The last day in Scotland started around 5:30am on a train to St. Andrews. The train was very empty since it wasn’t really a time where a lot of people were traveling, but St. Andrews is also a little town where there isn’t a whole lot to do if you don’t golf. St. Andrews is the birthplace of golf and has the most famous course in the world. I’m not a golfer, to be honest I can barely even mini golf, but I enjoy playing it. When it comes to actual golf I’m not much of a fan and I have never really had a desire to play. So going to St. Andrews was a little bit of a questionable decision since there didn’t seem to be much to do but play golf. While that is true, there are some other things to do and see around the town. The train there was only about an hour long so it was really early to be there and the latest I had to leave was by 8:30 to catch the trains back to the airport for my flight in the morning.
Right from the train station there’s a bus that goes into St. Andrews and I decided that starting off at the golf course would be a good idea since it was early and there wouldn’t really be anyone around. Little did I know that there were actually going to be quite a few guys out on the course already golfing and getting an early start. St. Andrews doesn’t just have one course on its grounds; actually there are about 4 or 5 different courses in this one area. I walked around for a couple of hours and just tried to follow the paths through the different courses. A couple of times I walked across the greens just to see more of the course and I did get yelled at because I accidently walked through a golf match. Is golf even played in matches? I don’t really know what they’re called, but I didn’t know at the time that there were multiple courses going in different directions and I walked through one of the greens that were being played on.
I have to admit I’ve never been on an actual golf course before, so it just looked like a large green field with some sand pits in it. I know that they’re called bunkers but to be completely honest I’m still not sure what the appeal is in golf. Along one edge of the course there’s a beach that goes out to St. Andrews Bay and walking along a beach seemed more enjoyable than a golf course. It was so nice to kick off my shoes and walk barefoot in the sand. I’m really not a fan of sneakers, if it were up to me I would always either be barefoot or in flip flops, but it’s safer to wear sneakers so I always have them on. I was beyond ecstatic that I could take them off and walk around for a while without them. As I got closer to the water I ended up going searching for sea shells and I collected a bunch more to add to my collection back in Cork. I walked along the beach until I hit the end of it and had the choice of heading back to the golf course or walk into town. I decided to go into town and see if I could find the castle that was falling into the sea. St. Andrews is one of those little towns where everyone knows each other and they are all very friendly people and welcoming to visitors. Most of the other cities or towns are so big that people aren’t really bothered with tourists. It was a nice, quiet little town and most of the people I saw were dressed and ready to go golfing.
After taking a small break for a couple of hours I walked around more of the town and found the castle ruins. I also found the old cathedral that was also standing in ruins. I walked around and just saw the town and what was there. Once I had seen pretty much all there was to see I headed back to the golf course and walked around it a little bit more, without getting in anyone’s way this time. I also returned to the beach and climbed out on the rocks just for the sake of doing so. It was getting late and I still had to get the trains back to the airport so I got the bus back to the train station. For some reason there were issues going on in Edinburgh that was causing trains to either be delayed or terminated all over the place. I got to the train station a couple hours earlier than I really needed to be because the 8:30 train was the last one I could take in order to make it to the airport on the last train from Glasgow. While I was waiting I did end up dozing off for a while, but there was still a lot of time left for me to catch a train back towards Edinburgh where I would switch trains for Glasgow and then switch one last time for Prestwick. With the issues that were going on with the trains a lot of the trains to Edinburgh weren’t even making it to St. Andrews so I was stuck waiting for hours to catch a train. None of them were coming and when it came time for the 8:30 train to get there it was originally running late, but after a few minutes the guy at the station announced that it was terminated as well. I’m generally not someone who freaks out about things, but at that moment I did just a little bit. I talked to the guy and asked him if there was any way to still make the last train to Prestwick and he looked it up and said I would make it with plenty of time. So I was fine with that and I got on the next train that came. When I got into Edinburgh I actually got onto an earlier train than I was supposed to since it would take less time, but it went to the Queen Street station which was a few minutes away from Central Station where the last train I needed would be. Things were working out and I was feeling better about things because I was still very nervous since the trains at St. Andrews had pushed me back about 20 minutes. When I got to Glasgow I walked to the Central Station where all the gates were closed… The last train that the man said left for the airport was at midnight and it was only 11:35. I was panicking a bit and was really worried that I wasn’t going to end up getting back in time for my flight since the next train wasn’t until 5:30 in the morning and my flight was at 6:00. I started asking around and a couple people kept saying I wasn’t going to make it and that the gates were all closed, which didn’t really help, but one guy told me where to find the only open gates into the station. When I got there it was about 20 of and there weren’t any departures up on the board. I was really hoping that I was just looking at it wrong so I asked a couple of the people who worked in the station and one of them told me that the last train towards the airport left 10 minutes ago. I feel really bad because I lost it a little bit and freaked out on the guy and he was a little taken a-back by my reaction. I explained that I needed to be at the airport and when my flight was (all in a very panicked way) and he said that if I hurried I could make it to the bus station where the last bus left at midnight for the airport. I thanked him and then pulled out my map from the first day I was there and very frantically found my way to the bus station. Of course the main concourse of the station is closed and I didn’t really know where to find the buses so I’m only panicking even more about it. I ended up following a few other people and I found the bus as the last few people were getting on. The bus driver realized that I had no clue where to get off so he offered to give me a holler and let me know.
I will admit, I don’t think I finally settled down from that set back until I was finally back in my flat in Cork. While I was on the bus it all started to make sense though that the man in St. Andrews thought there was a midnight train. All of the train and bus schedules for the cities are run by the same company so the schedules are all just put together. So he was thinking train as he was looking at the times for the buses. Either way I was thankful that I was on my way back to the airport and was going to be there in plenty of time to take a small nap before my flight. All in all Scotland was great and I’m glad that I had gone. I’m back in Ireland for a couple days before my mom arrives and I’m headed back out of the country.
With Love Always
omg, I would have freaked out so much
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