Illusion/false realities

The world at my fingertips, literally. 

This trip has changed me in small but significant ways. I've been typing back and forth trying to translate my wandering thoughts into sentences, but even then I don't know how to properly describe it. What I do know is that I have a different mindset from the one I had merely weeks ago, before I embarked on my trip. Previously, somehow I was sucked into thinking that there was only one conventional path to attaining life successes, and that those that deviated from it would be at a disadvantage. I hardly tinkered with the thought of looking for opportunities abroad, because, well, it just seemed risky and unfavourable to play my cards that way. But seeing these places, being in a completely different surrounding and culture, it makes you look at things from another perspective. Suddenly the idea of starting a life away from the safe haven I've known doesn't seem so implausible after all. 

And I have to say that I see Nava and Keith in a different light now (not that my previous impression of them was bad). They have admirable traits that I didn't notice/appreciate prior to this trip. They are the sort of people that you hope to meet in the real world because of how impressively street-smart they are, possessing the kind of skills set I wish I had myself. (After spending almost every waking moment with the pair it's highly likely that their charm has rubbed off on me.)

So far for me the best part of the Scotland leg was scaling Arthur's Seat, not by the pedestrian path but by climbing the steep side of hill where I was on all fours gripping the grass and praying that I wouldn't slip. That experience and the view from the top beat every tourist attraction and site that we've been in Edinburgh. You just can't compete with Mother Nature.