Molly "Braveheart" Khatcheressian

My first day driving on the left I was rewarded with the experience of encountering Loch Lomond. It was beautiful!

Well, here it is from the beginning.
5AM leave the hostel in Dublin to stand in the rain and wait for the city bus to take me to the airport
6ish wait around in the Ryanair waiting area (think Greyhound station) until my flight to Scotland
7:59 scheduled departure
8:10 in the air
9ish arrive at Glasgow-Prestwick Airport
shortly after 9ish pick up rental car
now it was about 45 minutes after this that I had the only semi-breakdown of the trip so far - here's the story:
My plan was to drive from Prestwick to Oban by way of Loch Lomond. I was a bit anxious of being swooped into Glasgow traffic. The driving on the left was a bit overwhelming at first. In an attempt to avoid the city traffic I diverted too soon and ended up wandering around the country roads and suburbs. Finally, worn-out, hungry and frustrated, I pulled off the road into a neighborhood. I inadvertantly pulled into a no-way-out street and a truck with a lawn mower on a trailer pulled behind me. We both had to back out so I could escape. (eee gads) I turned in to the next spot which was a gravel lot with some community trash dumpsters and a woman selling snacks out of a trailer. I sat in the car on the edge of tears trying to decide what to do. I finally got out and went to speak with the snack lady. She was a saint. Really, it's like one of those stories of a random stranger showing up out of nowhere to offer needed assistance. Long story shorter - she called her husband for directions, a friend stopped by the trailer and actually wrote the directions down for me, she made me a burger, gave me a candy bar and wished me well on my journey. Also, she was the first of several people to call me "braveheart", really. (Is it too pretentious to start using that as a nickname?)


I'll have to get into the story of my Loch Lomond adventure in another post.