Today’s post is another retro cut from way back in early 2012. You’ll find I do this from time to time when it’s “toiling season” and I have to move back to the big city to work and provide for my travel-lusty self. As such there’s not always a great deal to write about (because I either can’t be bothered going out or because it’s been raining for the past fortnight). Therefore I reach into the lucky dip sack that is my memory and pull out another destination for your enjoyment.
Coming from a place just outside Melbourne called Geelong, it’s pretty obvious we would refer to our beloved home as “G-Town”. Naturally I thought we were the only ones clever enough to take the first letter of our name and attach it to a noun via a hyphen, just to give it that gangsta feel.
Imagine my outrage then, when I heard locals of Glasgow also referring to their city as “G-Town”. I’ve since been alerted to the likes of T-Dot (Toronto), The A-Team (A is for Awesome), and G-Unit, so my rage has petered out a bit.
Similar to Hamburg, I’ve found Glasgow is another one of those places that doesn’t seem to be an automatic visit when travelling to the country in which Glasgow currently resides. I’ve often extolled the virtues of the other “G-Town” to fellow travelers, but so often come the response: “Really? I’ve been to Scotland but I never went to Glasgow.” I put it down to too much time spent on Loch Ness. Seriously people, everyone knows that “Nessy” was discovered a long time ago and is now posing for novelty tourist photos for £17 each. £23 if you want a ride.
In actual fact, I’m not sure why Glasgow isn’t yet a “must-see” for people visiting Scotland. I know Glasgow is historically famous for gang violence, sectarian violence, sport-related violence, drunken violence and Gordon Ramsey, but all those things are long in the past. Why dwell on them?
Glasgow does get plenty of tourists, but not enough as far as I’m concerned when you consider how much it has to offer. So I’m going to use my considerable influence as a “travel” journalist to rectify this. I’ve no doubt that come next year, any rise in Glasgow tourism figures will be directly traceable back to this blog. Conversely, any drop in figures is Gordon Ramsey’s fault.
So without further word-padding, here’s another one of my patented lists. This one is my top reasons why visiting Glasgow is the best thing since the sleeve-mounted noodle fan:
- The Kelvingrove Museum. Usually I would recommend museums for the stuff inside. It has that too and it is good, but I think the building itself is damn impressive. It looks like this:
You can also view it from the other side of the road so you don't have to look at traffic as well.
2. Conveniently located across the road from Kelvingrove is the BrewDog bar. It serves fine craft beers for every palate and other stuff I’m sure, but I was less excited about other stuff. It looks somewhat less impressively like this:
Lookout for this shot in the "Doorways photography competition"
3. The “West End” area of Glasgow is a very agreeable place to spend time. A beautiful university campus and some rather affluent residential areas make for an interesting mix of students, trendoids, and upper class folk. If you can stay around this area, access to the city is easy and there’s plenty to do. Just follow the hipsters to find it.
4. Trying to understand the local accent. I’m not being racist, xenophobic or politically incorrect here. I genuinely love the Glaswegian accent and can usually understand 80% of what’s being said. But one thing I find most enjoyable is listening to two locals conversing. It’s English, but you have no hope of understanding it. Wonderful to listen to.
5. The locals. You hear it all the time but it is definitely true. Local Scots are fantastically polite and friendly people. I can’t make a joke about it. Really. They’re lovely.
There are many, many more reasons to get to Glasgow but I can’t mention them all here. You’ll just have to take my word for it, cancel the 14 days you were going to spend sailing Loch Ness with a sonar-guided fishing rod, and book some time in the other “G-Town”.
Safe travels, thanks for reading. J
Boiled Blog Syndrome: Thoughts on travel 
