If you’ve been reading here you know that I’ve been dealing with a rather severe depression for more than a year. A few months ago I had 36 transcranial magnetic stimulation sessions to try to snap out of the anxiety and depression that were making me a prisoner in my own head.
And it worked. Not entirely, I mean. I still deal with depression and anxiety and I’m still on medication but it reset my head enough to let me leave the house. In fact, the week after my treatment was over we spent a week in Europe, something I never would have imagined was possible for me before.
I probably didn’t do as much as most people do and certainly I missed lots of things that I wanted to do but I got out there and I only had one day of anxiety severe enough to make me hide in my room. I can’t even tell you how impossible that would have sounded to me only a few months ago.
I’ll tell you more about the trip in my next book (BECAUSE I’M WRITING AGAIN) but so many of you asked me to share some of our itinerary so today I’m doing a photo essay of the trip. If you follow me on all the social medias you can totally skip this:
Day one: A new Pope was elected on our first plane.
Our second plane ride was a bit better:
Landed in Glasgow. Tried to go to the Necropolis but it was scary as shit driving on the wrong side of the road in heavy traffic and suddenly A PARADE BROKE OUT so we just drove away. So, we started with fear and failure and less corpses than anticipated but at least the corpses weren’t our so it’s a fair trade. Plus we had breakfast:
ASK ME HOW I KNOW.
Day 2:
Day 3:
But turns out the everyone not Scottish pops all their tires in Scotland so the mechanic had a ton of spares on hand and was able to fix it. SUCCESS!
We explored Isle of Skye, which feels haunted but in the best possible way.
We walked The Quiraing, which was breathtaking and watched out for Highlanders. We didn’t get to the end because it was long and Hailey sprained an ankle and I’m lazy but it was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever experienced in my life. Also, there were sheep.
Also, all the ground in Scotland is so crazy soft you sink into it when you walk. It’s like standing on cats.
I stole fruit.
Day 3:
But we stopped at Loch Lochy (which seems a bit too on-the-nose and I assume was named in an internet contest) and totally found something:
Then I found another monster.
Overall, it was amazing. I actually miss Scotland and usually when I leave a place I feel relief that I’m gone. I cannot recommend it enough. But maybe bring a raincoat. And a spare tire.
Holy shit, this post is getting long. Let’s do London next, okay?