Get ready, Scotland!

In twenty-four hours I will be sitting comfortably on a train to Edinburgh for Hogmanay! I'm pretty excited, though also crazy nervous. I've never stayed in a hostel before, and I don't really know what to expect. The place I booked didn't really have any negative reviews before I booked it, but now they've got all these really negative reviews. People talking about rooms that don't lock, no plugs in the rooms [how am I going to charge my camera?!], really filthy accommodations. One person wrote about homeless people, another wrote about not having any water during their entire stay and not even getting a bit of money back for that... I'm pretty freaked out, and terrified that this place is going to be absolutely disgusting and awful and I won't be able to find another place to stay because Hogmanay is kind of a big deal. 

I'm trying really hard not to freak out, while at the same time preparing for the worst. I've got a suitcase lock, and one of those things that you can use to tie suitcases down. I fully intend to chain the thing to a bunk bed if there's no lockers, and I'm pretty sure there aren't any lockers. I think I'll ask my friend in another hostel to charge my camera battery if it becomes necessary, but I'm hoping it won't. 

I'm hoping the negative reviews are exaggerations because I've been seriously ripped off in the New Year's department. Try snow storms every year, and then the one year I give up and don't even try to get out of Small Town, Nova Scotia it was perfectly clear and didn't storm at all. I've racked up some serious bad karma I guess. I'm especially hoping for a good time because Christmas was sort of awful. I had to socialize with my roommate, NZ, and he's always just so much fun [/sarcasm]. 

Obviously I'll write up a full review upon my return in the new year! I'm sure you'll all be over the hangovers and perfectly capable of reading it then. (:

***

In Royal Fail news, the parcel still hasn't arrived. It's still en route to Canada, so that's lovely. I popped down to the post office to send off a card to the other side of London, and while I was there I thought I'd ask for a ParcelForce claims form. The employee was hilariously condescending and ridiculous, par the course I guess. 

Me: Can I have a claims form for ParcelForce? That parcel I sent out on December 6th still hasn't arrived. 

Employee: How do you know it hasn't arrived? Did you check the tracker?

Me: .... [Thinking, "She can't be serious, how else would I know that it hasn't arrived?"]

Employee: Well, did you?

Me: Of course I checked the tracker! That's how I know it's still en route!

Then the employee asked questions, like did I pay to have it sent quickly, and all this other stuff. that made it clear she wasn't even listening to my responses at all. She asked me three times when I sent it, where I sent it, and then asked again if I sent it before the bad weather hit. I should have just gone in  with, 'December 6th, it was supposed to arrive in Canada within three days,' tattooed to my forehead or something. I, of course, answered while becoming really annoyed though I managed to be polite. I'm sure I had major bitchface going on though. At the end of the increasingly frustrating conversation she announces that they're out of forms and will be until the new year. Nice. ParcelForce still hasn't replied to my e-mail, but I did send it right before Christmas so I'm assuming that's the delay. 

Ugh, crazy frustrating. Just get the package there, Royal Fail! I'm not in the mood for this. 

Here's hoping it arrives by the time I get back from Scotland! I'm pretty sick of dealing with it, honestly. 

Anyway, Happy New Year everyone! 

<3 Jade