11:48
What's up, buddy? I come in peace. In Scotland? You get this freedom. Everything that you can see is attainable. Yes. Okay. Oh, damn. This is a old You're a big guy. You can handle those weights, can't you? Yeah. Suck the head. You can't make this up. It's lunch time. What's going on, guys? My name is Colby Jordan and I'm a content creator here in London. Time to make a shepherd's pie. And I'm an American traveling around the UK making videos about the nuances between the US and the UK. Today I'm in Romsey, which is in Hampshire. And now I'm going up north to Scotland with my very own tour guide. I've had a
lot of perceptions of Scotland. For example, like the fairy tales, the interesting accent in Shrek. So now it's time to find out for myself and bring out with me. Let's get it. So my name is Brian. I'm a tour guide here in Scotland. Focused on the more natural and quiet side of what Scotland has. I think the real Scotland is a pretty equal blend of the land, the history, and of course it's people. This is my everyday and it's where I get to explore, adventure, and occasionally showcase the best of what it has to offer. We'll explore the Highlands and Islands and all the twists and turns along the way.
I want to share the history and culture so Colby gets to understand what living in Scotland is really about, not just what you see on TV. But first up, Colby's arriving in Edinburgh. I love history. But in America, we're a bit light on that compared to somewhere like Scotland. So I can't wait to immerse myself in its story. And thought I'd start off with something pretty iconic. Well, then. Yo, how are you doing, brother? I'm Howie. How are you? I'm Colby. Nice to meet you, bro. be your special guy.
Crazy in here. did you get into this and what does like kilts mean to you? Oh, I'm fourth generation in the business. For me, this is my life and passion. Sheesh. But my grandparents were kiltmakers, my father, my great-grandparents. And where it became very personal to me is because I have no clan or tartan connection, Okay. I wanted the kilt to be open to everybody. But the word kilt goes back hundreds years and it's Scandinavian kilter, to tuck or pleat. That's actually really neat.
You're a big boy. I am indeed. So a normal size kilt is 8 yd of fabric, 7.3 m. We put 9 yd on you. I'll I'll take your word for it. Yeah, yeah, be good. You'll look amazing. But it's so cool knowing that there's different kilts for different type of people. Like he was telling me he doesn't even have a clan, but still represents the kilt in his own way and makes it his own. I love tea cakes. Yeah. I love me a tea cake. Thank you. I never had this back home. It's called a tea cake. I can't even describe it. Is it marshmallow? It's actually so delicious.
This feels oddly kind of nice. It's fantastic. That is really nice outfit. I think I was only meant for this. This feels so freeing, bro. The way it just splits in the wind, bro. Sick. I think one of the best things about kind of taking people around doing this kind of thing is seeing it through their eyes. You kind of seeing the same thing over and over again, but kind of for the first time every time. Hello, Colby. I heard you're having some fun in Edinburgh, but I think it's about time we saw some of the real Scotland. So you're going to come to the Wangie, and we can explain that a little bit later, but um make sure you dress warm.
Check out what three words for plums running another and I'll see you here. All of my God, I love his accent. I don't mind the cold, but there is a limit where things get a bit too cold. So, I'm a bit nervous. I just my mind's kind of running rampant of like what could it possibly be. I want to find a connection to Scotland and deeper meaning from what I already know. The Whangie's kind of a It's a bit of a geological wonder. It's kind of this beautiful gorge that kind of comes out of nowhere and so it's a real like barrier between the city and the nature.
It's not too difficult. It's a really nice day. And it's just cold enough to warm up on the hike. I think it'll be ideal. All right, I think I'm at the right place. The what three? The kissing plum strawberries. That has to be Brian. Yo. If it's not Brian, then I'm leaving it to some random guy on top of the mountain. I heard he was the big guy, so I'm assuming that's him. I'm waving at That's actually Brian. He looks amazing right now. The silhouette on top of the mountain, bro, looks so I'm majestic, so Scottish.
I'm I'm so ready for this, man. Something tells me I'm going the wrong way, but like do I go up the path? This is supposed to be the easiest part and we can't even make the freaking So, I guess I'm just going to follow them. I am knackered. Generally, the first obstacle was finding this path, so here we are. Brother, I'm 6'5, 240 lb, not even soaking wet, and I will say by the end of this hill might get the best of me. Honestly, I think I see cultures with an open mind and unbiased. And this is something I've always wanted to do. Almost there, Brian.
Not much further, I promise. How's it going, man? Nice to meet you, man. Nice to meet you in person. Well done. Thank you, brother. That one of one, man. Welcome to the Wangie. Loch Lomond, to the mountains, the forests. This is kind of [snorts] what you're going to experience for the rest of the trip.
