Haggis, kilts and hairy coos

Challenge 3: Go on lots of day/weekend/many day trips (don't stay in the same place, explore, travel, wander)

In order to explore more of the UK, this week I took a five day tour of the Scottish highlands. The tour was run by Haggis Adventures and involved being driven around the highlands in a big yellow bus that had the foreboding words, 'Wild and Sexy' down the side.

What instantly struck me about Scotland was its beautiful scenery. The snow capped mountains that towered over the lochs were absolutely stunning, so it should have been no surprise that many films were shot here. A highlight of the trip was visiting Glenfinnan, one of the locations where Harry Potter was filmed. As our group stood on a hill playing the Harry theme music on an iPhone, to one side we could see the viaduct that the Hogwarts Express traveled along, and on the other the loch where the Triwizard Tournament took place.

Now no road trip would be complete without some good bus games. As we travelled along, our guide Andy taught us some "traditional Scottish roady games", including identifying elderly people who may be embarking on their last days and yelling, 'They're next!' Our other favourite was keeping an eye out for the elusive Scottish white horse, which is said to have magical properties. If someone spotted one they were required to yell in a high pitched voice, 'white horse!' three times. If we were successful in finding 35 white horses over our five days, we would have DSL (Deep Scottish Love) with the next person we shook hands with. If we were unsuccessful, we would have bad sex for seven years. We were unsuccessful...therefore I don't believe in it.

Another highlight of the highlands was of course visiting Loch Ness, home of Nessie. The loch was much larger than I had anticipated, perhaps because my knowledge of it stemmed from the Simpsons where Mr Burns drained it. The real loch definitely could not be drained, therefore people still believe there could be a monster in there. We were told that questionably large numbers of the fish have gone missing in recent years with no good explanation, causing some suspicion that something could be eating them.

While I didn't find Nessie, I did find multiple "hairy coos", my new favourite animal! They're beautiful long haired cows which graze the highlands and are surprisingly friendly. I also managed to find the hostel bar, where our group bonded over dancing on tables and barrels and drinking incredibly cheap shots.

Overall I've fallen in love with Scotland and could easily see myself living here, desperately searching for the final four or five white horses...or just enjoying the stunning sights and amazing culture. I'd highly recommend the Haggis Adventures tours; I met some fantastic people and made some memories that I'll treasure until 'I'm next'.