This post was written by Yahye, aged 13, who entered our Young Persons’ Writing Competition 2020.
I will be awoken by my dad at our hotel in Edinburgh, this will be our first holiday since 2019. We will land in Scotland from the US at 10:30pm and we will reach our hotel around midnight. I will get up and have a shower in 15 minutes before going down for breakfast. I have been looking forward to a holiday for too long and I am very excited for today.
Our first stop will be Edinburgh castle, a historic fortress which can be seen for miles as it is perched on top an extinct volcano. We will start the day by visiting the prisoners of war exhibition filled with strange artifacts and interesting information. We will then move onto the Military prison, A small area with 16-minute cells. It is a Victorian style prison where soldiers who performed even the smallest crimes would be locked up in solitary confinement. After, the morning tour we will decide to go to the castle’s café to try the famous Scottish delicacy of haggis, a sheep’s pluck minced with onions, oatmeal, spices, and salt. I nervously cut into the haggis and with slightly trembling hands, direct it towards my mouth, it will take me a few seconds to chew and swallow and I decide it isn’t too bad. I will finish the rest in five minutes. After a long day of sightseeing, we will decide to go back to our hotel.
The next day, we will get up at 6am and take a train to the Lochaber area in the Scottish Highlands. We will bring our hiking gear with us as we are going to climb Ben Nevis (The tallest mountain in the UK) it will be a sunny day with a light breeze as we will stand at the bottom and gaze in awe at this gargantuan mountain towering above us. I will put on my hiking boots nervously as this is my first time climbing a mountain. My dad, however, is quite the expert he had climbed 14 mountains in his life, most recently Mt McKinley 2 years ago in 2021. We will get our pikes and start the summit. The start of the climb will be easy as I will use the pikes to pull me up one step after another. As the climb will go on, the winds will become stronger and more deterring it will even starts to rain for a bit. We will persevere onwards and start to climb faster until we will make it to the top. I will sit down, gasping for breath as a smile will cross my face. I will gaze at the view below we will be above the clouds and all around us there will be smaller mountains jagging out in the skyline. I will feel a sense of pride as I realise this is a huge accomplishment which I will be able to brag about to all my friends.
The next day we will quickly pack our clothes and leave for the airport, our flight back to Phoenix will be at 12pm. As our flight is about to take off, I will gaze down at the quickly shrinking city of Edinburgh. This trip will be a memorable one which I hope I will go on again.