I'm so ready for it. I honestly generally so beautiful, man. And it's like so this is your norm. The Wangie itself is a little further up and it's essentially a gorge. It's a gorge that cuts randomly through some of this rock here. The more fun story is as the devil was flying over this landscape, he whipped his tail off the side of the rock and created a massive gorge Oh, sick. This is where he used to hold his coven with his witches. One of the things about Scotland is it's a bit of a marvel when it comes to things like our rocks and our old forests, but back when people were making these stories, they didn't know
that, so they had to make things up to go along with them. So things like a gorge that would have happened through time and erosion water was actually the devil flying by and whipping his tail off it. And these things are fun explanations, but also now part of our history and our lore and what makes Scotland this kind of mystical place. We just got talking about mythical creatures, unicorns, and Scotland has to offer and lo and behold a flipping rainbow right behind me. This is what I'm talking about. I don't know if the Scotland gods or Brian summoned this, but like I'm here for it. I want to see more of it. And so we begin our journey north where Colby can start to learn more about this land.
Scottish roads really freak me out, bro, right there. That's the thing. Every single corner could have a cow, a sheep, a couple of people, a pulled over car, a tourist. It's also a pretty common occurrence to have gigantic rainbows. Double rainbow. think it's triple, actually. You see two sides of it. So, uh an interesting thing is um anytime you go through a small town like we just went through, you'll often get sunshine. And when you do it enough, you start to realize that's why they built that town there. Uh Because in that particular bit, it's the rain doesn't come there, so it gets more sunshine than normal places. So, the whole reason these places are built
there is because of the weather. Where are we off to right now? What's what's next on the agenda? We're going to head almost directly north towards the water that we could see from the viewpoint. And that's Loch Lomond. Loch Lomond, let's go. We're going to head to Balloch. So And Balloch. Balloch? So, in Scottish, whenever you see the c h, instead of ch, it's a ch. So, like Loch. Balloch. Instead of Balloch or Balloch, it's Balloch. So, Loch. How do you find the Scottish accent? It's one of my favorite accents of all time.
It's right, yeah. So, I was like, bro, the Scottish accent has a special place in my heart. I'm seeing mallets and axes and this little diving What in the world is this stuff for? You have to be prepared. Okay. So, this is for bear attacks. For bear attacks? Little mallet to the head usually sends them running. Legit? No. Oh. Scotland has no apex predators. Not at all? So, there's no bears, there's no coyotes, there's no links, there's no anything like that. But, if you come to Scotland during the summer, there's these little bugs. We call them midges.
And if you get overrun by them, then you're kind of done for. The only way to protect yourself is to wear one of these. And it And where does this go? Right over the top of your head. I feel like you're taking the piss. Are you legit? That's absolutely what it's for. And that'll protect you from the midges. Ain't no bugs getting next to me, bro. All right, man. So, we're looking for a scarf. What's your color palette? I like my greens. I like my darks. When I think of Scotland, this is the pattern I think of right here.
Yeah, that's a pretty uh traditional one. Yeah. You'll always find someone at the wedding wearing one of these. Feel like a drunk uncle. So, what's the closest to that one? The fun drunk uncle. Am I like allowed to wear a tartan, or am I going to get canceled? Most people in Scotland will say that you do what you want. That's our whole vibe. Whether you're camping in, you can go where you want, drinking whiskey, drink it the way you want, or picking your own tartan. If it matches my eyes, then go get it. Should I get it? I think that's a good pick.
Let's do it, man. Cheers. Boom. Time to check out. So, this is always the segue to the adventure for me. This is always a part where you're going to something bigger, but this is the start. This is the doorway. This is the entrance towards whatever that's going to be. So, for me, Loch Lomond's usually the start of something good. Today's been gray, cloudy, and rainy, but that's what Scotland is. Was Scotland always on your list to visit? After moving to the UK, so many people kind of praised Scotland. Where it's like people, it's nature. So, I was like, you know what? Okay. So, as soon as I moved there, I was like, that's top of my list now. So, after this trip, you'll have seen more of the real Scotland than, you
know, a lot of my friends. A lot of my family, as well. Jeez. Um a lot of people here are still kind of bogged down in the cities. So, um it doesn't really get much of a look from the people that live here, as much as it should. There I'm 20 minutes from my house right now. So, it doesn't take long to get to this. I used to live this busy city life, the 9-to-5 routine, the stress. But, I always felt a pull back to where I'm from. So, I came home to reconnect with nature and embrace a slower pace of life. I don't understand why you like it so much, man. It's just so chill. Even when like, you know, you plan a trip and the alarm clock goes off in the morning at 6:00 and you're like, "I don't want to do that." But, the second you get out of there, you're like,
Yep. Yeah, this is why I do it. You need that. It's kind of like, you got to fill your cup with this and spend it everywhere else, but this is where you fill up. I was going to say as well, are there any apex predators in the water? Uh in the lochs, no. Apart from Nessie. Okay. That's it. Apart from that, there's no other Apart from Nessie and the water horses. The water horse is a mythical beast and it's meant to tempt you over into riding it. It sticks you to it and it takes you in the water and it drowns you.
