, Canadian Jesus walks in. He was literally dressed as Jesus. My man stepped out of Jerusalem circa 30 AD, and we were in jackets and jeans. I couldn’t let a fellow soldier dress up alone, so I switched my shirt for a bedsheet and dressed up as Judas (or a Roman, or Greek, or anyone else who thought bedsheets were fashion in antiquity).

Jordan and I took the metro to Simmons Bar, a popular spot in Soho, while the rest of the group Ubered. Two dudes in bedsheets in 35 degree weather attracts a lot of attention, and we got more than a few comments on the train.

Jordan and I got off the train about half a mile from the bar, and started walking that way. On our way there, two girls in devil costumes walked up to us.

One of the girls walked up to me, grabbed my face, and said, “I loveeee Jesus” before kissing me out of nowhere. Just an absurd interaction. She was definitely attractive so I wasn’t opposed, but I also wasn’t Jesus. I was Judas. The long-haired dude to my left was Jesus.

In the Bible, Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss. I’ll chalk this one up as Biblical irony. I hope devil costume girl is doing well, wherever she is.

We met up with the rest of the group outside of Simmons Bar. Jason, Karen, Jordan, Pau and I all waited in line, but Emma, Mark, Matt, Tara, walked right in the front door. The bouncers didn’t even notice smh.

After an hour wait, we made it in. The place was sick, and all of the Halloween costumes amplified said sickness.

I love Halloween. Jordan had the best costume in the venue, and I was riding his coattails (literally). I got called everything from Judas, to Jesus, to Moses, to Caesar, to Zeus. Bedsheet togas stay undefeated.

Slowly, our group started dwindling down. Pau left. Then Mark and Tara left. Then Jason and Karen left. Then Matt left. Jordan, Emma, and I were the last three standing. Canadian Jesus went light on the water and heavy on the wine, and he disappeared as well.

Emma and I tore up the dance floor til like 3 AM before heading out. After trying to call 27 ubers and taxis, we hopped on a double-decker bus back to the hostel. We finally made it home around 4:30 AM.

The cool thing about going out in a toga is that you are already wearing your sheets when you hop in bed.

Happy Halloween, and God Save the Queen.

Side Note

Pretty much every traveler that I’ve met has delayed their trip back to the States/Canada/wherever they’re from. Tanner met me in Italy then went to Egypt instead of going home. Mark has rescheduled his flight back like 12 times. Canadian Mike just got an Airbnb in the Canary Islands.

Jason is the winner though.

He booked a two week trip to Europe in August. He’s been here for like three months. Instead of visiting two countries, he’s been to or plans to visit Greece, Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Scotland, England, Denmark, Ireland, Amsterdam, and I’m not sure where else.

Two weeks —> a quarter of a year is so ridiculous, but I love it. Long Live Spontaneity.