OBAN IN JUNE – A TALE OF HELPX

I’m finally reflecting on our time in Scotland while sitting on the floor of our apartment looking out at the neon city of Kuala Lumpur. Our time in the little town of Oban feels light years away from the hot and sticky streets of Asia.

When it came time for us to leave Europe for the UK in June, I didn’t feel ready. Our time previous trip to London hadn’t been as much fun as I had imagined.. and I had grown to love being surrounded by foreign languages and unfamiliar cultures. If it weren’t for the European Schengen Visa forcing us to leave for three months, I’m sure we would be jet setting off to Spain or possibly Greece. After escaping to Croatia for two weeks to explore, we decided that our time in the UK would be best spent volunteering. Firstly because we just could not afford the cost of accommodation over there… and secondly we wanted a new and exciting experience if we were going somewhere that was set so much in our comfort zone.

This is where Helpx comes in. I first heard of Helpx from my dear friend Jess a few years earlier. She was on her own journey exploring the world and we would write each other long messages talking about my dreams of living abroad.

Helpx is the answer to how to travel with little money and have the best time of your life. It is the perfect way to spend three months out of the Schengen zone.

Helpx.com is a website where hosts can list volunteer opportunities all over the world. From the traditional ‘working on a farm’, to building a boat in Amsterdam, creating organic gardens for a homestay family, restoring castles or housekeeping for accommodation. You can go anywhere in the world, learning from and meeting people of different cultures. Best part? You work for your stay (3-6 hours a day), and often food is included too! We decided we wanted to volunteer at a backpackers hostel, mostly so we could learn skills about how a hostel runs, get housekeeping experience and also because Backpackers Plus (the particular hostel we applied to) has a team of 14 volunteers and we excited to make new friends. We created a account, wrote our profile, uploaded two happy pictures of us and sent a message with our fingers crossed. Just a few days later we had our reply, we were going to Scotland.

Backpackers Plus is located in the sweet little town of Oban, in the heart of the Sottish Highlands on the west coast. You know those amazing scenes in Harry Potter? Like the Hogwarts express weaving through green mountains and over stone bridges? Yes those were filmed in the Scottish highlands. It is one of the most beautiful places on this earth.

To get to Oban, we had to fly from Dubrovnik to Edinburgh and catch a train through Glasgow up to Oban. We decided to spend one night in Edinburgh to catch our breath, explore the city and get ready for the weeks of work ahead. As expected we were fairly exhausted that night, but we managed to drag ourselves from our questionable accommodation and roam the streets for a few hours. I snapped pictures of people relaxing in the sunshine at the park cooking on small silver trays with coals (what the Brittish call a BBQ but us Aussies just think it’s a bit odd..) and marvel at familiar brick buildings. We cooked a warm dinner of couscous and settled into bed by 10pm. But something was wrong… and only when we looked out the window did we realise it was still daylight outside? I quick google on my phone revealed the sun only set at 10:40pm! Way to make us feel like Grandma’s Scotland! In bed before the sun has even set.

The next morning we boarded the train with my tummy full of butterflies. What was it going to be like? Would we make friends? Could I really sleep in an eight bed dorm for three weeks? But my worries were soon forgotten as I was transfixed by the scenery outside our carriage window. Green, green and more green. Loch’s of deep blue, mountains with small specks of melting snow, my first glimpse of a Scottish kilt!

We finally arrived in Oban and made our way up the main street. I remember the first thing I smelt was the grease and salt from the many fish and chip shops, my tummy grumbled but there was no time to stop and eat. Oban was quaint and charming. With heart, soul and the sound of bagpipes playing in the distance. It’s so Scottish and I already loved it to bits.

Backpackers Plus is located at the end of the main street. We climbed the stairs covered in handwritten messages from past guest and entered into the super cosy common room. Introducing ourselves to the girl behind the desk Aurore, who sat down with us at the dining table and called out the names of the volunteers scattered around the room. I remember panicking that there was no way I was going to remember all these names. Aurore lead us down to the ground floor and through the staff door into the living quarters. We entered the eight bed dorm, were shown our beds and left to unpack our things. I still felt nervous and especially shy. I’m quiet an introverted person and as I glanced around the messy dorm room I was wondering if I could really do this.

For the rest of the evening we chatted and mingled quietly with the volunteers but also mostly kept to ourselves. My shyness was only getting worse, I couldn’t remember anyones name and I felt a little lost. It was to be expected. I wish I could go back and tell my worried self on that first night just how freaking awesome things were about to get.

On our first day, after our shift of cleaning work (which was surprisingly simple, there was really no need to stress so much) Martin and I set out for a walk through the Scottish countryside. Our destination was an old Scottish castle three kilometers away. It was the start of many afternoon walks for us, but this one will always be my favourite. We found the castle but decided not to pay the entry fee, rather we explored the grounds and admired the sheer size of the stone fortress. Walking down a hidden pathway behind the castle and through the shrubs, I saw hundreds of little bunnies frolicking. Of course I chased after them, which lead us to a clearing and perfect little bay. We skimmed stoned and sat in the soft rain before beginning our hike home again.

