I would love to live in Scotland, but only if it was independent. The landscapes and architecture, the food and culture, the and the people were all wonderful when I visited. But as a total outsider, the baggage of post-Brexit UK really seem to weigh it down. Just about everything that involved the UK felt crusty or imposed or unnatural.

Northern Ireland and ROI felt quite different. The worst I could say about Dublin was that bus traffic along the Liffey sucks. Other towns didn’t even have that issue. Otherwise it was clean, beautiful, and full of culture and friendly people. Belfast, on the other hand, had far more litter, panhanders, rowdy drunks, and people living on the streets. Great culture and lovely people everywhere too aside from that. Again as an outsider (who only has a surface level understanding of The Troubles) is seems almost obvious that they should unify with the Republic and ditch the UK imperialists.

I’m sure someone from any of these places could list 50 reasons why I’m full of shit, but y’know if their leaders are taking about ‘self-determination’ then maybe there’s something to it.