Adventures in Europe: Road Trip through the Scottish Highlands, United Kingdom

Over the last week Diana and I drove a loop through the Scottish Highlands, visiting Oban, the Isle of Mull, Iona, Loch Ness, Inverness, Cairngorms National Park, and many other places.

Adventures in Europe: Stonehenge, United Kingdom

 After we left the Cotswolds, we stopped for lunch in Marlborough and then continued driving onward to Stonehenge.

Adventures in Europe: Cotswolds, England, United Kingdom

 Yesterday Diana flew into London and I cycled to Bath and then she bussed and I took the train to Swindon. Today we rented a car to do a little tour, starting in the Cotswolds.

Adventures in Europe: Wales, United Kingdom

I have spent the last four days cycling across Wales from Holyhead to Bristol, and today on from Bristol to Bath. I am blogging about the cycling at my cycling blog (https://cyclingedmontonian.blogspot.ca/), but here are some photos of places I stayed along the way.

Adventures in Europe: London, United Kingdom

I flew into London today (YEG-OHR-LHR), arriving early this afternoon. I am going to start my visit to the UK with a cycling trip in Wales, so I took the tube into the city to pick up a rental bike. The weather was as perfect as you would want in London so I was super happy to cycle from near Waterloo Station up to Euston Station, passing Buckingham Palace, down the mall, around Trafalgar Square, and so on.

I have been in London over five times but it was my first time riding a bike and I cannot believe I never did it before!

Once I reached Euston I wanted to eat before I caught my train, so I sat for a lovely meal in an Indian restaurant.

Then I headed to Euston to catch my 19:00 train to Holyhead, Wales.

The bike fit comfortably, and I settled in for the four hour ride.

Adventures in Asia: Bangkok, Thailand

My final layover on my trek around the globe is Bangkok, whence I will fly to Vancouver and then Edmonton. So, since January 10 I will have flown from Canada to Europe to East Africa to the Indian Ocean to the Middle East to Southeast Asia and back to Canada--literally right around the world. It is the first time I have traveled around the world and the first time I have crossed the 90° east meridian.

My Qatar Airways flight from Doha landed around 19:30, but it took awhile to get through the airport, which was packed. I had booked a hotel close to the airport and I arrived there around 21:00. I briefly considered trying to go into the city, but I was tired and decided I would just eat dinner and go to bed. So, after checking in, I walked a couple of blocks to eat dinner at a rooftop restaurant. Of course it was well after dark, but I still enjoyed the Bangkok vibes, and I ended up eating two plates of pad Thai, a wonderfully cold Singha beer . . .

. . . and some mango sticky rice for dessert.

Adventures in Asia: Doha, Qatar

From the Muscat airport, Diana and I departed in opposite directions, she heading west, me east. We will both get to Edmonton this weekend, but she via Dubai and Toronto and me via Qatar, Bangkok, and Vancouver. So, tonight I had an overnight layover in Doha courtesy of Qatar Airways' stopover program. 

I was disappointed how long it took me to get through the airport, but once I did I was easily able to board the gorgeous metro and make my way to the Souq Waqif metro station. From here it was a short walk to my hotel, the Central Inn, where I checked in around 20:00.

It is my first time in Doha and my flight is around 8:00 tomorrow, so with only a few hours, I decided the obvious thing to do was stay in the neighbourhood and explore Souq Waqif. As far as I understand, unlike so many of the ancient or nearly-ancient Middle Eastern souks I have visited, Doha's Souq Waqif is made up largely of buildings less than twenty years old. The location was at one time on the coast and therefore a centre of trade, but after land reclamation projects placed it a kilometre from the shore the area fell into neglect and a serious fire destroyed most of what was left of the neighbourhood in 2003.

Anyway, now it is thriving and clearly a very popular destination on a Friday evening.

I was lucky to find a one seat table on an outdoor patio and eat some dinner while I watched the crowds of tourists, expats, and locals eating, shopping, enjoying shisha and tea, and so on.

I was enjoying myself so much I decided to prolong my meal with a banana milkshake for dessert.

After dinner I took about an hour to meander on my way back towards the hotel.

I was amused to see a Canadian coffee company, Second Cup, represented amongst the Souq Waqif's businesses!

It was a quick visit to Doha and I will be eager to come back and see more, but I felt lucky to have gotten to enjoy the souq at least, more or less as "bonus" on my way home.