It took me about two days to shake my shyness and integrate into the group, and from then on it felt like I had found my family. In our group we had French, Italian, Irish, Canadian, Spanish, American, English and Chinese backgrounds. Every morning we worked hard together to get the hostel clean and organised. I began to love my cleaning shift, blasting music through my earphones and dancing between bunkbeds. In the afternoon we went on long walks, played scrabble, challenging each other to pool and had quiet times reading books or napping. And in the evening we often cooked group dinners like the image above. Every person creating a dish from home that they love. Oh my gosh I think I gained five kilo’s in three weeks just because everyones food was so delicious I couldn’t help myself! And Martin’s delicious homemade desserts didn’t help either. I began to love falling asleep in my bunk to the sounds of seven others sleeping. I felt safe and far from alone. It was a stark difference to our solo travelling throughout Europe. It felt like home.

Each day was filled with fun. Like the morning we all hid in the common room before Aurore arrived to hand out our work for the day, leaving a note on the table telling her to find us. My hiding spot was so terrible she found me after about two minutes. Or the night we all decided was going to be Christmas in June. We each made a plate of something delicious and bought £2 gifts for our Secret Santa. Joanna strung up handmade Christmas decorations and Brian provided the tunes with his many flutes. I could go on to write forever about each and every person I met and spent time with during our stay in Oban, but I don’t think my words would be enough to describe just how incredible this group of people are. (Aurore, Luis, Florine, Aurélie, Joanna, Deborah, Brian, Jason, Marina, Jules, Kevin, Kimberly, Yvonne, Angeela, Nuria, Peter, Wojtek and Maria – thank you for being so awesome! )

One of our many afternoon walks that lead us to the tiny Island of Kerrera, where sheep roam free, there are almost no cars and an incredible castle sits upon the cliffs.

Afternoons spent with locally caught seafood and french wine.

The highland games. We went along for the afternoon to see some Scottish sport and somehow got roped into participating in the Tug-o-war when they didn’t have enough people to participate. Safe to say both Martin’s team (pictured above right before they all fell on their bottoms…!) and my team lost terribly to the big and burly Scottish men and women on the opposition. But we both won £6 just for losing! So the humiliation was totally worth it 😉

Two of the craziest, most vivacious people I’ve ever met. Deborah and Brian. Brian the man Irishman was always a familiar face around the hostel and became one of my close friends. He once lived at Backpackers plus and now teaches at the local school but stops to visit in the evening to tell stories or eat dinner with us. And yes he really is casually swimming in the freezing Scottish ocean… And Deborah, the golden haired girl from the South of France who has this incredible passionate, fiery spirit. Her attitude towards life is something I’ll never forget. I’ll miss her crazy stories of boys and adventure. This girl is the true embodiment of living life to it’s fullest.

A few days before it was our time to leave Oban, we both realised we didn’t feel ready. We just did not want to leave. After a quick discussion over an afternoon game of pool we asked each other, ‘why do we have to leave?’. I mean, this trip has an open itinerary, there is no where that we need to be. If you love somewhere and are having the time of your life, isn’t that experience worth extending? So after less than two minutes of consideration we were up at the reception desk asking Maria if we could stay. She told us there was space for us on the 5th of August, almost exactly one month from that day. It seemed like fate, leave this little home-away-from-home for one month to explore Eastern europe and then settle back in for the month of August. And with that, we booked our places in and started looking for flights for our next adventure.

The hardest part about helpx-ing at Backpackers plus is that there is always a time to leave. Whether it’s your time, or one of your friends, days are filled with goodbyes. But when one door closes, another opens, and there is a new person welcomed into the helpx family. It was our time to leave, but just for a little while. When we were to come back in August there would be an entirely new group of volunteers calling the hostel home. Some goodbyes were easier than others, because luckily for us a few of our dear friends would still be there waiting to welcome us. Florine and Aurélie would still be in Oban working across the road at another hostel, Aurore and Luis will still be working reception/living at Backpackers plus and Jason would be staying on for another month and so he’d still be our room buddy when we arrived back. We couldn’t wait to see our friends again.

Little did we know when we sent that first message to Backpackers Plus that we were about to arrive at our home away from home. Our time in Oban has been the highlight of our trip, from meeting some of the most incredible people, to finally feeling like we were achieving something again. It’s crazy to think we’ve travelled over thirteen countries so far and my favourite memories are from this tiny Scottish town. Our chapter had not finished at Backpackers Plus, but later with that story. Next we were headed off on a road trip adventure of the Scottish highlands. Just us, a rental car and a little orange tent.

 

❤