These lores are literally They're always pretty bad. graphic, bro. I just don't even imagine that. But, it presents itself as either a beautiful horse or a beautiful man. A beautiful man? man, yeah. So, it's like, "Oh, don't be scared." But, yet there is a folklore about freaking horses that take you in and drown you. So, there's there's there's there's a nice there's serenity mixed with a little bit of horror and mystique that I'm kind of like trying to find a fine balance. I think a lot of the stories are sinister in a way, but they have a positive message. They're a warning not to do something that could potentially be harmful. They're to help avoid
something that could be dangerous. But, um why there's a sinister twist on it, I'm not entirely sure. As much as I want to be brave, but I'm I get scared very easily. So, we followed the winding roads on the banks of Loch Lomond further into the wilderness, definitely in the middle of nowhere and what you might consider to be a scary part of this part of the land. The Drovers Inn, one of the most haunted inns in Scotland. Absolutely. I know, right? How you doing, brother? Nice. Wait, is my room haunted?
Oh, yeah. Brother, no, I promise [clears throat] if this haunted, I'm going to room with somebody. Bunk with you, bunk with Brian, bro, cuz like there's no way I'm living by myself. It was sort of I think it was the '50s or the '60s. There was a woman poisoned her husband in here. [snorts] Uh he died in the room. Quite often people find things sort of knocked about the room when they're sleeping here. They'll find they've left something there. They'll wake up at night and sort of all of a sudden they'll be you know, the bins tipped over here. All sorts of you know, it's just like someone's just sort of going about sort of like The moment I hear a freaking peep, I'm
sprinting out that room. Otherwise, would you like to see the rooms there, gents? Absolutely. Yeah, why not? Can I freaking sleep in a haunted room? God. [snorts] Nah, dude, this is not good. I'm just trying to tell myself it'll be okay. Let's have a wee little look around here, bro, cuz like this stuff like actually I feel like it feels hella eerie. And the fact this freaking bathroom was cracked is not good. I just really hope genuinely he was probably exaggerating about the guy dying. So apparently got wife poisoned his husband here. So, brother, if you're here, I come in peace, I promise, man. I come in peace. Maybe we
can all hold on the way down cuz like this place is just scary. Like I'm actually kind of scared, bro. Like I'm actually scared like off camera. Like I'm actually scared, bro. Cuz I can feel it, but I swear I can feel it. This freaking stuffed boxes, pigeons, ducks. I think there's a bear out there just waiting to like growl at you. Expectations, have they have met? It so It sounds kind of ignorant, but I never knew how nature-esque Scotland was until now. After today, I've low-key been so jealous that you get to live here. This is your everyday, bro. Random question,
but what's the proper way to sip a whiskey? Cuz I took a sip, and this just hit my chest. So, the answer to most things in Scotland is the way you want to do it. Every way you want to do it is the right way. Do you want to put some water in it to calm it down a little bit if it's too kind of acidic or too alcoholic? Stick some water in it. Want to put some ice in it to kind of let it cool down a little to weed it. Then no one's going to judge you with like, "Oh, come on." No one's going to judge you on anything, yes. that. Okay. I think for the first few, you essentially want to just let it go on your lips and almost let it evaporate before even gets to your throat. Let it evaporate in your mouth. And I think
that way you kind of get this uh this kind of coating. You get it ready for the next ones. Our greeting is well for so there's cheers. Cheers is a common one, but slàinte mhath. Means to good health. Slàinte mhath. The first day is usually quite difficult. It takes a little while you to roll into stop people checking emails and checking the phone and disconnect from that. The norm of every day you might do a certain thing at 3:00 or get out of that routine, but um he's just took to it like a duck to water. There's just something so calm about Brian that kind of brings everything back to the center and back to reality.
You know, the whiskey is like, "I'm going to have this for the next 20 minutes, and I'm going to just enjoy sit and relax. Which is also kind of you know, it's good no matter what environment you're in. Whether you're on top of a hill with a dram or you're in some bar enjoying it, it's a good place to settle down a little bit. The thing I guess I can learn from Brian is a sense of calmness. Cuz I think we're very much yin and yang. I'm always there. He's always just like he's just smooth sailing. So, I respect that about him.
The whole point of this is to kind of be different from what you've done already. And that's always discomfort. It's always going to be something that you're not used to. So, um sleeping in a room that might be haunted that you might not usually do. I guess that's kind of all part of the journey as well. The longer this has gone on, the more I realized it's unpredictable. That's the best way to put it. I was not expecting to sit next to a freaking taxidermy fox, but here we are.
