The Life Changing Experience of Your First International Travel- Stirling, Scotland
Have you considered trying travelling or doing a solo travel experience? Take it from me, travelling has a way of changing your life. My first international travel experience to Stirling, Scotland was amazing.
My mother-in-law said something to me recently that really impacted me. She said, “You cannot travel internationally and come back the same person.”
And honestly, how true is that?
Especially your first international travel experience.
Growing up we didn’t travel, especially to other countries. My mother is not the best traveller; severe motion sickness. Not at all pleasant.
So my first international travel experience was at the age of 22 in 2014 to the small-ish town of Stirling, Scotland.
Beautiful green rolling hills in Stirling, Scotland. The Old Stirling Bridge in the bottom and the Wallace Monument on the hill.
Taken with early 2000’s digital camera (type unknown)
The moment I stepped off the bus in Stirling after flying into Glasgow airport I fell in love.
Stirling was everything I had dreamed Scotland to be. It was a small town but big enough to have an important castle and a university. It had beautiful stone buildings, a monument, enough sights to fill an entire 10 days and cobblestone roads (oh, did I ever love those cobblestone roads).
Buildings in Stirling, Scotland featuring an example of Cobblestone roads
Taken with early 2000’s digital camera (type unknown)
But there was something that amazed me the most…
It was how I felt.
Now I might have been expecting to feel different so the self-fulfilling prophecy made it so but honestly, I felt everything lift off of my shoulders immediately. I felt free. I felt empowered. I felt at home.
We got off the bus in front of a watering hole (I soon found out this meant that they did not serve food, only drinks and I was sober at this time so when I ordered an ice tea that request was met with a very strange look). Our accommodations weren’t ready yet so my entire band filed into this little tavern (taking up the entire place) at about 2 in the afternoon. There we met a young girl with her parents.
It turned out she was from the US but had been going to school at Strathclyde University in Stirling, conveniently that was where we were staying, and her parents were there to watch her graduate.
I remember thinking that she had exactly what I wanted. I had always wanted to study abroad. I had even started making plans for it. Those plans didn’t end up working out but these things happen for a reason.
Photo of Stirling, Scotland and the Stirling Castle Graveyard taken from Stirling Castle
Taken with early 2000’s digital camera (type unknown)
Here’s what I love the most about Stirling (and why it’s my favourite city in the world (so far)):
The greenness.
Okay, so this is all of Scotland and the UK thing in general. It’s very green.
The historicness.
I was so intrigued by the cobblestone roads (that is until I had to march and drum in a parade up them and almost ate it) and fell in love with the look of the buildings and the “old town” part. There is a lot of that all around Scotland but Stirling felt like all of it was this way. If you go to Glasgow there are a decent amount of old-looking buildings but it honestly is like any other big modern city.
The small and safe feeling.
It was definitely a small-town feeling. And I felt so safe there. It was almost like it was familiar. And I think honestly, for a first-time international trip that was such an important part. If I hadn’t felt so safe and comfortable I don’t know that I would be as in love with travelling as I am. I think your first one is a make-or-break-it kind of thing. No matter if it’s good or if it bombs you come back a changed person but having a good first travel experience will really set the tone for how you go about travelling in the future or if you even do.
But I’d like to tell you a story about this first experience that led to some great things in the future.
The Old Stirling Bridge, Stirling Scotland
Taken by Dave Mann - Photos By Dave
On this first trip to Scotland when we stayed in Stirling we came as a band. We had two main events; playing in a parade where we march through the streets (yes, those cobblestone streets… And yes, I did slip on the cobblestone while marching) of Stirling for a festival and playing in Queen Anne’s courtyard in Stirling Castle.
These were absolutely amazing. I cannot describe to you how exciting it was to play in the castle. The acoustics in the courtyard were unbelievable and the feeling of doing something so unique that I had never experienced before was amazing.
The band then got to tour the castle for free. We took photos and had a blast. It quickly became my favourite castle in Scotland (yes, even more than Edinburgh). My secret dream was to get married there however, that dream was soon squashed when I discovered it cost about $17k (probably more now) to get married there. I even started a fiction book which was based at the castle…
No, in case you’re wondering, I never finished it.
All photos taken at Stirling Castle in Stirling, Scotland on an early 2000’s digital camera
When the band goes to Scotland we stay at the university residence. It’s an easy way to keep band members altogether for an affordable price and our first trip to Stirling was no exception. We stayed at the University of Strathclyde residence across a bridge from the main part of town.
That bridge was the Old Stirling Bridge where the battle of Stirling Bridge took place (I know, you probably never would have guessed that name. It’s so creative).
The Battle Of Stirling Bridge was a historic victory during the first war of Scottish Independence. The forces of Andrew Moray and William Wallace (after the Wallace Monument in Stirling) defeated the combined English forces as one of the only victories the Scottish had against the English at that time.
But here’s what my bandmates and I knew about it…
Every morning for breakfast a whole herd of us would march ourselves across the bridge (it was right where we were staying) into the little bakery on the other side of it to grab ourselves a coffee and pastry for about 1 pound. And their stuff was amazing.
One thing I came back from Scotland preaching was that the coffee over there was far superior to any coffee in Canada. It’s true. I no longer drink coffee (since about 2018 but I would absolutely drink coffee there).
This little bakery made amazing coffee and their pastries were out of this world. They were in a strange part of the town and I don’t think in a touristy part but they were the best kept secret in Scotland.
The best bakery in Stirling
Taken with early 2000’s digital camera (type unknown)
Ultimately, this trip changed me.
I fell in love with the freedom and independence I felt.
At home, I was so dependent on people, yet hyper-independent at the same time. I felt like I didn’t know how to be alone yet I always suffered in silence.
I had severe depression and extreme anxiety, I had OCD, undiagnosed ADHD, undiagnosed Sensory Processing Disorder, suffered from selective mutism and shyness and I was in the middle of an Eating Disorder I didn’t want to admit. I lived in fear of everything and anything. I always felt stuck. Stuck having to be the person everyone thought I was. Stuck in perfectionism. Stuck hating life. I didn’t want to be there anymore.
But on that trip to Stirling, I was none of those things.
I no longer felt scared or anxious, actually, I felt empowered and brave. I no longer felt sad and I genuinely wanted to still be on this earth. I ate without needing to run for 10 km’s or have an hour-long workout where I told myself how disgusted I was with myself (I went to the same restaurant multiple times alone and devoured the most amazing bowl of mac n cheese). I didn’t feel obsessive I felt present in the moment. I no longer felt scattered and overwhelmed I felt grounded.
That was the trip that made me fall in love with travel and showed me a world without my “alphabet soup” of struggles.
I can’t say that my life was perfect from there on out. Once I returned home and had demands placed back on me I still struggled but that trip showed me there was another way.
It showed me that those things were not out of my control and there was something that could be done. I wasn’t hopeless anymore. Travel gave me something to live for. In those rolling green hills I chose to live.
I felt so brave that one day I went off exploring Stirling on my own.
All photos of Old Town in Stirling taken on an early 2000’s digital camera. Photo quality is poor.
If you’ve been considering a solo travel experience (or any travel experience) let this be your sign…
Travel and exploration is the thing I love most in the world.
I literally owe my life to it.
XO,
Sarah