On June 28, both Megan and I flew to London Heathrow in order to catch a small plane to Edinburgh, Scotland. Megan will report on her day a bit later. Mine went fine, but it was a lot of waiting around for my flights. The little airline we flew is called bmi: British Midlands International. The flight attendants wore little blue hats!
We tried to get pics of the flight attendants in hats, but we didn't succeed. So here's the plane. Exciting, isn't it?... (not.)Megan, here, reporting from Scotland: I left Nikki in Rome around 9am, and after getting through security, etc, my flight left for London around 12:45pm. Everything was smooth and I had about two hours to relax and regroup in London before my next little flight to Edinburgh. So here's where my day got interesting: 30 minutes before the flight, the gate gets posted to the reader board... that's just the way they do it, I guess. So, I hustle along with everyone else to this out-of-the-way gate, to board a bus to wind through the underbelly of Heathrow... to the little plane. We all climb the outdoor steps to the plane and get settled in our seats (and a nun is seated behind me, so I take that as a positive SIGN!) Well, the captain then makes an announcement that the plane has mechanical issues that cannot be fixed, so we need to get off the plane until they find us a new plane! About 1/2 the plane unloads back on the busses, but then the captain gets back on the intercom to ask everyone to get back on the plane to wait for the new plane to, um, appear! People are now frustrated but I am sitting by the nun just trying to remain patient.
To sum it up, about 30 minutes later we are all bussed to our new plane where the seat numbers are all jacked up, but we get loaded and take off... about 2 1/2 hours later than originally scheduled! And that's it for my report, so now we go back to Nikki's story...
Just like in Rome, Megan and I had no way of getting in touch with each other upon our arrival in Edinburgh. She landed something like 4 hours before me, checked into our dorm at University of Edinburgh, then explored the town in order to find some food.
On Saturday, we had a splendid BIG breakfast at the university's dining hall, then set out to take a bus/boat tour of Edinburgh. The bus tour was blah, but the boat tour was great! The weather here is quite chilly, and it was even colder on the water (upper 50s). We saw the gorgeous countryside and this really cool bridge that goes over the Firth of Forth (which is a body of water... and "Firth" is like "Fjord!"). Then there was a little island called Inchman or something equally Scottish with a castle on it. Megan and I ended up sitting inside the little cabin for half the trip because it started raining, and we had the pleasure of speaking with two English "Royalists" (their term), meaning they support, know, and love the royal family.
To sum it up, about 30 minutes later we are all bussed to our new plane where the seat numbers are all jacked up, but we get loaded and take off... about 2 1/2 hours later than originally scheduled! And that's it for my report, so now we go back to Nikki's story...
Just like in Rome, Megan and I had no way of getting in touch with each other upon our arrival in Edinburgh. She landed something like 4 hours before me, checked into our dorm at University of Edinburgh, then explored the town in order to find some food.
On Saturday, we had a splendid BIG breakfast at the university's dining hall, then set out to take a bus/boat tour of Edinburgh. The bus tour was blah, but the boat tour was great! The weather here is quite chilly, and it was even colder on the water (upper 50s). We saw the gorgeous countryside and this really cool bridge that goes over the Firth of Forth (which is a body of water... and "Firth" is like "Fjord!"). Then there was a little island called Inchman or something equally Scottish with a castle on it. Megan and I ended up sitting inside the little cabin for half the trip because it started raining, and we had the pleasure of speaking with two English "Royalists" (their term), meaning they support, know, and love the royal family.
Our vessel(One of the things we've enjoyed most about this trip is talking to the most random people ever and finding out why they're in whatever town we're in. It amazes us that we Americans know so little of the world and European history!)
We then took the train to Leuchars, north of Edinburgh, then took a bus to St. Andrews, which was about a 10 minute drive. For the first time on this trip, we didn't get LOST on our way to the Vardon House B&B! Holla! (We learned that Mr. Vardon was the famous golfer who invented the Vardon Grip; a way to hold the golf club that all of you golfers probably know and love.)
We then took the train to Leuchars, north of Edinburgh, then took a bus to St. Andrews, which was about a 10 minute drive. For the first time on this trip, we didn't get LOST on our way to the Vardon House B&B! Holla! (We learned that Mr. Vardon was the famous golfer who invented the Vardon Grip; a way to hold the golf club that all of you golfers probably know and love.)
We almost didn't get off at this stop, which would've landed us in Norway! Well, not really, but you get the idea.Watched the Euro Cup Soccer/Football final game between Spain and Germany with an actual German and woman from Columbia, South America. Again, a wonderful time and conversation with totally random and knowledgeable people. (The Columbian was there with her husband from Milan, Italy!)
Today, we woke up to the chiming of seagulls outside of our window. I should note that we are right on the North Sea, and the famous beach, West Sands, is where the scene from Chariots of Fire was filmed, running along the beach.
Today, we woke up to the chiming of seagulls outside of our window. I should note that we are right on the North Sea, and the famous beach, West Sands, is where the scene from Chariots of Fire was filmed, running along the beach.
Although this is a bar at the Best Western, right next to it is the St. Andrews dorm that was used as the hotel in the film. And right in front of the bar is the beach that we're standing on in the photos below.
Yes, it was exactly that cold.
Toured the university and the town with university personnel, had a burger and a pint for lunch, and are headed to play mini-golf on the Old Course in town.
No comments:
Post a Comment