August was a busy month. I enjoyed the last ten days in Alaska and then went back to Aberdeen, moved into a new apartment and soon after, my family arrived for a long-awaited visit!
Destinations visited in August 2023
Alaska, US
- Kenai Fjords National Park (Seward, Bear Creek, Aialik Bay, Lost Lake, Exit Glacier and Bear Lake)
- Anchorage
Scotland
- Aberdeen
- Cairngorms National Park (Cullerlie Stone Circle, Drum Castle, Crathes Castle, Kincardine O’Neil Auld Kirk, Aboyne, Ballater, Old Military Road and Kildrummy Castle)
- Aberdeenshire coast (Forvie National Nature Reserve, Brewdog brewery in Ellon, New Slains Castle, Collieston, Ellon Castle, Crawton, Dunnottar Castle, Stonehaven)
Top 3 favourite new destinations
- Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska
- Crawton, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
- Collieston, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Daily life
Life in Aberdeen
I arrived back in Aberdeen from my Alaska trip in the early afternoon of August 11th, and spent the following few days just sleeping and relaxing to get over my jetlag. I was happy to be back in Aberdeen as summer had arrived to the city, and I was moving into my first own apartment a couple of days later!
Unfortunately, moving in was not as smooth and easy as I’d hoped. Picking up my keys was easy, but I arrived to an extremely dirty apartment that very obviously hadn’t been cleaned. I let my rental company know and they ordered cleaning service for me the same day but when they came, they just washed the floors, the bathroom and a few things in the kitchen and left again. They did nothing about the food stains on the walls, the dog hairs everywhere, etc. So I decided to clean every room by myself as I didn’t feel comfortable living in other people’s dirt, and it only got worse as I started moving furniture around. I found so much disgusting junk under the sofas; I honestly don’t think they’ve ever been cleaned before. Oh well, fast forward a week and I was finally done with all the cleaning and sorting out, and could move in the day before my family would arrive for their visit!
When I wasn’t cleaning, I spent time with friends and went thrifting a lot to find stuff for the apartment! It has turned out quite cozy and I love where it’s situated – in between the beach and uni. So I think I’ll be happy there!
In the evening of August 21st, my mum, dad and grandmother arrived from Denmark to spend two weeks with me in and around Aberdeen. I took the two weeks they were here off and enjoyed showing them around Aberdeen, the coasts of Aberdeenshire and the Cairngorms. All of our adventures will be described below!
Travels and local adventures
Among the mountains and glaciers of Kenai Fjords, Alaska
On the first day of the month, I continued my explorations of Alaska by catching a scenic train down to Seward from Anchorage. Seward is located in the heart of Kenai Fjords National Park, which offers some of the prettiest scenery in the state. This was the Alaska I’d always dreamt of. With snow-capped mountains, glaciers, alpine lakes and wildlife galore!
I spent five days in the national park and stayed at a cozy hostel seven kilometres outside of Seward. I rented a cheap bike to get around, and took my time exploring as slowly as I wanted. I spent a day biking around Seward and to the scenic beach at Lowell Point. Another day was spent on a 7,5-hour boat trip around the fjords where we saw two gorgeous glaciers and lots of beautiful scenery despite thick fog – but the best part was all the wildlife we saw; orcas, humpback whales, porpoises, sea lions, seals on ice, sea otters, mountain goats and jumping salmons!
I spent another day hiking 24 km to and from Lost Lake, arguably the prettiest scenery I saw while in Alaska. The hike wasn’t too challenging, either – it was more like a very long stroll with gorgeous scenery throughout! My last full day was spent biking 34 km to and from Exit Glacier, which is pretty but too crowded to be enjoyable. I spent the evening biking to Bear Lake where I saw more salmons jumping around!
My last half day in the national park was rainy so I just hung out at the hostel, worked on the blog and played games with other guests before it was time to catch my train back to Anchorage.
Time to explore and get tatted in Anchorage!
After my visit to Kenai Fjords, I returned to Anchorage where I’d spent the last few days of July. I spent another three days in the city, and stayed at the same hostel in Midtown. I took it slow and explored some new parts of the city including a long walk along the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail which was my favourite part of the city (and I saw a moose in a garden!).
I also met up with a friend from the archaeological project I’d worked on in July, explored Anchorage Museum, ate some delicious food and even got a tattoo! I got a topographical map of Alaska with the T-Swift lyric, “a deep portal, time travel, all the love we unravel” from her song Midnight Rain. The lyrics remind me of my beautiful time excavating in Quinhagak!
Showing my family around Aberdeen and the surroundings
I spent the last two weeks of August sharing my new home country with my family. My mum, dad and grandmother arrived first and six days later, my younger brother joined us.
I had a long list of places I wanted to show them, both in Aberdeen and out and about in Aberdeenshire. We spent three days on long roadtrips, the first one going through Cairngorms National Park, visiting castles, archaeological sites and small towns along the way and driving along the scenic Old Military Road through the mountains. The other two trips were along the coast, first up north where we visited the seals at Forvie Nature Reserve, enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Brewdog brewery in Ellon, explored the incredible New Slains Castle on the rocky shoreline and ended our day in cozy little Collieston. The other coastal roadtrip went down south, first to Crawton which is the most adorable little hamlet with gorgeous cliff walks. We then visited the famous Dunnottar Castle and finished with fish and chips and thrift shopping in the beautiful town of Stonehaven.
On the days that we weren’t roadtripping, we went for long walks to all the places I wanted to show them. We strolled along the beach promenade to the old fishing town of Footdee, enjoyed ice creams, played minigolf and spent hours on the penny machines in the arcade. We walked around Old Aberdeen and I showed them my university and local pub as well as Seaton Park and Scotland’s oldest bridge, Brig o’ Balgownie, my favourite part of town. We relaxed at the airbnb, watched thrilling TV shows, played yatzy, came second to last in a pubquiz and enjoyed delicious dinners in cozy pubs and restaurants. And we explored the city centre and spent a day thrift shopping – a favourite pastime of ours!
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Most popular Instagram picture
Whales are always a good idea!
Coming up in September 2023
My family is still here with me in Aberdeen, but they’re sadly leaving in a few days. Once they’ve left, I’ll have to spend the last two weeks before the semester starts writing on my dissertation, so I have two busy weeks ahead of me. But I do have something very exciting to look forward to – in the middle of the month, my baby will arrive from Romania! I’ve adopted a small bishon mix and I can’t wait to finally become a dog mum!
I doubt I’ll take any big trips these next weeks as I’ll be busy working on the dissertation and getting stuck into the new semester, but that will hopefully change towards the end of the month when my friend Lucie comes to visit!
I’m looking forward to not travelling (I know, crazy, right!), and just settling into my new flat, getting to know my dog and enjoying living in Scotland!
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