In the next articles, I have decided to publish a story I wrote about something I lived. A story located in Edinburgh, Scotland, and in Çesky Krumlov, Czech Republic. It’s a different format from what I usually write in here, I hope you’ll like it. I changed Nina’s name, just in case.
Scotland – My Last Day In Edinburgh
It was my last day in Edinburgh and I was sitting in the dining room of my hostel, having breakfast. A really good breakfast actually. Authentic orange juice, pastries and coffee. The hostel was a bit expensive, but it was really cool and, for once, I liked not feeling poor by staying in a very basic hostel. Anyway, I was fully satisfied with my morning. Until she arrived.
She sat down in front of me. A young girl with long blond hair and blue eyes. Even though I’m not really sure I noticed them immediately. What I noticed was her tone. She said “Can I talk to you?”. Her tone. Very detached. It raised alarms in my head. Not serious alarms, just something like “Oooh, this one is going to be annoying, she’ll try to sell me something”. You know, kind of like when someone stops you in the middle of the street. But I’m polite and I like meeting new people, so I gave it a try. I said “OK”.
Telling The Story Of Her Arrival In Scotland
So she started talking. Telling me her story. And all my alarms shut up, and I felt like I wanted to be her big sister for the day. She was (still is) Israeli and it was her first time outside the country. She was in between diplomas and had decided to go on a trip, like most of her friends. However, they went to sunny countries, to the beach or to any other heavenly destination. And she was here, in Scotland.
For her, it was some sort of pilgrimage. Her mother had lived in Scotland when she was younger and, ever since she was a little girl, she had heard stories about that trip. That’s why she chose Edinburgh as a starting point for a long organized hike across Scotland.
Except she had had a stopover in Ukraine and her luggage had stayed there for some reason.
She had been in Scotland for a few days and was still wearing the same clothes as her luggage had not arrived. She kept calling the airline company and they were telling her that her luggage was about to arrive, but nothing had happened. She had only one day left before joining the group to do the hike, and she didn’t know what to do. She was desperate and was wondering if she should buy her equipment all over again.
Meeting A Predator
She told me that when she landed in Edinburgh, she was a bit lost and she didn’t know how to get to the hostel. The guy who was sitting next to her in the plane had been really nice and had guided her in Edinburgh, had talked about his life and had brought her to the hostel. A gentleman, right?
Well, not so much because he had also kissed her without asking. She was barely 20 and he was at least 40 and since that moment, he had been harassing her by text messages to see her again. She didn’t know what to do because she didn’t want to kiss him, because he made her feel uncomfortable, but also she thought that, since he had helped her, she should be nice to him.
Sisterhood
That made me jump, fully embracing my role of big sister. I told her that, whatever the situation, if she didn’t want to be with someone, nothing justified her to force herself. If he had helped her, good for his karma, but she didn’t owe him anything! From my point of view, he had taken advantage of her vulnerability and was continuing to do so. I told her to politely say no by text and not to worry. And I reassured her by saying that she was well within her rights.
At that moment, I felt like I was transmitting some kind of heritage. Me too, when I started travelling solo, I had a lot of questions and worries about the good practices, about how to interact with locals and with other travellers. And other seasoned female travellers had helped me to feel more comfortable and confident and to travel more serenely.
I have some doubts about the category of this series of articles. It could be thoughts, it could simply be travel tips.
To see more photos of the United Kingdom, you can visit the gallery United Kingdom.
And to read more thoughts, you can access the page Thoughts.
