Today got off to a strange note while I was making breakfast in the hostel. An older woman that I had seen the previous night but not spoken to, who permanently wears a mask and sunglasses, came in and accused me of being "up to something". When I asked what she was talking about, she claimed "I have hidden cameras... I've been watching you. I know what you're doing. Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about". She then proceeded to stare directly at me while I was cooking for the next fifteen minutes minutes or so while occasionally levying some weird claim about my involvement in this grand conspiracy. One of the facets of my plot was apparently opening the cupboard doors to make her trip (she had failed to close the door in question just moments prior). Anyway, she apparently got kicked out later today because the people she was sharing a room with had to put up with similarly nutty stuff and complained.

Almost the entire day was spent on a big bus tour of the Highlands. I got almost no sleep last night so this was tough, but I got a little sleep on the many hours of bus travel we throughout the day. The first half of the trip went up to Inverness and Loch Ness, including a brief cruise around the lake. Honestly, I didn't find any of it that impressive. The lake is nice but it's really just a lake, and the immediately surrounding scenery isn't especially notable either. The cows were really cute though. Things changed in the western region of the Highlands, closer to Ben Nevis and Loch Linnhe. The landscape becomes properly mountainous and there were some genuinely breathtaking views that I didn't know existed in the UK. It's no Yosemite or Fiordlands, but it really is more impressive than I'd expected. The tour guide played some very atmospheric traditional folk music throughout this section and it was quite moving. These sisters from Buffalo I befriended thought very similarly.

We had pretty favorable weather for most of the day. Aside from a couple very light showers, it was uncommonly sunny. I was annoyed to hear the guides claim that Scotland "experiences four seasons in a day", a phrase that I've heard verbatim in New Zealand but is analogous to many from all over the world - except Scotland is famous for having incredibly invariable temperature, unlike those other places.

Lunch was prepreppared PB&J (wanted ham but figured it might not keep well), supplemented with a late afternoon snack of a rather wet chicken sandwich from a rest stop. Dinner was ramen and more zucchini. Over dinner I met a very interesting Australian woman who apparently has multiple PhDs, retired at 50, and now lives out of a van for half the year and travels the world "housesitting" for people otherwise. Seems like a great deal. Talked at length with a few more Canadians, too. This has all highlighted a rather alarming trend: I've only met a single German in a hostel since being here. I don't know what's up with them, but they're off their game. I met a guy with the accent today but he ended up being Austrian. He actually had some really good advice for travelling the Balkans which was partially cut off by a very classy Scottish gentleman who immediately started interjecting into the conversation, Roman saluting the Austrian ("He doesn't get the reference, bro!"), blasting Kanye from his phone speakers, and ranting about immigrants for absolutely no reason ("If you want to have an open conversation about it, I'm here, that's all I'm saying!"). I think he works here.

Tomorrow I head to London by train. Assuming all goes well, I'll get in a little after noon. I'm not sure what I'll do first, but I'll have to find my hostel and scope it out. Upon further inspection I'm slightly concerned that the hostel may be a little more "party" oriented than I'm looking for, but we'll see. It was cheap and close to downtown, and I've only booked two nights so I can pivot somewhere else if I decide it's not for me. I expect to be in London for at least 5 days; a city as huge and significant as this surely warrants at least that much.